BENEFIT 288: The difference between declaring Takfir on act and declaring Takfir on the doer

A matter that has confused many people, leading to dangerous pitfalls in takfir, is the issue of generalisation versus specification, or what is titled فعل الكفر وكفر الفاعل "the act of disbelief and the disbelief of the doer." Not every act of Kufr makes the person who commits it a Kafir, and not every act of Shirk makes the one who performs it a Mushrik. In general, there are obstacles (https://t.me/almanhajussalafi/1031) and evidence for this, and we will suffice with an example from Sahih Al-Bukhari (6398), narrated by ’Umar ibn Al-Khattab, which mentions a man during the time of the Prophet ﷺ who was named Abdullah, nicknamed "the donkey," and who would make the Prophet ﷺ laugh. The Prophet ﷺ had punished him for drinking alcohol, and on one occasion, the man was brought before him again and ordered to be punished. A man from the crowd said, "May Allāh curse him, how often he is brought here!" The Prophet ﷺ replied, "Do not curse him, for I know nothing except that he loves Allāh and His Messenger." This example shows that the Prophet ﷺ forbade cursing the man specifically, even though the Prophet ﷺ had cursed ten people associated with alcohol (those who produced, consumed, transported, sold, or bought it). The point here is that a general curse does not necessarily apply to a specific individual if there are factors preventing the curse from being directed at them. Similarly, after mentioning this [Majmu' Al-Fatawa (10/329)], Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah applied the same principle to takfir, stating that just as general cursing does not automatically apply to a specific person, the same is true for declaring someone a disbeliever. He further explains [Majmu’ Al-Fatāwa (12/500)]: «وإذا عرف هذا فتكفير "المعين" من هؤلاء الجهال وأمثالهم – بحيث يحكم عليه بأنه من الكفار - لا يجوز الإقدام عليه إلا بعد أن تقوم على أحدهم الحجة الرسالية التي يتبين بها أنهم مخالفون للرسل وإن كانت هذه المقالة لا ريب أنها كفر. وهكذا الكلام في تكفير جميع "المعينين"» "Once this is understood, declaring a specific individual among these ignorant people and their like to be a Kafir—such that it is ruled that they are among the Kuffar—should not be carried out except after the clear proof of the divine message is established, which demonstrates that they are in opposition to the messengers. Even though the statement itself is undoubtedly Kufr, the same applies to declaring any specific individual as a Kafir." He concludes [Majmu Al-Fatawa (23/245)]: «وحقيقة الأمر في ذلك: أن القول قد يكون كفرا فيطلق القول بتكفير صاحبه ويقال من قال كذا فهو كافر لكن الشخص المعين الذي قاله لا يحكم بكفره حتى تقوم عليه الحجة التي يكفر تاركها» "The truth of the matter is that a statement may be considered Kufr, and it may be said that the one who utters such a statement is a disbeliever. However, the specific individual who made the statement is not to be declared a Kafir until the clear evidence is established against them, which proves that their rejection of the message would constitute Kufr." ____ القول الفصل في العذر بالجهل 26-27