Are the Jews and Christians who exist today among the People of the Book?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Your Eminence, may Allah forgive you, are the Jews and Christians who exist today among the People of the Book?
The Shaykh : What I see is that they are among the People of the Book, as long as they profess the religion of the People of the Book or claim affiliation with the religion of the People of the Book, they are among the People of the Book, because Allah the Exalted mentioned in Surat al-Ma'idah:[Al-Ma'idah 5:5] even though He said in the same Surat al-Ma'idah: [Al-Ma'idah 5:17], [Al-Ma'idah 5:73] so He declared them disbelievers and made their food lawful.
The questioner : With distortion, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, even with distortion, for it also existed in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
The questioner : If they turn to communism, Your Eminence?
The Shaykh : No, if they say we have abandoned the religion of the People of the Book and we do not acknowledge it, and we do not enter Islam, we will enter communism which says that there is no God and no Lord, their ruling is clear. But people who profess Christianity and pray in churches and pray for their dead and celebrate festivals, even if they are acts of disbelief, but they consider them their festivals, they have the ruling of the People of the Book. And here this session ends, and I ask Allah the Exalted to make it good and a blessing, and to grant us and you protection in speech and action, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.
The Shaykh : What I see is that they are among the People of the Book, as long as they profess the religion of the People of the Book or claim affiliation with the religion of the People of the Book, they are among the People of the Book, because Allah the Exalted mentioned in Surat al-Ma'idah:
and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you
وطعام الذين أوتوا الكتاب حلّ لكمThey have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ
لقد كفر الذين قالوا إنّ الله هو المسيح عيسى بن مريمThey have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three."
لقد كفر الذين قالوا إنّ الله ثالث ثلاثةThe questioner : With distortion, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, even with distortion, for it also existed in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
The questioner : If they turn to communism, Your Eminence?
The Shaykh : No, if they say we have abandoned the religion of the People of the Book and we do not acknowledge it, and we do not enter Islam, we will enter communism which says that there is no God and no Lord, their ruling is clear. But people who profess Christianity and pray in churches and pray for their dead and celebrate festivals, even if they are acts of disbelief, but they consider them their festivals, they have the ruling of the People of the Book. And here this session ends, and I ask Allah the Exalted to make it good and a blessing, and to grant us and you protection in speech and action, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.