In the Name of Allāh, the Ever Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy
Question:
Ibn Taymiyya, may Allāh have mercy on him, was asked about a man who prefers the Jews and Christians over the Rāfiḍah.
Answer:
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya: Alḥamdulilāh (all praises be to Allāh, the Lord of the worlds).
Anyone who believes in what Muḥammad (ﷺ) brought is better than anyone who disbelieves in him, even if that believer holds some innovation (bidʿah), whether it is the innovation of the Khawārij, the Shīʿa, the Murjiʾah, the Qadariyyah, or others.
As for the Jews and Christians, their disbelief is known by necessity in Islām. And the innovator, if he believes that he is in agreement with the Messenger (ﷺ) and not in opposition to him, then he is not a disbeliever in him. Even if one were to consider him a disbeliever, his disbelief is not like the disbelief of one who denies the Messenger (ﷺ).
Reference: Majmūʿ Fatāwā Shaykh al-Islām Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya (35/201).
In another discussion, he (may Allāh have mercy on him) stated: “The people of Sunnah, even though they say about the Khawārij, the Rāfiḍah, and other people of innovation what they say, they do not assist the disbelievers in their religion, nor do they prefer the dominance of disbelief and its people over the dominance of an innovation less than that.”
Reference: Majmūʿ Fatāwā Shaykh al-Islām Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya (35/201).
Elsewhere, he (may Allāh have mercy on him) remarked: “So when the oppressors fight one another, Allāh causes some of them to overpower others, and in that there is relief for the oppressed.”
Reference: Majmūʿ Fatāwā Shaykh al-Islām Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya (28/546).
Translated by Abū Dilāra Naief al-ʿAydarūs.
Gallery
