What is the Difference Between Laws and Personal Rules?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I know that legislating laws is kufr. What if someone makes rules for something? Let’s say someone says, “My rules in my car are that you have to drink alcohol,” or “The rules of this drinking game is you have to drink these first” I’m using alcohol as an example. Or if you make rules for yourself to be like, “Before I go to the gym, I have to listen to (haram)music” or “The rules of this boxing game are to strike the face,” What if you don’t intend these rules as literal legal laws? And you still believe haram is haram and halal is halal? Would any of these be disbelief (Kufr)?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
A government can legislate laws. As individuals, we cannot legislate laws, as it is always through an authoritative body and government.
As for rules that we make on an individual level, as long as one is not going to sin, it is okay. It will not be sinful or disbelief (kufr). See the detailed link below.
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.
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Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
