A comment by one of the students of knowledge on the issue of living in the lands of the disbelievers and emigrating to them.

The student : I am commenting on three issues. As for the first issue: some of those who reside in the lands of disbelief, without a doubt, preserve their religion, and perhaps they adhere to the guidance of the Book and the Sunnah in most of what they hear, do, and say, especially in their family life and within their homes. However, this small minority is not the standard by which we measure when we want to issue a religious ruling on residing in the lands of disbelief, because the ruling does not pertain to the few or the rare, but rather to the many and the community. If we look at the community of Muslims residing in the West and in the lands of disbelief, we will undoubtedly find that most of the Muslims residing there are unable, as our Shaykh (may Allah preserve him) mentioned, to establish the rituals of their religion in the manner that our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) approves of, that our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) loves, and that the community of righteous Muslims accepts. This is one point. Therefore, from here we say that the ruling does not pertain to this small minority, but rather this minority should look, while residing in the lands of disbelief, at the reality of the majority of Muslims living in the lands of disbelief. This is the first issue. As for the second issue: the one who lives in the lands of disbelief, whether for a long or short period, without a doubt, with the continuity of his residence in those lands, will be influenced by the customs, morals, and habits of the disbelievers, and perhaps he will find no way to avoid being accommodating to them in their religion and beliefs as well, especially when those festivals called birthdays come, for he clings to them because he finds no escape or way out from them. And as I said, I do not look at the small minority, and there is a group or this minority who are undoubtedly righteous, but I look at the total of Muslims living in those lands. With the passage of time and the repetition of days and years, these people are severely influenced by these morals and habits until they are unable to contradict them at all. Their guidance becomes the guidance of the disbelievers, their life the life of the disbelievers, their clothing the clothing of the disbelievers, their habits, morals, and customs, and then they end up at an end to which they will undoubtedly end, which is that they lose the zeal for their religion and for what concerns their religion, their family, their wife, and their children. And there is no clearer proof of this than that, and this is the third issue: that the Muslims residing in those lands are unable to contradict the laws and regulations by which they are governed. If a girl reaches sixteen, or a boy reaches eighteen, or a girl reaches eighteen, he is unable to extend his hand over his children at all. The boy leaves the house whenever he wants, and the girl leaves the house whenever she wants, and indeed she commits sin before the eyes of her father and mother, so the father is unable to move a finger, because the system does not allow him to interfere in the freedom of his daughter or the freedom of his son. And so I say: this third issue that I mentioned was a cause for many or some of the Muslims living in those lands to commit suicide and destroy themselves, and perhaps also their wives or their daughters or their children. These three issues can also clarify or add some clarity to that question asked by our Algerian brother, and may Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.