A PRESS INTERVIEW IN AMMAN WITH JOURNALIST JASSIM SALMAN AL-SHAMMARI ON 09/26/2005

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Interviewed by Jassim Salman / Amman

Interview transcript :

When working scholars speak, you find yourself listening and listening to what they say, and completely submissive to what they see and fatwa, for their presence is a confirmation of the edges of the earth and their demise is a lack of its edges, and that is by excluding them or limiting their role or the reluctance of people ignorant to follow them .

And the guest of insights for this issue is a science, and not all the scholars have suffered alienation for decades and is still until he reached his old age, and the mind and thought are still present, he is the Islamic thinker and the unique preacher, Professor Dr. Abdul Karim Zaidan, who singled us out for a rare meeting, in which he said a lot, advising to follow scholars and advice He obliged the Muslims to stick to the strong rope of God and spoke about other matters. This meeting took place from Amman, where insights initiated him with these questions :

Insights: We have read your recent fatwa regarding the constitution and the upcoming elections, and we want to give us a (summary) about it for readers of insights ?

Dr.. Abdel Karim Zidan: Yes. It is permissible to participate in the upcoming elections due to (the interests it may achieve and ward off evil) on the basis that these elections lead to the election of people who defend the interests of the people. And pay off harm and injustice, such as: raiding houses and taking the insured under the pretext of investigating them, without legal basis, because the elected representative of the people has legal status, enabling him to demand that the necessary measures be taken to lift this harm and injustice to the people, and this claim may result in some of the lifting of this injustice and harm His method is to participate in the elections. The election of righteous people is legitimate because it leads to a legitimate goal, which is to eliminate harm and injustice, so its means is participation in the elections .

It is not said that this desired result of the elections cannot be achieved for many reasons, including :

Its lack of legal evidence that justifies its action, as forgery is present and possible, and if the election is safe from fraud; The possibility of not achieving an answer to the parliament’s demand to take the necessary measures to eliminate injustice and harm from the people is expected, so sticking to the elections and participating in them to reach the goal that we have referred to is a matter of clinging to the conjecture, and thinking does not enrich the truth (and from the matter of illusion and delusion, which is not suitable as evidence) for judgment. Cfm !?

The answer to this objection is that what we say about the permissibility of participating in the elections is not a matter of assumption that is rejected, but rather it is a matter of conjecture based on acceptable evidence and such conjecture is more likely. It was taken by virtue of it, and for this reason the judge will sentence the accused to premeditated murder with the testimony of two just witnesses, with the possibility that justice will not be achieved due to error or lies, but since the most likely belief is their truthfulness and fairness, the judgment should be based on their testimony, because the assumption of their truthfulness is more likely, so what we say is not an illusion. And as for the possibility of forgery and failure to answer the demands of the representatives of all that they are demanding of lifting and pushing injustice and harm on behalf of the people, this may happen, but when it occurs, it does not prevent anything from raising and pushing injustice and harm. Islamic law came to collect the interests as effortlessly as possible and reduce the evil as much as possible. Among the Sharia rules are:(The responsibility rests on the Muslim to the extent of his shortcomings in what is required of him according to his ability) The Almighty said (So fear God as you are able ).

For the sake of all that we have presented, we believe that participation in the upcoming general elections: To elect the National Assembly from which a government will emerge is a delegated matter, but rather amounts to necessity, because its benefit extends to everyone as much as possible, and then calling and participating in it is one of the required legal matters. But it needs to clarify and understand the people his legal evidence, including what we mentioned first of achieving some interests and warding off some evil .

Likewise, the following conditions must be taken into consideration :

There should be a consensus or nearly unanimity to participate .

- Defining the goal of participation clearly .

- That what guarantees the safety of the elections, such as the presence of international observers from well-known, official and popular international bodies, are requested .

That the resistance is not badly affected; Because it carries out legitimate and legal jihad .

If these conditions are met, then there is hope that benefits will be obtained to pay off the harm. And if participation occurs in contravention of these conditions, then the desired benefit does not seem to be taking place, and the reference in all of this is for Islamic law .

Insights: Our honorable Sheikh: Is this fatwa binding on others, or is there another diligence in the matter ?

Dr.. Abd al-Karim Zaidan : No ... this is my personal opinion, according to my understanding of this, and I adopted it (and above all those who are well-informed), whoever takes with it agrees with me in it and who does not agree with me is sure of his legal evidence, then we look at which is more likely, and we take it .

More than this, I told Dr. Harith Al-Dhari: If the Commission does not participate in it, there is something to justify its work, and its opinion is binding Because it is the opinion of the group and not the opinion of the individual .

Insights: Can this fatwa be inferred on the legitimacy of the previous political process under occupation? From the Governing Council to the National Conference to the two interim and transitional governments and the recent elections ?

Dr.. Abdel Karim Zidan: No ... and that is because the causes, causes and circumstances are different in both cases. As shown at the time (fatwa text, end of page ).

Insights: How did the fatwa reconcile the two options of armed resistance to occupation and unarmed resistance work, and does the fatwa mean here that the option of unarmed action overcomes the option of armed action ?

