Shubuhat – Doubts regarding arbitration to taghout

8/14/2019 Shubuhat Doubts regarding arbitration to taghout

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Shubuhat Doubts regarding arbitration to taghout

We are not going to give in this topic the concepts of it is obligatory to obey the shariahor every action is based on hukm etc.

Rather if we refute the doubts about these concepts it becomes easier to explain theconcept itself. We know very well, that whatever man utters from his mouth, he will beaccounted for it. Whatever he does willingly he will be accounted. Allah (swt) says,

Any atoms weight of good you do, you will see it, and any atoms weight of evil you do,you will see it. [Zalzalah]

The prophet (saw) said,

A man may say a word without to consider it important and it will take him to thehellfire for 40 decades.

We have a principle in the shariah:

The reality of a matter cannot be changed by changing its name.

I.e. the fact of a matter cannot be changed, by calling it a different name, the way we donot differentiate between civilian and military, all those who can fight are consideredfighters.

The same way that we say Democracy cannot become halal by calling it shura, it is not

shura it is still shirk in the legislation of Allah (swt).

Those who say we arbitrate to taghout, because so-and-so say:


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1- it is not arbitration, it is only to seek our haq:

It is those who say that if you do not go to the taghout to seek the huquq (rights), then

you will lose all your rights.

Al Tahakum is Al Ibadah. The Tawheed is Ifraad ullahi fil ibaadah, to worship Allahexclusively. Al Tahakum is a form of Ibadah, and the only one worthy to be worshippedis Allah. Al Tahakum is defined as:

To refer to and arbitrate to another who will resolve the dispute of any problem betweentwo or more parties.

That return to seek a hukm, or to solve a problem or to seek Haq is an action of thelimbs and is not an action of the heart.

Changing the word Al Tahakum to seeking the haq will not change the reality that it isarbitration (Al Tahakum). Even if he escapes from calling his action arbitration totaghout, but calls it seeking haq does not change the fact that it is still arbitration.

Doing so is called Al Taalluh to Allah, a form of legislation.

The action is a pillar of Imaan, and Tahakum is an action of the limbs not the heart, so hisniyyah in this action has no relevance to the hukm. His going to the taghout cannot beexcused by his saying my intention was only to so and so because arbitration isnot an action of the heart, but an action of the limbs.

The one who says that he can arbitrate to taghout with a different niyyah, only to seekthe huquq, is like the one who says you can make sujud to an idol as long as you do notthink that it is god, or he does not have the niyyah to worship the idol but only to respectit.


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In this case, you cannot call anyone Mushrik, because everyone can claim that he was notreally making sujud in his heart.

Ibn Qayyim said,

One of the types of shirk is the sujud of the student to his sheikh, it is shirk for the onewho makes sujud and the one who accepts it. It is strange that they claim that it is notsujud, that it is only putting the head between the feet of the sheikh out of respect and amatter of elevation.; If you give it any name you like, the reality of the sujud is that youput your head down in front of the one who you want to make sujud to. [Al Madaarij AlSaalikin v1 p374]

The sujud cannot be made to a sheikh with the intention of respect that is still shirk andthe sujud is putting your head down in front of the one who you make sujud to, whateveryou call it.

They also claim that The Prophet (saw) took Mutab ibn adiy as a bodyguard and hewas Mushrik, therefore we can arbitrate.

Those people who use this foolish argument, and it is truly a foolish argument. They tryto raise a doubt that the messenger arbitrated to mutab to protect him and so we canarbitrate to taghout to protect our rights.

The messenger Muhammad (saw) never arbitrated to mutab, he hired him to protect him.Al Tahakum is:

To refer to and arbitrate to another who will resolve the dispute of any problem betweentwo parties.

When we speak about Tahakum we are speaking about something else, Allah (swt) says,


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If you have Al Niza, refer back to Allah and his Messenger. If you are believers in Allahand the last day [EMQ 4: 59]

Al NIza is a problem you face, or it is to leave something. If someone goes to someonewho can solve their problem, and they judge by other than what Allah (swt) revealed, (i.e.he must be Muslim as well) that is disbelief in Allah, it is arbitration to other than Allah(swt) and it is shirk Akbar.

That is not the same as paying a kafir to protect you, taking a bodyguard is somethingthat both Muhammad and Abu Bakr did. Abu Bakr entered with the protection of ibndaghunna, and the Muslims entered with the protection of Al Najashi, and Muhammad(saw) did take the protection of Mutab ibn Adiy when he came back from Al Taaif.

