“The Ruling on Adjudicating by Positive Laws” in al-Maktabah al-Shāmilah
An audio recording of Shaykh al-Rājiḥī titled 'The Ruling on Implementing Positive Laws,' archived in the Islamic Library.
Transcript
The Arabic below is the verbatim record of the scholar's words; the English is a translation provided for the reader's benefit.
قول الشيخ عبد العزيز بن عبد الله الراجحي حفظه الله:
The words of Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Rājiḥī (may Allah preserve him):
حكم الشريعة في الحاكم الذي يحكم بالقوانين الوضعية الفرنسية، مع العلم أنه يدّعي الإسلام ويصلّي ويصوم ويحجّ، ماذا يقال عنه؟
What is the ruling of the Sharīʿah concerning a ruler who judges by French positive laws, given that he professes Islam, and prays, and fasts, and performs the Ḥajj — what is to be said of him?
إذا كان يعتقد أنه يجوز الحكم بالقوانين الفرنسية فإنه كافر، إذا اعتقد أنه يجوز له. أمّا إذا لم يعتقد هذا، أو كان له شبهة، فلابد من قيام الحجة عليه. وذهب بعض أهل العلم إلى أنه إذا غيّر الدين في جميع أمور الدولة فإنه يكون كافراً لأنه بدّل الدين، وذهب إلى هذا الحافظ ابن كثير رحمه الله في تفسيره، والشيخ محمد بن إبراهيم رحمه الله في رسالة تحكيم القوانين، قال: إذا بدّل الدين كله رأساً على عقب في جميع شؤون الدولة، في كل شيء لا في البعض، إنه يكون كافراً لأنه بدّل الدين. وقال آخرون: إنه لابد أيضاً من قيام الحجة عليه، لأنه قد يكون جاهلاً، قد يكون عنده شبهة، اختار هذا سماحة شيخنا الشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز رحمة الله عليه.
If he believes that it is permissible to judge by the French laws, then he is a disbeliever — if he believes it permissible for himself. But if he does not believe this, or he has a doubt (shubhah), then the proof must first be established against him. Some of the people of knowledge held that if he changes the religion in all the affairs of the state, then he is a disbeliever, because he has substituted the religion; al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (may Allah have mercy on him) held this in his tafsīr, as did Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm (may Allah have mercy on him) in his treatise Taḥkīm al-Qawānīn, where he said: if he substitutes the religion entirely, turning it upside down in all the affairs of the state — in everything, not in only some of it — then he is a disbeliever, because he has substituted the religion. Others said: the proof must also be established against him, because he may be ignorant, or he may have a doubt. This is what our Shaykh, his eminence Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz (may Allah have mercy upon him), chose.
من شريط شرح نواقض الإسلام.
From the recording of the explanation of Nawāqiḍ al-Islām (The Nullifiers of Islam).
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