The Ruling on One Who Affiliates with the Ba'ath Party

The Shaykh : The important thing is, my brother, that we return to another issue related to this topic. I divided the matter such that a Ba'athist or a communist may be a disbeliever by creedal disbelief, or by practical disbelief. Now, from the Shari'ah perspective, do you agree with me on this division?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : It is a weak word, "yes."
The student : How do I say "yes"?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, meaning you stated it with strength. How were you saying that these Ba'athists are, say, ninety-nine percent? Now, this percentage you estimated, whether we assume you are correct or incorrect in it.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Can you rule on what percentage of these Ba'athists are Ba'athists by creed, and what percentage are Ba'athists by action and not by creed? I think I have the right to say, "I do not know."
The student : I do not know.

The Shaykh : So then, what do you gain from saying that ninety-nine percent are Ba'athists, as long as the phrase "ninety-nine percent are Ba'athists" does not equate to saying, "If you see a Ba'athist praying, kill him"? Allow me to say this: as long as you cannot say that these ninety-nine percent, whom we have hypothetically agreed with you are Ba'athists, but you cannot say that they are Ba'athists who are disbelievers and apostates from their religion, are we agreed on this point? If so, the previous discussion in which we did not reach an agreed opinion is superseded by this agreed opinion. In that case, we would say, "The Iraqi army is apostate from its religion." Think carefully before you utter a word by which you declare someone a disbeliever.
The student : We want the answer from you.

The Shaykh : How?
The student : Shaykh Ibn Baz issued a fatwa that they are apostates. Now we have come here.

The Shaykh : I know what you are saying now, b...The Shaykh : Ibn Baz. We have stated our position regarding his statement, "If you see a Ba'athist praying, kill him." We have explained his viewpoint to you. But now, I am providing you with a precise detail that I do not think you will have the opportunity to hear such a detail, even if it contradicts him, even if it contradicts him, so that I do not wrong people, even if it contradicts him. You will not find any of the Shaykhs among those who say, "No, they are disbelievers," or "No, they are not disbelievers," who utter the word without following up the matter with precise scientific thought until they reach a conclusion with certainty that these are disbelievers or not disbelievers. They look at the apparent matter, and this is an error, especially regarding declaring someone a disbeliever. There is a saying in some schools of jurisprudence, particularly the Hanafi school: if there are one hundred fatwas from one hundred scholars that a certain person, because he said or did something, is a disbeliever—give me a glass of water—if there are one hundred opinions declaring one Muslim a disbeliever, and only one says, "No, he is not a disbeliever," you leave the ninety-nine opinions and take the opinion of the one who said he is not a disbeliever. Why?
The student : The Hanafi school...

The Shaykh : Yes, because declaring a Muslim a disbeliever is a very serious matter. And what inclines us to this opinion is the Sunnah, the authentic hadith that you all know, if Allah wills, when the battle took place. And now, if we study this phenomenon: a polytheist is fighting a Muslim in a battle, and when he feels that the sword will fall upon him, he says, "There is no god but Allah." What do we rule? We rule with the same ruling as that Muslim Companion, meaning he did not say it except as a precaution against being killed. This is the apparent reality. But there is another apparent reality, which is the word of truth, the word of tawhid: he said, "There is no god but Allah." So here, two apparent realities conflict: an apparent verbal reality and an apparent conceptual reality. The apparent verbal reality is that this polytheist disbeliever said it explicitly, "There is no god but Allah." The apparent conceptual reality is that the Muslim conceived that he did not say it except out of fear of being killed. So the Wise Lawgiver preferred the apparent reality of the polytheist over what the Muslim conceived. Yes.
The student : Over the Muslim's assumption.

The Shaykh : So now, is a man who prays stronger than this polytheist saying "There is no god but Allah" under the blow of the sword? Which is stronger in indicating his Islam?
The student : He prays.

The Shaykh : Is there any doubt in this?
The student: Allah is the Greatest!

The Shaykh : There is no doubt.
The student : May Allah guide you, O Ibn Baz.

The Shaykh : And therefore, the statement that "kill him as long as he is a Ba'athist" entails two Shari'ah violations. The first violation: it generalizes disbelief to every Ba'athist. And we mentioned earlier, my brother, that in a group that adopts Ba'athism for livelihood, like one who adopts selling intoxicants and banking and all transactions contrary to the Shari'ah as a means of livelihood, we do not say this is an excuse for these means or a justification for them. We say these are forbidden means, but we do not exaggerate to say that as long as these people adopt forbidden paths to reach livelihood, they are disbelievers and apostates from their religion. If we did, we would become Khawarij, declaring Muslims disbelievers for sins and crimes without knowing whether they have made them permissible in their heart and outwardly, or only outwardly and not in their heart. So this detail is necessary. This is the first error. The second error: it neglected this hadith, which is . You see him praying; how do you know that this Ba'athist is first of all a Ba'athist? This could be from the minority that you, meaning, minimized the number, meaning one percent. This is possible. So this possibility removes the accusation of disbelief and apostasy from him. What about if he is within the ninety-nine percent Ba'athists, but we said they are not all the same? Some adopt a creed and fight for their creed, as Muslims fight for their creed, and some enter the battle and turn their backs. Why? Because he is not fighting in the cause of a creed, but in the cause of livelihood, like these soldiers of Kabul, this communist. So this neglect of the rulings of the Shari'ah leads to falling into the methodology of the Khawarij. So it is necessary to consider these details. We say the Iraqi Ba'ath system is disbelief, and the Syrian Ba'ath system is disbelief, but we cannot rule on every Ba'athist that he is a disbeliever and apostate from his religion unless it appears, even in slips of the tongue, what indicates that he is a Ba'athist by creed. But if something stronger than slips of the tongue appears from him, such as saying, for example, "Islam is not suitable for practice in this time," then he has exited the religion as a hair exits dough. And the reverse is exactly the reverse. If something practical appears from this or that Ba'athist that indicates to you that he is a man whose creed is correct, who prays and fasts, how do you kill him, my brother? Merely knowing, and knowing in such a superficial way, that he is registered in the lists of these groups and battalions, as I said in military terminology, that he is a Ba'athist. Well, a Ba'athist is not every Ba'athist a disbeliever. So it is not permissible to say every Ba'athist is to be killed, because only the disbeliever is killed. Otherwise, if one reaches the Muslim ruler and he judges him, and it becomes clear to him that he deserves to be killed, then the Muslim ruler kills him, because he may kill someone who is not a disbeliever. You know this reality. But merely seeing a man praying and killing him because he is registered in the list of Ba'athists is a clear error. In my opinion, if we know these details, we return now.

The Shaykh : I said it in the Gulf Fitnah, and I still declare to Allah what I said: Saddam does not represent the Ba'ath Party. It may be heavy for you, but it is fine, be sincere with me as I am sincere with you.
The student : Okay, okay.

The Shaykh : Ah, and even if we hypothetically assume that Saddam truly represents the Ba'ath Party...
The student: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.