What is permissible and what is forbidden in seeking the assistance of polytheists?

Question:
This questioner says: I hope your Eminence will clarify the following points:
First: The Supreme Council for Ifta, with your Eminence’s presence, cited the hadith of Abdullah ibn Urayqit, whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) employed as a guide to Medina, as evidence regarding the presence of American forces. I have heard from one of the scholars that this citation is incorrect, because it is considered hiring, and not seeking assistance against Muslims or against disbelievers. I ask for clarification, and may Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
This is a mistake. It was seeking assistance, even if he did not hire him. He sought the help of a disbeliever to show him the suitable road to Medina. Seeking assistance is only done when there is a need for it, whether for a fee or without a fee. The one who said it was a hire and permitted it because of the hire was mistaken. If seeking assistance from polytheists is permissible with a hire, it is even more permissible without a hire. Therefore, seeking their assistance for the benefit of the Muslims, with safety from danger, is permissible, with a fee or without a fee. So if he said, “Help me repel this aggressor and you will have one hundred riyals,” that is permissible. And if he helped him without anything, it is permissible.
And the fact that he hired him for dirhams does not prevent the assistance. So the fact that they fight with us and are given something—granted to them—as help for their helping us; there is nothing wrong with this. It is seeking assistance, even if he gave him a wage, because he sought his help to show him the road.
And likewise, the fact that he (peace and blessings be upon him) offered himself to the communities of disbelievers in Mina: “Who will protect me so that I may convey the message of my Lord?” This was seeking their assistance. The Ansar (may Allah be pleased with them and grant them satisfaction) were the only ones who accepted this. He sought protection from a group, but they refused, and only al-Muttalib ibn 'Adi accepted, so he protected him and carried a weapon to defend him from the evil of the enemies, and they acknowledged his protection. This seeking of assistance was before Badr.
And likewise, after Badr, he sought assistance with armor from Safwan ibn Umayyah on the day of Hunayn, and he sought assistance from the Jews in Khaybar in the seventh year of the Hijrah, and he entrusted the wealth of the Muslims to them: they would cultivate the palm trees and crops for half the produce, for the benefit of the Muslims, and they were Jews. So he sought their assistance for the benefit of the Muslims for half the produce.
So seeking assistance with a fee or without a fee is permissible when there is a need for it and a benefit, in cases of dire necessity, and in cases of pressing need. And if Allah makes them independent of them, seeking their assistance is not permissible.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he sent back some of the polytheists on the day of Badr, did so because he (peace and blessings be upon him) was not in need of them. He sent them back for reasons, and he sought their assistance for reasons.
The hadiths are not to be contradicted by one another, but rather it is obligatory to combine them, reconcile them, and cite them all as evidence. So when there is a need or dire necessity, they are sought for assistance, and when there is no need, they are not, just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did on the day of Badr when he sent back the polytheists and said: , and he (peace and blessings be upon him) sought the help of a polytheist in his arrival from Ta'if, and in his journey to Medina by the road of Abdullah ibn Urayqit. So all of this is seeking assistance, whether it was with a wage or without a wage.
So if we say, for example, to a specific disbeliever: “Help us fight Saddam, and help us against Saddam, and we will give you so much and so much every day?” This is seeking assistance with a wage. And if he says, “No, I do not want a wage,” it is even more permissible. And it is a mistake to say that this claim is a hire. It is a hire, but it is seeking assistance, even though it is a hire. And this is how the Muslims did it when there was a need.
So when there is a need and dire necessity, it is obligatory to repel evil by what is possible, whether by a Muslim or a disbeliever, or a sinner or a hypocrite, in cases of dire necessity, with the condition of observing safety, and that the predominant outcome is safety and benefit from this one sought for assistance against the enemy being sought against.
Some of the imams said: Seeking assistance from a polytheist is abrogated. Al-Shafi'i and a group said this, saying that it is abrogated, and that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sought their assistance after that.
And others said: No, it is not abrogation, but this is in its place, and this is in its place, and this is the correct view. The correct view is that there is no abrogation, because there is no evidence for abrogation, and combining the texts is more appropriate than abrogation. It is permissible when there is a need, and not permissible when there is no need. And this is the combination of the hadiths and the words of the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them).