Calling a Muslim a Kafir; Abusing a Scholar as an “Ox”

Question

(1) Bakr, without cause, by way of insult and contempt, abused a Muslim by calling him an apostate: “You are an apostate, a kafir; without renewing your marriage you cannot keep your wife with you.” If that man is not an apostate and his wife is not divorced, has Bakr become an apostate or not, and is his own wife divorced or not? (2) A scholar who is not a mujtahid, by his own analogy, mistakenly gave Zayd a fatwa, by acting on which Zayd suffered loss.

Answer

(1) Calling a Muslim a kafir and an apostate without a Shar‘i cause is kufr. So Bakr should be asked the reason — on what grounds he said so. Until that is verified, it is not correct to impose a ruling of kufr on anyone: [ar]لَا يُفْتَى بِكُفْرِ مُسْلِمٍ أَمْكَنَ حَمْلُ كَلَامِهِ عَلَى مَحْمَلٍ حَسَنٍ أَوْ كَانَ فِي كُفْرِهِ خِلَافٌ وَلَوْ رِوَايَةً ضَعِيفَةً[/ar] “No fatwa…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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