After a certain souk organised by a community, the following sentiments were expressed by some who attended (attached).

Answer

T h e s t a t e m e n t : "Humanity before religiosity", is kufr. It clearly means that 'humanity' whatever the chap means by it - has preference and priority over Islam.

The Mufti's interpretation is not valid. If indeed the person has understood that humanity is something separate from religion, i.e. from Islam, then it confirms the person's kufr because he has placed 'humanity' before and above Islam.

Nothing is before Islam. Any attitude which is given preference to Islam is kufr.

Those who agree with the statement are also guilty of kufr.

The clear implication is that Islam is devoid of 'humanity', hence the need to place it before Islamic demands, namely, Taqwa and Taa-at, which the fellow described with the term 'religiosity'. In the context of Muslim understanding, 'religiosity' is Islam. Adherence to the tenets of islam is 'religiosity' which in the conception of the miscreant must be assigned a secondary role. It should not have prior importance. This is pure and indurate kufr with which the miscreant's heart is corrupted.

The mufti's brain is not operating smoothly. He has failed to take into consideration the circumstances and the scenario in which the statement was made. It was not a statement blurted out on the spur of the moment without application of the mind. The statement was disgorged by a faasiq who appears to have an aversion for the Sunnah, hence he derided the Deen with his shaitaani statement. It was a calculated insinuation against the Deen.

The term 'religiosity' in the context is not open to interpretation, especially such interpretation which accommodates a zindeeq. To safeguard the masses from kufr, even great Auliya who were paragons of Taqwa and the Haqq, were branded as 'kaafir' despite the Mufti being aware that the man was a great Wali. Hadhrat Ibn Arabi (Rahmatullah alayh) and Hadhrat Mansur Bin Hallaaj (Rahmatullah alayh) are just two examples of great Auliya who were branded 'kaafir' by other great Ulama and Auliya. This was necessitated by the imperative importance of safeguarding the masses from such statements of these Auliya which are beyond the scope of valid interpretation.

When a man drunk the left-over water of an Englishman, Hadhrat Shaikh Abdul Azeez Dehlawi (Rahmatullah alayh) ordered him to renew his Kalimah as well as his Nikah, despite being fully aware that the man had not committed kufr by drinking the water.

The local mufti to whom you have referred has failed to apply his mind constructively. He has read somewhere that according to Imaam Abu Hanifah (Rahmatullah alayh), if a statement has 99 possibilities of kufr and one possibility of Imaan, then it should be interpreted in favour of Imaan, and the person should not be branded a kaafir. While this is a fact, this mufti's vision has failed to traverse beyond the parameters of his nose. He needs to brighten his brains with Taqwa. Only then will he be able to better understand the application of the principles of the Shariah.

In the context of the zindeeq's utterance, 'religiosity' means nothing other than Islam. Thus the shaitaan was saying: Humanity is before Islam. And, 'humanity' in the context refers to some kuffaar concept. Islamic humanity is subservient to the Shariah. Advise the mufti sahib to place a halt on his intrusion into Shar'i affairs of this nature so that ignorant and unwary members of the community are not misguided by stupid interpretations which are the effects of mis-application of the brain.

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