Dividing Muslims into practising and non-practising
Question

                I have questions regarding, the phrases "practitioner muslim" and "non practitioner muslim"? Here in Sweden the phrases, "practitioner muslim" and "non practitioner muslim" is used continuity. As when people receives the question are you a muslim?, the phrases "practitioner muslim" or "non practitioner muslim" is used. With the phrase "practitioner muslim" people mean that he/she beliefs in the Islamic "Deen", that is, believing in God, the prophets, the angels, the scriptures and the judgement day. Further with "practitioner muslim" people mean that he/she beliefs in the Islamic "Sharia", and that he/she most follow it and does so, for example the person, pray five times a day, fast in ramadan, pays zakat and so on. With "non practitioner muslim" people mean that he/she beliefs in the Islamic "Deen", that is, believing in God, the prophets, the angels, the scriptures and the judgement day. Further with "non practitioner muslim" people mean that he/she mostly do believe in the Islamic "Sharia", but he/she does not follow it, for example the person, do not pray five times a day, does not fast in ramadan, does not pay zakat, the woman does not wear Hidjab and so on. To my guestions. Can a person be a "practitioner muslim"? or "non practitioner muslim"? Is the terms legal/correct? Whom is a musli.
Praise be to Allah.The Muslim is the one who 
    believes in the six pillars of faith: He believes in Allaah, His angels, His 
    Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and the Divine will, both good and bad; 
    who utters the testimony of belief in Tawheed (Oneness of Allaah) to 
    proclaim his submission to Allaah alone with no partner or associate; and 
    follows the sharee’ah which was brought by the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him). 
Everyone who does that is a 
    Muslim, with the same rights and duties as all other Muslims, unless he 
    destroys his Islam by saying, doing or believing anything that implies kufr 
    and demolishes the pillars of faith that are established in his heart. 
But people vary in the 
    degree of their faith, just as they vary in the level of their adherence to 
    the rulings of Islam and following its commands. 
The Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that faith has many branches and 
    varying degrees, which means that the believers will vary in their degrees 
    according to the extent to which they follow these branches and levels.  
It was narrated that Abu 
    Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:  The Messenger of Allaah 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Faith has 
    seventy-odd – or sixty-odd – branches, the best of which is saying Laa 
    ilaaha ill-Allaah, and the least of which is removing something harmful from 
    the road, and modesty is a branch of faith.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (9) and 
    Muslim (35).  
In the Holy Qur’aan, people 
    are divided into three categories: the one who wrongs himself by sinning, 
    the one who is average in his adherence to  what is obligatory and avoidance 
    of what is forbidden, and the foremost in good deeds who regularly performs 
    naafil acts of worship and strives hard to attain high levels. Allaah says 
    (interpretation of the meaning): 
“Then We gave the Book 
    (the Qur’aan) as inheritance to such of Our slaves whom We chose (the 
    followers of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم). 
    Then of them are some who wrong their ownselves, and of them are some who 
    follow a middle course, and of them are some who are, by Allaah’s Leave, 
    foremost in good deeds. That (inheritance of the Qur’aan) ___ that is indeed 
    a great Grace”
[Faatir 35:32]
Division of people into 
    categories according to their obedience and adherence to the laws of Allaah 
    is something real and unavoidable, but calling people by those categories is 
    something which may vary. But in general these categories are acceptable and 
    correct. 
Although we do not see 
    anything basically wrong with this categorization, which includes calling 
    people practising or non-practising, we would like to draw attention to some 
    mistakes that have to do with the kind of categorizing that is common 
    nowadays. 
1.
It is not permissible to 
    limit the concept of “practising” or “being committed” to external matters 
    only, and apply this label only to one who has a beard and wears a thobe, 
    rather attention should be paid to complete adherence to Islam and correct 
    ‘aqeedah (belief). A good attitude and morals are the basic foundation of 
    this category. The thobe, beard and women’s hijabs are part of Islamic 
    teachings, but not everything; they are outward indications of religious 
    commitment which should be accompanied by inward commitment too. But this 
    required balance between inward and outward is lacking in more than a few 
    cases, unfortunately. Hence it is not permissible to use these 
    characteristics as a weapon to categorize people incorrectly. The one who 
    dislikes a person and calls him non-practising or uncommitted, and who likes 
    another person and describes him as practising or committed, intends thereby 
    to judge whether people are good or bad, when he is not qualified to do so, 
    rather he may be lacking in good character altogether. 
We have seen many examples 
    of this behaviour in many societies, in which Islamic terminology is used to 
    achieve personal gains. This is a phenomenon that is dangerous and must be 
    avoided by all. 
2.
With regard to using these 
    labels as a means of causing division among people, creating disputes among 
    them and stirring up disunity, this is an evil intention which is not 
    acceptable in sharee’ah, unless the person who is described as not being 
    religiously committed has gone to extremes in committing evil openly and 
    blatantly doing things which the Muslim scholars are unanimously agreed are 
    wrong; such a person may be described as a sinner and uncommitted or 
    non-practising. But we see that many people define as religious  commitment 
    things that they think are part of the religion but which may be matters 
    that are subject to ijtihaad, then they label people as religiously 
    committed or otherwise based on the scholarly view that they prefer, without 
    paying any attention to the actual difference of scholarly opinion 
    concerning this matter. This is also a serious mistake. 
Hence what we think is most 
    fair and just and farthest removed from dispute, and more safe before Allaah 
    is to describe people – when there is a legitimate need for further 
    description beyond simply calling a person a Muslim – by using clear and 
    specific words and not general words. For example, one may say: He prays 
    regularly, or he is of good character, or he reads Qur’aan. These attributes 
    are clear and specific, and express the fact that is being described, 
    without introducing personal opinion, or bearing the responsibility of 
    general words which may be motivated by greed or grudges. As for describing 
    someone as “religiously committed” or “practising”, these are general and 
    ambiguous words which require close scrutiny of the person described, 
    followed by honesty in judgement, which is rarely found nowadays. And it is 
    well known that most of people’s problems result from general, ambiguous 
    statements. 
And Allaah knows best.