From ' Abdul' Aziz ibn ' Abdullah ibn Baz to our honorable brother, Shaykh Ahmad ibn Nasir ibn Ghunaym, may Allah increase his knowledge and Iman (faith) and make him blessed wherever he is. Amen.
Assalamu 'alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!)
I received your letter dated 3/5/1397 A.H. (may Allah guide you), but I was not able to read it until five or six days ago. I understood your question regarding the ruling on those who study or teach positive (manmade) law, as to whether they have committed Kufr (disbelief) or Fisq (flagrant violation of Islamic Laws) by doing so and whether it is valid to perform Salah (Prayer) behind them.
The answer is that there is no doubt that Allah (Glorified be He) obligated His Servants to rule and judge according to His Shari'ah (Islamic law). He warned them against resorting to other than it, and declared this as characteristic of the hypocrites.
As for those who study and teach such laws, they are divided into different categories:
First category: those who study or teach them to learn their reality, realize the superiority of the Shari'ah laws over them, or to benefit from them in a way that does not contradict with the Shari'ah, or to benefit others in these regards.
Second category: those who learn or teach positive law to judge by it or assist others to do so, believing in the prohibition of ruling by other than what Allah has revealed, but being motivated by a desire or love of money to do so.
They (your Imams) lead you in Salah; if they do it correct, it (the reward for Salah) is for you and for them, and if they mistake, it (the reward) is for you and (the sin) upon them.
The Salah of a Fasiq or a Mubtadi' is valid in itself, so if someone is led in Salah by one of them, their Salah will not be invalid, but it will be Makruh (reprehensible), due to the reprehensibility of performing Salah behind them, as enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil are Wajib (obligatory). Therefore, anyone who openly commits Bid'ah or immorality should not be appointed as a regular Imam for Muslims, as they deserve Ta'zir (discretionary punishment) until they make Tawbah (repentance to Allah). If it is possible to shun him until he makes Tawbah, this will be good. Also, if some people stop performing Salah behind him and perform it behind someone else, in the hope that this may affect him and induce him to perform Tawbah, withdraw, or shun other people away from committing sins like his, not performing Salah behind such a man will be in the public interest, as long as the people do not miss performing the Jumu'ah or congregational Prayers. However, if not performing Salah behind him will lead people to miss the Jumu'ah or congregational Prayers, anyone who abstains from performing Salah behind him will be a Mubtadi', acting in opposition to the Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them). Similarly, if the regular Imam is appointed by rulers it will not be in the public interest to stop performing Salah behind him, in this case people should not stop performing Salah behind him; it will be preferable to perform it behind the best Imam.
This ruling applies to anyone who openly commits Bid'ah or Fisq that patently contradict the Qur'an or Sunnah, such as the Bid'ah of the Rafidah (a Shi'ah group denying the caliphates of Abu Bakr AlSiddiq and ' Umar ibn AlKhattab and making accusations against them and many other Companions of the Prophet), the Jahmiyyah (a heretical group denying the Attributes of Allah and believing that Qur'an was created), and their likes.
It is, therefore, clear that anyone who declares that it is invalid to perform Salah behind a Fasiq does not have any reliable proof, as far as I know. However, those who teach and practice positive law resemble those who study the different types of Riba, Khamr, or gambling, or teach them to others for their own desires or their greed for money, even though they do not regard that as permissible and know that all Ribabased transactions are Haram (prohibited), as they know that drinking Khamr and gambling are also Haram. However, due to their weak Iman and their being overwhelmed by their desires or greed for money, their belief that these things are Haram does not stop them from being involved with these forbidden matters. According to AhlulSunnah, they are not Kafirs (disbelievers), as long as they do not believe that this is permissible as previously clarified.
Third category: those who study or teach positive law believing that it is lawful to rule by them, whether they believe that the Shari'ah is superior to them or not. According to the Ijma' (consensus) of Muslims, they are Kafirs who are committing major Kufr, because, by believing that it is permissible to rule by positive law in contradiction to the Shari'ah, they regard as permissible things necessarily known in Islam to be Haram. These people come under the same ruling as those who regard Zina (premarital sexual intercourse and/or adultery), Khamr, and the like as permissible, because deeming these to be permissible is belying Allah and His Messenger and opposing the Qur'an and Sunnah. The scholars of Islam unanimously agree that anyone who regards as permissible something that Allah has forbidden or regards as forbidden something that Allah has permitted is a Kafir, when the matter is inevitably wellknown and undeniable in Islam. This will be clear to anyone who studies the opinions of scholars from the four Madhhabs on the rulings on apostates.
There is no doubt that the students who study some matters related to positive law or an introduction to it in the legal or management institutes are not intending by this to rule by what contradicts with Allah's Shari'ah. They want or it is wanted from them to know about it and compare it to the rulings of the Shari'ah to recognize its superiority over manmade laws. They may even gain other benefits from this study that will give them a deeper understanding of the Shari'ah and have more certainty about its uprightness.
Even if we assume that some of them want to learn this subject to rule by it instead of by the Shari'ah and that they deem this to be permissible, it is not permissible to rule against the others with the same ruling as them, as Allah (Glorified be He) says: and no bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also says, "A wrongdoer only wrongs themselves."
From what we have said, it will be clear to you that casting aspersions over the aforementioned students acting as an Imam for the Salah and ruling that it is not valid to perform Salah behind them is not sanctioned by the Shari'ah or the people of knowledge, as it has no legal basis. I hope that what I have mentioned has removed any doubt in you about those students described as being in the first category, or regarding them as being Fasiqs or Kafirs. As for the second category, there is no doubt about their Fisq. As for the third category, there is no doubt that they are Kafirs and that it is not valid to perform Salah behind them.
I ask Allah by His Beautiful Names and Lofty Attributes to grant me, you, and all our brothers a good understanding of His Din and to keep us firm on it. I ask Him to protect us all from the evil of our own selves and the wickedness of our deeds, and from misleading temptations, verily He is the EverNear, the AllHearer, Assalamu 'alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!)