Voting in a Non-Muslim Country
Answered by Shaykh Farid Dingle
Question: Assalamu alaykum
Is it permissible, and indeed recommended, to vote as a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country?
Answer: Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
Dear questioner,
Thank you for your really good and important question.
Commanding the right and forbidding the wrong are communal obligations, and we have to be part of the solution, even if we cannot realise our ultimate moral or political goals to the fullest extent.
Personally speaking, I think it is not very good dawa as a Muslim to not be at least minorly politically active in his own country. Personally, I feel that not voting is tantamount to being apathetic and lazy, which a Muslim should never be.
For a full answer, please see:
What Should Our Intention Be in Voting? – Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I pray this helps.
Wassalam,
[Shaykh] Farid Dingle
Shaykh Farid Dingle grew up in a convert family in Herefordshire, UK. In 2007, he moved to Jordan to pursue traditional studies. Shaykh Farid continues to live in Amman, Jordan with his wife and kids. In addition to continuing his studies he teaches Arabic and several of the Islamic sciences.
Shaykh Farid began his journey in sacred knowledge with intensives in the UK and Jordan (2004) in Shafi’i fiqh and Arabic. After years of studying Arabic grammar, Shafi’i fiqh, hadith, legal methodology (usul al-fiqh) and tafsir, Sh. Farid began specializing in Arabic language and literature. Sh. Farid studied Pre-Islamic poetry, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, and Andalusian literature. He holds a BA in Arabic Language and Literature and continues exploring the language of the Islamic tradition.
In addition to his interest in the Arabic language Shaykh Farid actively researches matters related to jurisprudence (fiqh) which he studied with Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, and continues with Shaykh Amjad Rasheed.
