What is the criterion for imitating the disbelievers?

The questioner : The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade imitating the Jews and the Christians; so what are the criteria for this imitation? Is it in all religious and worldly matters, whether distinctive or not?

The Shaykh : Yes. There is no doubt that whatever matters are religious among those who oppose Islam, they are all things that the Muslim is forbidden to imitate them in. As for what is not among their religious matters but rather among their customs, these are looked at with the following detail: if it is a custom among those customs, even if it is not from the first category of worship in their religion, and even if their religion commands them to do it—although it is known that this religion is deviant—we look at this custom. If it is a custom that the disbelievers are distinguished by, then the ruling of forbidding imitation of them remains applicable. In the other case, if this custom is not specific to them, then the Muslim is not imitating them in it. However, the matter in the Shari'ah takes another form, which falls under the category of intending to differ from the polytheists. There is imitation of the polytheists, and there is the intention to differ from the polytheists. In the intention to differ, it is not necessary to assume that if a Muslim does what the disbelievers do, and this act is not from their specific customs, it is not necessary to assume that at the time he is not imitating them, that it is not prescribed for him to intentionally differ from them in that act, even if it is not their custom or their symbol. We know from some Prophetic hadiths that intending to differ from the polytheists in their customs is a prescribed goal in Islam. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used differing from the disbelievers as the reason for some of the commands we were ordered to follow. For example, he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . As Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions in his book "Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim li-Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim," there is a great difference between the Messenger (peace be upon him) saying: only, and what is authentically reported from him: . This second part of the hadith gives us and suggests to us that differing from the Jews is a prescribed goal. Therefore, the wisdom in not limiting it to his saying only: , but adding to it , is that in this addition, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , there is an indication that among the objectives of the Wise Lawgiver is that the Muslim intends to differ from the Jews. Similarly, in the other famous hadith, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . There are many, and very many, hadiths with this meaning, to the extent that the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) concern in this matter reached the point where he ordered us to differ from the Jews in something that is not from their work, nor their making, nor their earning, but rather from the creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in them. That is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . Known hadiths have come regarding the encouragement to change gray hair, but the important thing from these hadiths is this hadith of ours, because it confirms for us the meaning I mentioned earlier, which is that the Muslim's intention to differ from non-Muslims is a general legal ruling. The evidence is that the Jews and Christians turn gray just as Muslims turn gray, and their graying is not from their work but rather from the Sunnah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His creation . If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the Muslims to intentionally differ from those who oppose them in a matter that is not from their work, namely the graying of their hair, then it is even more so and more so that he orders us to differ from them in what is from their earning and their works. If we know this detail, we know where imitation is. It can be limited to their worship and their distinctive customs that distinguish them from others. If it is not from their worship, nor from their works that distinguish them from Muslims, then the second ruling applies, which is differing. Therefore, before the Muslims is a matter in which they must expand to have their Islamic identity, and that is to intentionally differ from the disbelievers in all their works without exception, as long as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered us to differ from them in their graying. And on this occasion, I say, and one thing brings to mind another.