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It is not permissible to declare a Muslim an unbeliever because of a sin he has committed or an error he has made, as in matters disputed within the Muslim community. Allah Most High says:

“The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. All believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, and His messengers: ‘We make no distinction between any of His messengers.’ And they say, ‘We hear and we obey. We seek Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the final return.’”

It is established in an authentic hadith that Allah Most High answered this supplication and forgave the believers their errors.

The renegade Khārijites, whom the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded Muslims to fight, were fought by the Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The leading religious scholars among the Companions, the Successors, and those who came after them agreed that they should be fought. Yet ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās, and other Companions did not declare them unbelievers. Rather, they regarded them as Muslims despite fighting them. ʿAlī did not fight them until they shed blood unlawfully and raided the Muslims’ property. He fought them to repel their oppression and aggression, not because they were unbelievers. For this reason, he neither took their families captive nor seized their property as spoils.

If these people, whose misguidance is established by explicit scriptural texts and scholarly consensus, were not declared unbelievers despite Allah and His Messenger commanding that they be fought, then what of the differing groups who are uncertain about the truth in matters in which even those more learned than they have erred? Thus, it is not permissible for any of these