Continuation of the Shaykh's remarks regarding his fatwa on the emigration of the people of Palestine from Palestine

The Shaykh: Based on this, we say now that whether in Palestine, Algeria, Libya, or any country where injustice is prevalent and pressure on religious freedom is severe, you have surely heard what has befallen our brothers in Algeria. If one of them wants to perform Hajj, he requests a visa, and if he has a beard, they tell him, "Go shave your beard and bring a photo of yourself with a shaved beard so that we can give you a visa to go to the Sacred House of Allah." Some of them even said to me, "If one of them refuses and says, 'I will not shave,' then the sin is on you for plotting and scheming against Muslims." So they shave one side and leave the other side, in order to mock Muslims. We said, indeed, in a fatwa—certainly, I have a phone call every night, as I think you know, after the 'Isha' prayer until eleven o'clock. A questioner asked me, and I had already conveyed to him the fatwa on the obligation of emigrating from countries where Muslims are oppressed. He asked, "Is this true?" I said, "Yes." He also asked about the Algerians, and I said, "Yes." But he asked me now, "Does the injustice that befalls the Algerians in the capital also befall the Algerians in every region of Algeria, all its villages and lands?" He said, "No." I said, "Then they must emigrate from the capital, where they are not exposed to such sins that they are forced to commit." So I say, on this occasion, just as the land differs materially and commercially by the inch, I say that it also differs morally and religiously by the inch. Here is the example: Is the Palestinian who lives in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jaffa like the one who lives in Gaza? They are not equal, for example, even in terms of pressure and torture, and so on. As for being influenced by morals and natures, as you saw just now, the girl wearing the shorts: the closer Muslims live in their dwellings to lands that know nothing but disbelief, shirk (associating partners with Allah), and misguidance, the greater the influence becomes. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , This is a beautiful Prophetic Arabic expression, because it represents the obligation of a Muslim to distance himself from living with a disbeliever. The Arabs at that time would set up a tent and light a fire in front of the tent so that a distant person, if he was cut off on the road, would pass by and see it. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; meaning: the fire of the Muslim should be far, far away from the fire of the disbeliever. That is, as the common saying goes, "Stay away from evil and sing to it," "Stay away from evil and sing to it." And therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, I am amazed at these people. Did they not know all these texts that came in the Sunnah and the Noble Qur'an, and yet they launch a fierce campaign containing lies, slander, and falsehood against those who advise Muslims to save themselves first? If there is exposure to destruction, they save themselves; if there is no exposure to destruction, they save their religion; if there is no exposure to creed and religion, they save their morals, and so on. I am amazed: did they hear these hadiths or not? , meaning: whoever mixes with the polytheist, , , and the effect of the polluted atmosphere is like the effect of the polluted atmosphere materially. This is something we feel with our hands. You know that many of the young people who are afflicted with emigration, as they claim, to America and to other lands of disbelief, open sinfulness, and misguidance, most of them—and I know that a few of them return to their lands holding fast to their religion more than they did before they left. This is what we know, and praise be to Allah. But most of them return to their lands carrying beliefs that take them out of the religion. And even if they return carrying their belief, they carry the tastes, morals, and customs of the disbelievers.