V1:111- Issues prescribed to begin with when guiding and directing Muslim communities
- 3 years ago
111- Issues prescribed to begin with when guiding and directing Muslim communities
Q: We live in a community where there is a lot of sorcery and charlatanry and Shirk (associating others with Allah in His Divinity or worship); for example, building domes over graves, calling upon the dead to relieve hardships. Is it prescribed by Shariah (Islamic law) in such a community to first call people to Tawhid (belief in the Oneness of Allah/ monotheism) and purify their beliefs from Shirk and to focus on correct Islamic upbringing of the individual so as to become a good member of society? Or rather advocate the application of the rulings of Shariah, in the same way that some Islamic communities do?
A: If you live in a Muslim country among Muslims, teach them the matters associated with Shirk and sins of which they are ignorant. On the other hand, if you live in a non-Muslim country among Christians, or Jews, or pagans who do not know about Islam, and have not been called to Islam before, you must begin with calling them to Tawhid. If they respond and become Muslims and embrace Allah's Religion, you should teach them to pray and to pay Zakah (obligatory charity) and other acts of worship, as the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered Mu`adh to do when he (peace be upon him) sent him to Yemen. However, if you are living among Muslims in Egypt, or Syria, or Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, or in any other Muslim country, you should inform them of what they have committed, whether it is Shirk or other sins, and you should teach them their religion, teach them the matters they are ignorant of, let them know the truth of what they lack, whether it is Shirk or abandoning Salah (Prayer) or disobeying parents or using Riba (usury), or other sins which some Muslims may commit.
[Vol. 1, Page No. 297-298]
Q: We live in a community where there is a lot of sorcery and charlatanry and Shirk (associating others with Allah in His Divinity or worship); for example, building domes over graves, calling upon the dead to relieve hardships. Is it prescribed by Shariah (Islamic law) in such a community to first call people to Tawhid (belief in the Oneness of Allah/ monotheism) and purify their beliefs from Shirk and to focus on correct Islamic upbringing of the individual so as to become a good member of society? Or rather advocate the application of the rulings of Shariah, in the same way that some Islamic communities do?
A: If you live in a Muslim country among Muslims, teach them the matters associated with Shirk and sins of which they are ignorant. On the other hand, if you live in a non-Muslim country among Christians, or Jews, or pagans who do not know about Islam, and have not been called to Islam before, you must begin with calling them to Tawhid. If they respond and become Muslims and embrace Allah's Religion, you should teach them to pray and to pay Zakah (obligatory charity) and other acts of worship, as the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered Mu`adh to do when he (peace be upon him) sent him to Yemen. However, if you are living among Muslims in Egypt, or Syria, or Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, or in any other Muslim country, you should inform them of what they have committed, whether it is Shirk or other sins, and you should teach them their religion, teach them the matters they are ignorant of, let them know the truth of what they lack, whether it is Shirk or abandoning Salah (Prayer) or disobeying parents or using Riba (usury), or other sins which some Muslims may commit.
[Vol. 1, Page No. 297-298]