You can do the same, you can call the police to protect you, but you cannot press chargesnor take them to court to arbitrate.

If someone asks for their rights in the form of benefits it is not Arbitration, it does notinvolve any dispute between two parties.

They also refer to Hilf ul Fudhul,

This is an agreement/contract that happened in the time of jahiliyyah, in the house of ibnJadaan, he called people and said, You cannot be so bad, we Arabs respect our guestsand we cannot kill them, they come to make hajj we must receive them and give themprotection. He made an agreement to give protection to the hajjis, the prophet (saw)said,

If I was called to make a contract like Hilf ul Fudhul, I will participate.

He was never there except as a child and was only told about it in Madinah, but peoplejump to say he involved in arbitration to taghout. However, Arbitration has nothing to dowith protection of anybody and that protection has nothing to do with the topic ofarbitration.


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Furthermore, the people of Hilf ul Fudhul were not Tawagheet, they were not rabbis orpriests or judges. They were only the heads of the tribes who agreed to give protection tothe hajjis. The Tawagheet that the people used to arbitrate to were people like Kab ibnAshraf and Dar ul Nadwa. Arbitration is not about people who say I give my word


They were individuals of the mushrikeen who gathered to help the oppressed.

And he said about it,

I was young when I went with my uncles to that agreement, By Allah I will not let it

down, even if they give me all the red camels.

Hilf ul Fudhul is only an agreement of people to help oppressed people, it is notarbitration, and the prophet (saw) praised any agreement to help the oppressed people.

Those who refer to this as evidence, we ask, did the saying of the prophet (saw) matchwith the sayings of Kab ibn Ashraf and those people who arbitrated to them?

It does not, and has nothing to do with the issue of arbitration, so why should you use itto legalise arbitration to taghout?

Some who argue about it contend that the judgement is fair in Britain and so they refer toit and they use hilf ul fudhul as evidence.

However, we do not reject taghout because it is unjust or takes bribery, Allah ordered usto reject taghout because it is kafir taghout, and no one can become Muslim without toreject it, and to keep distance from it let alone to arbitrate to it.


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Furthermore, they say that we arbitrate to them in a matter if they pass a just verdict asif the verdict is passed by man, but the verdict is only from Allah (swt), the judge is theonly the one who passes the hukm of Allah. They are claiming that you can arbitrate tothem and accept or reject if it is just or oppression.

Allah (swt) forbade us to arbitrate to them, and the one who arbitrates to them has notrejected them, Allah (swt) says,

Have you seen those who claim to be believe in what was revealed to you and what wasrevealed before you, yet they want to arbitrate to taghout while Allah ordered them toreject it [4: 60]

Allah did not differentiate between arbitration to the taghout if his verdict is just orunjust, and so we cannot look to Hilf ul Fudhul as evidence for arbitration to taghout ifthey are just

Furthermore, those involved in the agreement did not only involve heads of tribes, itinvolved individual people also, ibn Jadaan was not a head of a tribe, the prophets unclewas present and was not a head of a tribe; they were not Tawagheet. To go to people whoare strong and wise, which have respect in order to gain protection or agree to protectpeople is not arbitration.

But to go to the Tawagheet, the kufr leaders, the kaafir judges etc for arbitration is kufrand shirk, except under duress (for some ulema of Ahl Al Sunnah), if someone is certainthat he will face torture or death, he can go to the arbitration. The evidence for that isAmmar bin Yaasir, Allah (swt) says,

Whoever declares kufr after they had Imaan except the one under duress whose heart isfull of Imaan but the one who is satisfied in his heart with kufr, upon him is the anger ofAllah and a severe punishment. [EMQ 16: 106]


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2- The ayat about arbitration to taghout is related to those who do not accept thehukm of Allah and his Messenger, whereas we arbitrate to taghout but we do accept thehukm of Allah and his messenger.

The claim that the Ayat in which Allah cursed those who arbitrate to taghout to be kafir,to be only applicable for those who meant it and that they reject the hukm of Allah, Theyput the condition on the arbitration that you must mean to arbitrate to taghout. They quoteabout the two men, the Jew and the Munafiq who wanted to arbitrate to Kab ibn Ashraf,the Jew did not trust Kab, because he knew he would take bribes and wanted to go toMuhammad (saw), but the Munafiq refused and wanted to go to Kab. The ayah wasrevealed,

Have you seen those who claim to be believe in what was revealed to you and what wasrevealed before you, yet they want to arbitrate to taghout while Allah ordered them toreject it [4: 60]

They had Al Irada - they wanted to arbitrate to taghout.

