Is it possible to bring the religions closer together?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: In these days, a group of people have appeared who call for bringing the religions closer together and cooperating to combat atheism, corruption, and the worship of the Lord. Is that possible?
Answer:
I do not know. Can the one who says "There is no god but Allah" be with the one who says that Allah is the third of three? That is not possible. But if they do not attack us and do not harm us, we leave them alone, provided they do not attack us and do not harm us, and we negotiate with them on that basis.
So we leave them alone, and their disbelief is confined to themselves. If that is the case—that they do not attack the Muslims and do not harm the Muslims, and the Muslims leave them alone—then there is no objection to that, even though the Muslims currently do not do anything. But if that is what is intended, there is no objection to it. This is from the category of truce. This would be from the category of truce. As for our approving their religion...
Meaning, we accept their religion and consider it a valid religion. That is false and not permissible. It is not possible. They say that Allah is the third of three,[Ali 'Imran 3:181] they insult Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and distort the words of Allah, and we validate their religion? But if they restrain their evil from the Muslims, we leave them alone. In fact, Allah has commanded kindness to those who do not harm the Muslims, [Al-Mumtahanah 60:8] in terms of dealing with them. It is not from the category of us accepting their religion and validating their religion. It is from the category of "yes." I ask Allah for you... the sky and the matters.
This was from the category of negotiating with them to restrain their evil from the Muslims, so there is no harm in that. Yes. But if it is to validate their religion and place it alongside Islam, that is false and not permissible. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: In these days, a group of people have appeared who call for bringing the religions closer together and cooperating to combat atheism, corruption, and the worship of the Lord. Is that possible?
Answer:
I do not know. Can the one who says "There is no god but Allah" be with the one who says that Allah is the third of three? That is not possible. But if they do not attack us and do not harm us, we leave them alone, provided they do not attack us and do not harm us, and we negotiate with them on that basis.
So we leave them alone, and their disbelief is confined to themselves. If that is the case—that they do not attack the Muslims and do not harm the Muslims, and the Muslims leave them alone—then there is no objection to that, even though the Muslims currently do not do anything. But if that is what is intended, there is no objection to it. This is from the category of truce. This would be from the category of truce. As for our approving their religion...
Meaning, we accept their religion and consider it a valid religion. That is false and not permissible. It is not possible. They say that Allah is the third of three,
Indeed, Allah is poor, while we are rich.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ أَغْنِيَاءُAllah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them
لَّا يَنْهَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُخْرِجُوكُم مِّن دِيَارِكُمْ أَن تَبَرُّوهُمْ وَتُقْسِطُوا إِلَيْهِمْThis was from the category of negotiating with them to restrain their evil from the Muslims, so there is no harm in that. Yes. But if it is to validate their religion and place it alongside Islam, that is false and not permissible. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [1475- 4717] هل يمكن التقارب بين الأديان؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.