What is the ruling on a Muslim residing in lands of disbelief for any reason, and an explanation of the effect of the contagion that befalls the Muslim living next to disbelievers.

The questioner : We ask our noble Shaykh to clarify for us the legal ruling regarding a Muslim residing in lands of disbelief for any reason.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : There are, may Allah bless you, many tapes answering this question, but I will summarize the answer by saying: it is not permissible for a Muslim. And this leads me to affirm the obligation of migration. I say: it is not permissible for a Muslim to reside in lands of disbelief due to many, many hadiths. Among them is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And among them is his saying (peace be upon him): , and his saying (peace be upon him): ; meaning: whoever mixes with them and lives with them is like them, and so on. The secret behind this is the moral contagion, for when a Muslim lives with polytheists, their moral contagion spreads to the Muslim without him realizing or perceiving it. For this reason, we do not say that it is obligatory to migrate from lands of disbelief to lands of Islam only, but it is also obligatory to migrate from Islamic lands that have been occupied by disbelievers, as long as the Muslim cannot feel safe regarding his religion, his honor, or his character. He must migrate to another Islamic country, even if it is in the same region, area, or state in which he lives. I mention on this occasion a hadith that, as they say, kills two birds with one stone. The first bird is establishing the effect of moral contagion on the settler in a land of disbelief or a land of evil. The second bird is that it is not necessary to migrate from lands of disbelief to lands of Islam; rather, he is residing in an Islamic land, but one land is better than another, so he moves from the land where he encounters some evil, whether due to ignorance and the absence of knowledge, or bad character, or the spread of corruption, while there is another land where this evil we described earlier is less. So he must move from that evil land to the other land, which we say figuratively is better than it, and in reality its evil is less than that land. I mention on this occasion the hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and the intended meaning of "monk" is an ignorant worshipper; he was directed to a monk instead of a scholar, meaning a righteous worshipper but ignorant, not a scholar. , but the man was truly eager and sincere in his repentance. Here is the point: such-and-such a village , and this is proof that he was sincere in his seeking of repentance, because he did not ask about his land, nor his relatives, nor anything else. He left as a migrant in the path of Allah. This poor wretch says, "Where are they going? What are they doing here?" This is the talk of scholars, the talk of Muslims. "What are they doing here? Do you want to support them, help them, and shelter them, as the Ansar did with the Muhajirun?" But the truth is, without offense, this people want preachers like this, this people want preachers like this. The important thing is each claims it is his right. The angels of punishment said, "Their excuse is clear: he lived his whole life spilling blood; so he is evil; so they must take his soul and remove him in an evil way." The angels of mercy said, "Yes, he was like that, but he migrated to Allah in the path of Allah" a king, forgiving ; meaning: he died repentant to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So he migrated from one land to another, not from one state to another, and migration in the path of Allah continues until the Day of Resurrection. And glory to Allah, the books of the Sunnah are many, and at the head of them, the most authentic of the books of the Sunnah, is "Sahih al-Imam al-Bukhari." The first hadith in it is: So the Palestinian Muslim now, if he leaves as a migrant from Palestine to any Islamic country, to here, they do not accept him, they accept him. This is another discussion, and this is one of the foolishnesses that never ends: that he is not allowed, he is not allowed. So our Lord says: meaning: pray standing, and I am unable, I cannot pray standing. Does your prayer become invalid? No, you pray sitting. You cannot pray sitting? Does your prayer become invalid? No, you pray on your side. So you, the settler in this land that the Jews have occupied by force, and every day they commit atrocities against men, children, women, and girls, migrate in the path of Allah. Migrate from one land to another. You are in Tel Aviv, migrate to Jaffa, to Jaffa, since they are close. Migrate then to Gaza, to another town where the evil is less than the first. Save yourself, get out from the rule of the Jews to the rule of an Islamic state, however flawed it may be, it is better than the rule of the Jews, without doubt. And Allah, I cannot. All legal rulings are tied to ability. ; therefore, it is deception on this occasion to mislead people by saying, "Where are they going?" My brother, if they are able to go from a greater evil to a lesser evil, that is their obligation, otherwise .