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Taking an oath of allegiance to gain citizenship in a non-Muslim country

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Muftionline.co.za

Q: Zaid is in a country which is a country of kuffar (kuffar rulers, dominant kuffar population, elected body making laws is all kuffar). However there Muslims living there and there are hundreds of mosques, even medaris for religious education. There are some areas where Muslims presence is clearly felt. Zaid went there for higher education and finished his masters degree and then got a very good job of his field. The employer organization arranged for his permanent residence permit to work freely there. He wants to come back to a Muslim country. But, he will get much higher salary and many benefits if he has the citizenship of this biladul-kuffar. So people are advising him to first get the citizenship and then return your home country. Is it jaíz for Zaid to apply for citizenship that will require finally an oath of allegiance (giving up allegiance to his country of birth and declare allegiance to this country of kuffar?). Some say the required oath is only a political allegiance and not a religious allegiance because their constitution give complete freedom of religion.

Bismillaah

A: How can a Muslim ever think giving allegiance to a kaafir against a Muslim. The Qur’aan says it clearly: “Don’t take up kaafirs as friends, protectors, and guardians, rather than the Muslims.”

And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

Answered by:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)

This answer was collected from MuftiOnline.co.za, where the questions have been answered by Mufti Zakaria Makada (Hafizahullah), who is currently a senior lecturer in the science of Hadith and Fiqh at Madrasah Ta’leemuddeen, Isipingo Beach, South Africa.

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