They claim that it means that is only if they actually wanted to arbitrate that it is kufr, butAllah (swt) did not say if they wanted to arbitrate Allah was describing the situation,describing that they wanted to arbitrate, Allah did not lay it down as a condition, it iswrong to take this Irada as a condition for arbitration to taghout is kufr.

Another argument used by those people, is that they arbitrate to taghout while they do notwant to do so. This is however two descriptions of the same situation; both arbitrate totaghout whether they want to or do not.

However, we know that there is no action that you do, that is not in conjunction with theIrada, except under duress. This is a principle in the shariah:

Any action you do with your free will that action is with choice, any action that is donewithout choice is duress.


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Every action is joined with Al Iraada, but not every Iraada is joined with action. TheIraada could be accompanied by an action and may also not (i.e. they may change theirmind before doing the action).

In this ayah where Allah (swt) says,

Have you seen those who falsely claim to be believe in what was revealed to you andwhat was revealed before you, yet they want to arbitrate to taghout while Allah orderedthem to reject it [EMQ 4: 60]

Allah (swt) said, Have you seen and he called them liars and dispraised thembecause of their action not their intention. Their going to arbitration was their kufr.Anyone who goes to arbitrate is doing so by choice and that is cursed by Allah (swt) inthis ayah, after that he attacked them further when he (swt) says,

They want to arbitrate to taghout when they were ordered to reject it

If we now go to taghout for arbitration, what could we mean by it other than arbitration?It is something else to say that they were there and they did not mean it, but simply bygoing there, that is an evidence against them.

Furthermore, any apparent worship to other than Allah is shirk Akbar whether you meantit and accepted it or not except under duress. Arbitration is worship and is an apparentworship, if someone goes to arbitrate to other than Allah, whether he likes it or dislikes itis Mushrik, except under duress because Allah (swt) says, except the one under duress.He is Mushrik whether he has iraada or no iraada.

Furthermore, it is not allowed to leave what is so clear cut, that Allah cursed them fortheir arbitration in His saying, have you seen those who falsely claim to believe inorder to go to what is doubtful and ambiguous, to go to the later part of the ayah thatsays, they wanted to arbitrate in order to cast doubt over it, Allah (swt) says afterthat, they wanted to arbitrate to taghout, while Allah ORDERED them to reject it.


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Allahs command to reject the taghout cannot be used as an evidence to arbitrate to it,when we clearly know from the ayah that Allah cursed the arbitration, it is unacceptableto then go to their intention and all that is unclear.

If someone says that to worship different than Allah is Batil and kufr, but then he did notleave it we would call him kafir. Their claim is countered by their own actions, youcannot say it is batil to arbitrate to taghout and then continues to go to arbitration totaghout.

The one who says he dislikes it but he continues to go to arbitrate to taghout, he did not

reject taghout, or if he does not do it but he likes it, he has not rejected taghout.

If they meant by this argument that the iraada is the niyyah (intention) regardless of thesayings and actions, then in this case those who worship the graves and make tawwaf andsujud for the graves, they never meant any shirk so is that shirk? Ibn Taymiyyah said,

The one who does or says the kufr, it is kufr even if he did not mean to be kafir becauseno one ever means to become kafir except for the one that Allah alone knows.

The people of batil never believe themselves to be people of batil, even Firawn thoughthe was on the haq. The one who does kufr, he is kafir whether or not he meant to be kafiror not. Imam Tabari on the tafseer of Surah Kahf, verse 104 those who claim andthose who claim to do the good deeds :

This ayah is an evidence against anybody who claims that nobody becomes kafir inAllah except the one who has the niyyah to become kafir after the knowledge of tawheed,because Allah said their deeds are lost though they thought they were doing good deeds.

Whatever they think is irrelevant and this ayah is evidence that people will become kafirwithout to know, that they will be kafir while they think that they are doing the gooddeeds. Imam Haafiz ibn Hajar said,

Some of the Muslims go out from the deen without to mean to go out of it, and withoutto choose any other deen than Islam. [Fath ul Baari]


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It is irrelevant whether you want to become kafir or not, whether you want to arbitrate ornot, if you commit kufr, if you arbitrate to taghout, you are kafir.

