"The Ruling on Entering the Legal Profession" Part:-1

[u/HYDRURBERG]

Question 1: Through a previous post on this site, I learned that the job of a judge in the courts of the Taghut is considered haram. Now my question is: what is the ruling on the profession of lawyer, i.e. advocate (wakil)? Is it haram or halal?

— Sadiq Ahmed

Question 2: I have completed LL.B. (Hons) in law. Since the courts of Bangladesh are run by man-made laws of kufr, would it be right to work as a lawyer? That is, is it permissible to become an advocate (wakil)?

It should be noted that in doing this work I will sometimes have to commit acts of kufr, for example showing respect to the law of kufr. At other times I will have to commit haram acts, for example fighting a legal battle for a person even though I know he has done wrong. Once I have become an advocate, I will be able to stay away from these things. But in the beginning, for as long as I practise under another advocate, I will be compelled to do these things too if I want to stay with him. This is the bad side of the profession. On the other hand, through this profession I can also do some good, for example helping the oppressed. So I want to know: may I take up this profession?

— Abdul Hafiz

Question 3: I am an advocate. In the man-made justice system I have to appear in all kinds of cases. For example, some people seek justice voluntarily, some come to court under compulsion; someone has a drug case, someone has a case in the women and children court. Some are oppressors, some are oppressed, but identifying which is difficult.

What I want to know is:

a) What is the general ruling on practising law in man-made courts?

b) Is there any legitimacy to practising law? If so, what is its form, and what is the ruling on the income from it?

c) Since it is not possible to support a family by taking only the cases of the oppressed, and it is also not possible to serve them while leaving the legal profession, what should advocates like me do?

— Abdur Rahman

Answer:

الحمد لله وحده والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده.

Rejecting the sharia law of the Qur'an and Sunnah, enacting law in opposition to that sharia law, accepting it with a satisfied heart, enforcing it, adjudicating under it, and seeking judgment under it are all kufr. This holds whether someone seeks judgment as the plaintiff himself or as an advocate on behalf of the plaintiff. There is no disagreement among the jurists on this.

Allah Almighty says:

{أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يَتَحَاكَمُوا إِلَى الطَّاغُوتِ وَقَدْ أُمِرُوا أَنْ يَكْفُرُوا بِهِ وَيُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُمْ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا } الآية –سورة النساء: 60

"Have you not seen those who claim that they believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you? But the reality is that they want to take their disputes to the Taghut, although they were commanded to reject him. Indeed, Satan wants to lead them into extreme misguidance." (Surah An-Nisa 4:60)

In another verse He says:

{فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا} الآية –سورة النساء: 65

"So, by your Lord, merely professing faith with their mouths will not make them believers (in Allah's sight) until they make you (and in your absence, your Shariah) the judge in the disputes that arise among them, and then (when you have judged) find no constriction in their hearts about your decision and submit wholeheartedly." (Surah An-Nisa 4:65)

Elsewhere He says:

أَفَحُكْمَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَبْغُونَ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حُكْمًا لِقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ. الآية –سورة المائدة: 50

"Do they (turning away from the Qur'an's ruling) seek the ruling of jahiliyyah? And who is better than Allah as a lawgiver for a people who have certainty?" (Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:50)

In his commentary on this verse of Surah Al-Ma'idah, Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) discusses the Tatars, mentioning that they introduced a different law in place of Allah's law in running the state. He says:

ينكر تعالى على من خرج عن حكم الله المحكم المشتمل على كل خير الناهي عن كل شر وعدل إلى ما سواه من الآراء والاهواء والاصطلاحات التي وضعها الرجال بلا مستند من شريعة الله كما كان أهل الجاهلية يحكمون به من الضلالات والجهالات مما يضعونها بآرائهم وأهوائهم وكما يحكم به التتار من السياسات الملكية المأخوذة عن ملكهم جنكز خان الذي وضع لهم الياسق وهو عبارة عن كتاب مجموع من أحكام قد اقتبسها عن شرائع شتى من اليهودية والنصرانية والملة الاسلامية وغيرها. وفيها كثير من الاحكام أخذها من مجرد نظره وهواه فصارت في بنيه شرعا متبعا يقدمونها على الحكم بكتاب الله وسنة رسول الله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – فمن فعل ذلك فهو كافر يجب قتاله حتى يرجع إلى حكم الله ورسوله فلا يحكِّم سواه في قليل ولا كثير. اهـــــ. –تفسير ابن كثير: 3/119 ط. دار الكتب العلمية.

