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A non-Eligible Person isn`t Permitted to Run for Elections

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Darul Iftaa Jordan
What is the ruling when a candidate running for parliamentary elections offers a certain person the opportunity to join him in the same electoral roll without the latter bearing any financial burdens in addition to receiving a substantial amount of money from that candidate?

Answer:
All perfect praise be to The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions. An MP has duties and shoulders great responsibilities; therefore, whoever wishes to run for parliamentary elections must be serious and eligible to undertake this crucial task. Allah, The Almighty, said, "Said one of the (damsels): ": truly the best of men for thee to employ is the (man) who is strong and trusty"…."{Al-Qasas/26}. Consequently, whoever feels non-eligible to shoulder this task shouldn`t undertake it even if his campaign was to be financed by another candidate. Moreover, it isn`t permissible for a candidate to pay money to others to lure them to join his electoral roll in case they were non-eligible, whether he did that for his own good or to harm other candidates. How could someone who follows such cheap tactics be trusted with the interest and fate of his country?!! We can add that it doesn`t befit a future MP to deal with the elections in such ill-manner because he is expected to shoulder serious responsibilities and honor his mission before Allah first and the voters second. Allah, The Exalted, said, " O ye that believe! betray not the trust of God and the Apostle, nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you"{Al-Anfal/27}. In conclusion, if non-eligible candidates make it to the parliament, we should expect the worse since Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said, "When honesty is lost, then wait for the Hour." It was asked, "How will honesty be lost, O Allah's Messenger (PBUH)?" He said, "When authority is given to those who do not deserve it, then wait for the Hour."{Bukhari}. And Allah knows best.

This answer was collected from the official government Iftaa Department of Jordan.

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