Learning Man-Made Laws
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The third question of Fatwa No. ( 6901 )
Q3: What is the ruling on learning man-made laws and attempting to apply them, while acknowledging that the law of Allah is better than them? And what is the ruling on teaching those laws, philosophy, logic, and psychology? Since they contain much falsehood, such as delving into the essence of Allah, His attributes, and His names, and into the analysis and prohibition of things, and they contain the study of communist, existentialist, and permissive ideologies. What is the ruling on the teacher and the student? Especially if it is mandated at the state level, and the student and teacher are not students of Islamic knowledge, but rather common Muslims who, if
they were to be made to doubt, might doubt. If they are told: This is wrong, they say: What can we do? This is a means of livelihood and this is the pursuit of knowledge.
A3: It is not permissible to learn man-made laws for the purpose of applying them, as long as they contradict the law of Allah. It is permissible to study and learn them to point out the corruption and deviation from the truth contained in them, and to point out the justice, uprightness, and rectitude in Islam, and the sufficiency and adequacy it contains for the interests of the people. It is not permissible for a Muslim to study philosophy and man-made laws and the like if he is unable to distinguish their truth from their falsehood, out of fear of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) and deviation from the straight path. It is permissible for one who digests them and is able to understand them after studying the Book and the Sunnah, so that he may distinguish their evil from their good, and establish the truth and invalidate the falsehood, provided that this does not occupy him from what is more obligatory in the Shari'ah. From this, it is known that it is not permissible to generalize the teaching of this in schools and institutes, but rather it should be for those who are qualified among the specialists, so that they may fulfill their Islamic duty of supporting the truth and refuting the falsehood. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q3: What is the ruling on learning man-made laws and attempting to apply them, while acknowledging that the law of Allah is better than them? And what is the ruling on teaching those laws, philosophy, logic, and psychology? Since they contain much falsehood, such as delving into the essence of Allah, His attributes, and His names, and into the analysis and prohibition of things, and they contain the study of communist, existentialist, and permissive ideologies. What is the ruling on the teacher and the student? Especially if it is mandated at the state level, and the student and teacher are not students of Islamic knowledge, but rather common Muslims who, if
they were to be made to doubt, might doubt. If they are told: This is wrong, they say: What can we do? This is a means of livelihood and this is the pursuit of knowledge.
A3: It is not permissible to learn man-made laws for the purpose of applying them, as long as they contradict the law of Allah. It is permissible to study and learn them to point out the corruption and deviation from the truth contained in them, and to point out the justice, uprightness, and rectitude in Islam, and the sufficiency and adequacy it contains for the interests of the people. It is not permissible for a Muslim to study philosophy and man-made laws and the like if he is unable to distinguish their truth from their falsehood, out of fear of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) and deviation from the straight path. It is permissible for one who digests them and is able to understand them after studying the Book and the Sunnah, so that he may distinguish their evil from their good, and establish the truth and invalidate the falsehood, provided that this does not occupy him from what is more obligatory in the Shari'ah. From this, it is known that it is not permissible to generalize the teaching of this in schools and institutes, but rather it should be for those who are qualified among the specialists, so that they may fulfill their Islamic duty of supporting the truth and refuting the falsehood. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.