as bearers of glad tidings and warners, and sent down with them the Scripture in truth to judge between people concerning their differences.”

He, Most High, also says:

“If you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and best in outcome.”

He, Most High, also says:

“Whatever you differ about, its judgment rests with Allah.”

Rather, people must adhere to the comprehensive, universal principles upon which the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars agreed: they must believe in what Allah has described Himself with and what His Messenger has described Him with, without distortion or denial, and without specifying how His attributes are or likening them to those of creation. No one may declare any Muslim a disbeliever, even if he is mistaken and in error, until the proof has been established against him and the clear path has been explained to him. Whoever’s Islam is established with certainty does not cease to be a Muslim on the basis of doubt; that can occur only after the proof has been established and the doubt dispelled.

Section

As for declaring the person who makes this statement a disbeliever, this rests upon a principle to which attention must be drawn. Failure to understand it precisely has caused great confusion within the Muslim community over declaring the followers of innovation and whims to be disbelievers, just as they have been confused, in earlier and later times, over denying faith to the immoral and those who commit major sins. Many followers of innovation—such as the Khawārij, the Rāfidah, the Qadariyyah, the Jahmiyyah, and those who liken Allah to His creation—have come to hold a misguided belief