Sheik Muhammad Naasir ad-Deen al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him was asked:

Sheik I have a very important question…what is the ruling of these demonstrations, where a group of youth, both male and female gather together in the streets to show their disapproval to certain rulings and actions which their rulers have given and done. What is the ruling of this action in our Shari’ah?

The Sheik, may Allah have mercy on him, answered: The answer to this question falls under the Shari’ah ruling, which is mentioned in the words of the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, from the Hadeeth which is narrated in Abu Dawood on the authority of Abdullah b. Amr b. al-Aas, may Allah be pleased with them both, or on the authority of Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, the doubt being from me, that the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said: ‘…whoever imitates a people he is from them.’

It is unlawful for a Muslim to imitate a Kaafir (unbeliever). This imitation is on levels…starting from the direct prohibition till the level of Makrooh (un-praiseworthy). Sheik Al-Islam b. Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, clarified this in his great book ‘Iqtidaa Siraatal Mustaqeem, mukhalafata Ashaabal Jaheem’.

I want to point out another thing which is very important for the students of knowledge. The imitation which is forbidden is not only in those things which our Shari’ah has labeled as unlawful, rather there is a more minute meaning to this; to differ from the Kaafirs initially.

Imitating the Kuffaar is to do as they do. As for differing from them, it is to deliberately differ from them (i.e. to intend to differ from them initially); even if the thing shared between the Kaafir and Muslim is something which they have no control over, such as the grayness or whiteness of the hair. The Kaafir does not differ in this reality from the Muslim; rather it is common among all humans.

Yet, it has been authentically reported that the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said: ‘Indeed the Jews and Christians do not dye their hair, so differ from them.’ Thus the grayness or whiteness of the hair is common amongst both the Kaafir and Muslim. Our Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, ordered us to deliberately differ from them, such that we are ordered to dye our hair, whether this hair be the beard or hair on the head…The reason: So that the Muslim would appear different from the Kaafir.

Now what do you think about what the Kaafir innovates and goes out of his way to do; and which some Muslims imitate them in, and follow them (blindly) and become emotionally moved by their deeds? This is worse and more sinful…This is what I wanted to point out before I answer this question.

If you know the difference between the imitation and the deliberate difference, then it is upon the true Muslim to try his best not only not to imitate the Kaafir, but to deliberately differ from them.

From this understanding we wear the watch on the (right) hand because the Kaafir custom is to wear it on the left hand. This is what we took from the words of the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, ‘differ from them.’ You know this Hadeeth:  ‘Indeed the Jews and Christians do not dye their hair, so differ from them.’

We find many examples in the Shari’ah, such as the words of the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, ‘pray in your sandals and differ from the Jews.’ Although praying in (a pair of) shoes is not Fardh (obligation). (On the other hand) growing the beard is Fardh, whereas, the one who shaves it off would have sinned. As for praying Salah while wearing shoes, is a praiseworthy deed, but if a Muslim prays regularly, never wearing his shoes, he would have done something against the Sunnah, and would not have differed from the Jews.

It has been narrated in some books of Sunnah that Abdullah b. Masood, may Allah be pleased with him, was with a group of people, and the Iqamah was made. In the group there was Abu Musa al-Ashari, may Allah be pleased with them both. So (Abdullah b. Masood) pushed him forward to lead the prayer. Ibn Masood knew that the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, loved the recitation of Abu Musa, may Allah be pleased with him, for the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said to him (i.e. Abu Musa) one day: ‘I passed by you last night, O Abu Musa, and I listened to your recitation.’ The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said: ‘Indeed he has been given a flute of the flutes of Dawood, may Allah exalt his mention.’

When he heard this praise from the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, he said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, had I known that you were listening to me, I would have beautified my voice even more.’

Since Ibn Masood knew how much the Prophet loved the recitation of Abu Musa, he pushed him forward to lead the prayers; even though Ibn Masood was not less (qualified) than Abu Musa in terms of recitation, rather, he may have been even more knowledgeable. The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said about him: ‘Whoever wants to recite the Qur’an as it was revealed let him recite like Ibni Umm Abd’. (i.e. Ibn Masood)

This actually teaches us a great lesson, which we the Muslims at the end of time are in need of most…We may find (today) a general Islamic awakening (amongst the Muslims) but with great sorrow we do not see with it a general change in manners and behaviors. We should keep in mind both the perspective of knowledge and correction of manners and behaviors.

