What Is the Ruling on One Who Calls the Scholars of Deoband Kafirs?

Question

In Jalalabad, an old settlement, the Friday prayer has always been held, from ancient times to the present, in the largest congregational mosque of the town. For some time now, in a small neighbourhood mosque near the congregational mosque, a few men of innovatory belief — who call our elders kafirs and go so far as to say that whoever does not call the scholars of Deoband kafirs is a certain kafir, and who also hold that only they, who hold this belief, are Muslims, and that a Muslim’s prayer behind a kafir is…

Answer

One who calls the scholars of Deoband kafirs and regards no one but himself as a Muslim is himself in a dangerous state, for it is stated in the noble hadith that if a man calls someone a kafir and that person is in fact not a kafir, the kufr returns upon him himself.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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