The Shaykh Al-Albani’s letter to the Islamic Front, in which he answered their questions regarding legislative elections, and the answer to the first question, which is

The reader: "This is the Basmalah and the opening address from the Committee for Da'wah and Guidance in the Islamic Front at al-Maqam: And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. After that: I received your letter, sent to me via fax, on the evening of this Tuesday, the eighteenth of Jumada al-Akhirah, 1412 AH. I read it and learned of the questions contained therein regarding the elections, which you said would be held on Thursday, that is, the day after tomorrow. You requested that I hasten to send you my answers, so I proceeded to write them on Wednesday night to send them to you via fax this morning, if Allah wills. I thank you for your good opinion of your brother and your kind praise of him, which he does not deserve. I ask the Lord, (Glorified and Exalted is He), to grant you success in your da'wah and guidance. Here is now what Allah has made easy for me in answering your questions, hoping that the Lord, (Glorified and Exalted is He), will grant me correctness in that. The first question: What is the Islamic ruling on legislative elections, known as the parliament, through which we seek to establish the Muslim state and restore the Rightly Guided Caliphate? And the answer: The happiest thing for Muslims in their lands is the day when the banner of La ilaha illa Allah is raised, and that the ruling therein is by what Allah has revealed. And it is without doubt that it is obligatory upon Muslims, each according to his ability, to strive to establish the Muslim state that rules by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and by the methodology of the righteous Salaf. And it is certain for every Muslim researcher that this is not possible except through beneficial knowledge and righteous action. The first of that is that a group of Muslims must engage in learning beneficial knowledge or presenting beneficial knowledge to the Muslims around them. There is no way to that except that they purify the knowledge they have inherited from the shirk and idolatry that has entered it, until thousands of them do not know the meaning of their saying La ilaha illa Allah. And this good word necessitates the tawhid of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in worshipping Him alone, with no partner, so that no one is called upon for aid except Him, and no one is sacrificed to or approached except Him, and that they do not worship Him, (Glorified and Exalted is He), except by what Allah has prescribed through the tongue of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And this is among the necessities of their saying Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. And this requires them to remove from the books of fiqh the opinions and independent legal reasoning that contradict the correct Sunnah, so that their worship is acceptable. And that necessitates purifying the Sunnah from the weak and fabricated hadiths that have entered it over the days, as it also necessitates purifying conduct from the deviations present in the Sufi paths, and the exaggeration in worship and asceticism, among other matters that contradict beneficial knowledge. The second is that they train themselves and the Muslims around them on this beneficial knowledge. And then their knowledge will be beneficial and their action righteous, as He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), said: . And then: If a group of Muslims stands upon this scientific purification and Islamic training, you will not find among them anyone who differs or who confuses the means of shirk with the means of the Shari'ah, because they know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to them with a complete Shari'ah with its objectives and its means. And among its objectives, for example, is the prohibition of imitating the disbelievers, and adopting their means and systems that suit their traditions and customs, including the selection of rulers and representatives through elections. As this means suits, or rather, this means suits their disbelief and ignorance, which does not distinguish between faith and disbelief, nor between the righteous and the wicked, nor even between the male and the female. And our Lord says: , and He says: . And they also know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) only began establishing the Muslim state by calling to tawhid and warning against worshipping the taghut, and training those who respond to his call on the Islamic rulings until they became: , as it came in the authentic hadith, and there was none among them who persisted in committing major sins, riba, and zina."

The Shaykh : And the forbidden things.
The reader: "And the forbidden things, except for a few. So whoever wants to establish the Muslim state truly, without following the people or"

The Shaykh : ... .
The reader: "regarding their ideological and educational differences, as is the case with the known Islamic parties today, but rather it is necessary to unify their ideas and concepts on the correct Islamic principles, the Book and the Sunnah, and on the methodology of the righteous Salaf as mentioned before, . So whoever turns away from this methodology in establishing the Muslim state, and follows the path of the disbelievers in establishing their state, is like the one who seeks shelter from the fire in the embers. And it is sufficient for him as an error that he contradicted his guidance, (peace and blessings be upon him), and did not take him as an example. And Allah, (Mighty and Majestic), says: ."