On December 1, 2010, Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, posted a fatwa on his website, calling on Muslims to emigrate if they could not freely practice their religion in the Islamic countries where they live. The fatwa also cautioned these emigrants, however, to guard their Muslim identity, lest they assimilate into non-Islamic society. The same fatwa first appeared in 2006 on the website Islamonline.com.
Following is an excerpt from the fatwa, preceded by the question that prompted it:[1]
Question: "What is the shari'a ruling regarding emigration to Western countries, such as Canada and Australia, for a fixed period of time, for employment and income-related reasons? After all, work opportunities in most of the Arab countries are extremely limited, and if one does find [work], the salary does not cover one's individual needs, much less those of [one's] family. I should point out that I intend to travel [abroad] for [only a few] years, in order to earn money, and then to return [home], which is to say, I do not intend to settle [abroad]. I should [also] point out that I am single."
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Answer: "...Emigration is at times permitted and is sometimes [even] a religious duty if one cannot practice one's religion in the country [where one lives]. Regarding this, it says [in the Koran]: 'When angels take the souls of those who die in sin against their souls, [the angels] will ask: In what were you engaged? They will reply: We were oppressed in the land. [The angels] will say: Was not Allah's earth spacious that you could have migrated therein?...' [Koran 4:97]
"This emigration is not merely permitted, but is a duty incumbent on [every] Muslim: if one finds [another] country that has a place for him and his religion, where he can practice that religion [freely], at least regarding rites and [other] basic things, he is obligated to emigrate.
"However, there are a number of duties incumbent upon those Muslims who emigrate... Unfortunately, there are Muslims who emigrated to Australia, Argentina, and North America who, [after] one generation, went completely astray, assimilating into [non-Islamic] society, their identities being wiped out – and [all] this was due to a lack of knowledge of Islam and of true commitment to it, and because they went there solely for [reasons] of income and livelihood. Some [of these emigrants even] married into the society [where they were living] and were lost altogether, and this is forbidden.
"That is why there are five duties incumbent upon anyone who emigrates to [non-Islamic] countries: a duty to oneself; a duty to one's family and children; a duty to one's Muslim brothers; a duty to the non-Islamic society in which one lives; and a duty to the larger issues of [the Muslim] ummah. The most important duty is the first one, which guards one's Muslim identity against assimilation into [non-Islamic] society. This does not mean that one needs to shut society out and dissociate himself from it – that [would merely do] a different kind of harm. We do not want the Muslim to dissociate himself, seclude himself, [withdraw] into himself, and abandon society. [On the other hand], we do not want him to open up [to society] and remove all the safeguards [of Islam to the point where] his identity becomes assimilated... We want adherence [to Islam] without seclusion and openness without assimilation. This is the proper middle path for anyone living [in non-Islamic countries]..."
