Tawhid and shirk are opposite realities and can never unite or coexist in particular person, in this Deen legal terms (al-Asmaa‟ ash-Shar‟iyyah) are used for a person when they apply to him. A person will be called according to the deed which he does - by consensus, rationally, linguistically in all languages and according to the law of Islam. Hence, he who drinks will be called drinker, he who commits adultery will be called adulterer. He who worships something other than Allah will be called “worshipper of something other than Allah” (these expressions have been chosen in order to bring the reader closer to the meaning of these words in Arabic). Thus, he who commits Shirk will be called Mushrik and he who commits Kufr will be called Kaafir. One should not become puzzled concerning the matter of “Takfeer”. It is only possible to call someone a Kaafir after he has received the Message – upon this the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jama‟a are in agreement. |
