Takfeer And The Scholars In The Past
The concept of Takfir is an innovation in religion which is against the clear directives of both Quran and Hadith. The word “ Takfir ” and the underlying concept are both alien to the sources of Islam and early scholarship was well aware of this fact. The concept emerged from “ Kahwarij ” when they separated from the group of Ali (rta) and declared all other groups as disbelievers. We find statements of early Islamic scholars like Ahmed bin Hanbal (d:241H), Ibn-e-Hazm (d:456H) and Imam Ghazali (d:505H) which talk against this concept the way it is being used now a days. It is Ibn-e-Taimiyya (d:728H) who then redefined this terminology and applied it on ruling Mongols of that time because of their customary law (i.e. Yasa Code ) which was developed by Genghis Khan. In recent times, we have names like Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab (d:1206H), Syed Qutab (d:1399H), Molana Modudi (d:1979) where this concept has evolved and redefined in one way or another. Its extreme form in recent times can be seen as done by Daesh (ISIS). The attached paper expounds on the evolution of the concept of Takfir among Muslims and it becomes evident that earlier scholars have never used this concept the way it is being used now a days.