And Ibn Jarir – may Allah have mercy upon him has explained in his tafsir this meaning. He said, "And likewise is the saying regarding everyone who does not judge by what Allah has revealed, deliberately opposing it (jahidan bihi), then he is a disbeliever in Allah, as Ibn Abbas has said and this is because his opposition to the rule of Allah, after having the knowledge that He revealed it in his Book, is equal to the one who opposed the Prophethood of our Prophet after his knowledge that he is the Prophet."

And Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah says as occurs in al-Fatawa (vol 3/267-268), "And when a person declares to be lawful something that is haram and is unanimously agreed upon that it is haram, or who declared to be haram something that is unanimously agreed to be halal, or who replaced the legislation (baddal ash-Shar’), which is unanimously agreed upon, he is a disbeliever, apostate by the unanimous agreement of the jurists. And it is with regards to the likes of this, that the following was revealed, according to one of two opinions, "And whoever does not rule by what Allah has revealed then they are the disbelievers", meaning that he declares it to be permissible to rule by other than what Allah has revealed (huwal mustahillu lilhukm bighairi maa anzalallaahu)." End of his words.

And there are many other parts where he writes about istihlal and juhood and other such things.

And I will make clear the previous words through the words of Ibn al-Qayyim – may Allah have mercy upon him, in Madarij us-Salikin, he says in the first volume, page 163, said, "And it is correct that ruling by other than what Allah has revealed, can be both types of kufr, the minor and the major, so if he considers it to be obligatory to rule by what Allah has revealed in this instance and did not do it out of disobedience whilst acknowledging that he is deserving of punishment, then this is minor disbelief, and if he believed that it is not obligatory upon him and that he has a choice in the matter whilst having certainty that it is the ruling of Allah, then this is major disbelief. And if was ignorant of the matter and erred, then he is an errant one and his ruling is that of those who err."

And the narrations of the Salaf in this regard are very many, but we shall restrict ourselves to what has been mentioned.

Therefore do not be affected, O Sunni by what you hear of the application of the word al-Murji’ah to the one who speaks with all of the above, for that is the saying of the Ahl us-Sunnah – may Allah have mercy upon them, absolutely, [without exception].

So they say that ruling by other than what Allah has revealed can be both types of kufr, the minor disbelief and the major disbelief and this depends on the state and condition of the ruler. So if he rules by other than what Allah has revealed and acknowledges that he is sinful, that he is in error and he seeks forgiveness from Allah. And as for the one who resists and opposes the obligation to judge by what Allah has revealed and other such things then he has fallen into the major disbelief, may Allah protect us and you from this.

So this is just a small sample to illustrate the position of Ahl us-Sunnah, may Allah have mercy upon them in this issue.

What remains are some of the doubts that arise concerning this issue and we will deal with them next.

Amongst them are:

Some of the people use as proof the words of Imam Ishaq ibn Rahawaihah which are quoted by Ibn Abdul –Barr in at-Tamheed, and also Shaikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, in as-Sarim al-Maslul. Ishaq Ibn Rahawaih said, "The muslims are agreed that the one who reviled Allah, or His Messenger or repelled anything that Allah revealed that he is a disbeliever on account of that, even if he affirms (muqirran) everything that Allah revealed."

These words from Ishaq are true, there is no doubt in these words and none from the Scholars of Ahl us-Sunnah differ with him regarding this.