What is the ruling on entering parliaments and ministries?

The questioner : Well, our Shaykh, may Allah reward you, what is the ruling on these Salafi brothers who call through this political path? What is their ruling in the Shari'ah if they become deputies? And what is their ruling if they are offered the position of minister and they accept it? Especially since you mentioned, our Shaykh, in a recorded tape of yours, that entering would be a religious innovation, because the parliamentary call is a newly invented matter?

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : Yes, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that in their entry, they are mistaken. The call to which they belong, they are mistaken in it. In fact, I say they are misguided from this righteous call. But I say: And although this hadith is not strongly connected to this topic, I distinguish between a person who is misguided while not intending to be misguided, and another person who is misguided while intending to be misguided, and another person who is misguided while intending to be misguided like the Jews whom Professor Abu Malik mentioned earlier, and the polytheists who knew the truth and then deviated from it. So these brothers who enter parliament, if their entry is following their desires and preferring worldly life over the Hereafter, there is no doubt that they are sinful with a great sin. And if it is with a type of independent legal reasoning, along with their sincerity to the call of the truth, then they are without doubt misguided, and Allah Mighty and Majestic is their reckoner. And I, in fact, from my call, always and forever, is that we should limit ourselves to explaining the error of what a person says or does, and not delve into reaching his intention and what has settled in his heart, because this is known only by Allah Mighty and Majestic, the All-Knower of what is in the breasts. I imagine people who are sincere, whom we know, and they were among us in Syria, and they began political knowledge despite my advice to them, and finally, as they say in the Syrian language: "They ate it on their sides," meaning they regretted what they did, but after what? After an experience they entered. So my intention is like these whom I am referring to in Syria; I was and still am unable to say that their intention was bad. No, according to my knowledge of them, their intentions were good, and they wanted to support Islam and strengthen the call. But the truth came true in them: "He led them to ruin, and ruin was wrapped around him," and so on. As I also know that among them are people with malicious intent who take the call of the truth, in many cases, as a means to reach the debris of this world. And so I say that this belonging and entry into parliament and reaching the point of becoming a minister, this is the death that will strike this deputy, either soon or later!
Abu Malik : Meaning the deputy becomes a female deputy!

The Shaykh : A female deputy, yes, it is so.
Abu Malik : Our Shaykh, may Allah reward you, you pointed to a very great issue. And in truth, this issue is hidden from many, even from our brothers who live with us and receive knowledge from the correct methodology in the circles and lessons they attend, whether with you or in other gatherings.

The Shaykh: Yes.
Abu Malik : They do not scrutinize what they utter with their tongues. You mentioned earlier, may Allah reward you with good, that despite what you saw in Syria of the fall of these brothers who entered parliament, and despite the bad that befell them, you are unable to conclude their intentions to prove bad intent in them!

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik : This is the truth, and may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.
Abu Malik : And I say that this is one of the meritsThe Shaykh : Nasir al-Din al-Albani.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, may Allah bless you.
Abu Malik : And I mention another thing to add to this issue, which is that you have mentioned many times that we cannot rule on a specific disbeliever that he is from the people of the Fire when he dies.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik : And this is also an issue in which many people get entangled.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik : And from here I say, if it were not for these two issues or matters that you teach people in the creed, it would be enough for us to be proud to hear it fromThe Shaykh : Nasir al-Din al-Albani.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you
Abu Malik : But our Shaykh, and you say this about the opponents and the most ardent enemies.

The Shaykh: Indeed, by Allah.
Abu Malik : Whether they say "La ilaha illa Allah" or they do not say "La ilaha illa Allah".

The Shaykh: Yes.
Abu Malik : So what about you, our Shaykh, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
Abu Malik : Our Shaykh, may Allah reward you with good, regarding those who accuse the sincere people who work for the call of their intentions. We do not claim to be among them, but we say they accuse the other sincere ones, then they take delight in you and those around you in this claim, and they aim their arrows at you and those who sit with you.

