Allah (swt) said:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُمْ آَمَنُوا بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يَتَحَاكَمُوا إِلَى الطَّاغُوتِ وَقَدْ أُمِرُوا أَنْ يَكْفُرُوا بِهِ وَيُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُمْ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا (60) وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ رَأَيْتَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يَصُدُّونَ عَنْكَ صُدُودًا
Have you seen those who claim that they have believed in that which was revealed to you and what was revealed to those who came before you. They want to go to judgement to the Taghout whilst Allah has commanded that you disbelieve in it, and Shaytaan wishes to lead you far astray. And if it is said to them come to the Messenger you see the Munaafiqeen (hypocrites) turning away from you with complete aversion (An-Nisaa 60-61).
And Allah Ta'Aalaa said:
And He (swt) said:
فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
But no by your Lord they will not believe until they make you judge in that which occurs of dispute amongst them and then do not find within themselves any resistance in that which you have judged and submit with complete submission (An-Nisaa 65).
And Allah 'Azza wa Jalla said:
وَمَا آَتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
And whatsoever the Messenger has brought to you take it and whatsoever he has forbidden you abstain from it. And fear Allah for verily Allah is severe in punishment (Al-Hashr).
This Daleel establishes the obligation of the Muslim to abide by the Hukm Ash-Shar'iy in addition to the Tahreem (prohibition) of the Muslim to judge by other than the Hukm Ash-Shar'iy in any matter from amongst all matters. This is because Allah (swt) has commanded the Muslims to take what the Messenger of Allah (saw) has brought to them in terms of what Allah has made obligatory (Fard) upon them, recommended (Mandoob) for them and made permissible (Mubaah) for them. And He (swt) commanded them to abstain from that which He has forbidden them in terms of what He (swt) has prohibited (made Haraam) upon them and what he has made disliked for them (Makrooh). Therefore every Talab (request) that the Messenger (saw) came with from Allah is Waajib (obligatory) to abide by, whether it was a request to do something (Talab ul-Fi’l) like the Furood and Mandoobaat, or if it was a request to leave (Talab ut-Tark) like the Muharramaat and Makroohaat, or if it represented a choice between doing and leaving like the Mubaahaat. All of them fall under the speech:
وَمَا آَتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا
And whatsoever the Messenger has brought to you take it and whatsoever he has forbidden you abstain from it.
This is because the ‘Maa’ (Whatsoever) is from the Siyagh Al-‘Umoom (forms of generality) and as such it is general in respect to what it came with and here it refers to the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah. The Aayah was revealed in relation to the division and distribution of the Fa’iy (booty) amongst the Muhaajiroon to the exclusion of the Ansaar i.e. it dealt with a Hukm (ruling) from amongst the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah. Its context and subject area is therefore the Hukm Shar’iy established by the action of the Nabi (saw) and it came in the form of generality ‘And whatsoever he brought to you’ and ‘Whatsoever he has forbidden you’. It therefore covers (is general for) all of the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah’.
If we link this Aayah with the speech of Allah (swt):
فَلْيَحْذَرِ الَّذِينَ يُخَالِفُونَ عَنْ أَمْرِهِ أَنْ تُصِيبَهُمْ فِتْنَةٌ أَوْ يُصِيبَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
And let those who go against His command be warned that they will be afflicted by a Fitnah or they will be afflicted by a painful punishment (An-Noor 63).
It indicates that the command in the statement: ‘Take it’ and in the statement: ’Abstain’ is a command of Wujoob (obligation) and as such it is obligatory upon every Muslim to adopt the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy and to restrict himself to it (i.e. abide by it). This alone is sufficient to indicate the Tahreem (prohibition) of taking from (adopting) other than the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy because the Mafhoum (what is understood) from:
وَمَا آَتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا
And whatsoever the Messenger has brought to you take it and whatsoever he has forbidden you abstain from it (Al-Hashr).
Is that anything which the Messenger (saw) did not bring and did not forbid is not permitted to pay any regard to it. Additionally taking or adopting other than what the Messenger (saw) brought and abstaining from other than what he forbade represents a contravention to the command of the Messenger (saw) i.e. it goes against that which he requested because the meaning of the ‘Amr’ (command) is that of ‘Talab’ (request).
The Qur’aan has reinforced this meaning in a decisive manner when it negates the completeness of Imaan of the one who judges by other than the Messenger (saw) i.e. by other than the Sharee’ah of Islaam in its consideration as the Message of the Messenger. We have lament those who wish to go to judgement to other than what the Messenger (saw) came with in terms of the Islamic Sharee’ah, those who referred their judgment to other than him, to Taghoot despite the rebuke attached to that.
Ibn Abi Haatim in a Saheeh chain reported from Ibn ‘Abbaas (ra) that he said:
‘Abu Barzah Al-Aslamiy was a Rabbi who used to judge between the Jews in their disagreements. Then some from amongst the Muslims took their disagreements to him and then Allah (swt) revealed:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُمْ آَمَنُوا بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ
Have you seen those who claim that they have believed in that which was revealed to you… (An-Nisaa’ 60).
This therefore indicates in a decisive form and manner that referring to other than the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah is considered as referring to Taghoot and Allah (swt) has said about it that Shaytaan wishes to take astray the one who does that.
In addition the Qur’aan did not just rebuke the one who judges by other than the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah but rather it negated the completeness of Imaan of the one who is not content with the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy. It happened that a Jew and a Munaafiq disputed over a matter and then the Munaafiq requested Ka’b Bin Ashraf (the head of the Jews) to judge between them whilst the Jew sought the judgement of the Nabi (saw). They then went to the Nabi (saw) and he judged in favour of the Jew whilst the Munaafiq (hypocrite) was not pleased and content with that due to his hypocrisy.
And Allah (swt) has said:
وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ
But no by your Lord they will not believe until they make you judge in that which occurs of dispute amongst them
However the command of Allah (swt) did not find it enough to make the judgement alone to the Shar’a but rather stipulated that there be contentment and acceptance to the Hukm as He (swt) said:
ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Then do not find within themselves any resistance in that which you have judged and submit with complete submission
This indicates and guides to it not being sufficient to abide by the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy due to fearing the authority like the Munaafiq but rather it is necessary for the Muslim to be at peace with the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy and do submit to it with the fullest and most complete submission.
For that reason it is Haraam for the Muslim top judge in any of his actions in their entirety to other than the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy. It is therefore Haraam for him to judge by the Qawaaneen (laws) just as it is Haraam for him to judge by the norms, traditions and customs. It is also Haraam for him to pass judgment by the ‘Aql (mind) and to pass judgment based upon the Maslahah (benefit/interest). This is because Allah (swt) has specified the direction in which the Muslim must judge by in his actions and this direction is that which the Messenger of Allah (saw) came with and brought, whilst referring to a different source for judgement is considered as going to judgment to Taghoot.
Therefore referring the judgement to the Maslahah (benefit/interest), the ‘Aql (mind), the ‘Aaraaf (customs) or the ‘Aadaat (norms/traditions) is just like referring the judgement to the laws and all other rulings of Kufr. All of them represent referring the judgement to At-Taghoot.
So the Muslims became alerted to the fact that they have no choice except to return back to the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy and make it alone the judge in respect to their actions. This is because abiding by it is Fard upon and like the Fard of the Salaah it has been established by evidence which is Qat’iy (decisive) in Thuboot (transmission) and Qat’iy in Dalaalah (meaning/import). We warn them in respect to referring to judgement to anything other than the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy because it means referring to judgment to At-Taghoot and judging by the rulings of Kufr (disbelief).
Beirut 8th Ramadhaan 1380
HT
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