Posted by Abu Iyaad
Translated
February 2001
Filed under Miscellaneous
AMONG THE SCHOLARS are those who consider instituting secular laws (legislating), or replacing parts of the Sharīʿah with secular laws (istbdāl), or referring judgement to the secular laws (taḥkīm, taḥākum) to come under the tafṣīl that if he does so believing those laws to be equal or better than the Sharīʿah, or permissible to judge to them, or that the Sharīʿah laws are not applicable to these times and the likes, then that is major kufr, and if not, then it is the kufr that does not expel from the fold of Islām.
From the scholars who have clear statements in this respect are Shaykh al-Albānī, Shaykh Ibn Bāz, Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-ʿAbbād. The Takfīrī Khārijites consider all of these scholars to be upon Irjāʾ despite the fact that these scholars hold that action are from īmān, that īmān increases and decrease and that kufr occurs through belief, speech and action, and that from the action are those by a person leaves Islām, without required istiḥlāl, juḥūd, takdhīb and the likes, such as kicking the Qurʾān, or prostrating to an idol and so on. However, on this issue of ruling by other than what Allāh revealed, they have a particular view regarding some of its forms. See: On Ruling by Secular Laws, Altering the Religion and Those Who Accuse Shaykh Al-Albānī, Shaykh Ibn Bāz and Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn of Irjāʾ.
This accusation was first levelled against Shaykh al-Albānī, and then extended and expanded to all the other major Salafī scholars of the era in whose speech can be found such tafṣīl not to the liking of the Takfīrī Khārijites who call to blanket takfīr and speak with the individual obligation (farḍ ʿayn) of revolting against governments and rulers, and presenting this as the binding methodology of reform for the ummah in this time.
The Allāmah, Shaykh ʾAbd al-Laṭīf bin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Āl al-Shaykh (رحمه الله) said:[1]
…and taḥkīm [making a law a reference point] is unlawful when it is based upon a false (bāṭil) sharīʿah which opposes the Book and the Sunnah, such as the laws of the Greeks and those of Europe, and those of the Tartars, and their various legislative codes (qawānīn) the source of which are their own opinions and desires. Similarly to this are the various cultural and customary practices of the Bedouins.
Hence, whoever made it lawful to judge (istaḥalla) by [any of] this in the issues pertaining to blood, or other than it is a Kāfir. Allāh the Most High said, “And whosoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed, they are the Unbelievers.” (5:44-).
And concerning this verse, some of the Mufassirūn have said that the kufr intended here is the kufr that is lesser than the Major kufr (kufr dūna al-kufr al-akbar), because they understood that this verse applies to whoever judges by other than what Allāh has revealed but does not make that lawful. But they do not dispute amongst themselves regarding its application in general to the one who makes it lawful, and that the kufr in this case is the one that expels from the religion.
Arabic text:
Footnotes
1. Minhāj al-Taʾsīs, (p. 71).
