What is the response to a sequence that implies that one who commits major shirk is considered a disbeliever merely by the act, and that establishing proof against him is not a prerequisite for judging him a disbeliever, and that whoever does not declare him a disbeliever is himself a disbeliever, and that this ruling sequentially applies to whoever does not declare a disbeliever, and whoever does not declare a disbeliever someone who did not declare a disbeliever?

Shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the greatest of sins. Whoever dies upon it will abide eternally in Hellfire, as Allah Almighty says: "Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills," and as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever dies without associating anything with Allah will enter Paradise, and whoever dies associating something with Allah will enter Hellfire." Whoever does not declare the disbeliever whose disbelief is certain, such as Jews and Christians, to be a disbeliever, or doubts their disbelief, is himself a disbeliever. As for a Muslim who commits an act of disbelief out of ignorance or error, it is not permissible to declare him a disbeliever unless the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are met and the impediments to it are absent. One must be cautious about declaring Muslims disbelievers, for erring by admitting a thousand disbelievers into Islam is better than erring by expelling a single Muslim from Islam.