The Shaykh : Allah is the Helper.
Abu Malik : And there is no harm in me mentioning a name explicitly here, which is the brother Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq. A few days ago, a memorandum reached me from brothers of ours in Kuwait, which they sent to us, in which he speaks or criticizes the book I wrote, which is the book "Salafiyyah" or "Salafiyyah as a Name, Creed, and Methodology." The criticisms he directed, Allah knows that not one of them hit the truth; rather, he erred in all of them. But there is a great issue in these scholarly criticisms where he says that so-and-so wrote his book and dressed it in the clothing of Salafiyyah, and we do not know if it is a newly invented Qadiyyah, or a newly invented Sufism, or a cunning Thulbiyyah, or a fitnah he commits, or selling the religion for the world, or... and so on. And in truth, I was amazed. He called me on the morning of this day, and when I asked him, or said, "Are you the one who wrote it?" He said, "Yes, I am the one who wrote it." I said to him.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, did he call you or did you call him?
Abu Malik : No, he called based on a recommendation from one of the brothers to call.

The Shaykh : Ah, this must be known?
Abu Malik : No, he did not call on his own, but he called based on my saying to one of the brothers to call me!

The Shaykh : He is this, yes.

The questioner : Who is he?
Abu Malik : Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Abu Malik : Meaning terrifying words. I say, these words, you are teaching us now something great with which we adorn our necks and wear gold earrings in our ears, making us sway among people and teach them how the call to Allah should be. So what about those brothers, including the brother Abd al-Khaliq, who, a few days ago, and I was telling you about an issue like this, you said that someone like Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq cannot write such a thing, given what we know about him!

The Shaykh : Yes, and I said perhaps someone else wrote it!
Abu Malik : Yes, perhaps someone else wrote it, but he admitted it, as our Egyptian brothers say, he admitted it with the greatness of his tongue.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.
Abu Malik : And he said, "Yes, I said this."

The Shaykh : Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.
Abu Malik : I said to him, may Allah reward you: Do you say, O Abd al-Rahman, do you believe that these attributes you attributed to me and my book, can you meet Allah with them on the Day of Resurrection! Can you prove that you are truthful in one word you said? He said: "I did not say what I affirmed this, but I said either... or... or..."

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
Abu Malik : I meant, it is as if you are saying: Choose whatever you wish from these attributes.

The Shaykh : Any one of them.
Abu Malik : Any one of them.

The Shaykh : And they are destructive. Allah is the Greatest!
Abu Malik : Yes, so our Shaykh, may Allah reward you and may Allah reward you with good, and how much we have learned from you!

The Shaykh: Excuse me.
Abu Malik : And your knowledge, which overflows, and praise be to Allah, over the whole world, is not lacking, and may Allah reward you with good, from giving advice to a brother like our brother Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq on such an occasion where you spoke about this creedal issue, which is among the most dangerous issues that many of our brothers are exposed to.

The Shaykh: Yes.
Abu Malik : So we want a word on this issue in the jurisprudence of the call, so that it may reach the ear of this brother and be a lesson for him, so that perhaps he may repent to Allah with a sincere repentance. And I said to him, "What will you say to your Lord, O Abd al-Rahman, on the day I stand with you before Him, and He will surely question you? What will you say to your Lord on the Day of Resurrection?" So I hope, our Shaykh?