As we can see Ibn Masood humbled himself, and let Abu Musa lead the prayers even though he was more knowledgeable than Abu Musa. Abu Musa stepped forward to lead the prayers and took off his sandals…Ibn Masood then said to him, in total disapproval: ‘What is this Judaism? Are you in the Sacred Valley?’ He meant the words of the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention: ‘Pray in your sandals and differ from the Jews.’

Now that you know the prohibition of imitating the Kuffaar, and encouragement in the Shari’ah to differ from them; know then that it is a must to stay away from all types of Shirk and Kufr, no matter what it is. We, also avoid being classified under the words of the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, ‘You will follow the path of those before you footstep by footstep, arm span by arm span, even if they enter a lizard’s den you too would enter it.’

This Hadeeth contains a warning, for this Ummah as the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said, in the authentic Hadeeth: ‘There will (always) be a group of my Ummah apparent (applying) the truth, they would not be harmed by those who differ from them, until the Final Hour is established.’

The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, has given us the glad tidings in this authentic Hadeeth, that the Ummah will be a in a good state of affairs. (The above Hadeeth does not mean) that every person in the Ummah (would follow or imitate the Kuffaar). Thus the meaning of the Hadeeth is ‘Beware! Do not follow the path of those before you, for indeed amongst you will be a group who will do that.’

In another narration which is not in the two Saheeh, which is also authentic, the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, mentioned to which extremes the people will follow the Kuffaar; The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said in that narration: ‘even if amongst them there are those who would fornicate with their mothers on the side of the street, there would be amongst you those who do it.’

If you look at the present day situation, as the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said…people blindly follow the paths of those before us…But I believe that this is not the end of this imitation.

In some authentic narrations, we see that the Prophet, may Allah exalt this mention, said: ‘The final hour will not be established until the people would lie down on the side of streets, just as the donkeys.’ (i.e. fornication) on the sides of streets.

Now if you know the two matters, the prohibition of imitation and the command to differ from them, we now return…These demonstrations which we saw with our own eyes during the days of the French occupation of Syria, and which we hear of in Algeria…is indeed the complete imitation of the Kuffaar. For we see in pictures and in the media, thousands of people taking to the streets from amongst the Kuffaar, whether Europeans or Chinese or what have you, men and women, shoulder to shoulder, back to back (private part to private part). This is the complete imitation of the Kuffaar.

I will add something else; the demonstration is an apparent imitation of the Kuffaar in their methods such that they take to the streets to show their disapproval of some laws which may have been placed by their rulers, or to show their happiness over some laws implemented by their rulers, it is not an appropriate Shari’ah method to address the wrongs of society.

All those political parties (who take part in demonstrations) have made a mistake, for they did not follow the path of the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, in changing the wrongs of society. For the change would not come about by screaming, chanting, and through demonstrations, rather the change would occur by silence, i.e. spreading the knowledge amongst the Muslims and to raise and educate them on Islam, even though the change may come after a long period of time.

You should know that the methods of Islamic Tarbiyyah (nurturing) are different than the Kaafir’s methods.

In short the demonstrations which occur in some Islamic countries, is not in accordance to the Islamic Shariah; rather a blind imitation of the Kuffaar. Allah says:  ‘And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believer’s way, We shall keep him on the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell – What an evil abode it is!’

Sheik, the people who claim that demonstrations are lawful use what has been narrated in the Seerah to support their stance; i.e.  When Umar b. al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, accepted Islam-the Muslims marched in Makkah in two rows; one row lead by Umar and the other by Hamzah, may Allah be pleased with them both. They say this is a demonstration in which the Muslims openly disapproved of what the Chiefs of Quraish were doing. What is your answer to this proof? 

The Sheik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: ‘My answer to this is how many times did this occur in the Islamic society? Once? If it occurs only once would it be considered a Sunnah act which should be followed? The Jurists stated that if a legal act of worship has been authentically affirmed, its doer would be rewarded (yet) it is not appropriate to do it regularly for the fear of it being thought of as a mandatory thing by people, or becoming a part of their customs (such that they would not leave it aside)…

The Muslims never repeated this action afterwards even though they could have.

