Khuturat al-Tasarru fi al-Takfir wa al-Qiyam bi al-Tafjir wa ma Yansha anhumma min Safk li al-Dima wa Takhrib li al-Munshaat
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- The book is published on the website of the Saudi Ministry of Awqaf without data
Khuturat al-Tasarru fi al-Takfir wa al-Qiyam bi al-Tafjir wa ma Yansha anhumma min Safk li al-Dima wa Takhrib li al-Munshaat (The Danger of Rushing into Takfir, Carrying Out Bombings, and the Resulting Bloodshed and Destruction of Facilities) is an official legal declaration and treatise issued by the Council of Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia in 1419 AH (1998 CE) concerning the theological limits of excommunication (takfir) and the legal prohibition of bombings and acts of destruction .
Background and Authorship
The treatise was drafted during the forty-ninth ordinary session of the Council of Senior Scholars, convened in Ta'if starting in Safar 1419 AH (June 1998 CE) . It was formulated in response to the spread of extremist takfir, bombings, civilian casualties, and property destruction occurring in several Muslim and non-Muslim countries, with the stated aim of clarifying Islamic rulings and removing conceptual misunderstandings .
The document was signed under the leadership of the Council's chairman, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baz, and twenty members of the council, including Salih ibn Muhammad al-Luhaydan, Abd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn Mani, Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah Al al-Shaykh, Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Turki, Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ghudayyan, Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan, and Bakr ibn Abd Allah Abu Zayd . It was subsequently published in the scholarly journal Majallat al-Buhuth al-Islamiyyah (Issue 56, pp. 357–362) .
Content and Arguments
The text is organized into three primary sections detailing the legal and theological boundaries of takfir and political violence:
- The Principles of Excommunication (Takfir): The Council asserts that takfir is strictly a legal ruling (hukm shar'i) reserved for God and His Messenger, comparable to rulings of permissibility and prohibition, and cannot be established based on conjecture, suspicion, or ambiguous evidence . Like prescribed legal penalties (hudud), takfir is warded off by doubt . The text notes that not every act or utterance termed disbelief in scriptural texts constitutes major disbelief (kufr akbar) that expels a person from the religion, as individual circumstances may involve legal impediments (mawani'), such as coercion, extreme emotional distress, or lack of intent . The Council further emphasizes that applying takfir precipitously to rulers without unequivocal, verifiable scriptural proof (kufr bawwah) leads to rebellion, bloodshed, and societal chaos .
- Prohibition of Violence, Bombings, and Destruction: The treatise states that acts stemming from erroneous ideology—such as declaring blood permissible, violating honor, confiscating property, bombing homes and vehicles, and sabotaging public infrastructure—are strictly forbidden (muharram) by Islamic consensus (ijma') . It cites prophetic traditions underscoring the sanctity of life, property, and honor established during the Farewell Pilgrimage, as well as scriptural prohibitions against harming protected non-Muslims (mu'ahidun) .
- Disavowal of Extremism: The declaration concludes by proclaiming that Islam is entirely free of these deviant ideologies and acts of sabotage . It characterizes the bombings and shedding of innocent blood as criminal actions borne of deviant thought (fikr munharif) and misguided belief (aqidah dallah), which must be attributed solely to their perpetrators rather than to Islam or Muslims who adhere to the Quran and Sunnah .
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