The meaning given to Takfir by many people is “making Takfir on Muslims” or “labeling a Muslim as kafir”.
But the true meaning of Takfir is declaring someone who does not come with Asludeen, and hence can’t be a muslim -despite of that he himself thinks he is a muslim- kafir and treating this person like a kafir has to be treatend.
Takfir is a part of kalimat shahadah ‘la ilaha’. With no doubt just as the devoid of rejecting the taghout, will barricade the ‘la ilaha’ part of kalimat shahada from executing; the rejection of taghout begins with making takfir upon the taghout.
Every Muslim must know what invalidates iman and the types of kufr and shirk. For this reason Allah (swt) has explained in His ayah; the path of the kuffar and all types of kufr and shirk; until, we are able to keep distant from them and those who act upon them. “Thus do We explain the signs in detail: that the way of the sinners may be shown up.” (Anam 6/55)
Also the rejection of taghout is a necessity of iman and its wellbeing: “Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects taghout and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks.” (Baqara 2/256)
As we have stated before the rejection of taghout necessitates making takfir and keeping distant from it: “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger, (with the Command), “Serve Allah, and eschew Tagout” (Nahl 16/36)
The rejection of taghout means: the belief that the ibadah made to any other but Allah is invalid, not to perform ibadah to any other but Allah, to have enmity (curse) those which ibadah is performed to other than Allah, to make takfir upon those who perform ibadah to any other but Allah and to be their enemy.
The foundation and principle of the Deen of Islam is in two matters
Firstly: Commanding the worshipping (directing of every type of Ibadah) to Allah (swt) alone without any partner, encouragement upon this, making friendship for its sake, and making Takfir of whosever leaves it.
Secondly: Abandoning Shirk (joining partners) in Ibadah to Allah (swt) and warning from it, being severely harsh upon this, being hostile for its sake and making Takfir of whosoever does it.
Here are a few ayahs that explain how the prophets and the mu’minun made takfir upon the kafir and how they separated from their path:
Muhammad (saw)
“Say: O unbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.” (Kafiroon)
“If thou dost question them, they declare (with emphasis): “We were only talking idly and in play.” Say: “Was it at Allah, and His Signs, and His Messenger, that ye were mocking?” Make ye no excuses: ye have rejected Faith after ye had accepted it. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you, for that they are in sin.” (Tawbah 65-66)
“In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary.” (Maeda 17)
“They do blaspheme who say: “Allah is Christ the son of Mary.”” (Maeda72)
“They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity” (Maeda73)
“Oh you who believe! Whoever from among you apostatizes from his religion (Islam), Allah will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him” (Maeda 54)
Noah (as)
“But the chiefs of the Unbelievers among his people said: “We see (in) thee nothing but a man like ourselves: Nor do we see that any follow thee but the meanest among us, in judgment immature: Nor do we see in you (all) any merit above us: in fact we thing ye are liars!” He said: “O my people! See ye if (it be that) I have a Clear Sign from my Lord, and that He hath sent Mercy unto me from His own presence, but that the Mercy hath been obscured from your sight? shall we compel you to accept it when ye are averse to it? “And O my people! I ask you for no wealth in return: my reward is from none but Allah: But I will not drive away (in contempt) those who believe: for verily they are to meet their Lord, and ye I see are the ignorant ones!” (Hud 27-29)
Ibrahim (as)
“There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: “We are clear of you and of whatever ye worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever,- unless ye believe in Allah and Him alone” (Mumtahina 4)
“Lo! Abraham said to his father Azar: “Takest thou idols for gods? For I see thee and thy people in manifest error.” (Anam 74)
Yusuf (as)
“I have (I assure you) abandoned the ways of a people that believe not in Allah and that (even) deny the Hereafter.” (Yusuf 37)
Ashab-al Kahf
“These our people have taken for worship gods other than Him: why do they not bring forward an authority clear (and convincing) for what they do? Who doth more wrong than such as invent a falsehood against Allah?” (Kahf15)
Pharaoh, Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl and others were deemed Kaafir in the Qur’aan and it is therefore obligatory upon every Muslim to affirm this and believe they were disbelievers.
In siyar and the history of Islam there are many uncountable examples regarding making takfir and the separation from the kuffar. A few of them are listed beneath as an example:
It was reported in the sahihayn that RasulAllah (saw) said about the Khawarij, “Wherever you see them kill them. If I reach their time, I will kill them like the people of ‘Aad”
RasulAllah (saw) commanded to execute a man who committed apostasy by marrying the wife of his father.
RasulAllah (saw) said: “Whoever changes his deen, kill him.”
Abu Bakr (ra) fought those who refused to pay him Zakaat during the wars of Riddah and declared them apostates.
