The Danger of Residing in Lands of Disbelief
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The Shaykh : Because nature is contagious. Nature is contagious. A righteous man may live in a corrupt society, and his intention may be to reform others by residing among them, but the situation may reverse, and he may be corrupted by them instead. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the well-known example narrated by Imam al-Bukhari and others, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): Then he (peace be upon him) gave the example of the opposite companion, saying (peace be upon him): So the one who keeps the company of a bad companion is a loser in every case, except for a very few individuals of strong resolve and knowledge. These are the ones who reform corrupt societies and establish them, standing firm like a solid mountain against a rushing flood. But what is their proportion among the millions of people? They are almost counted on the fingers, as they say. The point is that the society influences the righteous man, whether he wills it or not. This is the word of the Messenger (peace be upon him), which he clarified with two excellent examples. Therefore, the hadiths came one after another, following each other, prohibiting the sitting with polytheists, living with them, and traveling to their lands. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I am innocent of them. And he said: And in another hadith, and in fact, these are very terrifying hadiths if only Muslims would submit and obey their rulings. Among them is his saying (peace be upon him): This is beautiful Arabic. What does it mean? A Muslim does not reside near the home of a polytheist. According to old Arab customs, they would tie fires in front of the tents. The Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited a Muslim from pitching his tent next to a polytheist’s tent, but rather commanded him to reside far away from him, such that when each one lights a fire, he does not see the other’s fire. That is, as the common people say, "Stay away from evil and its consequences." All these hadiths converge on prohibiting the Muslim from settling in lands of disbelief. The secret is what the hadith of the righteous companion and the bad companion pointed to, and we express this by saying that nature is contagious, either for good or for evil. On this occasion, as they say, if I forget, I will never forget that it was decreed for me, about twenty years or more ago, that I traveled in the path of da'wah to Britain.
The questioner : After your permission, we will pray and return.
The Shaykh : Please, I said that it was decreed for me to travel in the path of da'wah to Britain, and we were told that in a town more than a hundred kilometers from London, there is a Pakistani da'i who is a Salafi and a good man. So we went to him to get to know him. The time was then Ramadan, and we were fasting. The man, may Allah reward him with good, broke our fast with him, and we sat on the floor in a traditional Arab style. I noticed that the man’s creed was truly Salafi, and his understanding of the da'wah was good, but as for his clothing, it was foreign: a jacket and trousers, and more than that, he wore the knot they call a tie. I also found it my duty to remind him, saying, especially since you live in lands of disbelief, even if it is for the sake of da'wah, you must maintain Islamic dress and not imitate the disbelievers. And especially, the final step in imitating the disbelievers is this tie. That is because imitating other things might be said to have some benefit or utility, but the matter with ties is actually like alcohol: it has benefits for people, but its harm is greater than its good. Among its benefits, for example, trousers have a benefit: they protect from heat, protect from cold, and cover the 'awrah. Similarly, the short jacket and the like. But what is the benefit of ties? Only to represent the dress of the disbeliever; this is their custom, this is their system, and otherwise, they have absolutely no benefit. And especially, they may take a lot of time to tie them in an artistic way, as they claim. I spoke a word on this topic, and out of the man’s goodness and sincerity, and after we finished breaking our fast, he untied the tie and threw it on the ground. So we thanked him and asked Allah to reward him with good. But my joy with him did not last. Here is the point: now he began to justify wearing ties in that country. He said that the English look at our Palestinian brothers with hatred and contempt, because it is the custom of the Palestinians to leave the button of the shirt open here, meaning they do not wear ties. So what is he? And here is the point: the human being’s nature is contagious. He was affected by the English look at our Palestinian brothers. He was affected by them, so that he would not be thought to be Palestinian, he put on what? Ties. I said to him, may Allah forgive you, if you had remained with your action without your justification by saying this, because this justification revealed that he did not wear the tie except to distinguish himself from his Muslim brother in the view of the disbeliever. So the reality of settling in lands of disbelief is rare, rare that a person is saved without being afflicted with some of the burdens and sins and the like. This is what I wanted to remind you of. And now we open the floor to others.
The questioner : Shaykh, even if it is not understood from you that you approve of the trousers that are now ...
The Shaykh : ... many and very many.
The questioner : Sometimes the trousers are in accordance with the Sunnah!
The Shaykh : It is not that everything is possible. Yes, these trousers have very great precautions!
The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : One of them is that they cover the 'awrah, besides the imitation, they cover the 'awrah, and especially during ruku' and sujud. So we do not advise a Muslim to wear trousers, if that is the expression, unless it is a trouser in the old expression, tight-fitting. They used to call it in Syria, it was exactly like the sarwal, but it did not have a waistband, rather it had buttons like ordinary trousers, but it was loose. Today, there is no existence of it. Therefore, we advise the Pakistani dress, this, and the long shirt, and the loose sarwal. Yes, so this means an exit and a salvation from what some of the youth are afflicted with today.
