Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2635
حَدَّثَنَا مَحْمُودُ بْنُ غَيْلاَنَ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ زُبَيْدٍ، عَنْ أَبِي وَائِلٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " سِبَابُ الْمُسْلِمِ فُسُوقٌ وَقِتَالُهُ كُفْرٌ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ . وَمَعْنَى هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ قِتَالُهُ كُفْرٌ لَيْسَ بِهِ كُفْرًا مِثْلَ الاِرْتِدَادِ عَنِ الإِسْلاَمِ وَالْحُجَّةُ فِي ذَلِكَ مَا رُوِيَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَّهُ قَالَ " مَنْ قُتِلَ مُتَعَمَّدًا فَأَوْلِيَاءُ الْمَقْتُولِ بِالْخِيَارِ إِنْ شَاءُوا قَتَلُوا وَإِنْ شَاءُوا عَفَوْا " . وَلَوْ كَانَ الْقَتْلُ كُفْرًا لَوَجَبَ الْقَتْلُ وَلَمْ يَصِحَّ الْعَفْوُ وَقَدْ رُوِيَ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ وَطَاوُسٍ وَعَطَاءٍ وَغَيْرِ وَاحِدٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ قَالُوا كُفْرٌ دُونَ كُفْرٍ وَفُسُوقٌ دُونَ فُسُوقٍ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud reported that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Insulting a Muslim is sinful disobedience, and fighting him is disbelief.’ Abu ‘Isa said: ‘This hadith is hasan sahih.’ He explained: ‘Calling fighting him disbelief does not mean disbelief like apostasy from Islam. The evidence is the Prophet’s statement: “If someone is killed deliberately, the slain person’s guardians may choose: if they wish, they may kill [the murderer]; if they wish, they may forgive.” If killing were disbelief, execution would be required and forgiveness would not be valid.’ Ibn ‘Abbas, Tawus, ‘Ata, and more than one scholar said: ‘It is disbelief less than [major] disbelief, and sinful disobedience less than [major] sinful disobedience.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source explicitly distinguishes the kufr of fighting from apostasy and gives the legal argument and early scholars’ formulation ‘disbelief less than disbelief.’ This qualification is central to interpreting the hadith.