Haafiz ibn Hajar also said,

There is a hadith of the messenger that confirms that, Allah (swt) about the Khawaarij,they read the haq, they recite the Quran, yet they leave the fold if Islam like the arrowleaves the bow.

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab said in relation to those who do ritual acts with adifferent action,

what they are doing in front of the graves from going to ask help and to solve theirproblems, that is exactly what the Arabs of the mushrikeen did before the bitha, to laatand uzza, they said we do not worship them, we only go there to be closer to Allah.

People today say the same thing; they say we do not go there to worship the taghout, onlyto get our huquq. Allah called those Arabs Mushrik because they went to the idols notbecause they had intention of worship.

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab continued,

The question rises about the one from the Muslims who does that, is he kafir? For theanswer we look to the questioning of the grave, the angels will ask who is your Lord?He will say, Huh? I dont know, I heard some people saying so and I said it and theangels will hit him on the head

They did not know that they were Mushrik, but they were. Nobody is saved from the kufrjust because they did not know, otherwise nobody would become murtad nor would wegive them the chance to repent.


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And it has been said,

If you say that they are ignorant but they are Mushrik by their deeds, I say, written in thebooks of the fuqaha of the ummah on the chapter of apostasy, that the one who says aword of kufr, even if they do not know that it is kufr, and that is evidence that they are

jahil on Islam, if you say that they do not know Islam or kufr, then they are Kafir Asslie.

Either way they are kafir whether murtad or Asslie. We see in the ayah that Allah cursedthe arbitration itself and further cursed the one who wants to arbitrate let alone to actuallyarbitrate himself. Allah cursed them if they go to arbitration, and cursed them if they donot arbitrate while they want to do so.

3- Arbitration is shirk, but shirk Asghar.

Another argument is that it is shirk Asghar, and it is clear that when they are completelystuck and cornered to the fact that it is Shirk, they will say, it is shirk Asghar, yet thatstill does not excuse them from doing it.

It is known by necessity that the ritual acts of worship are for none but Allah, the Ibadaatare in three divisions: the worship of the heart, the worship of the tongue and the worshipof the limbs.

The apparent worships like the dua by raising the hands (limbs) and calling with thetongue. Al Istighatha, Al Ruku, Al Sujud etc are all apparent worship, includingarbitration to taghout.

Anyone who does any apparent worship to other than Allah is Mushrik, regardless ofwhat his hidden intention is in his heart. We judge only the apparent, we cannot judgewhat is in the hearts; we can only judge what he makes apparent, by speaking or doingactions.


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The belief in Allah is not only in the heart, it is in the heart, the sayings and the limbs.The one who uses this argument of shirk Asghar made the mistake of making analogywith the hukm of the qassam by other than Allah, this saying is shirk Asghar, and hasqarina that it is Asghar.

The reason that they make this mistake is because they are Murji, this irja is the mostdangerous thing, even more than the Jews and Christians.

People may ask, why did the fuqaha call swearing by Allah to be ibaadah? this isbecause swearing by Allah is accompanied by ibaadah, the ibaadah of Tazeem, to elevateAllah, by making qassam on Allah you are elevating and glorifying Allah and that isibaadah, by making qassam you are declaring that He is the most worthy for tazeem and

to make qassam by him. If someone makes qassam by other than Allah, he is not alwaysmaking tazeem, and so is not always a form of worship. It is worship if it is elevation ofAllah, but is not always worship when he swears by something else.

However, Arbitration has only one possibility that it is ALWAYS worship. Tazeem is afunction of the heart, it is Itiqaad hidden in the heart that we do not see nor judge, it is ahidden intention; it may be elevation or it may be just to convince someone. Howeverarbitration is apparent, it is an action of the limbs that we see and judge.

When a man came to the prophet (saw) and swore by his mother, he (saw) declared itshirk, but did not ask him to repeat his salah. This is the qarina that it is Shirk Asgharunless he meant it to be as a ritual act, e.g. if he says, I swear by my mother the greatestlike Allah. He is committing shirk Akbar.

The tazeem is hidden and needs to be shown to be judged as worship, whereas the salahand arbitration are actions that do not need to be shown, it is apparent.

