Do I have to leave Britain?
Q. Brother, I have been told by someone that I have to emigrate from Britain to a Muslim country and if I do not I will be sinful, what should I do?
May Allah reward you for being interested in understanding Islam. Firstly, I would like to point out that Islam is a pragmatic and practical religion which gives guidelines on how best to live one’s life. There are over 25 million Muslims living in Europe and around 2 million in Britain. If we say, for the sake of argument, that these 25 million Muslims are obliged to emigrate to Muslim countries, where will they go? Which Muslim country will accommodate them? It’s not really practical.
It is perfectly allowed/permissible for you to live in Britain; in fact, people are more free to practice their religion in Britain than in many so called Muslim countries. Scholars mention emigration is only prescribed in two situations:
1. The Muslims are in need of those who are to emigrate to them. This was the situation in Medinah at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Therefore, hijrah to Madinah was prescribed for all of the Muslims. This is applicable where there is an Islamic state which is absent at the moment. Even then, the political, demographic and practical factors will play a role in determining whether or not to emigrate.
2. The Muslim is in need of security in the practice of his faith, so he emigrates from his country to a country where he is safe, even if that land is a non-Muslim country as well. The Muslims emigrated from Mecca to Ethiopia, even though it was a Christian kingdom, because it was a place where they would be safe. The Muslims who emigrated from Mecca to Ethiopia remained there for nearly ten years. This can be applied in our current context where many people flee from dictatorship regimes to non Muslim countries.
There is also an opinion that if one is able to practice Islam, or practice most of the sha’air (rulings such as salah, zakat, hajj etc), then he should not leave as he will be in a position to present Islam to the non Muslim and there will be some presence of Islam in that land.
I hope there aforementioned points are useful. Please click Here to read an article on this subject by Shaykh Dr Abdullah bin Bayyah.
Wallahu ‘alam
Wa ‘alaykumusslam
Abdullah Hasan
salam brother,
I’m emailing you akhi regards to an answer I was reading on your website on the following question: Brother, I have been told by someone that I have to emigrate from Britain to a Muslim country and if I do not I will be sinful, what should I do?
You mentioned that:
‘It is perfectly allowed/permissible for you to live in Britain; in fact, people are more free to practice their religion in Britain than in many so called Muslim countries.’
How can that be akhi?
Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I have nothing to do with any Muslim who settles among the mushrikeen. (Abu dawood)
how can ir be perfectly okay for Muslims to practice Islam in this country? consider these:
We have to buy insurance on almost everything e.g. car, home etc.
secular education causes corruption. just today I got an email (article) from a brother: Children’s Secretary, Ed Balls announced today SRE (Sex and Relationship Education) will be made compulsory in both primary and secondary schools. Although the parental opt-out remains, it is reduced from 19 to 15, essentially this means it will not be possible to remove your children from SRE classes in the final year of secondary school. Children are being fed corruntion in schools
free mixing in schools and universities.
queen mary uni is reducing praying time hours for brothers and sisters to pray in, and also plan to abolish sisters praying facilities, their was a demo today (friday 06 nov).
We don’t even know the food we are eating is 100% halal or not.
there are many muslim countries which people can emigrate to, although their may not be the full sharee’ah there, but doesn’t the sharee’ah allow us to take the lesser of two evils? And also if a person puts his trust in Allaah and fears him, allaah will provide a way for him in ways which he didn’t sought to imagine.
brother can you please get back to me, because we can’t just give our own fatawas which may negate the original teachings or prophet SAw
Salam akhi,
Jazzak Allah khair for taking time out to read and comment. This is a contaversial topic for many people and I did not want to delve into the details. This is not just my opinion but the opinion of the vast majority of scholars here in Britain and around the world. I direct you to listen to a lecture by Sh Haytham al Haddad on this topic, he has covered many aspects which will answer many of your questions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unnaKiFiYVs
jk
wslm
Abdullah Hasan
khal, if you live in britain why dont you leave if you think like that? No one is forcing you to remain here!