What is the criteria considered by scholars in making Takfeer?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds.  I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The decision of making Takfeer is up to Allaah The Almighty and His Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam . In other words, no one is permitted to identify a word, act or belief as disbelief unless there is some evidence from the Quran or Sunnah that supports this.

Takfeer is a very serious issue that results in extremely serious consequences; the apostate is to be killed, his marriage is to be invalidated, he is not to be inherited from, he has no right to inheritance and he is not to be buried in Muslim graveyards.

Hence, Takfeer must be only assigned to trusted scholars who are aware of the real meanings and indications of words. There could be excuses that are valid under the Sharee‘ah like the ignorance that common people have and other matters. A man, for example, may say, do or believe in something that results in apostasy but still cannot be judged as a disbeliever because of a Sharee‘ah-acceptable excuse like ignorance, coercion or misinterpretation.

These excuses vary according to the time and place and according to the issue itself and the degree of clarity of its proof.

Allaah Knows best.