How to respond to those who claim that there is no difference between the lands of disbelief and Islam except in the adhan, and by this they mean that it is permissible to live in those lands?

The questioner : One walks through the streets, capitals, or Islamic countries and finds them not much different from the lands of the disbelievers, except for the adhan. So they say: Why do you condemn us for going to the lands of the disbelievers? Whether we stay in the lands of the Muslims or go to the lands of the disbelievers, we are, so to speak, in the same situation, in the same state, falling into what is contrary to the Shari'ah. How do we respond to these people?

The Shaykh : First: You are reporting their statement: "The Islamic lands are not much different from the lands of disbelief." Did they actually say this, or are you attributing to them something they did not say?

The questioner : No, they said it exactly like that. They said it.

The Shaykh : I mean, I mean, because something depends on this. If the Islamic lands are not much different from the lands of disbelief, then this statement has an implication: namely, that they differ slightly.

The questioner : Yes!

The Shaykh : From the lands of disbelief. So the answer has already come from their own words. Since you testify that the Islamic lands differ slightly, and we are following their expression for the sake of this slight difference that you testify to, we say that migration is obligatory. This is the general answer, and we condemn them from their own mouths. But the answer is: We are not the ones who say that it is forbidden for a Muslim to remain in the lands of disbelief. This is not a fatwa or an independent legal reasoning from us; rather, it is based on the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. So they must submit to them and comply with them, in accordance with the saying of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic): . The truth is that the faith of Muslims today is weak. If a scholar presents them with the Shari'ah ruling, they say: Why do you say this? They do not say: Where did you get this from? If it is said to them: Allah said, and the Messenger of Allah said, can they then say to us: Why do you say this? This is what is happening today on the occasion of the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) stirred up by the enemies of the Sunnah, or rather the enemies of the religion. We did not say that migration is obligatory based on independent legal reasoning, but rather relying on texts from the Book and the Sunnah, the consensus of the imams, and consideration of the wisdom required by such Shari'ah rulings. Therefore, their saying: "Why do you forbid us?" We have not forbidden anything; rather, we have conveyed to them the ruling of Allah and the ruling of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is one thing. A second thing: Is it not sufficient as a difference between the lands of disbelief that you do not hear the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah in them, but you hear the sound of bells that revive and proclaim disbelief, and they do not allow the voice of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) to be raised? Is this phenomenon not enough? And if the difference is slight, as they claim, between the lands of Muslims and the lands of disbelievers, is there any scholars in the lands of disbelievers to which they migrate, and where they say the difference between them and the Islamic lands is slight?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : How can they say the difference is slight?! The difference is great and very great. Then, can they, while in the lands of disbelief and claiming that freedom there is greater than in the Islamic lands, can they let their women go out as the women of the Messenger and the Companions used to go out, and as some Muslim women do today with the complete Shari'ah jilbab (the outer garment)? Or are they, so to speak—what do they say?—approximating the matter, yes?

The questioner : They approximate and correct!

The Shaykh : Yes, they correct. They try, for example, not to show anything of the woman's 'awrah (the part of the body that must be covered), but they cannot maintain covering her face. And although we do not say that this is obligatory, we say that it is from the recommended practices of the female Companions. If only the matter stopped there. Is it not the case that most of the wives of these expatriates in the lands of disbelief wear decorated clothes and go out in them to the roads and streets? That is the case. Why? Because they look at them with a look full of contempt and disdain. And therefore, due to the weakness of their faith, they cannot declare it openly with their Islamic dress. There are many and very great differences, but they are a people who are ignorant and feign ignorance. Then we say something else: Is the corruption in the lands of Islam, where they say the difference is slight, is the moral corruption and the spread of immorality and the ease of its means there in the lands of disbelief greater than here, or not here?

The questioner : It is greater in the lands of disbelief.

The Shaykh : Well, these differences are not enough for them to correct their statement that the difference between the Islamic lands and the disbelieving lands is great. They are following their desires, in reality, and justifying their residence in the lands of disbelief. And they perhaps know the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): , . They do not look at these hadiths, and they turn to addressing those who advise them: Why do you forbid us residence? We do not forbid or permit; rather, we are merely conveyors with regard to the Sunnah. We are just conveyors who convey the Sunnah to people as it is authentic and as we have seen it.