The Ruling Regarding
Saddam Husayn
Q:
Our Shaykh…you know - may Allah Bless you – the intensity
of the tests that the Islamic Nation is experiencing, and Allah
is the source of Assistance. And we know, with certainty, the
level of effort and sacrifice on your part in answering various
doubts and statements, so, we will not take too much of your
time, with Allah’s Permission. We have come across a great
difference of opinion regarding the issue of the disbelief of
the former Iraqi president, Saddam Husayn. So, from the brothers
are those who refrain from declaring him to be a disbeliever,
and supplicating against him, as we have been cut off from any
trustworthy news in regards to him, and they have attributed
their position to some of the edicts of the contemporary
scholars, and they also say this because of some apparent signs
of repentance on Saddam’s part, taking into account his
ignorance of the fundamentals of the Religion, as well as some
bits of news of his situation that indicate some hint of
rectification on his part.
On the other hand, you
have some who have insisted upon specifically declaring him to
be a disbeliever, supplicating against him that he enter Hell,
etc. They support their position by pointing to the clear cut
disbelief on the part of Saddam, and the lack of news that they
hear of any true repentance. So, they say that his ruling
remains that of kufr, and they said that it is necessary
for him to openly announce his repentance in order for us to
refrain from declaring him a disbeliever. Otherwise, he remains
a disbeliever that we supplicate against.
And because of our
great confidence in your opinions and fatawa, and our
desperate need for a decisive word, we hope from Allah that He
makes your guiding of us as mountains in the scale of your good
deeds. And it is not hidden from you that we require some
explanation, along with evidences, may Allah Bless us with you,
and benefit the youth of this Ummah by you, and make us
those who hear a statement and follow the good in it.
A:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
It is not proper, nor
is it allowed, to refrain from declaring the kufr of the
Arab Socialist Ba’th Party, as well as the disbelief of those
who adopt its beliefs, and openly call to its concepts.
As for what is related
to the person of Saddam Husayn, and whether or not he carries
the ruling of being a disbeliever, I see that the man has
entered into a stage of being in a situation of doubt, which
prevents us from specifically making takfir of him, and,
by default, ruling him to be of the inhabitants of Hell. And
these doubts that surround him are numerous, and are from a
number of angles:
-
His
being of those who incited to Jihad against the
invading Crusaders on the land of Iraq, and this stand of his
is of the numerous factors that brought him closer to the
hangman’s noose, and this stand will be remembered by history,
and he will be thanked for it;
-
His keenness on carrying the
Noble Qur’an with him everytime he appeared to face the court,
or appeared in the media, as if he wishes to say to the
people: ‘Here! I believe in this Book, and all that is in it!
And I will die upon this belief!’;
-
His being judged in by the
enemies of the Ummah, from the invading Crusaders, as
well as their Rafidi Shiite cronies - and they are more
deserving of being tried in court than he is, due to the
crimes they have committed that have gone beyond imagination.
It is not expected that such people would reveal to us any of
the good aspects of the man that would prove his open
repentance from all that he used to have of beliefs and
positions. In fact, we would notice constant interruptions of
the broadcasts of his hearings, and this would take place
whenever he would make a statement that went against the
interests of the invaders and their servants!
-
The man might have his own
reasons and strategy for not announcing his repentance by way
of public media, and his open acknowledgement of his past
mistakes, and his admittance that he was upon misguidance.
This might affect the strength of the resistance and the
Mujahidin, dividing them, and giving the invaders and
their cronies an excuse to commit more war crimes against the
land and its people. Or, it could have given them an excuse to
hand him the sentence that he was given recently, and this is
a point of view that must be considered;
-
The man was exposed to all types
of tests, humiliation, and torture – all of which take him out
of the category of being a taghut, and instead, make
him a weak, oppressed slave, hoping for the Mercy of his Lord.
So, these tests, especially the difficult ones, expiate one’s
sins, and purify him of them, as the Shar’i texts have
indicated.
These various points,
when combined, are what pushed me to say that the man is now in
a situation of doubt, which prevents us from making a specific
takfir of him. And the most that can be said regarding
the man is that his situation is doubtful from all angles: it is
seemingly kufr from one angle, and opposite to that from
another angle.
And doubtful kufr
does not override clear Islam, and its likes do not nullify open
Islam, as clear and open Islam is not nullified except by clear,
open kufr, just as the texts and principles of the
Shari’ah state. And from the scholars of the past were those
who would refrain from declaring one a kafir if his words
could be interpreted as kufr from 99 angles, and would
not be interpreted as such from one angle, due to what this
entails of a rush to perform takfir, mistakenly doing so,
leading to results that are not praiseworthy!
In addition, I do not
see it as being from the wisdom – in these tough times that the
Ummah is generally experiencing, especially in Iraq –
that we speak idly of the man, and openly expose his faults, and
rule him to be a disbeliever and apostate, especially after he
has arrived to his current position of weakness, and has been
stripped of all of his past characteristics and luxuries, so
that we do not give the Crusader invaders and their cronies more
of an excuse to carry out the crimes that they are still
committing!
It is not thinkable
for us to participate with the invading Crusaders – at their
head, the tyrant George Bush – and their treacherous Rafidi
Shiite servants, in their collective happiness in regards to the
situation of the man!
Even those brothers
who have differed with us in regards to the status of this man,
we see it fit for them to remain silent, and to keep their
beliefs to themselves, so that they would not be unsuspecting
helpers to the invading criminals and their treacherous slaves
in regards to what they carry out of crimes against the rights
of the Muslim servants of Allah on the bleeding land of Iraq –
hanging all of their excuses on the coat hanger of Saddam Husayn!
The discussion
regarding the kufr of Saddam Husayn, or the lack thereof,
after it has gotten its current level of attention, is no longer
to be considered beneficial. In fact, its harm is greater than
its benefit, and there are tyrants and criminals who are still
roaming free, displaying open disbelief and transgression and
oppression, of all types. So, let us aim our arrows at them, as
it is not from the traits of manhood to fight against the dead
and those who are essentially ruled to be dead, leaving the
living tawaghit of disbelief and oppression to spread
mischief in the land!
This is my answer to
the question, and our final call is that all praise is for
Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
‘Abd al-Mun’im
Mustafa Halimah (Abu Basir at-Tartusi)
10/17/1426 – 08/11/2006
