What is your opinion on helping a relative run for a seat in the parliamentary elections?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : A final question, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : What is the good news, O Professor?
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : It is the final one; what is the good news?
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : One of my relatives wants to run for the parliamentary council.
The Shaykh : May Allah preserve him.
The questioner : And he wants, I mean, help from the relatives. So if I help him in terms of moral and material support,
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : is there a sin on me, or what is your opinion on this?
The Shaykh : Our opinion is known, and we have a recorded question in six pages, which perhaps reached our Yemeni brothers. The question was directed to me by the Algerians, and I answered them in six pages. The summary is: we do not advise a Muslim to enter the parliaments existing today on earth. First, because they are established on other than the law of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Second, because the one who enters parliament, no matter how strong he is in his faith, strong in his jurisprudence, strong in his tongue and eloquence, is like one who strikes cold iron, or like one who butts a rock, as it is said; he benefits nothing at all. Rather, the harm may return to him, as we have experienced this with many Muslims who entered parliaments claiming to be in the path of reform. Then we do not say they returned with empty hands; they returned without any hand, but they may have lost much of what they enjoyed in adhering to some of the rulings of their religion. We do not advise this. This is answer number one. Answer number two varies according to the country. If the country where the elections are held has many parties, some of which are Ba'athist or Communist, or have no religion, being atheist or apostate, and opposite them is a group of Muslims, then I do not say that if they enter parliament they can bring about reform, no, but they can alleviate the evil of the violation. From the perspective of the jurisprudential rule that says if a Muslim falls between two evils, he chooses the lesser of them; between two harms, he chooses the less of them. And so, from this perspective, we choose from the candidates for the deputyship the least evil among them, and I do not say the most good. This is my answer.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you, if Allah wills.
The student : The one who placed us in this dilemma, O my brother.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : ... so we were forced to say, for example, to allow it. Perhaps they will stand against the current somewhat.
The Shaykh : Yes, that is what I heard. Yes, indeed, repelling the greater evil with the lesser evil.
The student : But we know that it is...
The Shaykh : But it is like this.
The student : Reform is possible, I mean, what is possible is the elimination of the evil.
The Shaykh : Have mercy on us, some evil is less than some.
The student : But this is it.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : This is what we say.
The Shaykh : What is the good news, O Professor?
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : It is the final one; what is the good news?
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : One of my relatives wants to run for the parliamentary council.
The Shaykh : May Allah preserve him.
The questioner : And he wants, I mean, help from the relatives. So if I help him in terms of moral and material support,
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : is there a sin on me, or what is your opinion on this?
The Shaykh : Our opinion is known, and we have a recorded question in six pages, which perhaps reached our Yemeni brothers. The question was directed to me by the Algerians, and I answered them in six pages. The summary is: we do not advise a Muslim to enter the parliaments existing today on earth. First, because they are established on other than the law of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Second, because the one who enters parliament, no matter how strong he is in his faith, strong in his jurisprudence, strong in his tongue and eloquence, is like one who strikes cold iron, or like one who butts a rock, as it is said; he benefits nothing at all. Rather, the harm may return to him, as we have experienced this with many Muslims who entered parliaments claiming to be in the path of reform. Then we do not say they returned with empty hands; they returned without any hand, but they may have lost much of what they enjoyed in adhering to some of the rulings of their religion. We do not advise this. This is answer number one. Answer number two varies according to the country. If the country where the elections are held has many parties, some of which are Ba'athist or Communist, or have no religion, being atheist or apostate, and opposite them is a group of Muslims, then I do not say that if they enter parliament they can bring about reform, no, but they can alleviate the evil of the violation. From the perspective of the jurisprudential rule that says if a Muslim falls between two evils, he chooses the lesser of them; between two harms, he chooses the less of them. And so, from this perspective, we choose from the candidates for the deputyship the least evil among them, and I do not say the most good. This is my answer.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you, if Allah wills.
The student : The one who placed us in this dilemma, O my brother.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : ... so we were forced to say, for example, to allow it. Perhaps they will stand against the current somewhat.
The Shaykh : Yes, that is what I heard. Yes, indeed, repelling the greater evil with the lesser evil.
The student : But we know that it is...
The Shaykh : But it is like this.
The student : Reform is possible, I mean, what is possible is the elimination of the evil.
The Shaykh : Have mercy on us, some evil is less than some.
The student : But this is it.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : This is what we say.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.