Nullifier 9 Believing Someone Is Above the Sharī'ah: Nawāqiḍ al-Islām

The Arabic Text of the Nullifier

التَّاسِعُ: مَنِ اعْتَقَدَ أَنَّ بَعْضَ النَّاسِ يَسَعُهُ الخُرُوجُ عَنْ شَرِيعَةِ مُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ كَمَا وَسِعَ الخَضِرَ الخُرُوجُ عَنْ شَرِيعَةِ مُوسَى عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام فَهُوَ كَافِر "The ninth: whoever believes that it is permissible for some people to leave the Sharīʿah of Muḥammad ﷺ as al-Khaḍir was permitted to leave the Sharīʿah of Mūsā (peace be upon him) is a disbeliever."

The Argument Being Refuted The al-Khaḍir Claim

This nullifier directly targets a specific belief found primarily among extreme Sufi circles and gnostic claimants. They cite Sūrat al-Kahf 18:65–82: al-Khaḍir appeared to violate Mūsā's Sharīʿah (he killed a child, damaged a ship, rebuilt a wall without payment). Their argument: al-Khaḍir was exempt from Mūsā's law because of his higher spiritual level similarly, a true walī may be exempt from Muḥammad's Sharīʿah once he reaches "certainty" (yaqīn) or "annihilation" (fanāʾ).

Al-Fawzān's Four-Point Refutation

Al-Khaḍir was operating under direct divine instruction (waḥy) not acting independently of all divine law. He was not exempt from law; he was operating under a different divine directive specific to that mission.
The Sharīʿah of Muḥammad ﷺ is universal, final, and abrogates all previous Sharīʿahs. Even if one accepts al-Khaḍir's exemption from Mūsā's Sharīʿah, this proves nothing about exemption from the final revelation.
The Qurʾān explicitly says: "And worship your Lord until certainty (yaqīn meaning death) comes to you" (al-Ḥijr 15:99). Al-Fawzān: "Yaqīn here means death not a spiritual state." Obligations continue until death.
The Prophet ﷺ himself the most certain and the highest in spiritual station of all creation never ceased a single obligation. His example is the definitive refutation.

The Practical Manifestations

Al-Fawzān identifies the forms this belief takes in practice:

The claim that awliyāʾ at high spiritual stations are released from ṣalāh: "The prayer is for those who are still striving the one who has arrived has no veil and needs no formal worship." Al-Fawzān: this is the ninth nullifier.
The claim that fasting and ritual obligations are for beginners: That the advanced spiritual traveller has transcended them.
The claim of permission for ḥarām acts by virtue of one's station some Ṣūfī orders hold that a true shaykh in the state of fanāʾ is above legal categories.
Modern "spiritual but not religious" Muslims who informally hold that deep personal spirituality exempts them from outward obligations al-Fawzān notes this informal version is also covered.

Quranic Proofs

﴿وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ اليَقِين﴾ Al-Ḥijr 15:99 "And worship your Lord until certainty (yaqīn i.e., death) comes to you." addressed to the Prophet ﷺ, the highest of all creation: no station releases anyone from worship.

﴿الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي﴾ Al-Māʾidah 5:3 "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed my favour upon you." the Sharīʿah is complete; no person's spiritual state can render it inapplicable to them.

﴿وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ﴾ Āl ʿImrān 3:85 "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam it will not be accepted from him, and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter."

Al-Fawzān's Key Statement

لَا يَجُوزُ لِأَحَدٍ أَنْ يَعْتَقِدَ أَنَّهُ فِي غِنًى عَنِ الشَّرِيعَةِ لِأَنَّهُ وَصَلَ إِلَى مَقَامِ اليَقِين وَالنَّبِيُّ ﷺ أَعْلَى النَّاسِ يَقِينًا وَهُوَ أَشَدُّهُمْ تَمَسُّكًا بِالشَّرِيعَة "It is not permissible for anyone to believe that he is free from the Sharīʿah because he has reached the station of certainty. The Prophet ﷺ had the highest certainty of all people and he was the most rigorous of them in adhering to the Sharīʿah."