What is the Shari'ah's opinion of one who calls for jihad to impose Islamic legislation on all aspects of life, along with establishing an Islamic constitution, and what is your opinion regarding

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Yemeni people are currently passing through what can be called radical transformations in the system of governance and the dominance of Islamic Shari'ah, as a result of the unification that took place between the authorities of the two Yemeni regions, and subsequently the government's allowance of what is called political or party pluralism, and what is called the opinion and the opposing opinion, which is an acknowledgment of the existence of all legal parties and recognition of them. This necessitates the existence of a constitution that keeps pace with the changes. So the government proceeded to abolish the previous Islamic constitution and established a constitution which the scholars said is secular, and that it removed the Shari'ah from its dominance in legislation, and made that the responsibility of the People's Council or the Council of Representatives, which is dominated by most of its members by state officials and the heads of communist and secular parties. The question is: What is the Shari'ah's opinion, from your perspective, of one who calls for jihad to impose Islamic legislation on all aspects of life, in accordance with the establishment of an Islamic constitution, and what is your opinion regarding the permissibility of establishing constitutions that are imposed on people as the highest legislation in the country?

The Shaykh : First, I must draw your attention to a custom in asking questions before I proceed to answer. The questioner says, "What is the view of the Shari'ah regarding such and such?" I see that this expression is not appropriate in light of the Shari'ah, because the Shari'ah, whose source is Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), is not asked "What is its view regarding such and such?" Rather, one asks, "What is the Shaykh's view regarding such and such?" Only when the question is about what is in the Shari'ah does one ask, "What is the ruling of the Shari'ah?" After this correction of the question, I say that the question contained more than one question. The first of these is jihad. I will mention what is in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, the Sunan of Imam al-Darimi, and others, with a sound chain, from the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So, jihad has three aspects or three types. Jihad with the self is the type that the Noble Qur'an encourages in many of its noble verses. This type of jihad appears to be one for which the entire Muslim world is not prepared to undertake, and there are many, many reasons for this. First, there is a lack of psychological preparation, and second, a lack of military preparation. Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), as we all know, says: Prepare for them. Here, there is no doubt that the Muslims who are prepared spiritually and psychologically to carry out this divine command... The Muslims today, as we all know, with great regret, have turned away from this psychological preparation, let alone this preparation with material weapons. This has many, many reasons. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us of some of the religious reasons for which they fall into disobedience, and as a result, they are unable to uphold the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). For example, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So, because of these violations mentioned in this hadith, and in his (peace and blessings be upon him) other hadith: Therefore, the Muslims today are unable to carry out Islamic military jihad, especially since they are besieged from all directions by the enemies of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), both internally and externally. Without a doubt, you will recall with me that Islamic movements arose in some Islamic countries, but they were not accompanied by victory and success. The reason is what I mentioned earlier: first, distance from the Shari'ah, and second, the encirclement of the disbelievers around them, both internally and externally. Therefore, I do not support carrying out jihad now, even if those who would carry it out are sincere. I do not support this because its outcome will be something that all Muslims would not approve of. Rather, they must engage in the other two types of jihad mentioned in the previous hadith: jihad with wealth and jihad with the self. Jihad in Afghanistan is still ongoing, and the Muslims were almost rejoicing over the victory of the Afghans over the communists, but what Allah willed happened. The divisions and party and ideological disagreements began to work their effect among some of the leaders in that country, so the expected, anticipated, and hoped-for victory was delayed. The reason is what I mentioned earlier: distance from psychological jihad, and then from the Islamic upbringing that unites Muslims on one thought, one methodology, and one school of thought. And although I am ignorant of the reality in northern and southern Yemen, it is sufficient for me that division has deceived its counterpart since Yemen was divided into two parts. It is necessary that the foreign policy of the disbelievers, which made the Yemeni people two regions after they were one region, if Islamic jihad is stirred up, will result in killing among the Yemenis themselves, and nothing will result from that except the control of the disbelievers from within and without. Therefore, I see that jihad should be limited to wealth and the tongue. I have been saying for about twenty years or more that the honor and glory of the Muslims will not be established except on two pillars. One of them is purifying Islam from what has entered it from which it is innocent, as the wolf is innocent of the blood of the son of Ya'qub, as it is said. Whether the intrusion is in the creed, specifically in tawhid (the oneness of Allah), or in the creed in general, or in the acts of worship, or in morals and behavior, all of this and more should be purified scientifically. And unfortunately, few rise to this task in the various Islamic countries. We know that there are many calls and many parties, all of which aspire to establish the Muslim state, but they do not adopt the fundamental cause which, if relied upon, would allow Allah to achieve their goal. That is what we call purification. Because the Islam that saved the Arabs from their jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic age of ignorance), their misguidance, and their humiliation, leading them to guidance, light, and honor, should be the same Islam that restores the Muslims to their desired honor, which has been lost from them for many long centuries. So this Islam should be purified from everything that has entered it that is not part of it, and the Muslims should be raised upon this pure Islam. On that day, the signs of the return of honor to the Muslims will appear, and the establishment in the earth that the Muslims were promised in the book of their Lord and in the Sunnah of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will be realized, as came in the authentic hadith: So, before anything else, sincerity to the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is obligatory. The second thing is to return Islam in the understanding of the Muslims to that first, pure Islam, and to raise the Muslims upon this pure Islam. And unfortunately, this is not present today in any of the many Islamic regions. For this reason, I do not say, as I said earlier, "I do not see jihad," but rather I warn against jihad, because the psychological and material means do not support the Muslims in carrying out any jihad in any place. For this reason, we take a lesson from early Islamic history. The Muslims remained in Makkah for thirteen years, oppressed and wronged, fighting, and Islamic history is clear in this regard, until Allah permitted them to migrate: the first migration to Abyssinia and the final migration to the blessed city of Madinah. This is a part or an answer to a part of what came in the question. As for adopting laws imposed on the people, and in these laws, approving of parties, even if they are disbelieving and misleading parties, this undoubtedly declares that they have declared that they do not want to be judged by Allah, but rather to be judged by taghut (tyranny). We deny the partying of Muslims within the circle of Islam. For a party to be called an Islamic party named such and such, and another Islamic party named such and such, this partying, even though they are all working within the circle of Islam and for the benefit of Islam, and Allah knows best what is in their hearts, nevertheless, we do not see it permissible for a Muslim state to allow such grouping and partying, even within the circle of Islam, because this is not the practice of the Muslims, but rather it is the custom of the disbelievers. Therefore, the Lord of the worlds said in the Noble Qur'an: And it is known that in the authentic Sunnah, he (peace and blessings be upon him) informed: And in another hadith, he details the term "community" by saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his noble Companions did not form or constitute anything but one party, which is the party of Allah: So, if we deny Islamic parties in one Islamic country, then all the more so should we deny allowing atheist parties that do not believe in the Shari'ah of Allah. This means that such a system declares its dissatisfaction with the ruling of Islam. But do we address this with jihad and fighting, when we are not prepared for it? We do not support these revolutions at all, because they are premature. And if we say, as the Lord of the worlds said: This is my answer to what you asked, and perhaps I have not missed anything.