What is the ruling on participating in student elections?

The questioner : Shaykh, next Saturday there will be student elections at the University of Jordan at the level of all faculties. Naturally, all students participate, both male and female, so the matter is mixed.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, all students participate?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Then?

The questioner : Male and female.

The Shaykh : Male and female.

The questioner : Yes, naturally, some of the candidates are women.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed, there is progress.

The questioner : Among the candidates, the daughter of...The Shaykh : Yusuf al-'Uthman is running. And they permit it. Naturally, I inquired and went to the student associations and told them, "What is this? How can you run?" So they said, "Actually, it is better for the women who wear hijab to run in the elections than to allow the field to the others."

The Shaykh : Yes, the end justifies the means, yes.

The questioner : Unfortunately, naturally, this is not my question initially, but rather a follow-up.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, this is on the go.

The questioner : Naturally, from... they published the articles, this law, which is the election law, and so on. And among its articles, naturally, is to swear by the known oaths, to be loyal to the homeland, and so on.

The Shaykh : Strange!

The questioner : So now, what is the ruling on participating in these elections, or for example, running for a candidacy? Because some of our brothers, a doctor in the faculty, without mentioning his name, says that it is obligatory for all students to participate in these elections. And some of the brothers say, rather, it is forbidden for them. So the students are between those who permit it and those who forbid it...

The Shaykh : Did you like it? If you did not like it, I will not like it more.
Abu Layla : I liked it, regarding you, Shaykh, regarding what...

The questioner : So what is your opinion, meaning, on participating here in terms of student elections?

The Shaykh : First, my brother, we need to understand the form of the oath, because I think it will be clear from the title of the written text.

The questioner : Yes, naturally, I think it is Article 19 of the law that it is obligatory after the election of the students and their attendance at the first session that the head of the students, meaning the head of the student council, should swear, "I swear by the Great Allah that I will be loyal to the homeland, and for example, to the constitution and the laws of the university, and so on, and so forth, similar to this oath. Naturally, this is not the only criterion; there are also other questions, meaning there are other matters.

The Shaykh : No problem, one by one.

The questioner : Yes, the ruling of some of the brothers is that because of this, entering into it is forbidden.

The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that as long as the election is based on the principle of loyalty to the constitution, which is not Islamic, just as I told you, predicting in advance that it is clear from the title of the written text, this is not permissible. But if we assume that the oath was for the service of Islam, even so, I say that this is not sufficient, because Islam today has many concepts. There is, for example, Islamic socialism, which until recently was present in many minds explicitly. And even if this Islamic socialism has its effects in the hearts of many doctors and the like, the oath must be very explicit, and it is, as we testify to Allah, the service of Islam according to the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih. If the oath were on this clear, explicit basis, we would say: Is there participation in Islam? Before I say participation, is there holding elections and running by votes in Islam? This does not exist in Islam. And then comes the participation of women with men in the election. If it is clear from many quarters that it is clear from the title of the written text, then it is invalid and defective. But there must be some detail regarding this doctor whom you were hesitant to permit and to mention his name. Perhaps this is from the Shari'ah policy. But it may not be from the forbidden backbiting to disclose his name, from the perspective of the scholars who said:
"Criticism is not backbiting in six cases: *** The aggrieved, the one seeking knowledge, and the one warning
And one who is open in sin and seeks a ruling, and *** seeks help in removing a wrong.
It may be from the category of identification to name this doctor so that we know his knowledge in general from this fatwa, where he said that it is obligatory. Because I understand from the word "obligatory" when used without qualification, an individual obligation. And we want to say to him: Do you mean individual obligation, or collective obligation, which if some people perform it, it drops from the rest? In my opinion, if he has some of the genuine Shari'ah jurisprudential culture, he cannot say that it is an individual obligation. It is sufficient for him to say it is a collective obligation.

The questioner : No, he explicitly stated the former, saying it is obligatory for every student to vote.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Meaning, he stated it explicitly.

The Shaykh : So if this is a doctor...

The questioner : Yes, a doctor. Naturally, his creed, what Allah willed, is frightening.

The questioner : What is his name?

The questioner : A famous doctor.

The Shaykh : I am afraid that I... for example.

The questioner : I intentionally did not take with him Dr. Sharaf al-Qada, who is famous. He has a book, what Allah willed, in which he speaks about the hadith of the maidservant in one of his books called "The Prophetic Hadith." He says that he naturally mentions the meanings of the people of the Sunnah for the meaning of "Where is Allah?" for the maidservant. He says he mentioned among the meanings, naturally, that there are two meanings for the Salaf and the Khalaf. He mentioned two meanings, and both meanings are not for the Salaf nor for the Khalaf; they are for the Asha'irah themselves. Then he mentioned the meaning he was comfortable with and said, "We cannot describe Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as being in the sky, because that would be ascribing a body to Him. And we cannot say He is on the earth, because that would be exalting Him, meaning, in the sky. So, Glorified is Allah, I wrote... Where is Allah? Where should He be? If He is not in the sky and if He is not on the earth, He has lost his Lord.

The Shaykh : I did not hear that word. That wise, intelligent prince, when he heard the speech, said, "These are a people who have lost their Lord."
The Shaykh : Famous: ...the university that some of their professors... one of the doctors was lent to the Islamic University and taught there for a year. He thinks that every action and every path in the Saudi street is a Salafi path and the methodology of the Salafiyyah. So he brings paths for the elderly, which are sometimes shameful and contain great ignorance, and he starts sitting with the Salafi da'wah with these paths. So this is strange ignorance. Glorified is Allah.