The questioner : I mean, Shaykh, of course, if you cannot wear the izar.
The Shaykh : Ah, of course.
The questioner : Over the shirt.
The Shaykh : And that is better and more excellent.
The questioner : Yes, my Shaykh.
The example of the righteous companion is like the seller of musk: either he gives you some for free, or you buy from him, or you smell a pleasant fragrance from him
مثل الجليس الصالح كمثل بائع المسك إما أن يحذيك - أي أن يعطيك مجانا - و إما أن تشتري منه و إما أن تشم منه رائحة طيبةAnd the example of the bad companion is like the owner of the blacksmith’s bellows: either he burns your clothes, or you smell a foul odor from him
و مثل الجليس السوء كمثل صاحب الكير الحداد إما أن يحرق ثيابك وإما أن تشم منه رائحة كريهةI am innocent of every Muslim who resides among the polytheists
أنا بريء من كل مسلم أقام بين ظهراني المشركينWhoever mixes with a polytheist, meaning associates with him, is like him
من جامع مشركا أي خالطه فهو مثلهThe fire of the Muslim and the fire of the one who associates partners with Allah do not face each other.
المسلم و المشرك لا تتراءا نارهماThe questioner : After your permission, we will pray and return.
The Shaykh : Please, I said that it was decreed for me to travel in the path of da'wah to Britain, and we were told that in a town more than a hundred kilometers from London, there is a Pakistani da'i who is a Salafi and a good man. So we went to him to get to know him. The time was then Ramadan, and we were fasting. The man, may Allah reward him with good, broke our fast with him, and we sat on the floor in a traditional Arab style. I noticed that the man’s creed was truly Salafi, and his understanding of the da'wah was good, but as for his clothing, it was foreign: a jacket and trousers, and more than that, he wore the knot they call a tie. I also found it my duty to remind him, saying, especially since you live in lands of disbelief, even if it is for the sake of da'wah, you must maintain Islamic dress and not imitate the disbelievers. And especially, the final step in imitating the disbelievers is this tie. That is because imitating other things might be said to have some benefit or utility, but the matter with ties is actually like alcohol: it has benefits for people, but its harm is greater than its good. Among its benefits, for example, trousers have a benefit: they protect from heat, protect from cold, and cover the 'awrah. Similarly, the short jacket and the like. But what is the benefit of ties? Only to represent the dress of the disbeliever; this is their custom, this is their system, and otherwise, they have absolutely no benefit. And especially, they may take a lot of time to tie them in an artistic way, as they claim. I spoke a word on this topic, and out of the man’s goodness and sincerity, and after we finished breaking our fast, he untied the tie and threw it on the ground. So we thanked him and asked Allah to reward him with good. But my joy with him did not last. Here is the point: now he began to justify wearing ties in that country. He said that the English look at our Palestinian brothers with hatred and contempt, because it is the custom of the Palestinians to leave the button of the shirt open here, meaning they do not wear ties. So what is he? And here is the point: the human being’s nature is contagious. He was affected by the English look at our Palestinian brothers. He was affected by them, so that he would not be thought to be Palestinian, he put on what? Ties. I said to him, may Allah forgive you, if you had remained with your action without your justification by saying this, because this justification revealed that he did not wear the tie except to distinguish himself from his Muslim brother in the view of the disbeliever. So the reality of settling in lands of disbelief is rare, rare that a person is saved without being afflicted with some of the burdens and sins and the like. This is what I wanted to remind you of. And now we open the floor to others.
The questioner : Shaykh, even if it is not understood from you that you approve of the trousers that are now ...
The Shaykh : ... many and very many.
The questioner : Sometimes the trousers are in accordance with the Sunnah!
The Shaykh : It is not that everything is possible. Yes, these trousers have very great precautions!
The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : One of them is that they cover the 'awrah, besides the imitation, they cover the 'awrah, and especially during ruku' and sujud. So we do not advise a Muslim to wear trousers, if that is the expression, unless it is a trouser in the old expression, tight-fitting. They used to call it in Syria, it was exactly like the sarwal, but it did not have a waistband, rather it had buttons like ordinary trousers, but it was loose. Today, there is no existence of it. Therefore, we advise the Pakistani dress, this, and the long shirt, and the loose sarwal. Yes, so this means an exit and a salvation from what some of the youth are afflicted with today.
The questioner : I mean, Shaykh, of course, if you cannot wear the izar.
The Shaykh : Ah, of course.
The questioner : Over the shirt.
The Shaykh : And that is better and more excellent.
The questioner : Yes, my Shaykh.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.