The Shaykh : I swear by Allah, I have not much to say regarding our brother 'Abd al-Rahman, except to advise him to fear Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and to remind him of some of what I mentioned earlier, apart from this occasion you have now brought up, which is the topic of discussing the intentions of souls and hearts, especially those intentions that pertain to those we know to be our Muslim brothers, and indeed our Salafi brothers who met with us on the methodology of the Book and the correct Sunnah, and on what our righteous predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon. Specifically, with people like these, it is not permissible in Islam to speak about what is in their chests or what their intentions have concealed, because these matters are known only to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), the All-Knowing of what is in the chests. We are as certain as certainty can be that these Salafi brothers who entered the parliament there in Kuwait, or previously in Syria, or recently in Egypt, and finally, unfortunately, in Yemen—where news has reached us that those who claim affiliation with the Muslim Brothers or with al-Islah have allied with the Ba'athists and the Nasserists, and even with the secularists, claiming that this alliance and entry into parliament will bring reform to the Yemeni or Kuwaiti or other Islamic societies—despite our firm belief that this affiliation and entry into these parliaments, which are based on ruling by other than what Allah has revealed, is first of all a practical support for what our Salafi brothers, and others like the Muslim Brothers, openly call for, namely that ruling belongs to Allah alone, with no partner, and not to the people, and not to the constitution that was established on the system of disbelieving constitutions, which were taken from the lands of disbelief and transferred to the lands of Islam under the claim that their application is in the interest of the Muslim country. Despite the fact that we believe the affiliation of these brothers with such parliaments is first of all a clear contradiction of the call of the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology followed by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his call, despite this clear contradiction, we have found in the history of the modern era that these Muslims who entered the parliaments did not benefit the Muslims in any way, but rather harmed them greatly. The consequence of that was that some of the rulers rose up, some fighting Islam openly, and some fighting Islam behind the scenes and veils. So, despite this contradiction of the Shari'ah on one hand, and the contradiction of the experience which did not succeed—as we said earlier in answer to the question—we cannot say that the intentions of those who entered the parliaments with the aim of reform, as they claim, are bad, even though we have no doubt that their action is contradictory and clear misguidance. Therefore, we advise our brother 'Abd al-Rahman, especially since he was with us in the call until recently, with two pieces of advice. The first piece of advice is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: So it is not permissible for someone like him to judge those who are like him in the call, and Allah knows best who is the righteous and who is the corrupt among them. He should not judge that their intention is to turn Islam upside down and corrupt the Salafi call and dress it in a garment other than the correct one, a garment of hidden atheism veiled with an Islamic call. I advise him not to have a bad opinion of the intention of one who differs with him in opinion, especially since I have read many of the phrases by which the man was accused, and he says the opposite of what was attributed to him. I leave this matter between you and him. But as for you openly expressing a bad opinion of him, this is what widens the breach for the mender, because this will lead many people to accuse you of bad intentions. Then the division increases, the contradiction increases, and the gap widens between the Islamic callers, let alone the masses of Muslims. This is my first advice, and it is very clear and does not accept discussion, because no Muslim knows what is in the chests of others. The other piece of advice is that you return to your call and focus on spreading the correct knowledge among the masses of Muslims, and focus on educating them with the correct Islamic education, outwardly and inwardly, so that you may follow the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in both goal and style. The goal of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is to spread the creed of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the religion that Allah revealed to the heart of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the means is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) followed in calling people to Islam with wisdom and good instruction. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as they say in Syria, from some of your forgotten things, did not focus on getting close to the misguided polytheists, and he did not compromise in the path of his call, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) educated him well and warned him not to lean toward them even a little, as in His saying: So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) educated His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and educated him well, and consequently he educated his Companions one after another, one after another, until he created that mass by which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was able to repel the attack of the disbelievers on the land to which he had migrated. As for you and those who see or hold your opinion regarding entering parliament, the outcome of that is clear loss. That is because you will lose the call in which you were zealous and in which you educated those you wished on this call, and then finally they occupied themselves with politics and entering parliament, and then they may be nominated to be ministers, and these ministers will rule by other than what Allah has revealed. Where is the call for the sovereignty of Allah alone, with no partner, if you support the existing ruling under the claim of reforming the ruling! I used to hear, long ago and very long ago, that the call of the Muslim Brothers was to reform society by reforming individuals. This is what we testify to Allah and believe firmly, and it is the call of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as witnessed by his fragrant biography and his bright history. So I do not know, by Allah, what has led you to contradict the guidance of your Prophet by entering a parliament based on ruling by other than what Allah has revealed. Do you want us to have a bad opinion of your intentions? No, no. So we must advise one another. Your action is not on the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah and on what our righteous predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon. As for intentions, their reckoning is with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Is the reward for good except good? O 'Abd al-Rahman, I warn you to be among the ignorant. I was very eager that we meet here in this land, because it is difficult for me to come to you as I did in the past. Perhaps you will respond to this call of mine and we will meet to understand each other regarding the issues of the modern era and establish the methodology by which the condition of the Muslims will be straightened and by which they will be able to establish the ruling of Allah on earth. So I hope that you will find a place for this call of mine in your heart, such that it moves you to visit us and stay with me as an honored guest, so that we may advise one another to truth and advise one another to patience. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Abu Layla: May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you, if Allah wills.
Abu Malik: And finally, after this question, and my apologies for lengthening the speech in this area.