The Kufr of Making the Haram Halal

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The learned Habib Thaha ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad (q.s.), the father of Habib Ahmad Mashhur ibn Thaha al-Haddad (q.s.), who passed away, in Makkah, in 1995, said, “In our opinion, the one element in the statements and actions of ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab that makes his departure from the foundations of Islam unquestionable is the fact that he, without support of any generally accepted interpretation of Qur’an or sunnah, took matters in our religion necessarily well-known to be objects of haram, agreed upon by ijma’, and made them halal.  Furthermore, along with that, he disparaged the prophets, the Messengers, saints and the pious.  Willful disparagement of anyone failing under these categories of person is kufr according to the consensus reached by the four a’immah of the schools of Islamic law.” 

Examples of him making halal that which was haram include asking Muslims to repeat their shahadah by claiming they were mushrikin, or killing them.