A Response to Those Who Say That Applying the Shari'ah Does Not Produce a Righteous Society
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is your view of the one who says that ruling by the Shari'ah does not necessarily result in a righteous society? He cites our country, which rules by the Shari'ah, and says that despite this, there is riba (usury or interest) in it, along with other evils and narcotics.
Answer:
This is an ignorant person, or a fool? My brother, in the era of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he ruled by the Shari'ah and established the hudud (fixed Qur'anic punishments), yet there were those in his time who stole, committed zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), and drank khamr (intoxicants). They existed in his era (peace and blessings be upon him), even though he was upholding the Shari'ah of Allah and enforcing the hudud. So, they exist in the Muslim society, but, praise be to Allah, the Shari'ah is applied to them, and the society is purified of them.
But this person has doubt and suspicion regarding the Shari'ah, may Allah protect us from that. Or he wants to diminish the application of the Shari'ah. It is not necessary that ruling by the Shari'ah means that people become one hundred percent righteous or that there are no criminals among them. That does not happen. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is your view of the one who says that ruling by the Shari'ah does not necessarily result in a righteous society? He cites our country, which rules by the Shari'ah, and says that despite this, there is riba (usury or interest) in it, along with other evils and narcotics.
Answer:
This is an ignorant person, or a fool? My brother, in the era of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he ruled by the Shari'ah and established the hudud (fixed Qur'anic punishments), yet there were those in his time who stole, committed zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), and drank khamr (intoxicants). They existed in his era (peace and blessings be upon him), even though he was upholding the Shari'ah of Allah and enforcing the hudud. So, they exist in the Muslim society, but, praise be to Allah, the Shari'ah is applied to them, and the society is purified of them.
But this person has doubt and suspicion regarding the Shari'ah, may Allah protect us from that. Or he wants to diminish the application of the Shari'ah. It is not necessary that ruling by the Shari'ah means that people become one hundred percent righteous or that there are no criminals among them. That does not happen. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من أبواب اجتناب النجاسات ومواضع الصلوات — islamhouse.com (1:10:05)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.