Many of the late rulers would bring about laws and rules which were against the Shari’ah. Many people were imprisoned wrongly, probably even killed…so what is the stance of the Muslim (during these Fitnah)? The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, said in the authentic Hadeeth: ‘obey the ruler even if he beats you and takes your money’.

The proofs used to support demonstrations, actually points to the ignorance of those people in the Fiqh. It only occurred once… (I forgot to add something) I remember that this has been reported in the Seerah, but I do not remember whether it is authentic. If any of you know that this has been narrated in a proper book of Hadeeth, let him remind me… (Allahu Akbar! Look at the humbleness of the Sheik, may Allah have mercy on him and admit him into Jannah. Ameen)

Let us assume that this is authentic…It only occurred once, and if a thing only occurs once, it does not become a Sunnah…such that we support what the Kaafirs do, and cause the Muslims to go against the Sunnah. This is like a drop in an ocean; it is not appropriate to use this as a proof.

I remember quite well that the Hanafi scholars, mentioned in a Fiqh issue, that the matter should be left aside once in a while, even though they were of the opinion that it was part of the Sunnah. The issue pertained to the recitation of Surah As-Sajdah and Surah al-Insaan, during the Fajr prayer on Friday.  Although it is authentically affirmed in (Bukhari and Muslim) the Hanafi scholars mentioned that the Imam should leave aside this Sunnah once in a while for the fear that the general public would be lead to believe that it was a Fardh act (obligatory act).

I remember quite well that the Imam of the Masjid of Bani Umayyah (in Damascus) recited other than the Surah of Sajdah and Insaan during the Fajr prayer on Friday. The minute the Imam made Tasleem, a loud noise was to be heard from the people…they were screaming at him and shouting…why hadn’t he read Sajdah and Insaan. The imam tried his best to inform the public that it was only a Sunnah act and that he recited it every Friday, but it was good to leave the application of this Sunnah once in awhile…but to no avail.

The poet said: ‘Where you to call upon a human he would have heard you, but there is no life in those who you call upon.’

Stranger than this what happened to me personally. I happened to be in a village called ‘Madayah’ which is situated near a mountain, and is about 60 km outside of Damascus, (The Fajr was called) and I went to the Masjid, and it so happened that the Imam did not show up. So they looked for someone to lead the prayers, and they pushed me forward.  Back then I was a young man…my beard had just began to grow, so when they saw me, they thought good of me and pushed me forward. 

To tell you the truth I had not memorized Surah As-Sajdah very well, so I did not want to venture, so I recited from Surah Maryam. I read the first two pages in the first Rakah, and when I wanted to make Rukoo, and make Takbeer, I felt as though the people behind me fell down in Sujood! I was in Rukoo, while they were in sujood! This Masjid, although small, had a very large Minbar which took the first two rows in the Masjid; so those behind me immediately corrected their mistake, as for those behind the Minbar they stayed in Sujood, until they heard me saying: ‘Sami Allahu liman Hamidah.’ Upon hearing this they started to raise their voices, with which they broke their Salah! I continued with the Salah, until I finished it, and then turned to face them and said: ‘Brothers aren’t you ashamed of yourselves? Are you Arabs or Non-Arabs? Don’t you differentiate between the words in the beginning of the Surah ‘Kaaf Haa Yaa Ain Saad’ and ‘Alif Laam Meem’? If this were to happen in a Non-Arab country it would be considered a shame! What about you? It seems that your minds are busy with your businesses and money.

Here the veracity of the Hanafi scholars’ statement became quite apparent to me. This is my answer to this proof which points to the ignorance of those using it.

We ask Allah to have mercy on the Sheik, and to admit him into the highest Level of Jannah…Jannah al-Firdaws. Ameen.

[This fatwa has been taken from the Fatawa for the sheik delivered in Jeddah entitled (Fatawa Jeddah –Taqwa Tape stores/Tape number 8989-The series was originally recorded by A’thaar Islamic tape store in Jeddah) year 1410H/Jumada al-Akhirah-Tape 5]

[The first Fatwa has been taken from the same series tape 2]