and among those who most strongly warned against it. He followed criteria and principles in this matter derived from the Book of Allah Most High. He did not declare anyone an unbeliever according to his own whims, as misguided innovators do; rather, he declared unbelievers those whom the Quran and Sunnah declare unbelievers.

He said, may Allah have mercy on him:

“Yet I have always been—as those who have sat with me know—among those most emphatic in forbidding that a particular individual be declared an unbeliever, an evildoer, or a sinner, unless it is known that the proof conveyed by the Messenger has been established against him. Whoever contravenes that proof is an unbeliever in some cases, an evildoer in others, and a sinner in yet others. I affirm that Allah has forgiven this community its errors, and this includes errors in matters of belief as well as matters of practice.

The early generations continued to disagree over many of these matters, yet none of them declared another to be an unbeliever, an evildoer, or a sinner…

I would explain to them that the general pronouncements reported to them from the early generations and the imams—declaring those who say such-and-such to be unbelievers—are also true. However, one must distinguish between pronouncing a ruling in general terms and applying it to a particular individual. This was the first of the major fundamental issues over which the community disagreed: the question of threatened punishment. The Quranic texts threatening punishment are stated without qualification, as in His words:

‘Indeed, those who devour the property of orphans unjustly’ 1—to the end of the verse.

The same applies to all other statements of the form, ‘Whoever does such-and-such will receive such-and-such’: these are unqualified, general statements.

They are like the statements of some of the early generations: ‘Whoever says such-and-such is such-and-such.’ In the case of a particular individual, however, the threatened punishment ceases to apply through repentance, good deeds that erase sins, afflictions that expiate them, or accepted intercession.