In Bukhari, the prophet (saw) said,

Allah forbade you to swear by your fathers and mothers


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However in the beginning of Islam, it was not forbidden to swear by your parents, it wasabrogated later, whereas arbitration was considered shirk and forbidden from thebeginning of Islam and the ayah

Have you seen those who falsely claim to be believe in what was revealed to you andwhat was revealed before you, yet they want to arbitrate to taghout while Allah orderedthem to reject it [4: 60]

Was revealed in Madinah, it was Shirk Akbar from the beginning to the end and notabrogated like the hukm of qassam, and there is nothing in Islam that was Shirk Akbar in

the beginning of Islam and then became Shirk Asghar later on; to make analogy betweenthese two is incorrect.

If you attempt to make analogy you would have to say that in arbitration to taghout, thatit was allowed to arbitrate to the kaahin before in Makkah and was abrogated after. Thiskind of claim is very dangerous and has serious implications and it was not the case,arbitration to taghout was shirk Akbar from the beginning of Islam.

Furthermore, even if it is true and it is shirk Asghar, you are still prohibited fromarbitrating to taghout.

4- If we arbitrate and find the hukm contradicts to shariah we will not take it, butif it matches with the shariah we will take it."

Those who say that they will arbitrate to taghout and if it contradicts to the shariah thenthey will reject it because acceptance is the kufr, but if it agrees then they will take it.

This is the doubt cast by most of the Jaamis especially in Europe. They firstly make themistake of looking to the outcome of the arbitration and forget that the means ofarbitration is the shirk. Allah (swt) says, They want to arbitrate to taghout. The very


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fact that they wanted to arbitrate was enough for Allah to call them kafir, it has nothing todo with whether or not Kab will give a just or unjust verdict.

Furthermore, we do not speak about the haq of people over the haq of Allah (swt); we donot seek our rights and worry about if it will be a just or unjust verdict violating the rightof Allah. The haq of Allah is not to commit shirk.

5- nowadays there is no Islamic state to get our rights, so we are undercompulsion.

Most of the murjiah use this argument. However, Allah (swt) says,

Because they love the life of this world better than the Hereafter: and Allah will notguide those who disbelieve. [EMQ Nahl: 107]

Those who use this argument forget about the punishment in the hereafter for the sake tochase their rights in the dunya. Ibn Kathir said in tafseer,

The kufr and the punishment promised by Allah for them are not because they hated thedeen or they loved the kufr, only because he has one share of favouring the dunya overthe deen.

It is not allowed for the believer to favour any dunya matter, like your stolen car etc overthe deen, you cannot claim to be under compulsion over your stolen car or job in order toleave the deen by arbitration to taghout, it is better to forget about your job and car andfavour the deen over the dunya.



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The failure is the one who worships the dinar and the failure is the one who worships thedirham, the failure is the one who worships the clothes

Allah (swt) says,

Say: if your fathers and your children, your brethren, your wives, your tribes, yourwealth that you have accumulated, your trade that you fear decline, your homes whereyou live are dearer to you than Allah and his messenger and Jihad for the sake of Allah,wait until the punishment of Allah reaches you. [EMQ 9:23]

Allah (swt) dispraised them for choosing all of these dunya matters (and Allah mentionedthe matters dearest to the people) over the Jihad, that is because they put Jihad on hold forthe sake of the dunya. For neglecting one obligation for the sake of the dunya they werecursed by Allah let alone to commit Shirk Akbar for the sake of some dunya benefit.

Furthermore, if you believe in compulsion, Allah (swt) never gave a permit for anyone tocommit shirk even under duress, furthermore, duress means that it is a life and deathissue, that he is forced to go and threatened and beaten and after that it is a permit. Peoplehowever are not under compulsion and are found walking or driving to the court by theirown free will.

Furthermore, Allah (swt) says,


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We did not create you except to worship me, No Sustenance do I require of them, nordo I require that they should feed Me. For Allah is He Who gives (all) Sustenance - Lordof Power, - Steadfast (for ever). [EMQ 51: 56-58]

So how can you violate the very purpose of your creation, the purpose of Tawheed for thesake of obtaining your rizq? Allah (swt) is the provider and guaranteed your rizq and heput this guarantee in the very context of his command to worship him exclusively tostress that very point, so that you will never worship other than Allah for the sake of yourrizq. Allah (swt) says in the hadith Qudsi:

Be subservient to me full-time, I will make your heart full of richness and satisfy yourneed, if you do not make yourself subservient to me, I will make you busy all the timeand I will never make you satisfied.

