Hujjat al-Islam Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali d. 505 a.h [may Allah have mercy upon him.] said:
“Thus, if you see a scholar of law wading into declaring others infidels and misguided, shun him and do not busy your heart nor tongue with him! Indeed, provocations in knowledge are from people’s nature, and the ignorant one is not able to exercise patience with it. And because of this, differences have multiplied amongst people. And if the knowledge was forcefully taken from the ignorant, then differences would subside.”
Al-Hafidh al-Dhahabi [may Allah have mercy upon him] states, “I heard our Sheikh, Ibn Taymiyyah d. 728 a.h [may Allah have mercy upon him], say towards the end of his life, “I will never declare anyone from the people of the Qiblah (Muslim direction of prayer) as an infidel.”
