Speaker A
[Music] Who a disbeliever is? It's very simple. Firstly, we're going to break it off.
Explains the Islamic legal and theological meaning of 'kafir' (non-believer), distinguishing worldly legal status from the afterlife outcomes, and discusses humility, dawah, and a parable from Jesus o
Key Takeaways
- 'Kafir' is a legal category for non-Muslims in this world, not automatically a judgment of eternal fate or personal worth.
- Eternal outcomes differ: those who consciously reject the message face punishment, while those who never heard it or lacked capacity may be in paradise.
- Humility is recommended toward non-Muslims, with prayers for their guidance rather than self-congratulatory comparison.
- Dawah should be conducted from a position of principle and humility, not compromise or arrogance.
What the video covers
- Defines 'kafir' in three contexts: legal status in this world, the disbeliever punished in hellfire, and the disbeliever with an excuse who is in paradise.
- In this world, any non-Muslim is legally classified as a kafir, regardless of how kind or knowledgeable they are, affecting burial, leading prayer, governance, and jizya/zakat rules.
- The speaker stresses this classification is jurisprudential, not a derogatory insult, and does not imply hatred or certain damnation.
- Discusses the theological debate between the Maturidi and Ash'ari schools on whether reason alone suffices to know God and the consequences of disbelief.
- Distinguishes between the obligation to convey dawah and the outcome of guidance, arguing believers are obligated regardless of results.
- Argues Muslims should show humility, recognizing non-Muslims may surpass them in the future, while remaining firm against those who attack the religion.
- Uses a parable of a proud Pharisee and a humble tax collector to illustrate that humility and seeking others' salvation are more pleasing than self-righteous comparison.
- Concludes that dawah interactions should avoid compromising religious principles, giving the example of a Muslim frequenting a bar to 'mercy' people as an incorrect approach.
Chapters
- 00:00Defining the Disbeliever: Three Categories
- 00:20Worldly Legal Status of Non-Muslims
- 00:43Burial, Jizya, and Religious Rulings
- 01:27The Afterlife: Rejecters vs. the Excused
- 02:06Reason, Revelation, and Obligation in Theology
- 02:44Humility Toward Non-Muslims and Future Guidance
- 05:04The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector
- 07:38Dawah Interaction and Its Proper Boundaries
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
The disbeliever legally in this world versus the disbeliever in the sight of Allah that gets punished with the hellfire versus the disbeliever who has an excuse in sight of Allah. Three parts, one in this world and two in the
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next world. In this world, any non-Muslim is a disbeliever. So that's how simple it is.
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You'll have been careful. So it where do the question where do we bury him? We're talking about this world. Where do we bury him?
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Can he enter and make hatch with us in Mecca? All right, can he lead the prayer?
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Can he be the Khalifa or a Sultan or a Qazi or a judge amongst Muslims?
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No, anyone even the nicest guy who never heard of Islam will legally be classified as a kafir. This is only a worldly classification.
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If I'm a zakat collector, I collect zakat and I collect jizya. And I come upon this guy. Which one am I collecting? Am I collecting his zakat?
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Of course not. He's not a Muslim. Take jizya from him. So anybody, whether they heard of Islam or not, it would legally classified as a kafir. If he's the nicest guy in the world, he never heard of Islam and he dies, he would not be
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buried in a Muslim graveyard. He's going to get a a burial of a non-believer and be buried with them. And we won't make supplication for him. Those are the laws our religious laws in relation to a non-believer. Doesn't mean we hate you.
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Doesn't mean you're going to hell even. You may be better than us, right? Actually, you should probably take it. If someone said to you, here is the message of the truth. Now go hold on to it in your heart and live by
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it and then get earn heaven and hell. Or the person who died never heard hearing the truth and we know for sure by not so Quran that he's going to be forgiven.
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Why would you take the risk? So we actually may think even more highly of him than ourselves at this point in time.
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And he we call him a kafir simultaneously. He's a kafir legally speaking. It's not a derogatory term when we're talking jurisprudence. When we're talking law, it's just a category.
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So now let's go to the other worldly aspect. The other worldly splits in two.
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The kafir who heard the message and consciously rejected it is Muhammad finna. He is eternally punished by God in the fire. And the kafir who never heard the truth or heard it in a manner that Allah deemed insufficient or
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himself was deficient mentally or age-wise or cognitively. Therefore, Allah deems that he's not mukallaf.
