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Fatwa CenterStudies in University That Involves Bible and Catholic Studies: If One Has Strong Iman, Can He Attend?
Question
Salaam Ulikum,I'm a student and Im applying to various universities, I've came across one with a really nice program that will suit my future career. The only problem is that the university is catholic and in order to attend it I have to take two classes that involves bible and catholic studies. I tried looking around some scholars said it's fine if my iman is strong and some it's better to avoid it. Is it permissible to continue and go to that university and attend these classes or should I avoid it? Jazak Allah for your time,
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.
In our opinion it is not permissible for you to study at that university if they oblige you to study their false religion. You should search for other universities, for it is renowned that the Christian religion is disbelief as they make partners with Allah Almighty.
Attending their lessons (lectures) involves listening to disbelief and writing it in exam questions, and all this is a great abominable matter. The mere desire to study at university does not make it permissible. Allah forbade in His Book attending gatherings of disbelief and disobedience. Allah says (what means): {He has already sent down to you in the Book that when you hear Allah’s verses being rejected or ridiculed, do not sit with them until they engage in another discourse, or else you would be like them.} [Quran 4:140]
This prohibition did not exclude those who have a strong faith from those who have a weak faith, for every Muslim is forbidden to sit where falsehood is being committed.
Al-Qurtubi, may Allaah mercy upon him, said in his Tafseer (interpretation of the Quran):
“Allah Says: {…do not sit with them until they engage in another discourse}; i.e., other than disbelief. {Or else you would be like them} indicating that it is obligatory to avoid sinners if they do a reprehensible act. Because whoever does not shun them has approved of their actions, and approval of disbelief is disbelief. Allah says (what means): {Or else you would be like them.} So everyone who sat in a sinful assembly and did not denounce them will have the same sin like them. He should denounce them when they speak of disobedience and act upon it. If he cannot condemn them, he should leave them so that this verse will not apply to him. It was narrated on the authority of ‘Umar ibn Abdul Aziz 
that he caught a group of people drinking alcohol. One of those present said to him: He is fasting, so he disciplined him and recited this verse {Or else you would be like them.}; [like them], i.e., approving of a disobedience is in itself an act of disobedience. For this reason, the perpetrator and the consenting person will be held accountable for the punishment of disobedience until they are all destroyed. This similarity is not in all characteristics.” [End of quote]
Ibn Taymiyyah 
said: “It is not permissible for anyone to deliberately attend the gatherings where act of disobedience are committed. Some people who drank alcohol were brought to ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz . So, he ordered them to be whipped; it was said to him: ‘Among them is a fasting person’. He said: ‘Begin with him, did you not hear Allah the Most High saying: {And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them.} [Quran 4:140] He considered the one who attended the act of disobedience like the doer of that act.
Moreover, your attendance to those lessons of disbelief, in which Shirk in Allah Almighty is found, may be a trial for you, and a Muslim does not risk his religion by claiming that his faith is strong. The Sharee’ah stipulated staying away from suspicions and distancing oneself from its places, as a way of being careful not to be affected by it.
In the sahih hadith:” The Prophet said: “Let him who hears of the Dajjal (Antichrist) go far from him for I swear by Allah that a man will come to him thinking he is a believer and follow him because of the misconceptions that he [Dajjal] casts on him.” [Ibu Dawood]
Allah knows best.
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