Whoso Judges Not By That Which Allah Has Sent Down (5:44)

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ

والصلاة والسلام على خاتم النبيين

One of the well-known doubts put forward by the Khawārij is that anyone who doesn’t rule by what Allāh has sent down is an unbeliever who is expelled from the Millah, based on the part of the Āyah:

وَمَنۡ لَّمۡ یَحۡکُمۡ بِمَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰہُ فَاُولٰٓئِکَ ہُمُ الۡکٰفِرُوۡنَ

And whoso judges not by that which Allāh has sent down, these it is who are the disbelievers

(Sūrah 5, Āyah 44)

The modus operandi of the Khawārij is to declare the Muslim rulers apostate for their failure to rule in accordance with the divine Sharī’ah, using this Āyah as proof. They then raise the sword against the ruler they deem an apostate, and in the process spill the blood of many other Muslims who are aligned with that “apostate” ruler and fight on his behalf, and even those Muslims who refuse to make Takfīr of him. Some Kharijite factions are more extreme, violent and bloodthirsty than others, applying their verdict of apostasy not only to the ruler but to ordinary Muslims who merely refuse to join their ranks, and deem their bloodshed Halāl. In our time Kharijite factions like al-Qā’idah and the so-called “Islamic State” (Dā’ish) employ indiscriminate acts of terrorism in which the overwhelming majority of their victims are ordinary Muslims. It is therefore extremely necessary to intellectually and scholastically refute the ideology and arguments of today’s neo-Kharijites.

The portion of the Āyah quoted by the Khawārij as a justification for their Takfīr of Muslim rulers, when placed in context, is initially referring to the Jews in the incident in which they altered the divine commandment of stoning to death for the one found guilty of adultery. However, the statement “whoso judges not by that which Allāh has sent down, these it is who are the disbelievers” is general. Yet, we can understand it’s correct interpretation and proper application from the example of the Jews who changed the divine commandment of lapidation for adultery. Their alteration of the divine commandment of lapidation for adultery was a consequence of their deliberate rejection of the divine commandment, and deliberate preference of their man-made law of merely flogging the adulterer or blacking his face with coal over and above the divine commandment of lapidation.

Hence, the Prophet’s cousin and close companion, sayyidinā Ibn Abbās (radī Allāhu ‘anhumā), for whom the Prophet (sall Allāhu ‘alayhi was-sallam) made a special du’ā:

اللَّهُمَّ عَلِّمْهُ الْحِكْمَةَ وَتَأْوِيلَ الْكِتَابِ

Allahumma! Teach him the wisdom and the interpretation of the Scripture

said in interpretation of the Āyah:

‌مَنْ ‌جَحَدَ ‌مَا ‌أَنْزَلَ ‌اللَّهُ ‌فَقَدْ ‌كَفَرَ وَمَنْ أَقَرَّ بِهِ وَلَمْ يَحْكُمْ فَهُوَ ظَالِمٌ فَاسِقٌ

Whoever rejects what Allah has sent down has committed Kufr, but whoever acknowledges it and does not judge (by it) then he is unjust, sinful

(Tafsīr Ibn Abī Hātim, p.1142, #6426)

In explanation, Ibn Tāwūs said:

وَلَيْسَ كَمَنْ كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ

It (judging by other than what Allāh sent down) is not like the Kufr in Allāh, His Angels, His Scriptures and His Apostles

Atā’ bin Sā’ib said:

كُفْرٌ دُونَ كُفُرٍ

Meaning judging by other than what Allāh has sent down is a type of Kufr that is below actual Kufr, in other words, minor Kufr that does not expel one from the Millah.

Now we see that the Sahābah, the Salaf and the Imams of Ahl us-Sunnah, may Allāh be pleased with them, have explained the meaning of this Āyah in opposition to the clumsy and errant interpretation of the astray Khawārij.

The text of the holy Qurān itself points to the fact that failure to judge by what Allāh has sent down has levels, and that in addition to being Kufr, it can also be Zulm and Fisq (wickedness) without actual Kufr. Hence, in the subsequent verses, Allāh says:

وَمَنۡ لَّمۡ یَحۡکُمۡ بِمَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰہُ فَاُولٰٓئِکَ ہُمُ الظّٰلِمُوۡنَ

And whoso judges not by what Allāh has sent down, these it is who are wrongdoers

(Sūrah 5, Āyah 45)

وَمَنۡ لَّمۡ یَحۡکُمۡ بِمَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰہُ فَاُولٰٓئِکَ ہُمُ الۡفٰسِقُوۡنَ

And whoso judges not by what Allāh has sent down, these it is who are the transgressors

(Sūrah 5, Āyah 47)

But the Khawārij insist that the Āyah “whoso judges not by what Allāh has sent down, these it is who are the disbelievers” must be interpreted upon the apparent and literally. The neo-Kharijites of today, those who make Takfīr of most if not all the Muslim governments, claim to be from Ahl us-Sunnah and disassociate from the original Harūriyyah. Yet, Imām al-Ājurī said:

وَمِمَّا تَتْبَعُ ‌الْحَرُورِيَّةُ مِنَ الْمُتَشَابِهِ قَوْلَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَمَنۡ لَّمۡ یَحۡکُمۡ بِمَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰہُ فَاُولٰٓئِکَ ہُمُ الۡکٰفِرُوۡنَ

From that which the Harūriyyah follow, from the Mutashabih (allegorical verses) is the saying of Allāh: And whoso judges not by what Allāh has sent down, these it is who are the disbelievers (Ash-Sharī’ah; v.1, p.341)

As a matter of fact, going by the apparent of the Ayah (5:44), the Kharijites will have to admit that everyone who commits a sin has failed to judge by what Allah has sent down, and therefore, according to their logic, has become a disbeliever!