Furthermore, the compulsion is not the same as duress. It is wrong to say that you can dokufr or shirk because you are under compulsion; compulsion means that you are facing alife and death situation because of your material needs e.g. starvation. Duress is differentand requires some form of punishment or torture. Allah (swt) says,

Whoever was under compulsion neither baghi nor transgression, he has no sin and Allahforgives.

That means the one who has no food and is under compulsion, he will take the lesserfasad, if he has pork and unslaughtered meat, he will take the lesser of the two fasad, andhe will eat a small amount, enough to survive.

The one under duress is different to the one under compulsion. Someone may ask thequestion, what is duress? Allah (swt) says,


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Whoever declares kufr after they had Imaan except the one under duress whose heart isfull of Imaan but the one who opens his heart to kufr upon him is the anger of Allah anda severe punishment. [EMQ Nahl: 106]

this ayah was revealed about Ammar bin Yaasir, the Quraish captured him and his motherand father, they tortured them, they took his mother Sumayyah and tied her limbs tocamels an stretched her and tortured her and then Umayyah bin khalaf came with thespear and killed her. His father Yaasir was killed and tortured, putting hot oil on his body.After all this torture to Ammar bin Yaasir he used the permit to say a word of kufr. Henever committed kufr without to first to be tortured, he said, I reject Muhammad buthis heart was full of Imaan, the prophet (saw) said,

Ammar is full of Imaan from his head to his toes; the Imaan has mixed between hisblood and his flesh.

Ammar came to Muhammad (saw) and he was crying, the prophet asked why he wascrying, Ammar said,

I spoke badly about you and I praised them he (saw) asked what is in your heart,Ammar said, (I love you and believe in you) so the prophet (saw) said, If theytorture you again, then say it again.

This ayah is speaking about people who face torture as being under duress, so whoeverfaces what Ammar faced will have the permit similar to what Ammar had a permit. Tosay the kufr after his mother and father was killed and he was tortured.

However the so-called duress of the people today is not in comparison to Ammar, theyare free to do as they please and only claim to be under duress, Bilal was the same asAmmar he face torture but never compromised.

Imam Ahmed said when they spoke to Imam Ahmed and asked him to make tuqiyahbecause they were under duress, to take the permit like Ammar, he said:

They beat Ammar and you retreated before you were beaten.


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So the torture is the pre-requisite condition of the permit of duress.

The similitude of their argument is of the Taghout system that takes the money of a manand refuses to return it until he worships their gods. The question rises, if someone sayslike this, I will never return your money until you worship idols, can you really do so inthis situation? Is this duress? Is it compulsion?

Furthermore, the one who is truly needy for his lost money and he enters under thebanner of duress, we must compile all the evidences to judge if he was really underduress, Allah (swt) says,

Those who die while oppressing themselves, the angels will ask, why did you oppressyourselves? they will say, we were weak in the earth, the angels will say, Was theearth not wide enough for you to make hijrah? [EMQ 4: 97]

Ibn Abbas narrated that this ayah was revealed about Muslims who were forced to fightwith the kuffar against the Muslims in Badr, the prophet (saw) captured some of them andkilled some of them, and he treated them as kuffar.

Abul Aswad said,

From the people of Madinah a group closed the way to Madinah, I made agreement withthem to save my life, I met ibn Abbas and he told me not to do it, it is not allowed to doso people

These people were never under duress like Ammar bin Yaasir, of course the kuffar willoppress you especially if they have the upper hand over you, but that does not mean it isduress. These people who fought in Badr were never tortured like Ammar and so theMuslims treated them as kafir though they claimed to be under duress. Ibn Jareer in histafseer, reported that

When Muhammad (saw) captured Abbas he said, free yourselves and your nephewAbbas said, Yaa rasulullah, did we not pray your salah and face your Qiblah? he (saw)said, You fought with them and you lost.


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We understand that where there is real compulsion, there must be no choice available foryou, otherwise it is not compulsion. Abbas though he was Muslim in Makkah and wasable to make hijrah but he chose to stay in their camp and then he fought against the

Muslims.