Dr.. Abd al-Karim Zaidan: No, no ... this is not victory, everyone does the kind of jihad that he can tolerate, I have money I strive with my money, I have a pen I fight with my pen I have a sword I fight with my sword, and the field of jihad is wide, so it is stated in the Holy Qur’an: (And strive with your money and yourselves For the sake of God (and the Almighty’s saying: “ Incite the believers to fight). Jihad is exerting every effort in which an elevation is given to Muslims and Islam according to the individual’s ability, circumstance, location, time and group. We do not have a choice like prayer, so we can fast together with options. You are fasting and praying in Ramadan, so there is no objection; Each works of his name as an arena of fasting and prayer, there is no collision is not opposed; and there is another example of the collection between the two, the story of Iman (Abu Basir) , a Muslim who came from Mecca and wanted to join the Prophet ﷺ after Khudaibiya, did not accept the Prophet  ﷺAnd he told him: We wrote a treaty and I cannot accept you. You should return, so he returned, and thus this man escaped from the hands of the Muslims, then he began to block the road on the caravans of the polytheists with armed resistance until they were fed up with him, then the Quraish came, and they said: Oh Muhammad, stop us We accept that you take it, so he said: No, I do not accept it. Why? What does that mean? This means that  ﷺleft his yard Jihad to fight in a truce, he noted, it authorized him to work in armed action , a truce was Jihad , the Prophet  ﷺpolitical jihad in this stage may then combine the two. The armed resistance may never be abandoned as long as the occupation exists, and it is necessary to combine the armed and political approaches .

Insights: What is the way out of the Iraqi crisis today, according to Dr. Abdel Karim Zidan ?

Dr.. Abd al-Karim Zidan: The director is the Islamic work and Muslims agree on a minimum level of what is legally permissible to work with and adhere to Islamic principles and be patient, because things cannot come as quickly as a person wants .

Constipation; (So ​​hold on to what has been revealed to you), we are being an Islamic situation; A situation that is compatible with Islam and not according to what is agreed upon. We are not only our principle to please the person in this world, but rather to make him happy in this world and the hereafter, and not to make him happy according to our desire, but to make him happy according to what Islam wants .

Insights: Is there a final word for Al-Busa'ir newspaper ?

Dr.. Abdul Karim Zidan: What is the reference point of the Muslim ?

First : What is meant by reference is what the Muslim refers to, so that it becomes clear what is right and wrong, right and wrong, what is required to be done, what is required to be left, what he loves and what he hates ??? In all matters of life, this is the reference. This reference, then, consists of meanings, ideals, goals and objectives. Therefore, it is the one that rises up and is the one that can be a reference and not something else .

For the Muslim is a reference which is Islam, with all its meanings, principles, rulings, rules, goals and objectives. It is the reference for the Muslim when he wants to clarify his path , what should he behave? what's he doing? What does he leave? What does he like What does he dislike? What's next? What is right? What is falsehood? What is good? What is lousy? Everything has its authority, in order to know these things, Islam does not have another reference, because this Islamic reference does not accept the company at all, this is first ...

Second :

The nature of this reference is that it is comprehensive and not limited to any aspect of life, but rather it includes all life affairs that relate to Islam, starting from his heartfelt inclinations and ending with his actions with prey, say or act, and so on. I do with what I want in isolation from any reference, only what Ohoah I myself, and the yard again attributed it to Marjeita consisting of meanings and other things that we have mentioned, this does not exist, the reference one ( say my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and death to Allah , the Lord of the worlds) Every person It has a reference and it is, as we have previously explained it (made up of meanings and woo ... etc., these meanings if they take root in himself and become certain) cannot be waived, it becomes a belief, if this belief has an effect not only in his life. But after his death, it became a religion for which a person is held accountable, and this is available in the Islamic reference for the Muslim .

As for the reference for non-Muslims; Its horizons and worldly implications, this is his reference according to the ideas put forward, but what is its impact after his death? It will be cut off and it may not reach the depths of his heart, and it may reach - to the depths of his heart - as the polytheists used to die because of their belief. These meanings are for their reference, and they are what they believed from idols and others, until this became certain, a creed that deserves to sacrifice for it, for the Muslim is his reference from Its status as comprehensive and affecting him after his death, and thus it is a religion - as we explained earlier .

Third :

This reference is in addition to that it does not accept the company and it is comprehensive, there is a third feature to it: Since these meanings that we have called (the reference) are communicated to them by a person and they are made by God and are communicated by a person (the Messenger), it has become possible to say that I am my reference, the Messenger of God, therefore the Almighty said ( Obey God and obey the Messenger) and the Almighty saying: (And the Messenger did not come to you, take him and what he forbade you from him, you end) because he attains these meanings that make up the reference of a Muslim, and it is the law of God to refer to him. Because he informs me of these meanings that form the reference, and therefore in the Qur’an: He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed God); and from the Sunnah: (Whoever obeys my emir has obeyed me, and whoever obeys me has obeyed God) then (the true reference is to the law of God, and since God’s law has been reached by a human being from the Messenger and then after the Messenger who received guidance from The Messenger has become all of them from our references, not for themselves, but because they inform us of the meanings that make up the law of God, which is the reference for Islam..When this is the reference for the Muslim, where do we go when we differ? We go to the reference, because every disagreement must be a reference for it and it shall be the arbiter.It is not permissible for you to refer me to socialist, democratic and other meanings, nor to a system, rules, party, etc. If I disagree with the party or the party, I disagree with the organization or the organization I disagree with others, then we return to our reference, which is the reference of every Muslim who does not leave it, neither an individual, group, nor everything. The well-known, and in the Qur’an: (And do not disobey you in good times) because obedience is for these meanings that constitute the reference .

Therefore, I advise Muslims in Iraq to make Islam their reference in everything and to abide by it , because they have happiness in it in this world and in the hereafter and because this reference is beneficial to them in this world and the hereafter and it is truly a constant reference (it is the reference of God - may God bless you with Islam, so whatever you desire for pride in others, God will blame - if Someone has gone astray, and he thinks that salvation is without this reference, because this is inevitably doomed !!! Because Islam does not proceed except in the light of these meanings .