Question(30):

What is the manner of judging by other than what Allaah has revealed?

Answer:

The way of ruling by other than what Allaah has sent down is divided into two parts: The First Part: The ruler nullifies the Judgment of Allaah, in order to replace it with another taaghuti ⁵⁵ judgment, thus abolishes the judgment by Sharee’ah amongst the people. Instead, he replaces it with another judgment laid down by men; like those who abandon the legal judgments regarding transactions between the people and replace them with systems of law [set up by man]. There is no doubt that this constitutes substituting the Sharee’ah of Allaah, The One free of all imperfection, The Most High, for something else.

And This is unbelief that takes the person out of the fold of religion, because this ruler has made himself equal in rank with The Creator, as he has legislated for the Creation of Allaah something that Allaah did not approve of. ⁵⁶ Also, whatever opposes the Judgment of Allaah (), if he makes of it the decisive judgment between the creation, then Allaah has named this Shirk in His Saying:

The Second Part: The Legislations of Allaah are maintained with full authority, and that judgment is conditional on them. However, a ruler judges by other than what is necessitated by

He said: “As far as the one who lays down a system of legislations while knowing the judgement of Allaah [regarding the issues for which these legislations are layed down] and that these legislations contradict the Judgement of Allaah, then this ruler has substituted the Sharee’ah with such legislations. Thus he is an unbeliever, because he did not prefer such system of laws to the Sharee’ah of Allaah except that he believes that it is better for the slaves of Allaah and for the country from the Sharee’ah of Allaah. And so when we say that he is an unbeliever, then we mean by that: that this action leads to unbelief.” These words of our noble Shaykh were totally ignored by some people. And so as an advice to the believers, I relate these late statements of our Shaykh, asking Allaah () to guide me and all Muslims to His Straight Path. Aameen. [Saleh As-Saleh]. these Legislations i.e. he judges by other than what Allaah has sent down. Then three situations fall under this category:

First Situation: The ruler judges by that which is contrary to the Sharee’ah of Allaah whilst believing that it is better than that of Allaah and more beneficial for Allaah’s Creation, or is like Allaah’s () Judgment, or it is allowable for him to judge by that which Allaah did not reveal, then this is unbelief (Kufr) that makes the ruler leave the Religion. Since he was not content with the Judgment of Allaah (), and did not appoint Allaah as a Judge between creation.
Second Situation: The ruler judges by other than that which Allaah has sent down whilst believing that the Judgment of Allaah is better and more beneficial for creation. However, he leaves it while feeling that he is disobedient to Allaah. He intends only to tyrannize and oppress the one being sentenced due to the enmity between them. Thus, he rules by other than that which Allah has sent down, not because of dislike to the
Ruling of Allaah or as a replacement it, or believing that his judgment is better or equal to it, or that it is permissible to judge by it. He did so, however, for the sake of inflicting harm upon the sentenced person. In this situation we don’t say that this ruler is an unbeliever. Rather we say that he is a tyrant, transgressor beyond bounds, and oppressor.

Third Situation: The ruler judges by other than that which Allaah has sent down while believing that Allaah’s Judgment is better and more beneficial to the creation, and believes that in doing so he is being disobedient to Allaah (); but he, due to some lowly desire within himself, judges to his advantage or in interest of the one in whose favour he passes judgment–  then this is sinfulness and disobedience to Allaah. And upon these three situations (descriptions) the Saying of Allaah in the following three aayaat, applies:

The above ayah applies to the third situation. And this matter is from the most dangerous things occurring in our times, for there are some people who became attached to and excited to admiration by the system of laws of the non- Muslims until they became extremely fond of it. And then perhaps they would place them foremost to the Judgment of Allaah and His Messenger, not knowing that the Judgment of Allaah and His Messenger will continue until the Day of Resurrection. For indeed the Prophet (
) was sent to the all of mankind until the Day of Resurrection, and that the One who has sent Him, The One free of all imperfection, The Most High, is Most Knowledgeable of the affairs of His Creation until the Day of Resurrection.

So, it is impossible that He would Legislate for His Creation except that which is of benefit to them in matters of their Religion and their wordy life until the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, anyone who claims, or is under the illusion that, in our times, something other than the Judgment of Allaah, The Most High, is more beneficial for the Creation of Allah than those Judgments whose Legislations appeared at the time of the Prophet (
), then he has indeed strayed into a plain error. He should then repent to Allaah and return to his senses and contemplate about his affair.

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⁵⁵ Taaghuti: From taaghut, which is dervived from tughyaan, meaning to go beyond the bounds.

⁵⁶ These words of the  haykh, may Allaah’s Mercy be upon him, were originally published in the book entitled “Fataawaa…” and which was compiled by Ashraf Maqsood. The Shaykh addressed the same issue in his most recent book “al-Qawlul Mufeed Sharhu Kitaabit Tawheed” in its edited and corrected version [vol.2, p.160; published by Daar ibnil Jawzee, 1419, Dammaam, KSA].