Is the one who lives in the lands of disbelief loyal to them or hostile to them?

The Shaykh : Then I also say, as they say, that the matter has many facets: Our Lord says in the Noble Qur'an: Look at the one who lives in a disbeliever's country, is he loyal to this country or hostile to it? And we want to hear the answer from the doctor until the atmosphere moves a bit.

The questioner : Is he loyal to that country or hostile to it?

The Shaykh : Yes, any Muslim who travels to a disbeliever's country, is he loyal to this country and its rulers or is he hostile to them?

The questioner : No, he is not loyal to the country, its rulers, or its system; he is not loyal.

The Shaykh : Not loyal, hostile?

The questioner : He hates them, not necessarily hostile, hostile yes, but he may not do anything in terms of hostility, but he hates them.

The Shaykh : He hates them, so why does he live with them?

The questioner : For necessity, usually it is as you mentioned,

The Shaykh : Yes, if so, why? We say in the answer, why does he live with them?

The questioner : For the necessity of living there.

The Shaykh : But the necessity, we said, is realized in ... .

The questioner : No, as you mentioned, the answer to your question, you did not mention previously why, this is the answer to your question: Is the Muslim who resides in the lands of the disbelievers loyal to them or hostile to them? If you consider mere residence as loyalty, that is another matter, but if you ask me about the loyalty of the heart, no, the Muslim is not loyal to them usually, he resides but is not loyal to them, meaning he does not love them at all, he hates their conditions.

The Shaykh : Allow me, does loyalty in your opinion mean only the heart or also the outward form?

The questioner : No, heart and outward form.

The Shaykh : If you specified, you said outward form.

The questioner : He is not loyal to them, not satisfied with what they are upon, he condemns it, he calls to the opposite, he does not apply it to himself, meaning loyalty is not realized, I do not see it as realized, meaning his remaining among them is forbidden, this is one matter, but is he loyal to them? It does not appear that he is loyal, because a person may reside among a people and hate them, hate what they are upon.

The Shaykh : Well, does he not cooperate with them, Professor?

The questioner : Yes, he cooperates, in public life, in this world.

The Shaykh : Well?

The questioner : Is this loyalty?

The Shaykh : Is he not under their laws?

The questioner : Yes, they rule him by them.

The Shaykh : Well, how is loyalty then? How is the forbidden loyalty?

The questioner : Meaning, even in the lands of Muslims, he is ruled by non-Islamic laws.

The Shaykh : No, allow me, let us finish there and then return to the lands of Islam.

The questioner : Meaning, when he resides with them, they can, by law, enforce it upon him, naturally he performs it, he cannot escape from it, and although some escape from some of it, but he performs most of it, but the enforcement of the disbelievers' laws upon him, that they are imposed upon him, is this loyalty? This question applies even to the lands of Muslims.

The Shaykh : No, it does not apply, may Allah bless you, but I do not know if this jump is logical now from the lands of disbelief to the lands of Islam?

The questioner : No, the jump is for the answer to the question, is it merely the application of their laws upon him, that the laws apply to him, he answers to these laws, is this loyalty? The answer is yes, their laws apply to him, meaning this is the answer to the question, is it loyalty? You mentioned that it is loyalty, so I ask, if it is loyalty, it means we are all in all lands under non-Islamic laws.

The Shaykh : They are not the same, may Allah bless you, I will tell you: Now, as long as you insist on analogy, I will tell you there is a very big difference, the Muslim must have a shelter, a refuge that shelters him, he must have it, so this refuge must be in a country, and this country must be either a country, I do not say Islamic now, let me say more precise than before, whose inhabitants are Muslims, or another country whose inhabitants are disbelievers, so he preferred residing in the second country over the first, and another preferred residing in the first country, are they equal for example?

The questioner : No, they are not equal.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you, this is the assumption, therefore your analogy of the disbeliever's country with the Muslim country is not equal, because the Muslim must, as I presented, have a refuge to which he returns, so either his refuge is in a Muslim country or a disbeliever's country, so when he resides in a Muslim country, we say here, going with you: he is compelled to follow this country in its rulings, as I said earlier: there is a difference between the rulings applied in the lands of Islam and the rulings applied in the lands of disbelief, even if it is one percent, five percent, ten percent, the percentage does not matter to us, but the important thing is there is a difference, so this one who must have a residence and resides is compelled to live in light of these rulings, but here is another difference, now I give you an example between this country and that country, regarding car insurance, there is, as you know, two types of insurance, compulsory insurance and optional insurance, well, in one country he is compelled to have both insurances, in another country he is compelled to have one insurance, the two countries in goodness or in badness, both are the same, no difference at all, to clarify the matter, so the Muslim chose the country that compels him to have both insurances, is it said this is like the first?
Peace: No.

