What are the conditions for traveling to the lands of disbelief?

The questioner : Regarding the advice you gave Abu Salah three years ago, may Allah reward you with good. It was the advice not to travel to America, and to maintain staying in the lands of the Muslims. One of the benefits of this, which you mentioned, is that congregational prayer does not become easy there because of their distance from their religion.

The Shaykh : Yes, Abu Abdullah, may Allah reward him with good. He reminds us of some words we say on many occasions, which are that we do not advise all our Muslim brothers to settle in the lands of disbelief and reside there for long years. In my view, there is no harm in traveling, but there is great harm in emigrating. It is permissible for a Muslim to travel to some of the lands of disbelief, open sinfulness, and lewdness for a temporary matter of trade or industry, subject to two conditions. The first condition is that he protects himself morally and through marriage, if that is the correct expression; that he has good character and upbringing, and that he has a wife who protects him from inclining toward the women of the yellow-skinned people.The Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him) — the point is that this first condition is that he protects himself with these two protections. The second condition is that he goes to fulfill a temporary interest. As for residing among the polytheists, there are many hadiths warning the Muslim against residing among the polytheists, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is necessary that one of them be far from the other. , meaning that he adopts his character, and this is an observed reality, meaning in most of those who are afflicted with travel to those lands. The greatest affliction that represents the danger of this travel is that they name things other than their Shari'ah names. They name travel to the lands of disbelief "emigration," whereas the opposite is the correct view. If a disbeliever there in the lands of disbelief embraces Islam, he should emigrate to the lands of Islam. This does not happen; we have not heard of a polytheist among them who embraced Islam and actually emigrated to the lands of Islam. But we hear day and night that so-and-so, a Muslim, emigrated from the lands of Islam to the lands of disbelief. The reason for this goes back to two things: the first is ignorance of Islam, and this is a very serious matter; and the second is that holding fast to Islam and enthusiasm for it has faded and been revealed to people, so few of them are enthusiastic about holding fast to their religion. Therefore, you see that they do not distinguish between residing among the Muslims and residing among the polytheists. And although when we say "among the Muslims," we mean despite their defects and shortcomings, one open sinner Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah is equal to the best disbeliever in the lands of disbelief and misguidance. This is a reality we must take pride in. The most open sinner Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah is equal to the best polytheist we imagine, with good character, generosity, wealth, and soul, and so on. Why? Because those are eternal in the Fire, and these are saved from eternity in the Fire. So there is a great difference between the two groups. Therefore, we advise you and every Muslim who resides in those lands for the sake of living and earning a livelihood that this is not permissible, because Allah says: , and because He says: . I know that there are people among the Muslims who travel, and do not emigrate, to America in the path of calling to Allah and to Islam. So I say these are two categories. One category travels for the sake of da'wah purely for the face of Allah, without a job, not belonging to a charitable organization in this country or that, but purely for the face of Allah the Exalted. They may suspend their worldly interest in the path of performing their hereafter interest, which is calling to Allah and His Messenger. In my opinion, these are rarer than red sulfur, as they used to say in the past. So to those who go in the path of calling to Allah, we say to them: the closest are more entitled to kindness. Even if they are what? Working as employees, they should choose a country from the lands of Islam so that what we said earlier does not apply to them, regarding the candidate who nominates himself to enter parliament. No, let him live among the Muslims, advise them, and call them. He should seize every opportunity and not let it pass him by, in the path of performing the obligation of calling to Allah the Exalted. It is not that he goes there, and instead of turning the people there from disbelief to Islam and from open sinfulness and lewdness to Islamic morals, he may turn in some of these aspects of morals. And this is observed in those who live in European countries, for they dress in the dress of the disbelievers, increasing the number of the disbelievers there, and they dress in the dress of what? The disbelievers, so that they are not pointed out and said, "This is a Muslim." We know many of the Islamists; you see them as sheikhs with turbans and beards, but when they leave the Arab lands, they throw off the abaya and the turban, and put on the jacket and pants, and tie the cravat around the neck, and go out bareheaded without what? A turban or a cap or anything, so that the confused and the clear are mixed up. And I advise you and others among the bareheaded here not to walk in the streets, and especially in those lands, bareheaded. You must wear turbans. The turban is not an Islamic obligation, but it is an Islamic dress. And although the turban, for example, may not be practical for some people, such as workers and others, this cap, this taqiyah, is sufficient because it has become a symbol for Muslims. So if the Muslim dressed in this Islamic dress takes a helicopter from Amman in Jordan to Paris and is placed in the lands of open sinfulness and lewdness, he is pointed out and said, "This is a Muslim." Whereas if he changes his dress, you do not know if he is a Muslim or a Christian, or so on. And at that time, many of the Islamic rituals are suspended, among which is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the best of deeds or the best of faith. I have forgotten now. He said: "Greet the one you know or the one you do not know." Well, if I see you on the road, by Allah, I do not know if you are a Muslim or not. What is the reason? Because you do not carry the work of Islam. The work of Islam is this or that, and that is all. But more than that, we wear all the dress of the disbelievers. But, praise be to Allah, we still have some of the preservation and protection and Islamic zeal, so we do not put on the hat. Otherwise, any young man today, any young man who does not dress in the dress of the Muslims but dresses in the dress of the disbelievers and walks bareheaded, let him put on a hat. You would not call him anything but George or Antonios. But you will never see one wearing the jalabiya shirt, growing his beard, trimming his mustache, and on top of that covering his head with the hat. Two opposites do not come together. Yes.

The questioner : In Morocco, this custom exists.

The Shaykh : In Morocco.

The questioner : In the Arab Maghreb.

The Shaykh : At your own responsibility, and the burden is on the narrator. I do not think in Morocco this hat is a large modified hat.

The questioner : Large.

The Shaykh : The brother here says "prince." I do not think so. We ask Allah to guide our Muslim brothers in all the lands of Islam. This is a word that caught our attention, from the brother Abu Abdullah, may Allah reward him with good. And the topic, I have raised it on many occasions, in many things from the Book and the Sunnah, and the occurring events that I have touched with my own hand. Therefore, we say: .