Commentary: "Verily, many people amongst the Tatar..."

Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in “ar-Radd ‘ala al-Akhna’i” page 95:

“Verily, many people amongst the Tatar and others entered into Islam, while they have idols made from felted wool and they seek nearness to it and exalt it, and they do not know that this is Haraam in the Deen of Islam, and they seek nearness to the fire as well, while they do not know that this is Haraam, so many forms of shirk might be unclear to some of those who’ve entered into Islam, and they do not know it is shirk, so this person is misguided and the action in which he performed shirk by it is baatil (invalid), however he doesn’t deserve punishment until the Hujjah is established upon him.”

Commentary: “Verily, many people amongst the Tatar and others entered into Islam.” This statement is regarding the Tatar who recently entered into Islam, and the Hujjah has not been established upon them. So they “entered into Islam”, he did not say “Muslimeen”, one must pay attention, because he repeated it twice, he said: “Verily, many people amongst the Tatar and others entered into Islam.” And “entering” here means that they said “Laa ilaha ila Allah”, so it does not mean that they became Muslimīn and their entering is a correct entry, because he said: “they have idols made from felted wool.” He called them “Mutaqarribeen” (seeking nearness – to those idols), they seek nearness to it and exalt it, they are mushrikeen without a doubt, and Islam and shirk are two opposites which cannot be joined together. They cannot be Muslimīn while they seek nearness and exalt (these idols besides Allah), however, they did not know that this is Haraam in the Deen of Islam, and they seek nearness to the fire as well, while they do not know that this is Haraam.

Many forms of shirk could be hidden from some of those who enter Islam and so this person is misguided before acquiring knowledge, and the action which he has committed shirk in is invalid, however, he is not punished until the Hujjah is established upon him. These Tatar who entered Islam, in the sense of the “Ism” (label) they are not Muslimīn, they are misguided and they worship other than Allah, however, the “Hadīth al-‘Ahd” (i.e. one who recently enters into Islam) is not punished if he commits shirk, until the Hujjah is established upon him. 
[Sharh Kitāb al-Haqa’iq Fī-Tawhīd] 

[Editor’s note: To further highlight the distinction between the labels, rulings and the correct methodology in this issue Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in Fatawa 20/37: “As regards to legal labels and rulings, Allah separated between some of them and united some of them concerning what was before the Risalah (before the receiving of the Message) and that which was after it. Therefore, the term mushrik is applied to a person before he receives the message and (before a Prophet comes to him) because he is already worshiping something besides Allah and equalizing something with Him and taking for worship objects other than Him. So these terms exist before the coming of a Prophet just like the term jahl and jahiliyyah. The terms jahiliyyah and jahil are used even before the arrival of a Prophet but there exists no punishment for the jahil.” 

And he said in volume three of his Fatawa: “Declaring a Muslim to be a Kaafir (Takfeer) is an announcement of a an impending threat and is a type of warning, thus if a statement involved rejection of something said by the Messenger (saws) but the individual may be new to Islam or raised in the remote desert, then this person is not considered a Kaafir because of his rejection until the Proof is established against him. This is because this individual may not have heard the Texts regrading the issue. Or perhaps he heard them but thought they were not authentic. Or his opposition to the Texts were due to another reason which caused him to falsely interpret them (Ta’wil), even thought he was wrong.”]

[Commentary by ash-Shaykh al-‘Allamah ‘Ali Ibn Khudayr al-Khudayr (fakk Allahu asrah)]