Please comment on the endorsement of Mufti Taqi Uthmani Saheb of the Amman Message wherein all Shias are endorsed as muslims and there being no possibility of Takfir against them.
Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatoh
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Recently we have received a couple of queries regarding the views of Respected Hazrat Mufti Taqi Uthmani Saheb daamat barakatuhum about “Amman Message”. It states:
“Whosoever is an adherent to one of the four Sunni schools (Mathahib) of Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i and Hanbali), the two Shi’i schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Ja`fari and Zaydi), the Ibadi school of Islamic jurisprudence and the Thahiri school of Islamic jurisprudence, is a Muslim. Declaring that person an apostate is impossible and impermissible”
The website promotes that more than 500 reputable authorities have endorsed this declaration. Many laymen have accepted it as a unanimous consensus of the Ulama. (Ijmaa). We wish to say that this is indeed not the case and even Mufti Taqi Uthmani’s endorsement is not in its totality of this “Amman Message”.
The same website which has posted the endorsement of Hazrat Mufti Taqi Saheb has also posted his seven page fatwa in this regard. We are surprised as to why has this fatwa not been translated into English for the common readers. This Fatwa shows the accurate stance of Mufti Saheb. On page 3 of this fatwa Hazrat Mufti Saheb categorizes those Madhahîb who claim to be Muslim into 3 distinct groups. In the first of these three groups Hazrat Mufti Saheb says,
“First type: Are those who claim to be Muslim, but reject something which has been necessarily known to be from the religion. They hold firmly, for example, that the Prophethood is continued after Nabi Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and they believe in the prophethood of one of the Dajjals who has claimed prophethood after our Noble Prophet, seal of the prophethood sallallahu alayhi wasallam, like the Qadîyânîs; or they hold firmly that the Noble Quran which we have today is changed, Al’Iyaazubillah. And that our Quraan is not the real on, like what some of the extremists among the Shîas say; or they hold firmly (in the aqeeda of ) Aloohiya or some of the specific attributes of it being in one of the humans, like what is attributed to Alawiyeen(Alawis) and others besides them. Then these all are not Muslims and it is necessary to make Takfir of them.
From the above we understand adequately that Mufti Saheb has not endorsed the Amman Message in its totality, though he has elaborated the Sharii stance of Takfeer. This first category includes those upon whom takfeer can be made, rather it is necessary. To this category Hazrat Mufti Saheb makes one more addition. On page 5 of his fatwa Hazrat Mufti Taqi Saheb says that those self claimed Sufîs, who negate any of the important Aqaîd or reject the commands of Sharia and concoct baseless ruling with no grounds in Quran and Sunnah, are also added to the first category. That is to say, takfir will be necessary upon them as well.
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Darul Iftaa, Madrassah Inaamiyyah