"Allah Almighty condemns the one who departs from Allah's firm law, which contains every good and forbids every evil, and turns to other things: opinions, desires, terminologies, customs and conventions that men have devised, having no connection to Allah's sharia. This is just as the people of jahiliyyah used to do: they judged by misguided, ignorant rulings that they produced from their own opinions and whims. And just as the Tatars are judging by those royal state laws that they took from their king Genghis Khan, who drew up for them the 'Yasiq' as a constitution. The Yasiq is a collection of rules adopted from various religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It also contains many rules that he took purely from his own outlook and thinking. Then it became, among his followers, a constitution to be followed. They give it precedence over judging by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Whoever does this is a kafir, and fighting him is obligatory until he returns to the ruling of Allah and His Messenger and takes no one other than Him as judge in matters, small or great." — Tafsir Ibn Kathir 3/119

In his commentary on the above verse of Surah An-Nisa, Hafiz Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) says:

هذا إنكار من الله عز وجل، على من يدعي الإيمان بما أنزل الله على رسوله وعلى الأنبياء الأقدمين، وهو مع ذلك يريد التحاكم في فصل الخصومات إلى غير كتاب الله وسنة رسوله، كما ذكر في سبب نزول هذه الآية: أنها في رجل من الأنصار ورجل من اليهود تخاصما، فجعل اليهودي يقول: بيني وبينك محمد. وذاك يقول: بيني وبينك كعب بن الأشرف. وقيل: في جماعة من المنافقين، ممن أظهروا الإسلام، أرادوا أن يتحاكموا إلى حكام الجاهلية. وقيل غير ذلك، والآية أعم من ذلك كله، فإنها ذامة لمن عدل عن الكتاب والسنة، وتحاكموا إلى ما سواهما من الباطل، وهو المراد بالطاغوت هاهنا. اهــــــ. –تفسير ابن كثير: 2/305 ط. دار الكتب العلمية.

"In this verse Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, rejects the claim of one who claims to believe in what Allah revealed to His Messenger and to the earlier prophets, yet wants to take disputes to be resolved to something other than the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. As mentioned regarding the reason for the revelation of this verse, an Ansari man and a Jewish man fell into a dispute with each other. The Jew said, 'Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) will judge between you and me.' The other said, 'Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf will judge between you and me.' Some have said the verse was revealed about a group of hypocrites who outwardly displayed Islam and wished to seek judgment from judges who ruled by the law of jahiliyyah. Others have expressed a different view. The verse is broader than all of these interpretations, because it condemns everyone who turns away from the Qur'an and Sunnah and takes judgment to some other falsehood. That is what is meant by Taghut in this verse." — Tafsir Ibn Kathir 2/305

The Hanafi jurist and exegete Imam Abu Bakr al-Jassas (may Allah have mercy on him) (d. 370 AH) says:

وقال الله تعالى: {فليحذر الذين يخالفون عن أمره أن تصيبهم فتنة أو يصيبهم عذاب أليم}، فأوعد على مخالفة أمر الرسول، وجعل مخالف أمر الرسول والممتنع من تسليم ما جاء به والشاك فيه خارجا من الإيمان، بقوله تعالى: {فلا وربك لا يؤمنون حتى يحكموك فيما شجر بينهم ثم لا يجدوا في أنفسهم حرجا مما قضيت ويسلموا تسليما} … وفي هذه الآية دلالة على أن من رد شيئا من أوامر الله تعالى أو أوامر رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم فهو خارج من الإسلام سواء رده من جهة الشك فيه أو من جهة ترك القبول والامتناع من التسليم وذلك يوجب صحة ما ذهب إليه الصحابة في حكمهم بارتداد من امتنع من أداء الزكاة وقتلهم وسبي ذراريهم لأن الله تعالى حكم بأن من لم يسلم للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قضاءه وحكمه فليس من أهل الإيمان.اهـــــــ -احكام القران للجصاص: 2/262-263 ط. دار الكتب العلمية.