The Shaykh : No, if so, may Allah bless you, the Muslim should always note that there is a difference in loyalty, let us say frankly, loyalty is necessary for him, like the Muslim who resides in the lands of Islam and pays many and very many taxes, so he is excused, where would he go? Here it is not said to him: As for that person who is ruled by a law from A to Z that is disbeliever, and every day this law, without exaggeration, every period and period, a modification is entered into it because it is from the making of humans, the law existing in the lands of Islam is not of this nature in its distance from Islam, there is a difference, little or much, this is not our subject, so if so, let us go with you, the Muslim in the land of Islam is loyal, but he cannot do other than this, this loyalty is outward and not of the heart, whereas there it is heart and outward because he can escape from that by living in the lands of Islam, compelled to this kind of physical loyalty and not the loyalty of the heart, so I hope you note these matters, because in truth they help us in making Muslims understand the Sharia rulings, and that they return to increasing the number of their community in their homeland, instead of increasing the number of the disbelievers.
I give a very simple example, the Muslim in the land of Islam - Allah is the Greatest - perhaps you remember with me a hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud and others, a man entered and said: Peace be upon you, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: A second man entered: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy, A third man entered and said: Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings, he said: They said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so-and-so entered, I said: to the end, he said: These are the good deeds that the Muslim obtains in the lands of Islam, do you see them there?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : This is a very, very small example, rather I tell you another example, a very small example, so I tell you another example and a very small one, this example differs from one Muslim country to a Muslim country, rather from one Muslim neighborhood in one country to another Muslim neighborhood, rather from one house to another house, is there a smaller example than this? By Allah, there is, how is this?
In a Muslim country, but from this country, you say to him: "Peace be upon you," and he says to you: "Welcome." Where is: It is not raised with Islamic upbringing. I will come closer to some of the smaller examples. "Peace be upon you," and "And upon you be peace." But in the smaller example: he entered and said, "Peace be upon you," and he exited and said, "Peace be upon you." It is a good thing, and it is recorded automatically as continuous good deeds. Allah knows best what the total of those good deeds would be over the twenty-four hours. Why? Because he lives in a Muslim, Salafi atmosphere where he knows the saying of him (peace and blessings be upon him): This, and the many examples below it that we have brought close to you, is the reality we seek. You can never see it in the lands of disbelief. Therefore, we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to inspire our Muslim youth to return to the abode of Islam, and to learn the rulings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and to follow the methodology of the righteous predecessors, and to raise themselves and those who take refuge with them upon this pure Islam. And perhaps this is sufficient, if Allah wills, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Ali Hasan: Our Shaykh, I would like to confirm your words with a real story that happened in front of me in America, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Please.
Ali Hasan: It is a story that must affect every person, and that is death. In a city in one of the states, our Shaykh, its name is Detroit. This city is, as far as I know, the only one where the adhan is permitted, and not even in all the mosques. It is the only one where the adhan is called publicly and heard, because there are many Yemenis, Jordanians, Lebanese, and other Muslims there. And yet, not in all the mosques. Near the mosque, they bought a piece of land adjacent to the Christians' cemetery so that they could bury their Muslim dead. So, on the day I was there, one of the Yemeni brothers died, may Allah have mercy on him. They went to bury him, and I went with them. I found that the burial was done in the American way.

The Shaykh : Is it necessary?
It is necessary. And there is a committee from the police, the municipality, and the city administration standing there to monitor.

The Shaykh : What is the purpose of the monitoring?
So that they do not violate the conditions. Because the condition is: that they empty his stomach of all the intestines and such, and then bury him in the coffin, and put such things, meaning very strange things. So I heard more than one person, including the father of our brother Zakariya al-Shishani,

The Shaykh : He was well-known...
Al-Halabi : He was there and at the same time said: After seeing this, I will never stay there again, because a person dies such a death. A person's death cannot be according to the Shari'ah of Allah, and it is something easy that one can do.

The Shaykh : There is no power nor might except with Allah?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Welcome.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, there is a very important follow-up that most of the youth resort to.

The Shaykh : Please.

The questioner : Which is traveling to the West under the pretext of obtaining a passport...

The Shaykh : This is a circumcision for the slave girl.

The questioner : I just wanted a comment from you on this, because I want this comment to be published if there is a possibility.

The Shaykh : Our brother al-Sumadi

The questioner : Rida' al-Sumadi

The Shaykh : Rida', you are...