"There is no action, which takes a person outside Islam unless..."

Question: “Can we say about a person that he is a Murji due to his saying, ‘There is no action, which takes a person outside Islam unless it is accompanied with Juhood or Istihlaal,’ while at the same time he says, ‘Imaan is sayings and actions and beliefs?’” 

Answer: The principle when labeling a person a being a Khariji or a Murji or a Mu’tazili or other than that, is that his Usool are the Usool of that Mathhab. An example of that is if a person says, ‘I believe that Imaan is sayings and actions and beliefs, but I also say that the actions – there is nothing from them that is Kuffr except that which is based upon Juhood or Istihlaal or something like that.’ This man took an ‘Asl from the Usool of the people of Irjaa, even if he says, ‘I believe that Imaan is sayings and actions,’ because this belief is not correct and not established in his heart. And that is because if he truly believed that Imaan is sayings and actions and beliefs, then he would have declared the Kuffr of the one who abandons the actions because there is no difference of opinion among Ahlus-Sunnah that Tawheed is sayings and beliefs and actions. So if he truly believed that Tawheed was sayings, beliefs and actions, then why does he not make Takfeer to the one who abandons the actions? And for this, Shaykhul Islam Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab in “Kashf ash-Shubuhaat” – in its conclusion – he said, ‘There is no difference of opinion that the Tawheed must be in the heart and upon the tongue and the actions. And if any of those were absent, then the man would not be a Muslim. So if he knows Tawheed but does not act upon it, then he is a stubborn Kaafir, such as fir’awn and iblees and the likes of them. And this is the general thing of most of the people. They say, ‘This is true, and we understand this and we bear witness that it is correct; however, we are unable to perform it and it is not allowed amongst the people of our country except for us to comply with them,’ or other than that from their excuses. And this poor person does not know that most of the leaders of Kuffr know the truth and they did not abandon it except for something of the excuses like He, the Most High said: 
"They purchased with the Ayaat of Allah a miserable gain…"

And other than that from the Ayaat. Such as His saying: 
"They know him as they know their own sons…" 

And if he acts upon the Tawheed through apparent actions, and does not understand it, or does not believe it in his heart, then he is a Munafiq and he is more evil than the pure Kaafir. He, the Most High, said: 
"Verily, the munafiqeen are in the lowest depths of the Fire." 
– until the end of his (i.e. Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhab’s) words. And they should be reviewed because they are beautiful words and are fierce in their refutation of the people of Irjaa. And like that also, is the Khariji if he says, ‘Imaan is sayings upon the tongue and beliefs and actions but I also say that the perpetrator of a major sin disbelieves.’ So how does the perpetrator of a major sin disbelieve while the Prophet  did not make Takfeer to him? We say that this is the Mathhab of the Khawarij. And like that is the Murji in the beginning. We say that he is a Murji and like that is if a person says, ‘I judge upon the Texts (Qur’an and Sunnah) with the intellect and I do not accept the Ahad narrations,’ then we say that he is a Mu’tazili. So everyone who takes from the Usool of the people of bid’ah, we say that he is astray in this issue and that he upon the Usool of the people of Irjaa in this matter. And Allah knows best. 

He was also asked a similar question: 

Question: “If there is a man who says, ‘Imaan increases and decreases,’ and that, ‘Actions are from Imaan,’ then can he be called a Murji if he says that actions do not take a person outside Islam?” 

Answer: “We know that the Murjiah are (different) sects. From them are those who say that the Imaan is sayings and beliefs without actions. And from them are those who say that Imaan is sayings and actions and beliefs; however, the one who abandons Jins al-‘Amal (the general category of actions) does not disbelieve – meaning that the one who leaves the actions of the body, does not disbelieve. And this is the saying of Jahm bin Safwan, as Imaam Ibn Hazm mentioned that from him. And it is attributed to the Ghulaat al-Murjiah. 

So if this person who said it is from the people of Ijtihaad, then his saying is rejected but he is not attributed to the people of Irjaa, even if his words are from the words of the Murjiah, because not everyone who falls into Irjaa becomes a Murji. But there is no doubt that his saying that Imaan is sayings and beliefs and actions does not intercede for him because it is a must that he makes Takfeer to the one who abandons the Jins al-‘Amal just as it is Ijmaa’ from Ahlus-Sunnah. Their Ijmaa’ was narrated by al-Ajuri in “Ash-Shari’ah” and Imaam Ibn Buttah in “Al-Ibaanah” and Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Tayymiyah in “Kitaab al-Imaan” within the seventh volume of the Fatawa. And we know that some of the groups from the people of Irjaa in this time say that Imaan is sayings and beliefs and actions but they remove the Kuffr from the label of actions and this – in reality – is the Mathhab of Jahm bin Safwan and the Ghulaat of the people of Irjaa. And Allah knows best. 

Answered by ash-Shaykh al-Muhaddith Sulayman Ibn Nasir al-‘Alwan (fakk Allahu asrah)