A Study of Conceptual Attributes of Disbelief and Faith according to Salafists

The rules of Jihad, apostasy, takfir (excommunication), immigration, insulter of the Prophet (S) and so on, are laws to preserve the body of Islamic Shari'ah. Takfir, or the act of labeling others as heretics, has changed in the three periods of the history of Islam; it has changed from a law to defend Islam to a law against Muslims. Kharijites, Ibn Taymiyyah and Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab were the people responsible for creating these three phases. All three are literalists and hadith-oriented, indicating that they are far from ijtihadi juridical principles. The way Salafists have dealt with the verses and traditions and their perception of these two in trying to understand kufr (disbelief) have led to a different concept. This new concept has features such as the inclusion of a specific act in definition of disbelief, establishment of a self-related practical concept, equating all kinds of disbelief, concurrence between sins and disbelief, and the word kurf referring to legal and non-legal disbelief.  The new concept of disbelief is a kind of dangerous innovation broadening the concept of disbelief and constantly exacerbating and promoting the excommunication trend.