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These people are in paradise. So that's how we would separate between the two. Okay, the Maturidi position states that reason is sufficient to know that there is one God.
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The Ash'ari recognize that, but they say that it still is not sufficient to be judged because reason cannot tell you that there's an eternal hellfire.
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So reason tells me there's one God. Okay, good. What's the what's forcing me to to to consider this right?
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Like okay, that's nice. So what? So I had there has to be a consequence.
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This So I need to know what the concept The consequence can only be known through transmission. So that Ash'ari says, you're correct. The Ash'ari Maturidis are correct about that, but they're still not mukallaf until you learn that God demands this and he will
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punish and reward for it. So Hakim says, why give people Dawa? You're dooming them. So there's a big difference between the the result and the obligation. We're obligated to do it cuz Allah told them told us to.
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We are obligated to do it because the the benefits far outweigh ignorance. And on top of that, Allah doesn't need to explain it. He commanded us to do it.
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Out of our humility, should we assume that the kuffar are better than us since they still have the potential to receive guidance and surpass us in the deen while they are alive?
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No, our aqidah is that they could we should have humility as long as a kafir a non-believer is not attacking your religion nor attacking the believers, then humility is not the correct attitude with them because Allah says Allah kuffar.
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They are firm with such people. But if somebody is not that, then yes, humility we should have humility, of course. It's a quality to have and should assume that they can potentially be They're not better than us now.
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No. You're a person of tawhid and Islam and salah. How could that be less than kuffar?
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No, that wouldn't be correct. But you can but we must believe that in the future we don't know the future.
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They can be better than us in the future. I can be worse than them. I can be better than them, too.
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Right? And maybe we shouldn't even always just be comparing ourselves. We should just say, may Allah guide us and them.
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Like why compare this comparison? May Allah guide us and them. But if someone's being arrogant like the Pharisees, they were arrogant.
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And there's a parable where a Pharisee and a tax collector, they call the publicans.
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You know, like a today if a Muslim became like a politician and we don't see him in the masjid at all and he's just in the circles of politics.
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And then you have an Imam or a Sheikh. And then the Sheikh and the and the that politician, they they meet in the mosque.
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Which one naturally would you assume is better? Naturally, you'd assume the guy who's always in the masjid is better and he's a scholar.
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So in this parable that's found in Christian sources, it's a nice parable of Jesus. It says that the Pharisee walks in.
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He looks at the publican, the tax collector, works for the Romans, completely Romanized, lost his deen.
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And he says, praise be to you, Lord, who have not made me like other people and made me come to the temple and pray and fast two times a week cuz the Pharisees used to fast two times a week
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and write the and write the Torah, etc. etc. etc. Praise be to you who made me like that and not like some other people.
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That's all facts, by the way. And by the way, that's in that dua is that that dua is in the sunnah, too.
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But it's it's it's it's with humility. So this person was saying it, praise be to you who made me fast and all that. But Jesus is saying he's saying with a pompous heart and looking down at that publican.
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Whereas as Jesus going to say is like, shouldn't he be praying for him? Isn't the first priority for you to pray for this man, right?
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Not not compare yourself and pump yourself up with your good deeds. Then now the publican says the the the tax collector says, God, I stand before you with nothing to say.
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I bow my head. I have no I don't have any good deeds and my bad deeds are well known. Everybody knows them.
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And the Pharisee walks out and his heart and his his head is up high and his belief in himself is is grand.
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Meanwhile, the tax collector bows his head down believing he's a hopeless case. Jesus says, which one which heart earns God's mercy at that point?
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So they used to say to Jesus, why are you paying attention to these sinners?
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He says, the sin is in the past. The salvation he needs is now. Yes, he's a sinner, but he needs salvation.
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So and he wouldn't address their pasts immediately. The teaching will come later. And so that's our perspective on Dawa and many people they get alarmed by this. They get really alarmed.
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Why are you interacting with Now the interaction should not be in a place of fisk. So we would disagree with a Muslim going to a bar to mercy with the people, right? That you're almost that's not the right way
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to do it. Okay? That wouldn't be the right way to do it.
Topics:kafirdisbelieverIslamic jurisprudencedawahMaturidiAsh'arihumilitytawhidPharisee parableIslamic theology
