Nawāqiḍ al-Islām

Nawāqiḍ al-Islām The Nullifiers of Islam is one of the most studied foundational texts in Islamic creedal education worldwide. Written by the reformist Imam Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (1703–1792 CE), the matn enumerates the ten categories of act and belief that remove a person from the fold of Islam altogether, presenting them in a direct, unambiguous format that gives the student clear and actionable boundaries of faith.

This course studies the text through the authoritative explanation (sharḥ) of Sheikh Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān al-Fawzān a full member of the Council of Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia and the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Iftāʾ delivered as a series of recorded lessons and later transcribed and published as Durūs fī Sharḥ Nawāqiḍ al-Islām.

Sheikh al-Fawzān's explanation is distinguished by its methodical rigour, its grounding in primary Quranic and ḥadīth evidence, and its systematic treatment of each nullifier's scope and limits. Crucially, he addresses the critical principles that govern how the nullifiers are applied: the conditions under which takfīr may be declared (establishing proof, ruling out coercion, considering ignorance), the distinction between general takfīr of an act and specific takfīr of a named individual, and the role of qualified scholars in making such determinations. The sharḥ covers approximately twelve lessons and includes thirty-three summarising questions and answers.

Students who complete this course will know precisely what Islam forbids as a matter of creedal integrity, understand why these acts are so serious in Quranic and scholarly reasoning, and be equipped with the scholarly framework needed to engage with contemporary questions of aqeedah without falling into heedlessness or extremism.

Sheikh Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Fawzān (born c. 1933 CE / 1354 AH) is one of the most respected and prolific scholars in contemporary Sunni Islam. Born in al-Shamasiyyah in the al-Qaṣīm region of Saudi Arabia, he was raised as an orphan after his father died when he was young. He studied at the local school in al-Shamasiyyah before pursuing higher studies at the Colleges of Sharia and Arabic Language at Imam Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd Islamic University in Riyadh, from which he graduated in 1961 CE. He went on to complete his doctoral dissertation in fiqh on the Islamic rulings pertaining to food and drink.

Sheikh al-Fawzān has taught at multiple institutions including the College of Sharia, the Higher Institute for Judiciary (al-Maʿhad al-ʿĀlī lil-Qaḍāʾ), and the graduate faculties of Imam Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd Islamic University. He served for many years as Imam and Khaṭīb of the Prince Muṭʿib ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Mosque in Riyadh.

He is a full member of the Council of Senior Scholars (Hayʾat Kibār al-ʿUlamāʾ), a member of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Iftāʾ (Lajnat al-Dāʾimah lil-Buḥūth al-ʿIlmiyyah wal-Iftāʾ), and a member of the Islamic Fiqh Council of the Muslim World League (Rābiṭat al-ʿĀlam al-Islāmī). His legal opinions (fatāwā) and scholarly works are among the most widely consulted in the Sunni world today.

He has authored over two hundred works spanning aqeedah, fiqh, tafsīr, and Islamic ethics, including detailed explanations of the major foundational mutūn such as Nawāqiḍ al-Islām, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, and al-Uṣūl al-Thalātha. His explanations are known for their clarity, their grounding in Quranic and hadith evidence, and their practical application to contemporary issues facing Muslim communities.

Introduction The Importance and Context of the Text

• The biography and reformist mission of Imam Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb
• Why the nullifiers of Islam must be known by every Muslim
• Overview of Sheikh al-Fawzān's method of explanation
• The governing principle: takfīr is a ruling of the Sharīʿah, not a personal judgement

Nullifier 1 Shirk: Associating Partners with Allah (الشرك)

• Calling upon the dead, saints, or jinn alongside or instead of Allah
• Seeking intercession at graves, shrines, or through amulets (tamāʾim)
• Proof: Qurʾān 4:116 Allah does not forgive shirk; He forgives lesser than that to whom He wills
• Shirk as the sin for which no forgiveness is possible if one dies in its state

Nullifier 2 Prohibited Intermediaries in Worship (اتخاذ الوسائط)

• Setting up created beings as intermediaries with Allah in worship and supplication (duʿāʾ)
• The distinction between this and the permitted tawassul: by one's own righteous deeds, by calling on Allah through His names and attributes, by asking a living righteous person to make duʿāʾ
• Proof: Qurʾān 39:3 those who take intermediaries claim proximity to Allah, but Allah condemns this

Nullifier 3 Not Declaring the Mushrikūn as Non-Muslims (عدم تكفير المشركين)

