Conditions of Living among Non-Muslims and Dealing with Them
Fatwa No: 400087

Question

How to live with non muslim? Prove by using sunnah.

Answer

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

If the Muslim is afflicted by residence in a non-Muslim land (among the polytheists), then his residence among them is ruled by some general conditions, which are proven by the Book of Allah and Sunnah of His Prophet among which are the following:

1- It is prescribed for him to deal with them with justice as Allah Says (what means): {Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.} [Quran 60:8] As-Sa’di said in his Tafseer (interpretation of the Quran): "Allah does not forbid you from righteousness and keeping ties, and recompensing in reasonable terms, and being just with the polytheists, their relatives, and others, as long as they do not fight you in religion and do not drive you out of your homes; so there is no blame on you to keep ties with them, as keeping ties with them in this case is neither prohibited nor does it involve any harm (disadvantage).” [End of quote] Indeed, the Prophet and his Companions used to deal with the Jews of al-Madeenah with Justice and equity, fulfilled their contracts, and they neither transgressed their blood, nor their money, nor their honor.

2- It is permissible for the Muslim to eat the meat of their slaughtered animals provided that they are from the People of the Book, either Jews or Christians, and provided that the animal is not a dead animal, or a strangled one, or one killed by a violent blow; rather, it must be slaughtered in an Islamic way. The food of the Muslim is also lawful for them; as Allah Says (what means): {This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them.} [Quran 5:5]

3- He should be keen on inviting them to Islam, and that his behavior with them should stem from this great objective. So, he may visit them, visit their sick people, lend them any of his belongings that they may need, with this good intention, which is to encourage them to embrace Islam, and to show them the good morals of Muslims, as the Prophet and his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, used to be keen on inviting the People of the Book and the polytheists in al-Madeenah to Islam. Indeed, the Prophet visited a Jewish boy during his death sickness and invited him to Islam and he became Muslim. Once, a Jew invited him for food, and he honored his invitation, and there are many others examples in the prophetic biography.

4- He must believe that anyone who follows any religion other than Islam is a non-Muslim (a disbeliever), whether he is a Christian, a Jew, an idolater, or someone who does not have (or follow) any religion as Allah Says (what means): {And whoever desires other than Islam as religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.} [Quran 3:85]

For more benefit on dealing with non-Muslims, please refer to Fataawa 395743, 333871, 341263, 384016, and 88293.

Allah knows best.

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