The Ninth Case: General Legislation

Description: This refers to a ruler implementing laws other than those prescribed by Allāh and enforcing these laws universally on everyone under their authority. In other words, the ruler changes Allāh’s commands with other laws and mandates that everyone under their jurisdiction follow these laws, without doing istiḥlāl, rejecting, denying, preferring, equating, or attributing their legislation to the religion of Allāh. Ruling: This constitutes minor disbelief (it does not remove one from the fold of Islam). Evidence: There is no evidence that necessitates takfīr in this case. The Sharī‘ah does not associate major disbelief with the general imposition or enforcement of laws, nor do the evidences differentiate between rulers who generalise or do not generalise such laws, nor those who impose or do not impose such laws on their subjects. I say: If this distinction were valid, it would have been addressed by the Sharī‘ah, and there would be evidences supporting it. There are six issues related to this case: