| Praise
be to the almighty Allah and may the peace of Allah and his Mercy be
upon the Messenger Muhammad, his family and his companions and those
who ally with them.
In order
to be able to answer the urgent question of participating in the British
Parliament and voting for candidates who want to participate in Parliament,
we must understand the reality, for the Juristic principle states part
of Judging a matter is comprehending it or understanding its reality.
Therefore we must understand the reality of two things:
1- The British Parliament who some candidates want to participate
in and
2- The election which the people want to be involved in i.e. voting.
We must remember that part of our Imaan and belief in Allah (SWT) is
At-Tawheed which means obeying, following, worshipping and elevating
Almighty Allah (SWT) exclusively, without associating with him or his
attributes anyone else, and that conversely associating with God or
with any of his attributes is an act of Shirk which makes a person go
outside the fold of Islam and that this is why At-Tawheed is the fundamental
pillar of Islam. One of Allah (SWT)'s attributes is that he is the legislator
and the commander and he has the absolute right and power to command
and legislate, and no one shares this absolute power with him. For Allah
(SWT) says:
"Verily the absolute right of
legislating is for none but Allah (SWT)" [EMQ 12:40]
And Allah (SWT) says:
"It is unlawful for Believers
male or female if Allah and His Messenger decree a command to have
any choice but to abide with it and whosoever disobeys Allah or his
Messenger went astray in plain mis-guidance" [EMQ 33:36]
After having established this absolute
fact let us investigate the reality of Parliament or as it has been
described 'the Legislative House' for the People; this is its description
according to lawyers who call it the legislative body formulated for
passing laws, Those who are associated with this body are called MP's,
i.e. The Representatives or Deputies of the people, who have been elected
by them. There is no disagreement among anyone in the Eastern or Western
Countries that the main function of Parliament is to legislate law and
that the role of the MP's is to choose from among themselves Ministers.
We can summarise the main duties of this legislative body or parliament
as:
1- Legislating or passing bills or law,
2- Giving a vote of confidence for the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet
as the government.
As for the Sources of legislation for Parliament,
it includes:
1- The mind and desires of the MP's or Ministers as representatives
on behalf of the people
2- International institutions or so-called international law.
The Deen of most people in the World today is Secularism which states
that; God has Sovereignty ONLY in Heaven or Inside the Church and in
the places of worship, whereas Man i.e. People, have Sovereignty On
Earth in all other Spheres of Life Except Religion (which according
to the Deen of Secularism States that Religion is a Personal experience
between an Individual and a supernatural power or God such as the Sun,
a Cow, Statues or people etc.) this is the reality of Parliament and
the basis upon which it is built.
As for the reality of Voting; Voters have a common sovereignty as people
who legislate for their own affairs in society therefore as a sovereign
body they establish a mechanism to have representatives from among themselves,
who they choose and vote for, who become MP's and legislate law and
order on their behalf for their own interests. This is manifested in
the political man-made principle, which states that 'the Rule is by
the people, for the people over the people', hence we can say that people
are the source of legislation.
The reality of the voter is that he/she is the one who chooses his representative,
which results in fact in his/her joint liability for whatever the representative
has been chosen and allocated for. The task here being to legislate
laws in order to manage people's interests.
In Summary, Parliament is a body which legislates, people are sovereign
and the source of legislation, and MP's are chosen by the people to
legislate on their behalf.
The Islamic verdict on the above:
1 - Anybody who believes that almighty Allah (SWT)
is not the only, exclusive Legislator and Commander is a disbeliever
i.e. Kaafir.
2 - Anybody who believes in Almighty Allah (SWT) and
associates anyone else with Him, contravening his being the sole legislator
and commander is a Mushrik i.e. associates another as partner unto Allah
(SWT).
3 - Any Muslim who votes for a person knowing that
the Parliament is a body of legislating law is an apostate.
4 - Any Muslim who participates in elections to become
an MP knowing the reality of Parliament as a legislative House is an
apostate.
5 - Any Muslim who does not know the reality of Parliament
and he votes is sinful because he did seek the divine ruling for his
action before committing it, since the Juristic Principle is that every
action, verbal or physical, must be based on an Islamic ruling which
is derived solely from the Qur'an and Sunnah.
6 - Any Muslim who participates in voting for a candidate
whether the candidate is Muslim or non-Muslim basing his action on a
misled so-called 'opinion' from a rationalist or secular clergyman has
been misled and the issue must be explained to him/her. Though believing
that Allah (SWT) is the only legislator is a matter known from the Deen
of Islam by necessity, therefore ignorance about it is not an excuse
and he/she is therefore sinful.
7 - The only excuse is for a person who is new Muslim
or fully Jaahil or someone ignorant about what is known by necessity
from the Deen of Islam due to the fact that he has grown up under kufr
law and between non-Muslims. Those Muslims need the matter explained
to them but if they continue to vote claiming that they have a different
opinion from another person they are sinful.
As for the divine evidences for the above verdicts, they are derived
from the fact that Allah (SWT) says:
'They imitate the sayings of
the disbelievers, Allah (SWT)'s curse be on them, how they are deluded
away from the truth; They took their Rabbis and their Monks to be
their Lords and Legislators besides Allah(SWT) and took the Messiah,
the son of Mary, while they were commanded to worship, obey and follow
none but one God/Allah; none has the right to be worshipped or followed
and to legislate but he, praise and glory be to him from having the
partners they associate with him '[EMQ 30:31]
The circumstances in which this ayah was
revealed are as follows:
It has been reported by Huzaifah in Ahmad, Tirmizi and Ibn Jarir that
the Messenger Muhammad (saw) was reciting this verse and Udayy (ra)
said to Him (saw): 'Oh Rasoul Allah, they do not worship the Rabbis
and the Monks' To which He (saw) replied: 'The Rabbis and Monks make
that which is lawful unlawful and that which is unlawful lawful and
they i.e. the people, follow them, and by doing so they worship them'
In addition, Allah (SWT) says in another clear-cut and explicit evidence
that obeying any man-made system knowingly with consent for its source,
different to Allah (SWT) is apostasy. For Allah (SWT) says;
'Eat not, Oh believers, of that
meat on which Allah (SWT)'s name has not been pronounced at the time
of slaughtering the animal, for surely it is Fisq (a sin and disobedience
of Allah) and certainly the evil do inspire their friends to dispute
with you and if you were to obey them by making a dead (un-slaughtered)
animal lawful and eating it, then you would indeed be Mushrikoun (polytheists)'
[EMQ 6:121]
Note here that Allah (SWT) is describing
obedience in a matter of legislation in the example of making the unlawful
un-slaughtered meat lawful, as an act of shirk although people did not
worship idols or pray to them. Even so God calls them Mushriks! As for
the circumstances of this verse, it has been reported in Al-Haakim upon
the authority of Ibn Abbas (RA) that this verse was addressing Muslims
when a group of Mushriks were debating with them on the issue of legislating.
The Mushriks said: 'You call the sheep upon which the name of Allah
has not been mentioned; dead, who is the one who killed her?' The Muslims
said: 'Allah' So they replied: 'So what Allah has killed or slaughtered
by a gold knife is haram and what you have slaughtered with a metal
knife is halal?' To which Allah (SWT) revealed the above ayah.
In this ayah Allah (SWT) has declared as Mushrik the one obeys anyone
other than Allah (SWT), even if one does not make sujood to him/her.
So what can we say about the one who obeys or votes for another to legislate
law and order for them? Allah (SWT) says:
'Or have they partners with Allah,
who have legislated for them what Allah (SWT) has not decreed and
had it not been for a decisive word the matter would have been judged
between them and verily for the Polytheists and wrongdoers there is
a painful torment' [EMQ 42:21]
Moreover we know very well that Allah
(SWT) says:
'And He made none share in his
decision or rule' [EMQ 18:26]
It is well known in Islam that any law
different to the law of Allah (SWT) is Taghout and Allah (SWT) rejects
us to refer to Taghout:
'Have you seen those who claim
that they believe in that which has been sent down to you and that
which has been sent down before you and they wish to go for judgement
in their dispute to the Taghout i.e. false Judges etc. while they
have been ordered to reject them but Shaytaan wishes to lead them
far astray' [EMQ 4:60]
It has been reported concerning the circumstances
of the above ayah that some hypocrites claimed to be Muslims and yet
in their own disputes they tried to refer to the man-made decision of
some contemporary MP's as legislators such as Amru Bim Luhay, Al-Khuzaa'ie
and Ka'ab Bin Al-Ashraf with other Monks, Priests and MP's who used
to legislate for them, instead of going to the Messenger of Allah and
seeking the legislation of the almighty Allah.
As for those people who have been misled and have fallen down in this
clear-cut apostasy and crime, the Messenger Muhammad (saw) said: 'One
of the things I fear strongly for my Ummah is mis-guided Imaams who
will lead part of my Ummah to worship Idols and they will lead others
of my Ummah to follow the Mushrikeen'
Therefore whoever votes or follows any of those mis-guided legislators
and gives them the vote enabling them to legislate has in fact chosen
a lord to legislate for him and this is associating with almighty Allah
another legislator and commander. Allah (SWT) says:
'Are many different Lords better
or Allah, the one the irresistible, you do not follow, obey, worship
beside him but only figures which you have named, you and your fathers
for which Allah has sent down no authority, Verily the Command and
the Judgement and the power of legislation is for none but Allah,
he has commanded that you worship and follow none but him, that is
the true path but most people know not' [EMQ 12:39 & 40]
This is the reality of the new Deen and
Lordship, which declares sovereignty for man which most of the people
have embraced. This is why whatever man does as a good Deed and whatever
a Muslim does as prayer or fasting and other good deeds and afterwards
commits this apostasy and does not repent from it, thereafter all his
deeds will be abolished, for Allah (SWT) says:
'This is the guidance of Allah
with which He guides whomsoever he wills of his servants but if they
have joined or associated in worship others with Allah all that they
used to do as good will have been of no benefit to them' [EMQ 6:88]
And for those who claim that we are not calling them Creators
but we are merely calling them 'Commanders', we will remind them that
Allah (SWT) says: 'Surely he is the only Creator and the only Commander,
blessed be Allah, the Lord of all that exists' [EMQ 7:54]
Hence as no one is allowed to be associated
with him in his absolute power of creation similarly no one has the
right to associate with him in his absolute power of commandment and
legislation.
As for those people who have been misled by others and have committed
this crime before as an error from them we advise them to fear Allah
and not to indulge in this crime again because Allah (SWT) will excuse
them for what they commit out of error but he will never excuse them
for what they commit intentionally until they give it up and ask for
forgiveness, for Allah (SWT) says:
'And there is no sin on you if
you commit an error or mistake in your deeds except for those you committed
deliberately or intentionally' [EMQ 33:5]
The mistaken are therefore excused the
way the Messenger Muhammad (saw) explained about the Bedouin who lost
his camel in the desert with all his clothes and his water and then
found it after having lost all hope of surviving and was ready to face
death. Allah (SWT) sent his camel back to him and he supplicated and
said: 'Oh Allah you are my Servant and I am Your Lord' The Messenger
Muhammad (saw) said regarding this: 'Verily he committed his mistake
because h was lost in his happiness'
There is a world of difference between someone who votes out of error
and mistake thinking he/she is doing a good deed and those who do such
evil actions intentionally and they call people to participate in elections
and voting day and night, collecting money for it, setting up stalls,
writing and distributing leaflets for it, inviting MP's to the houses
of Allah, offering gifts to them, slaughtering meat and even sacrificing
their Tawheed in order to be elected or to vote so that they may get
some benefit. Is there any comparison between such people and the Bedouin
mentioned in the narration above?
Finally I would like to stress that the above seven verdicts passed
do not include the one who voted under duress or absolute ignorance
or the one who has been misled without any clarification for him/her.
This is one of the calamities, which has affected many Muslims both
in Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries today.
I pray to Allah (SWT) to forgive all those who commit sins out of mistake
and to guide all of us to work to implement his command and to establish
his Deen so that Sovereignty is for none but Allah and the Supremacy
of Islam is dominant over the Whole World. All Glory and Thanks is for
Him alone (SWT).
Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad
Judge of The Shari'ah Court of
the UK
Fatwa No: L-221 – 20 Safar 1422
Hijri – 15th May 2001
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