Continuation of the discussion on the ruling regarding young men entering national service.

The Shaykh : As I said before, this is treating the disease with the disease, and treating it with what was the cause of the disease exactly. The establishment of the edifice of Islam, the Islamic society, and the Islamic state is never to be built upon compromising with some or many of the rulings of the Shari'ah. Rather, it is obligatory for us to be patient, to persevere, and to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The matter is as Allah the Exalted said: . It is possible for such groups, if they wish to engage in politics that does not contradict the Shari'ah, to direct these governments, especially since they claim to be Islamic governments, to draw their attention to the fact that many of the matters I mentioned and quoted are contrary to the Shari'ah. For example, the first of these is shaving the beard. It is one of the wonders of some Arab countries that some European countries are better than them in this issue. In some Islamic countries, the Muslim youth are forced into the army, and the first punishment for their Islam is that they shave their beards. Whereas in some European countries, and I saw this with my own eyes, when it was written for me to go to some European countries and we passed through Italy and then the Alps in Switzerland, military cars passed by us. It caught my attention that some of the soldiers had beards. So we asked about the reason? They said, "Here freedom is clear with the army individuals; whoever wishes shaves, and whoever wishes lets it grow." Meanwhile, the English system, which used to colonize some Arab countries, still has the Muslim rulers imposing the shaving of the beard on Muslim soldiers. If they want to make reforms, I mean these political groups, let them submit their requests to this state. Perhaps they will respond to some of them and perhaps they will refuse many of them. But that it should be said that it is permissible to enter them and compromise with some of the rulings of the Shari'ah, hoping that there might be a benefit for the Muslim call from this person, this is also ignorance of Islam. Because Islam does not permit one who is a jurist and knows that Islam does not permit committing a forbidden act in advance out of fear that he will fall into a greater forbidden act. For example, a person travels and he fears that he will be exposed to death by hunger, so he finds carrion. But when he finds it, it is not permissible for him to eat it; because he does not fear death, so he eats it in advance and says, "Necessities permit the prohibited." He has not yet fallen into the necessity. Similarly, some of the youth among us in Syria and in Jordan, when they wanted to move from one place to another, they shaved their beards. Why, my brother? He said, "I fear that I will be arrested."
Fine, and perhaps you will not be arrested. So by what have you made permissible the disobedience of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? By "maybe." And this is a principle that these groups do not adhere to, because I said that I do not believe that among them is a scholar who studied knowledge his whole life, studied social life, and knew what is permissible for it and what is not, then appointed himself or was appointed over them as a leader. So now he permits them what was previously forbidden. And one of the problems mentioned by some of the scholars of the Salaf is that a person may end the day with one opinion and then end the day with another opinion; because he is influenced by the currents and waves that take him to the right and to the left. Therefore, it is upon us to stand firm on what we have learned of the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and not to be compelled by the deviations we see to deviate ourselves with the deviants in the name of achieving a benefit. For the benefit is not achieved by the path of committing harms. And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is the one hoped to inspire all Muslims to stand by the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and not to be influenced by the intellectual currents that take them to the right and to the left, even if they have Islamic labels.

The questioner : The last question, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : Short.

The questioner : Brief, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.