What are the characteristics of the abode of war?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : How are you this morning, O my Shaykh?
The Shaykh: I am well, and praise be to Allah. We are... and especially... for him, if Allah wills... .
The student : ... .
The Shaykh: May Allah reward you with good. You... the book, please proceed.
The student: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
The student : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Another student: How are you, our teacher?
The Shaykh: Welcome. How is your health?
The student : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh: ... you sold your car.
The student: ... I went back on the sale.
The Shaykh : That is it.
The student: Yes, I went back on the sale for the second time...
The Shaykh: I have no news... .
The student: ... Abu 'Abdullah now... went back a second time.
The Shaykh: ... the summary.
The student: Now the seller... close after we agreed... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: Or the mechanic told me... the car, he said to me, divide it with me, I said to him, I do not want to divide it with you... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: Yes, then we met a second time... .
The Shaykh: Good, if Allah wills, go ahead.
The questioner: Okay, my Shaykh, regarding the abode of war, what are the characteristics of the abode of war?
The Shaykh: ... I do not know anything clear by which we can define the abode of war, but what I believe is that any region or area where the majority of the residents are Muslims is an abode of Islam—and peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings. May Allah reward you with good. And the countries inhabited by disbelievers and not under the banner of Islam are undoubtedly an abode of war. Then, special circumstances may surround each of the two abodes, and the issue becomes like water whose purity is doubtful. I do not have a definitive answer regarding this type of abode.
The questioner: I mean, for example, is the criterion that the rulings prevail, or the majority of the people?
The Shaykh: The residents being Muslims, because the rulings may be suspended due to one or more reasons.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Rather, the important thing is that the residents are Muslims.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: And not just the ruling, because many Islamic countries today, in terms of their residents, are Islamic countries, but in terms of their rulers and their rulings, they are not on the path of Islam—and peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings—therefore, we cannot consider these Islamic countries, in terms of their residents, to be abodes of war because of the rulers who do not rule by what Allah has revealed. This is what has reached... my knowledge, and above every knower is the All-Knowing.
The Shaykh: I am well, and praise be to Allah. We are... and especially... for him, if Allah wills... .
The student : ... .
The Shaykh: May Allah reward you with good. You... the book, please proceed.
The student: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
The student : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Another student: How are you, our teacher?
The Shaykh: Welcome. How is your health?
The student : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh: ... you sold your car.
The student: ... I went back on the sale.
The Shaykh : That is it.
The student: Yes, I went back on the sale for the second time...
The Shaykh: I have no news... .
The student: ... Abu 'Abdullah now... went back a second time.
The Shaykh: ... the summary.
The student: Now the seller... close after we agreed... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: Or the mechanic told me... the car, he said to me, divide it with me, I said to him, I do not want to divide it with you... .
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: Yes, then we met a second time... .
The Shaykh: Good, if Allah wills, go ahead.
The questioner: Okay, my Shaykh, regarding the abode of war, what are the characteristics of the abode of war?
The Shaykh: ... I do not know anything clear by which we can define the abode of war, but what I believe is that any region or area where the majority of the residents are Muslims is an abode of Islam—and peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings. May Allah reward you with good. And the countries inhabited by disbelievers and not under the banner of Islam are undoubtedly an abode of war. Then, special circumstances may surround each of the two abodes, and the issue becomes like water whose purity is doubtful. I do not have a definitive answer regarding this type of abode.
The questioner: I mean, for example, is the criterion that the rulings prevail, or the majority of the people?
The Shaykh: The residents being Muslims, because the rulings may be suspended due to one or more reasons.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Rather, the important thing is that the residents are Muslims.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: And not just the ruling, because many Islamic countries today, in terms of their residents, are Islamic countries, but in terms of their rulers and their rulings, they are not on the path of Islam—and peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings—therefore, we cannot consider these Islamic countries, in terms of their residents, to be abodes of war because of the rulers who do not rule by what Allah has revealed. This is what has reached... my knowledge, and above every knower is the All-Knowing.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.