These are a few incidents of Umar (ra) and his passion to put takfir directly and to behead for the sake of Islam.
With Hatib ibn Abi Balta’ah (ra) when he attempted to send the letter to the Makkans about the RasulAllah’s preparations (saw).
With the man who came to the RasulAllah (saw) at Al-Ji’rana after Battle of Hunayn and told him “be just!”
With ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Ubayy ibn Salool when he said “If we return to al-Madinah, the more honored [for power] will surely expel there from the more humble.” (al Munafiqun 63/8)
Another incident occurred when a Muslim and Jewish man went to the RasulAllah (saw) to settle a dispute; RasulAllah’s (saw) opinion sided with the Jew. The Muslim man wanted to get another opinion and went to Umar (ra). After Umar (ra) heard of the man not accepting RasulAllah’s (saw) decision, he unsheathed his sword and chopped the man’s head off.
Those who claimed that ‘Ali (ra) was god were killed and burned alive by ‘Ali (ra) himself.
Jahm bin Safwaan, Ibn Dirham, Hallaj, Ibn Arabi were called Kafirs as well as rafidhi Shiites, batinis etc by the salaf as saleheen of this ummah.
It must be known that takfir is a hukm of the shariah. All hukm regarding the worldly life and the life in Akhirah are built upon the issues iman and kufr; and takfir is one of the issues of iman and takfir. Many hukm such as walayah, the duty of imam, nikah (marriage), retaliation, blood and diyah, funerals, jurisdictions, war, jihad, al wala and al bara etc. are all constructed on the hukm of iman and kufr; in other words they are all assembled according to whether or not individuals are Muslim or kafir. Only regarding the importance of the issue of the duty of the imam; Gazali (who was himself a kafir) states “It is wajeeb for each Muslim to know the condition of the administrator who is the ruler.” (al-Mustasfa)
The explanation of this statement is that takfir is a hukm of shariah. Just like other hukm of shariah, it also carries conditions. As long as these conditions exsist it is not only permisable to make takfir upon the kuffar, but it is a duty. Infact, scholars have clearly stated and described that not making takfir upon the kuffar whose kufr is definite and constant, to have doubts about their path; is deviation.
Hence we regard as a kafir everyone who follows a religion other than the religion of the Muslims, or who agrees with them, or who has doubts, or who says that their way is correct, even if he appears to be a Muslim and believes in Islam and that every other way is false, he is a kafir.
Whoever does not –takfir- hold the mushriks to be disbelievers, or has doubts about their disbelief or considers their ways and beliefs to be correct, has committed disbelief.
There are many individuals who have not made shirk but they have not stayed distant from the mushrik either. For this reason they are not Muslim, they have not followed the deen the Rasul have informed.
How can making takfir be only the duty of the qadi when it is fard upon all members of the ummah and a necessity of iman? The principle of Islam concerning this matter can be summarized as: “We are only supposed to judge according to the zaheer (the outward appearance/apparent/external); as for the Bateen (hidden/internal), then that is not known to anyone except Allah (awj) alone.”
‘Umar (ra) explained this issue, “Indeed the people used to be judged according to the revelation during the time of Muhammad (saw) and indeed the revelation has come to an end. So now we only judge you according to whatever the zaheer (external appearance) of your actions is. So whosoever appears to be righteous (Muslim), then we will give him safety and befriend him – and we have no obligation regarding the affairs of his heart (such as love, hatred, Istihlaal), and only Allah (swt) will judge his heart. And whosoever appears to be evil (kafir, murtadd), then we will not give him safety, nor will we trust him – even if he says [verbally] that his heart is righteous (Muslim).” (Bukhari)
Takfir is a hukm of shariah and there are some hukm built upon takfir. An example for this would be the belongings and blood of the individual which takfir is made upon becoming halal. The inheritance (left from the kafir) will not be left to the Muslim but it will be given to the bayt ul mal. And he (the kafir) can not take share of interitance from the Muslim. When he (the kafir) dies funeral salah will not be performed on him and he will not be buried in the Muslim cemetery. For all of these hukm to take place, in darul Islam the duty of takfir belongs especially to the qadi. Infact an individual who has been given the hukm kafir by the scholars can not be treated like a murtad.
However along with all of this just because one does not carry the strength to persue the outcome of takfir upon the kafir it does not necessitate that the kuffar are not made takfir upon. The scholars of fiqh have especially stated that “The possibility is that, due to impossibility it will not be invalidated.”
The fact that we do not have the power to prevent these deviations to occur or to punish as a result of deviation, does not mean that it will prevent us from stating these are acts of deviation and to see what they do as deviation.
In todays world just because we do not have the power to instigate the hadd (punishments) of Islam, it does not mean that we can not or should not say those who have commited crimes to deserve punishment that they have gone astray and that have sinned and have commited haram.