What is the ruling on the killing incidents occurring in Egypt by Islamic groups? Is this killing permissible, given that the victim testifies that there is no god but Allah?

The questioner : We hear about the killing incidents in Egypt by Islamic groups. Is this killing permissible, even though the victim testifies that there is no god but Allah? Is this killing considered permissible by the Islamic groups, or not?

The Shaykh : Praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, none can guide. I testify that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger. As for what follows, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). The worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. We do not see that this type of killing is permissible by the Shari'ah. There is no doubt that not every killing is impermissible by the Shari'ah, for when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described His believing servants with certain attributes that must be realized in every true believer, among those attributes is His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): Therefore, killing is of two types: killing with right and killing without right. Killing with right is what Allah has legislated, such as killing one who kills without right, or one who apostatizes from his Islamic religion, and he is killed. This is well known in the jurisprudential rulings. Which of the two types is this killing that we hear today is occurring in some Islamic countries, such as Egypt? Is it killing with right, or is it killing without right? We have no doubt whatsoever that such killing is not permissible in Islam, for the one who executes the rulings is the Muslim ruler, not the individual Muslim. In other words, if a Muslim brother kills a killer, it is not permissible for his brother to avenge the victim with his own hand; rather, the Muslim ruler does that. So, if the ruler authorizes him to kill the killer, it is permissible for him; otherwise, it is not permissible for him. For the noble verse, which is well known and is among the striking Islamic rulings by which safe life is organized in the Muslim society, namely His saying (Exalted is He): This retaliation (qisas) is not permissible for every individual Muslim to carry out; rather, this is the duty of the Muslim ruler. From this is what is happening now in Egypt or elsewhere, namely rebelling against the rulers. Even if we assume that some of these rulers have a clear disbelief that warrants them being fought by the Muslims, such rebellion is not permissible unless the Muslims take the measures that qualify them to rise against this disbelieving ruler. This is a long discussion that we have often addressed in detail, and there are many tapes with our brother Abu Ahmad. In brief, I say: when the Muslims perform the duty of purification and education—purifying Islam from what has entered it that is not part of it, which requires tremendous efforts from hundreds and thousands of scholars cooperating to convey Islam to the Muslims as a purified Islam, as it was in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family)—and then the Muslims are educated on this purified Islam. And the completion of this education is the application of the Qur'anic text: The two matters—spiritual education and material education—are both missing today, except in a few scattered individuals in this vast Islamic world. When the Muslims gather on this basis of purification and education and pledge allegiance to one of them as a ruler who rules by what Allah has revealed, this ruler’s commands are executed. If he orders, it is carried out. What occurred in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him), when he ordered an individual Muslim to go and kill so-and-so, to confront him face to face and kill him, or to kill him by treachery, for the Messenger said, "War is deception" (or "War is a stratagem"), this ruler is the one who has the right. As for a group in an Islamic country riding on their heads, or perhaps riding on their ignorance, and controlling individuals of good hearts, ordering them with commands they think are Shari'ah commands but are actually innovative commands contrary to the Book and the Sunnah, this is not permissible in Islam. Therefore, those who rebel against the rulers today hasten the matter and forbid the fruit they seek behind the haste. And it has come in some authentic hadiths that when some of the Companions were about to despair of the victory of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), the Messenger (peace be upon him) reminded them in some authentic hadiths that those before you were being tortured. One of them would be taken, and a saw would be placed on his head and sawed until he fell to the ground in two pieces, to make him apostatize from the religion of Allah, but he would refuse and accept this death in this manner, entrusting his affair to Allah, and he would die a martyr in the path of Allah. And therefore Allah said (Exalted is He): Therefore, among the sayings of some scholars is: "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is tried with its deprivation." In this era, we have witnessed much of what is called revolutions or coups or similar things. The worst of them was what occurred at the beginning of the present century, in the year 1924, in Makkah al-Mukarramah, where a group rebelled against the rule there, and killing occurred in the Sacred Mosque from both parties. The group that rebelled was, of course, the Bedouins, with injustice. Then followed many revolutions, including in Syria. You must have heard what has befallen the Da'wah today. Today, when we were there about fifteen years ago, Syria was almost turning into a Salafi people on the Book and the Sunnah. And now the Da'wah has regressed, and the people are living as if they are in the depths of the earth, not daring to display their worship and beliefs, and so on. What caused that? Hastening, and before taking the provisions that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) ordered us to take, which are two provisions: a weapon of the heart, which is faith, and a material weapon. This weapon of faith is easy to realize, and yet people are short in every way because they do not know Islam and do not understand it correctly, let alone that they are unable to carry out the material weapon for these circumstances that surround all Islamic lands, which are almost being colonized by the disbelievers, either directly or in a hidden way, whose appearance is mercy and whose inner reality is torment. Therefore, what is happening in Egypt and what is happening in Algeria, all of that is contrary to Islam. And the Muslims should return to understanding their religion correctly and to applying it to themselves on this basis of correct understanding. And then the believers will rejoice in the victory of Allah. On this occasion, I am pleased with a word said by some of the Islamic callers to his followers, but unfortunately they turned away from this word, and it is among the best words spoken by that caller: "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land." "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land." Before the Muslims establish it in their hearts and in their own selves, the state of Islam will not be established for them on their land. And today, people have reversed things; they shout that sovereignty belongs to Allah, and that is true, but they do not rule by the law of Allah in themselves. What is the benefit of leaving the ruling by what Allah has legislated in yourself and hoping for another to apply what you are created for? And we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that we may take a lesson from His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): Perhaps the time has come, and the Imam will not be in the hall after, or otherwise, how? As we started before the 'Isha' prayer, opening the questions, we hope that they will be orderly and that we will be far from chaos. So, whoever wants to ask a question should raise his hand, and then we will hear his question and answer it if we have the answer. Now, whoever has a question, let him direct it, and we hope that it will not be a repeated question, and very repeated, so that all the attendees benefit from the question and its answer. Now, whoever has a question, let him raise his hand.