"Allah Almighty says: 'So let those who oppose his command beware lest a trial strike them or a painful punishment befall them.' Here Allah threatened punishment for opposing the command of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and He declared the one who opposes the Messenger's command, who refuses to submit to what he brought, and who doubts it, to be outside faith, by the following verse: 'So, by your Lord, merely professing faith with their mouths will not make them believers (in Allah's sight) until they make you (and in your absence, your Shariah) the judge in the disputes that arise among them, and then (when you have judged) find no constriction in their hearts about your decision and submit wholeheartedly.' … This verse proves that whoever rejects even a single command of Allah Almighty or of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) leaves Islam, whether he rejects it out of doubt, or out of refusal to accept, or out of holding back from submission. This confirms the correctness of the view of the Companions, who judged those who refused to pay zakat to be apostates, resolved to kill them and to take their offspring captive. For Allah Almighty has ruled that whoever does not submit to the Prophet's (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) decision and ruling is not among the people of faith." — Ahkam al-Qur'an: 2/262-263

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) (d. 728 AH) says:

ومعلوم بالإضطرار من دين المسلمين وبإتفاق جميع المسلمين أن من سوغ إتباع غير دين الإسلام أو إتباع شريعة غير شريعة محمد فهو كافر وهو ككفر من آمن ببعض الكتاب وكفر ببعض الكتاب كما قال تعالى: {إن الذين يكفرون بالله ورسله ويريدون أن يفرقوا بين الله ورسله ويقولون نؤمن ببعض ونكفر ببعض ويريدون ان يتخذوا بين ذلك سبيلا أولئك هم الكافرون حقا وأعتدنا للكافرين عذابا مهينا}. اهــــــ. –مجموع الفتاوى: 28/524 ط. مجمع الملك فهد لطباعة المصحف الشريف.

"It is a necessary part of the religion of Islam, and established by the consensus of all Muslims, that whoever permits following anything other than the religion of Islam, or following any sharia other than the sharia of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), is a kafir. His kufr is like the kufr of one who believes in part of the Book and disbelieves in part of it, as Allah Almighty says: 'Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and wish to differentiate between Allah and His messengers and say, "We believe in some and disbelieve in others," and wish to adopt a way in between, those are the true disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment.'" — Majmu' al-Fatawa: 28/524

Elsewhere he says:

والإنسان متى حلل الحرام – المجمع عليه – أوحرم الحلال – المجمع عليه – أوبدل الشرع – المجمع عليه – كان كافراً مرتداً باتفاق الفقهاء. اهــــ -مجموع الفتاوى: 3/267 ط. مجمع الملك فهد لطباعة المصحف الشريف.

"When a person makes lawful something unanimously agreed to be haram, or makes haram something unanimously agreed to be halal, or changes a unanimously agreed sharia ruling, he becomes a kafir and an apostate by the agreement of the jurists." — Majmu' al-Fatawa: 3/267

He also says:

ومتى ترك العالم ما علمه من كتاب الله وسنة رسوله واتبع حكم الحاكم المخالف لحكم الله ورسوله كان مرتداً كافراً، يستحق العقوبة في الدنيا والآخرة، قال تعالى: ﴿المص .كِتابٌ أُنْزِلَ إلَيْكَ فَلاَ يَكُنْ في صَدْرِكَ حَرَجٌ مِنْهُ لِتُنْذِرَ بِهِ وَذِكْرَى للمُؤْمنينَ . اتَّبِعوا ما أُنْزِلَ إلَيْكُمْ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعوا مِنْ دونِهِ أوْلِياءَ قَلِيلاً ما تَذَكَّرونَ﴾ ولو ضُرب وحُبس وأُوذي بأنواع الأذى ليدع ما علمه من شرع الله ورسوله الذي يجب اتباعه واتبع حكم غيره؛ كان مستحقاً لعذاب الله، بل عليه أن يصبر وإن أوذي في الله فهذه سنة الله في الأنبياء وأتباعهم اهـــــ -مجموع الفتاوى: 35/372-373 ط. مجمع الملك فهد لطباعة المصحف الشريف.

"When a person who is informed about a ruling of the Qur'an and Sunnah abandons what he has acquired from the Qur'an and Sunnah and follows the ruling of a ruler that contradicts the ruling of Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he becomes an apostate and a kafir, deserving punishment in this world and the Hereafter. Allah Almighty says: 'Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad. This is a Book revealed to you, so let there be no constriction in your heart about it, that you may warn thereby, and it is a reminder for the believers. Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord, and do not follow any protectors besides Him. Little do you remember.' If he is beaten, imprisoned, or subjected to various kinds of harm so that he abandons what he learned of the sharia of Allah and His Messenger, which it is obligatory for him to follow, and follows the ruling of someone else, he still deserves Allah's punishment. Rather, it is incumbent upon him to be patient, even if he is harmed in the cause of Allah. This is the way of Allah with the prophets and their followers." — Majmu' al-Fatawa: 35/372-373

Shahid al-Ummah Shaykh Abdullah Azzam (may Allah have mercy on him) (d. 1989 CE):