• Refusing to regard those clearly established as mushrikūn as outside the fold of Islam
• Doubting that their worship of others besides Allah constitutes kufr
• Considering the path of the polytheists valid or equally acceptable
• Sheikh al-Fawzān's clarification: this applies to those clearly proven mushrikūn not to accusing Muslims

Nullifier 4 Preferring Other Guidance Over the Prophet's (الإعتقاد بأكملية هدى غيره)

• Believing any man-made system of law or governance is more complete or more just than what the Prophet ﷺ brought
• Three levels distinguished by Sheikh al-Fawzān: (1) believing man-made law is better outright kufr; (2) permitting it out of expediency while knowing it is wrong major sin; (3) applying it in one domain without the belief of superiority may be major sin or lesser kufr depending on the case
• Proof: Qurʾān 5:50 do they seek the judgement of jāhiliyyah? Who is better in judgement than Allah for a people with certainty?

Nullifier 5 Hating Anything the Prophet Brought (بغض شيء مما جاء به الرسول)

• Harbouring hatred for any obligation, prohibition, or teaching established by the Prophet ﷺ even if one still outwardly acts upon it
• Examples: hating the obligation of ḥijāb, hating the rules of jihād, hating the commands of ṣalāh
• Proof: Qurʾān 47:9 that is because they hated what Allah revealed, so He rendered their deeds worthless

Nullifier 6 Mocking the Religion (الاستهزاء بالدين)

• Ridiculing Allah, the Qurʾān, the Prophet ﷺ, or any established matter of the religion
• The ruling applies whether done seriously or "jokingly"
• Proof: Qurʾān 9:65–66 if you ask them, they say "we were only jesting and playing"; say: was it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?
• Includes mockery of worshippers, the beard, ḥijāb, or any religious practice

Nullifier 7 Sorcery (السحر)

• Practising sorcery (siḥr) in any form including learning it, commissioning it, or facilitating it
• ʿAzīmah (spells), tying knots (naffāthāt), and love/hate magic all fall under this
• The ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ: sorcery is among the seven destroyers (al-sabʿ al-mūbiqāt)
• Proof: Qurʾān 2:102 and they followed what the devils recited; they teach sorcery to the people
• Distinction: astrology as a cause-and-effect belief (shirk/kufr) vs. using stars for navigation (permitted)

Nullifier 8 Supporting the Polytheists Against the Muslims (مظاهرة المشركين)

• Aiding and allying with the polytheists in warfare against the Muslims
• Sheikh al-Fawzān's distinction: this concerns active military support in hostilities not trade, normal relations, or employment
• Proof: Qurʾān 5:51 do not take the Jews and Christians as close allies; whoever allies with them is one of them
• The conditions for this nullifier: knowledge, free choice, and the intent to support kufr against Islam

Nullifier 9 Believing Someone Is Permitted to Leave the Sharīʿah (اعتقاد حل الخروج عن شريعة محمد)

• Believing that any person no matter how spiritually elevated may be exempt from the obligations and prohibitions of the Sharīʿah of Muḥammad ﷺ
• The Ṣūfī claim that the awliyāʾ at high spiritual stations are no longer bound by outward worship
• Proof: Qurʾān 15:99 and worship your Lord until certainty (death) comes to you
• The Prophet ﷺ himself was the most obedient to the Sharīʿah no one is above it

Nullifier 10 Turning Away from the Religion of Allah (الإعراض عن دين الله)

• A complete turning away from Islam neither learning its fundamentals nor acting upon what one knows
• This is distinct from sin and disobedience; it is a total disengagement from the religion
• Proof: Qurʾān 32:22 and who is more unjust than one who is reminded of the āyāt of his Lord but turns away from them?

Cross-Cutting Principles from Sheikh al-Fawzān's Sharḥ

• The conditions for applying takfīr to a specific individual: the proof must be established (iqāmat al-ḥujjah); there must be no coercion (ikrāh based on Qurʾān 16:106 regarding the compelled utterance of kufr)
• The distinction between general takfīr (condemning a category of action as kufr) and specific takfīr (judging a named individual as having left Islam) the former is clear from Quran and Sunnah; the latter requires scholarly determination
• The role of qualified scholars (not individuals) in adjudicating cases of suspected apostasy
• The excuse of ignorance (jahl): it may be accepted in complex juristic matters but not in clear and widely-known fundamentals
• The purpose of studying the nullifiers: not as tools for attacking other Muslims, but as protective boundaries the believer knows and guards for themselves
• Summary of 33 questions and answers (al-asʾilah wal-ajwibah) that Sheikh al-Fawzān appended to consolidate understanding of all ten nullifiers