What is the Ruling on Travelling to the Land of Disbelief?

Uploaded Jun 24, 2024
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The Ruling on Travelling to the Land of Disbelief

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Sheikh Ibn Al-Uthaymeen
So, if Muslims are obligated to leave their non-Muslim home countries in case they aren’t able to practice their religion in them, then Muslims belonging to Muslim countries are likewise prohibited from travelling to the land of disbelief (non-Muslim countries). That’s because going there poses a threat to Muslims’ faith and morals. It is also a waste of their wealth, and it strengthens the economy of the infidels. We are ordered to enrage the infidels as much as we are able to. Therefore, it is prohibited for a Muslim to travel to the land of disbelief except under three conditions: The first condition is that the Muslim must have enough knowledge to repel doubtful matters. This is because infidels try to invoke doubts regarding Muslims’ religion, doubts regarding their prophet, doubts regarding their book (the Quran), and doubts regarding their morality. They try to invoke doubts regarding everything so that Muslims stay in a state of skepticism and hesitation. And it is known that if a person has doubts in things he is obligated to believe in with certainty, then he hasn’t fulfilled what’s obligatory. And belief in Allah, his angels, his books, his messengers, the hereafter, and destiny good or bad—believing in those things should be with certainty, and if a person doubts any of those things, then he is an infidel. The second condition is that the Muslim should be religious enough so that he can be protected from wrongful desires. Irreligious people get submerged in those desires when they go to the land of disbelief because they find access to the splendor of life: whims, intoxication, fornication, sodomy—all wrongful doings are present in the land of disbelief. Therefore, if they go to such countries, it’s feared that they might slip and fall into these swamps, that is, unless they have enough religiousness to protect them. So, a person must have the religiousness that protects him from wrongful desires. The third condition is that the Muslim should be in need of such a trip. Examples include being ill and having to travel to the land of disbelief to seek a cure; having to learn a certain branch of knowledge that isn’t available in Muslim countries, so he goes there to study it; or having to do business, so he goes there, does his business, and come back. In conclusion, there must be a need.