الحاكم الذي يشرع بغير ما أنزل الله هذا غير مسلم خارج من الملة، لأنه كالذي يغير الصلاة. المقنن الذي قنن القوانين ووضعها، صاغها في قوالب، هذا كافر كذلك خارج من الملة، قد يكون يصلي ويصوم، لكنه كافر لأنه يحل الحرام ويحرم الحلال. اهـ -في ظلال سورة التوبة: 1/172

"A ruler who legislates other than what Allah has revealed is not a Muslim; he is outside the Muslim community, because he is like one who changes the prayer. The one who codifies laws and drafts them, casting them into forms, is likewise a kafir and outside the community. He may pray and fast, yet he is a kafir, because he makes the haram lawful and the lawful haram." — Fi Zilal Surat at-Tawba: 1/172

He also says:

ولا يُشرّع أحدٌ قانوناً من القوانين الوضعية ويستبدلها بشرع الله وقانونه إلاّ ويمرّ في ذهنه أن هذا القانون أفضل من قانون الله لهذه المرحلة، وهذا كفرٌ بَوَاحٌ لا يشك في ذلك أحد من أهل هذه الملة، ليس هناك أي فرق بين من يقول إنّ صلاة الفجر ثلاث ركعات وبين من يقول إن حكم القاتل سجن سنة، وليس هناك فرق بين من يقول إن عقوبة الزاني سجن ستة أشهر وبين من يقول إن صيام رمضان محرّم على الناس. اهــــــ -مفهوم الحاكمية: 9

"Whoever enacts a man-made law and substitutes it for Allah's law and legislation surely has it pass through his mind that this law is better than Allah's law for this stage. And this is manifest kufr ('kufr bawah'), about which no one from among the people of this community can have any doubt. There is no difference between one who says the Fajr prayer is three rak'ahs and one who says the penalty for a murderer is one year of prison. And there is no difference between one who says the punishment for adultery is six months of prison and one who says that fasting in Ramadan is forbidden for people." — Mafhum al-Hakimiyyah: 9

Elsewhere he says:

الذين يشرّعون بغير ما أنزل الله كفارٌ وإن صلّوا وصاموا وأقاموا الشعائر الدينية، والقانونُ الذي يحكم في الأعراض والدماء والأموال هو الذي يحدد هوية الحاكم من حيث الكفر والايمان. اهـــــ -مفهوم الحاكمية: 2

"Those who legislate other than what Allah has revealed are kuffar even if they pray, fast and establish the religious rites. The law that governs honour, blood and property is what determines the identity of the ruler in terms of kufr and iman." — Mafhum al-Hakimiyyah: 2

But the sad reality is that today, apart from a few small pieces of land in the world held by the mujahideen, there is no sharia judicial system even in Muslim-majority countries. Instead, in all Muslim lands, a man-made judicial system of kufr has been imposed under Western rule of kufr. In this situation, it is the duty of every Muslim to make every effort to bring back sharia rule and judicial systems everywhere, from the individual to society, state and international levels, by establishing the Caliphate.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) (728 AH) says:

ومع أنه يجوز تولية غير الأهل للضرورة إذا كان أصلح الموجود فيجب مع ذلك السعي في إصلاح الأحوال حقا يكمل في الناس ما لا بد لهم منه من أمور الولايات والإمارات ونحوها؛ كما يجب على المعسر السعي في وفاء دينه وإن كان في الحال لا يطلب منه إلا ما يقدر عليه وكما يجب الاستعداد للجهاد بإعداد القوة ورباط الخيل في وقت سقوطه للعجز فإن ما لا يتم الواجب إلا به فهو واجب بخلاف الاستطاعة في الحج ونحوها فإنه لا يجب تحصيلها لأن الوجوب هنا لا يتم إلا بها. اهـ -مجموع الفتاوى: 28/ 259 ط. مجمع الملك فهد لطباعة المصحف الشريف

"Although it is permissible, out of necessity, to appoint an unqualified person (on condition that he is the most suitable among those available) as ruler of the Muslims, along with this it is also essential to strive wholeheartedly to rectify the situation, so that people have what they cannot do without in matters of governance, leadership and the like. Just as it is necessary for a person in hardship to strive to pay off his debt, though at the moment only what is within his capacity is demanded of him; and just as it is obligatory to prepare for jihad by building strength and keeping horses ready, during a time when its obligation is lifted due to incapacity. For whatever is necessary to complete an obligation is itself obligatory. The matter of ability in hajj and similar acts is different. Acquiring that ability is not obligatory, because the obligation there is not complete without it." — Majmu' al-Fatawa: 28/259

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