Be aware of Man-Made Law / Sovereignty of People (Part VI)

 Be aware of Man-Made Law / Sovereignty of People (Part VI) 

Assalamu alaikum,

Dear brethren in Islam,
All praise belongs to Allah (Almighty), we praise Him and seek His help; we ask for His forgiveness and seek His refuge against the evil of our own souls and of our deeds. Whomsoever He guides, none can misguide him, whereas whomsoever Allah leads astray can never find any guide. We bear witness that there is no god except Allah (Almighty), the One and the Only God, Who has no partners, and that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. The best words are Allah’s and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). The worst evil is innovation in religion; every innovation is an error, and every error will end up in the Hell-fire.

This is the continuation of part III, IV & V -  the relationship between not ruling by the shari`ah and kufr and its evidences from Holy Quran and Sunnah. Now, I will focus on issue  - Does applying every law that is not mentioned in the Qur’aan or Sunnah constitute kufr?. Before delve into this matter, I want to shed some lights on what is shirk in obedience?


This is one of the four major forms of Shirk - Shirk  in legislation/governance and shirk in obeying other than Allah in matters regarding only Allah. Allah says -

اتَّخَذُواْ أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللّهِ

 
"They  took  their rabbis and priests as  lords besides Allah". (Sura Tawbah ayat 31)
Imaam  Tirmidhi made  tafsir  of  the  ayah (in Tafsir alQur’an al`Azim, V. 2)  by explaining it with the incident of `Adi  ibn Abi Haatim, in which he  said  of  this ayah,  ‘O  Messenger  of  Allah,  they  did  not worship  them.’ Then he said,  ‘they certainly did. They made halaal  for  them  the haraam and made  the haraam on  them  the halaal  and  they  obeyed  them.  That  is  how  they  worshipped them.’ (This hadith is hasan (good) and is narrated by at-Tirmidhi, hadith 3095 in Kitaab ut-Tafsir and by alBaihaqi in his Sunan, V. 10, hadith 117)

Shaikh  Muhammad  al-Amin  ash-Shanqiti,  when mentioning this ayah, made the following comments on it, “Thus  it  is made clear that they are pagans by their obedience to them (those who legislate), and this association of partners is in  obedience  (ta`aa),  and  following  the  legislation  that contradicts and opposes what Allah has legislated,  it is  in  its design, for the worship of Shaitan.” (Adwaa’ ulBayaan Tafsir Qur'an bilQur'an, V.4, page 65)

Another evidence for the Shirk in obedience is,

وَإِنْ أَطَعْتُمُوهُمْ إِنَّكُمْ لَمُشْرِكُونَ
“And if you obey them, you are mushrikun (pagans).” (Sura An`aam, ayah 121)

Next comes the main discussion - Applying laws which are not mentioned in the Qur’aan or Sunnah

Shaykh al-Shanqiti said:

It should be noted that we must differentiate between man-made systems the implementation of which implies disbelief (kufr) in the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and systems which do not imply that. This may be explained by describing systems as being of two types, administrative and legislative. With regard to administrative systems which are aimed at organizing things and making them run smoothly in a manner that does not go against sharee’ah, there is nothing wrong with this and no one among the Sahaabah or those who came after them objected to it. ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) did many things of that nature that were not done at the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), such as writing down the names of the soldiers in a register to keep track of who was present and who was absent, even though the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not do that and he had not known that Ka’b ibn Maalik was not present during the campaign of Tabook until after he had reached Tabook. Similarly, ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) bought the house of Safwaan ibn Umayyah in Makkah and turned it into a prison, even though neither the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) nor Abu Bakr had established a prison. Such administrative matters which are intended to make things run smoothly and which do not go against sharee’ah – such as organizing employees’ affairs and organizing work matters in a manner that does not go against sharee’ah – is a kind of man-made system that is o.k. and does not go against the basic principles of sharee’ah which aims to take care of the public interest.

But in the case of legislative systems which go against the laws of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, referring to them for judgement constitutes disbelief (kufr) in the Creator of the heavens and the earth, such as claiming that giving males precedence over  females in matters of inheritance is not fair and that they should be given equal shares, or claiming that plural marriage is a form of oppression, or that divorce is unjust towards women, or that stoning and cutting off hands etc. are barbaric actions that cannot justifiably be done to anyone, and so on. 

So implementing this kind of system to govern people’s lives, wealth, honour, lineage, minds and religion constitutes disbelief in the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and rebellion against the divine system which was set up by the One Who created all of mankind and Who knows best what is in its interests. Glorified and exalted be He far above having any other legislator alongside Him.

أم لهم شركآء شرعوا لهم من الدين ما لم يأذن به الله و لو لا كلمة الفصل لقضى  بينهم  و إن الظالمين لهم عذاب اليم

“Or do they have partners for them legislating a religion that Allah did not give permission for at all. Had it not been for the word of decision and decree, the matter between them would have been judged. And truly, for the oppressors is a torturous punishment.”

(Surat ash-Shura, ayah 21)

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُم مَّا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ لَكُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ فَجَعَلْتُم مِّنْهُ حَرَامًا وَحَلاَلاً قُلْ آللّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ أَمْ عَلَى اللّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ

"Say (O Muhammad to these polytheists): "Tell me, what provision Allâh has sent down to you! And you have made of it lawful and unlawful." Say (O Muhammad ): "Has Allâh permitted you (to do so), or do you invent a lie against Allâh?”" ( Sura Yoonus 10:59 )

Adwaa’ al-Bayaan, 4/93.