Responsibility of Muslims if their government is not an Islamic one
Fatwa No: 116260

Question

Asalam-o-Alikum My Question is What is the responsibility of an individual Muslim if in his country(Pakistan) there is no Islamic social and economic system. If he don't do anything to change that system then his individual Ibadah are accepted or not ? Like he prays five time, give zakat, Hajj , sadqa. To be more clear i want to ask about Individual and Collectively OBLIGATIONS. JazakAllah

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

It is a Mercy from Allaah that He does not burden a Muslim beyond his ability; Allaah Says (what means): {Allaah does not burden a soul beyond its scope.}[Quran 2:286]

Therefore, a Muslim is only obliged to do what he can, as Allaah Says (what means): {So, keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you can.}[Quran 64:16]

Moreover, the Prophet said: “If you are ordained to carry out an order, then you should perform from it what you are able to.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Among this is the order of enjoining good and forbidding evil; a Muslim is only required to do what he can about it, as the Prophet said: "Whoever amongst you sees an evil, he should change it with his hand (i.e. physically), if he is unable, then he should change it with his tongue (i.e. verbally) and if he is unable, then he should change it with his heart (by detesting it in his heart) and that is the weakest level of faith." [Muslim]

Enjoining good and forbidding evil is a communal obligation; if it is carried out by some Muslims, other individuals are waved off from this obligation. But if this obligation is neglected by all the people, then each individual who is able to carry it out and failed to do so without a sound reason or fear becomes sinful.

The communal obligation includes what is religious, like the funeral prayer, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and what is related to this worldly life, like occupations and crafts.

The difference between the individual obligation and the communal obligation is discussed in Fatwa 85105, so please refer to it.

Therefore, if an obligation is neglected or that one of the limits of Allaah is transgressed, the one who is able to change it and is negligent in doing so becomes sinful. However, if a person does what he is able to do, then he is acquitted from sin.

As regards individual acts of worship, they are accepted, Allaah willing, without a problem.

With regard to the ruling on judging in a Muslim country with other than what Allaah has revealed, please refer to Fatwa 91731.

Allaah Knows best.

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