Is the ruler who permits man-made laws and rules by them considered a disbeliever, or is there a detailed distinction?

The questioner : I mean, for example, what is his name, the ruler of the land, the one who rules. Is it permissible for him to be a disbeliever?

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : I tell you: a disbeliever, meaning?

The Shaykh : No, we do not say he is a disbeliever at this moment.

The questioner : He destroys Islam.

The Shaykh : Just now, about half an hour or an hour ago, a student of knowledge from Makkah asked me this same question. Following the people of knowledge, we understand that disbelief is of two types: doctrinal disbelief and practical disbelief. Doctrinal disbelief is that which takes its adherent out of the religion, and he does not remain a Muslim. As for practical disbelief, he remains a Muslim but becomes an open sinner. So the rulers who rule over the Muslims, and their origin is Muslim!!

The questioner : Shaykh, if you could give an example, to make the matter clearer!

The Shaykh : Yes, now comes the clarification. The Muslim rulers who rule over the Muslims, without doubt, are: the son of a Muslim, and many of them pray and fast. So this appearance from them indicates that they are Muslims. Their ruling in some matters, whether many or few—and this varies from country to country—is not an Islamic ruling. So if it does not appear from them, by their own tongues, that they believe that ruling by other than what Allah has revealed is the correct path, but rather they believe that the correct path is ruling by what Allah has revealed, but ruling by what Allah has revealed today is difficult, so they follow the desires of the people or their own desires or the like, then this does not make their disbelief a disbelief that takes them out of the religion. Rather, they remain as they are known to be Muslims, and that they may pray sometimes and not pray at other times, and they fast and perform Hajj and 'Umrah, as is apparent from many of them. So the summary of the matter: unless a word appears from one of them that expresses his disbelief in the Shari'ah of Allah, it is not said that he is an apostate from his religion. This is first. Second: practical disbelief is not limited only to the rulers. There may be among the individual Muslims who are ruled over those who have fallen into practical disbelief. Are they declared disbelievers and taken out of the religion? The answer is: No. For example, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), among the things he preached to his Companions during the Farewell Pilgrimage, said to them: , , and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in the clear text of the Noble Qur'an: . So here He made two groups: a group that is rebellious and transgressing, and a group against whom rebellion is committed and who are transgressed against. And He gathered them and restricted them to being among the Muslims. So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in that hadith: , it does not mean that they went out of the religion, but rather it means that they do the action of the disbelievers who fight one another. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) affirmed this meaning in the other hadith whose text is: , . This does not mean apostasy, but rather practical disbelief, because this is what the disbelievers do. From these proofs, the exegetes, such as Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, and their like, say in their interpretation of the verse regarding the rulers: . They narrated with a sound chain from 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Disbelief less than disbelief." "Disbelief less than disbelief": This verse was revealed regarding the Jews. The Jews in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) were divided among themselves into two groups: a group that looked upon itself as the master, and another group that this first group looked upon as the ruled and subject to them. So, for example, if a person from the lower group was killed by the upper group, they would take their share and demand the full blood money, and not the reverse. That is, if a person from the upper group was killed by the lower group, they would be lenient in it and would not implement the same ruling that they implement for their own killed person. So when Allah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the lower group became bold with him (peace and blessings be upon him), and an incident occurred between them, and they said: Come, let us refer to Muhammad for judgment. They agreed among themselves that if he ruled in their favor, they would accept it, and if he did not rule in their favor, they would reject it. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed this verse: . Therefore, Ibn 'Abbas said: "Disbelief less than disbelief," meaning: whoever rules by other than what Allah has revealed and believes that this ruling is the good for the time, then it is apostasy, and there is no disbelief above it. And whoever acknowledges that this is a ruling contrary to the Shari'ah and that Allah guides us, then it is disbelief less than disbelief.