What is your opinion regarding political work in Islam, and your observations on the paper "Muslims and Political Work" by 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abd al-Khalq?
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The questioner : There is a paper by Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abd al-Khalq (may Allah have mercy on him and preserve him) titled "Muslims and Political Work". Many young Salafis found in it what they sought and an answer to their collective departure. What is our position on political work? The question is directed to the scholar of the present age, Al-Albani. Do you have any observations regarding this paper and the topics it contains? If the answer is yes, what are these observations, with an explanation, or at least a reference to them? ... Your Eminence, and what is your view regarding political work?
The Shaykh : My memory of this paper and its contents is distant, but something remains in memory that must be pointed out, even if some of it is understood from my previous answer. To clarify: political work, while not conflicting with Islam and indeed being part of Islam, it is evident from my previous words that Muslims should not engage in political work before they unite in understanding Islam correctly, embodying it in their reality, and ensuring they have been raised with a correct Islamic upbringing. I see it as a grave error for Muslims to engage in political work while they have not yet achieved the first stage we mentioned during our discussion of the previous verse[Al-Anfal 8:60]. This is especially true since some Islamic parties entered this experience many years ago, yet they did not succeed or achieve success; rather, they retreated, and many of them turned on their heels, becoming as if strangers to Islam in their ideas and actions.
And whoever sees the lesson in others, let him take heed. If we have tried some Islamic groups there, which are more established in values, larger in number, and better prepared for political work, they did not succeed in any way. Rather, it appeared to them that they had lost many benefits for themselves regarding the recognition of many aspects of the Islamic Shari'ah that they were unaware of due to their preoccupation with what is called political or social work or the like. For this reason, we say that political work is a step that must be preceded by steps from which political work follows. I do not believe that a group that has a call and an impact in some Islamic countries, noted for correcting concepts and ideas, should turn to political work, especially since this political work is surrounded by a law and a system that is not based on the Book of Allah or the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor even on one of the followed Islamic schools of jurisprudence. As we always say, "O my soul, some evil is less than some," the Ottoman state, for example, was a state that ruled by the Hanafi school, and in the Hanafi school there is great good, but...
The Shaykh : My memory of this paper and its contents is distant, but something remains in memory that must be pointed out, even if some of it is understood from my previous answer. To clarify: political work, while not conflicting with Islam and indeed being part of Islam, it is evident from my previous words that Muslims should not engage in political work before they unite in understanding Islam correctly, embodying it in their reality, and ensuring they have been raised with a correct Islamic upbringing. I see it as a grave error for Muslims to engage in political work while they have not yet achieved the first stage we mentioned during our discussion of the previous verse
And prepare against them whatever you are able
وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ ...And whoever sees the lesson in others, let him take heed. If we have tried some Islamic groups there, which are more established in values, larger in number, and better prepared for political work, they did not succeed in any way. Rather, it appeared to them that they had lost many benefits for themselves regarding the recognition of many aspects of the Islamic Shari'ah that they were unaware of due to their preoccupation with what is called political or social work or the like. For this reason, we say that political work is a step that must be preceded by steps from which political work follows. I do not believe that a group that has a call and an impact in some Islamic countries, noted for correcting concepts and ideas, should turn to political work, especially since this political work is surrounded by a law and a system that is not based on the Book of Allah or the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor even on one of the followed Islamic schools of jurisprudence. As we always say, "O my soul, some evil is less than some," the Ottoman state, for example, was a state that ruled by the Hanafi school, and in the Hanafi school there is great good, but...