The ruling on fighting among Muslims in defense of the truth
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah preserve you. This questioner says: If the fighting is between two Muslim groups, that is not permissible, but if one of the groups is fighting in defense of the truth, is this fighting permissible?
Answer:
This is fighting the people of armed rebellion. Yes, it is permissible to fight the rebels, even if they are Muslims. In fact, it is obligatory to fight the rebels and the Khawarij in order to prevent their harm from reaching the Muslims. Even though they are Muslims in themselves, this is to stop their aggression against the Muslims. Yes, they are fought only to the extent necessary to prevent their harm from reaching the Muslims. Then they are left alone. Yes.
May Allah preserve you. This questioner says: If the fighting is between two Muslim groups, that is not permissible, but if one of the groups is fighting in defense of the truth, is this fighting permissible?
Answer:
This is fighting the people of armed rebellion. Yes, it is permissible to fight the rebels, even if they are Muslims. In fact, it is obligatory to fight the rebels and the Khawarij in order to prevent their harm from reaching the Muslims. Even though they are Muslims in themselves, this is to stop their aggression against the Muslims. Yes, they are fought only to the extent necessary to prevent their harm from reaching the Muslims. Then they are left alone. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [136/186] حكم قتال المسلمين بعضهم دفاعاً عن الحق - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.