The only remaining shubuha is the one of the Ahnaf, they believe that the duress can alsobe applicable if you are threatened with torture; however that duress must be with thepolice and authorities. For the Ahnaf the one who has the least amount of doubt that hewas under duress or threatened with it, and is unable to leave he has the permit, but if heis able to leave, there is no duress and he cannot to take the permit.

Furthermore, the ayah asks the question which camp were they with, and they made theexcuse that we were weak in the earth and the angels did not accept it, arbitration totaghout puts you with the kuffar and their camp. The difference was between theprevention of hijrah; those who were prevented from making hijrah were not sinful forstaying with them because they had no way out, like ibn Abbas. But those who chose tostay in Makkah with the camp of kufr; they were addressed in this ayah.

6- it is only haram if it involves istihlal

They claim that Allah only cursed those people because they made the halal haram andthe haram halal, whereas they claim that they are actually only following what Allah said.The argument they use is based on the saying of ibn Taymiyyah about the ayah,

They take their rabbis and priests as Lords besides Allah. [EMQ 9: 31]

ibn Taymiyyah said,

Those who took their rabbis and priests as lords instead of Allah, they obeyed them inpermitting what Allah forbade and forbidding what Allah permits, they are of two, 1,because they changed the deen and they followed them in that change and they started tobelieve in the permissibility of what Allah forbade, and that is kufr Akbar. 2. They obeyin disobeying Allah but they know that it is haram, they are not kafir. [Majmou AlFattawa]


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i.e. that they know that they are changing the deen, and that what they are following isdifferent from the deen, that is istihlal and kufr Akbar, the second is the one who believes

that the haram is haram but they disobey Allah and obey the rabbis and priests. This is theshubuhat that is raised from his sayings.

However, they did not differentiate between the two types of obedience; there is Al TaahShirki, and Al Taah Massiyah. The one who believes that an act is haram but he does itout of obedience and knows that he is sinful because of it; he is not kafir and that is TaahMassiyah. However the one who obeys someone and believes that because he is obeyingthem that he is no longer sinful that is Taah Shirki and he is Mushrik it is as if he toldhim to worship idols.

Ibn Taymiyyah was only explaining this distinction between Al Taah Shirki and Al TaahMassiyah, he was not excusing arbitration to taghout; in fact he has other sayingscontrary to that claim.

However, there is a big difference between obedience and arbitration, obedience is oftypes, it can be shirk and it can be Massiyah. However, arbitration to taghout is shirk inAllah; arbitration is an act of worship. Ibn Taymiyyah said,

Whoever arbitrate to other than the Quran and Sunnah after it has been explained tohim, he is kafir kufr Akbar.

The doubt that they try to cast is by saying that it is only massiyah, is wrong and cannotbe attributed to ibn Taymiyyah.

7- We know it is taghout, but because of compulsion and fitnah etc

For the one who knows and admits that arbitration to taghout is kufr Akbar, and then theyclaim that they only do it out of compulsion, we must remember, which is bigger, tocommit kufr or to be killed? Allah (swt) says,


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Fitnah is greater than murder. [EMQ 2:217]

And ibn Masoud said in the tafseer of this ayah, Al Fitnah is Al Kufr.

So if you argue that arbitration is kufr and you do it out of compulsion, even out of fearof the maximum compulsion of fearing death, we say that the Kufr is worse than to bekilled.

Ironically, they are not under duress, nobody has put a knife to their throat, they only

fear that they will face persecution, the ayah is clear that if all the people of the earthfight and are killed it is less than the crime of one kufr law to be implemented. ImamMuhammad bin Abdul Wahhab said,

If the people of the Bedouin and the city where to fight eachother until everyone iskilled, that is less than to have one taghout implement kufr or to arbitrate to them.

This is the case for those who claim compulsion without duress, under duress neitherImaan nor kufr is accountable, you cannot become Muslim under duress and to say kufrhas a permit and so here, the killing becomes greater than that permit.

Furthermore, all disputes in the courts, and even the best of what they arbitrate for, isonly for dunya matter, and so how can it be that kufr becomes allowed for a dunya matterwhen a man is not a believer until Allah and the messenger are dearer to him thananything else. The prophet (saw) said,

No one of you is a believer until you love Allah and his messenger more than anythingelse.

If we are given two choices between all the dunya matters, even his mother and fatherand Allah and His messenger can we ever choose our dunya? Can it be so when Allah(swt) says that you will run from your own mother and father on the day of judgement?


