The Ruling on Abandoning the Adjudication of Allah’s Shari'ah

Question:
What is the ruling on abandoning the adjudication of Allah’s Shari'ah? Does one exit the religion? Is he an open sinner, a disbeliever, or an oppressor for not establishing it? We ask for clarification on this.

Answer:
Abandoning the adjudication of Allah’s Shari'ah is of two types, as the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them) said, such as Ibn Abbas and others.
One of the types is to abandon the adjudication of the Shari'ah by considering it permissible, believing that there is no harm in abandoning it, or that man-made laws are better than it, or that they are equal to it, or that they are permissible, even if the Shari'ah is better than them. This type is apostasy from Islam (may Allah protect us) and major shirk if one abandons it while believing that it is permissible and that there is no harm in it, whether he prefers the laws over the Shari'ah or prefers the Shari'ah over the laws. Whoever believes that it is permissible to adjudicate by anything other than the Shari'ah, such as the laws of people, and that there is no harm in it, so that people are judged by whatever laws they desire; this is major shirk and major corruption. People in this regard are divided into categories:
Some say: The Shari'ah is better, but there is no harm in adjudicating by the laws. Some say: The laws are more appropriate for people and more beneficial to them than the Shari'ah, and this is more cunning and more severe. And some equate between them, meaning there is no difference whether the Shari'ah is adjudicated or the opinions of people are adjudicated; there is no difference. All of this is apostasy from Islam (may Allah protect us) and major shirk.
The second category is to abandon the adjudication of the Shari'ah for reasons, while knowing that judging by it is obligatory and necessary, and that it is obligatory for states and others to adjudicate by the Shari'ah, but he may abandon it for reasons; either out of fear of such and such, or fear of such and such, or for such and such reasons. This is shirk less than shirk, oppression less than oppression, and open sinfulness less than open sinfulness, as a group of the Salaf said, such as Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and others.
Included in this is what happens to some judges of judging by other than the Shari'ah for the sake of desire, or bribery, or the like. All of this is from this category, the category of oppression less than oppression, and shirk less than shirk, and open sinfulness less than open sinfulness. This is a crime and one of the major sins, but it is not major shirk because he is a sinner; he knows that he is a sinner and that adjudicating by the Shari'ah is the obligatory duty, and that it is not permissible to adjudicate by the laws or other opinions of people and to prefer them over the Shari'ah. But he may abandon the adjudication of the Shari'ah for desire, or ... and he knows that he is a sinner. So he has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger, and committed a great crime, a major one of the major sins, but that is not from the category of apostasy.