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Arbitration is a ritual act and arbitration to the taghout is diverting your ritual actstowards other than Allah (swt), Al Tahakum to taghout is a form of sujud to other thanAllah (swt) and Abu Huraira narrated that the prophet (saw) said,

people will be gathered on the day of judgement, Allah will say, whatever the peopleused to worship, let them follow it, the one who followed the sun he will follow it, theone who followed the moon, he will follow it, the one who followed the Tawagheet hewill follow the Tawagheet. [Bukhari]

THE SOLUTION

We see that in the beginning, they had no duress in Makkah and so were not given theexcuse of duress when they fought against Muslims, the same way, almost nobody in theUK are living there without choice except for very few people who are here under duress.The Muslims who went to Abyssinia faced persecution, they did not go there for businessor for any Dunya reason.

There was a famous incident in the time of the Ubaidis Fatimis in Egypt, they wereapostates who ruled Egypt at that time by Kufr and used to punish anyone whomentioned the names of the Sahaabah, they captured one man and put him under duress,and it was said to him,

Either join our dawah or you will be killed.

Yet, it was said about him as reported by Qadi Iyaad,

He should choose to be killed, he had the chance to run away but he never ran away, youcannot give any excuse if you choose to live with them in a place with people whodismantle the shariah. As for the ulema who were staying in Egypt and the other goodworshippers, they should not make hijrah, they are staying there and teaching the peopletheir deen.


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Nowadays, we know very well that we have millions of Muslims living in the lands ofthe kuffar, and millions living under taghout regimes in the Muslim lands; do you reallybelieve that if they ordered those Muslims to worship idols in return for their huquq(rights and other maslaha) that he is permitted to do so?

The one who admits that arbitration to Taghout is kufr but brings excuse to do it, has noexcuse of ignorance, we will call him kafir. He claims that he is under duress becausethey are living under kufr, but the entire Muslim world is under kufr, that does not makeexcuse for any of them to commit kufr or shirk.

1- HIJRAH

Allah (swt) says,

Those who believed and those who suffered exile and fought (and strove and struggled)in the path of Allah, - they have the hope of the Mercy of Allah: And Allah is Oft-forgiving, most Merciful. [EMQ 2: 218]

Allah (swt) says,

To those who leave their homes in the cause of Allah, after suffering oppression, - Wewill assuredly give a goodly home in this world; but truly the reward of the Hereafter willbe greater. If they only realised (this)! [EMQ 16: 41]

Allah (swt) says,

But verily thy Lord, - to those who leave their homes after trials and persecutions, - andwho thereafter strive and fight for the faith and patiently persevere, - Thy Lord, after allthis is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. [EMQ 16: 110]


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Allah (swt) says,

He who forsakes his home in the cause of Allah, finds in the earth Many a refuge, wideand spacious: Should he die as a refugee from home for Allah and His Messenger, Hisreward becomes due and sure with Allah: And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.[EMQ 4: 100]

Ibn Kathir made tafseer for these ayat, when Allah (swt) says, To those who leave their

homes in the cause of Allah, after suffering oppression, - We will assuredly give a goodlyhome in this world ibn Masoud and ibn Umar said,

Whenever someone makes hijrah, he will find his rizq.

The first way to get out of this fitnah is to make hijrah, to make hijrah from the place youclaim you are under compulsion to where you are not under compulsion.

This is why the ulema spoke about hijrah from dar ul kufr to dar ul Islam and from theplace of fusq to where there is no fusq or from where you cannot do your obligation towhere you can do your obligation.

2- ISOLATION

In Bukhari, there is the chapter of part of the deen is to leave the fitan. In which it isnarrated by Abu Said Al Khidree that,

The best money for the Muslims will be the sheep that he leaves to feed them on themountain in order to run away from the fitan.


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The one who cannot leave he should make uzla - to isolate himself.

3- DAWAH

This is a group of people who do not want to make hijrah nor isolate, they should be agroup of Muslims who gather together and choose an Alim to be amir over them to ruleby whatever Allah revealed until they challenge the kufr law and take power. That is thefifth column. Imam Shafii in Kitab ul Umm said,

It is obligatory on the Imam to appoint a judge in every city and every avenue and makethe people refer to him in every matter, and if there is no imam they will choose one fromamong them to refer to.

Documents

Shubuhat – Doubts regarding arbitration to taghout