Originally Posted by
Shaykh Dr. 'Abdullah Yusuf 'Azzam
Living in the West
“The Western society is one that is quite dull, in every sense of the word. The church…imagine that in some places, a woman will marry another woman, and a man will marry another man! Such evil! Because of this, Sayyid Qutb mentioned in his book ‘The America I Saw’ – which has never been printed, as it is said that the American embassy stole it from the printing press and burned it – that the unmarried youth who would wish to meet his girlfriend would meet her in church! An evil, wasted society! Because of this, separation from the disbelievers, and not living with them, is something clearly intended in the Shari’ah, and is supported by logic and emotion, as the Prophet said: “I am free of anyone who lives with the disbelievers,” and: “Whoever lives with a disbeliever and dies with him, then he is like him.”
There are many, many ahadith to this effect…four or five about living with the disbelievers. Because of this, the Western life, living between the disbelievers, is a very, very, very difficult life. One of the youth – of course, the stories are many, and I am unable to tell them all here – came to me at a conference – and he was one of my students in Jordan – and said to me: “That’s it. If I do not get married, I will commit fornication. I am unable to survive,” and he repeated it again: “I am unable to survive. I am being serious with you, and whoever says other than this, then he is a liar.”
Tell me, by Allah, an unmarried youth in the extreme heat, and at the college, a girl is sitting right next to him, with her skirt ten centimeters above her knees! And our Lord Said, about Prophet Yusuf: {“And indeed she did desire him and he would have inclined to her desire, had he not seen the evidence of his Lord.”} [Yusuf; 24] Were it not for him seeing a sign from his Lord, he would have inclined to her – Yusuf, the pure, purifying, noble son of the noble son of the noble son of the noble. So, how can this be?
One of the sons of the Islamic movement came and asked me: “I am living with a family – and he was single, no wife with him – in order to study medicine in Britain. Is this permissible for me?”
I said to him: “No, this is not allowed for you. What are your living conditions?”
He replied: “I live in a room in the same apartment as the family.”
I asked: “And the kitchen?”
“We share the kitchen, as well as the bathroom and toilet.”
I asked him: “Does her husband stay out for long?”
He replied: “He sometimes leaves and spends the night outside the house.”
“And you and her stay alone in the house?”
He replied: “Yes.”
I said to him: “This is not permissible, not permissible, not permissible for you!”
He said: “How? We wish to study medicine, and produce Muslim engineers and Muslim doctors!”
I said: “After seven years, what is left of your Islam? What is left?”
He asked: “Should I abandon the rest of my studies? If so, what am I supposed to do?”
I said to him: “Sell beans and tomatoes, but, do not live this life.”
I declare it forbidden for the youth to study in the West, except if they are married. Hear it from me: it is forbidden for a youth to study in the West, unless he is married. Relay on my behalf, even if it is one fatwa: it is not allowed, not allowed, not allowed. How can one protect himself? It is impossible to protect oneself, except through marriage. It is impossible, impossible, impossible for the unmarried person to live there, unless he is abnormal. If he is abnormal, then he might be able to live there. As for the normal human being, then how, my brother? Sex is available like water, and it is allowed, according to the law, in the street, everywhere! The stories are many, and those who came to us from Italy and Sweden know very well the disasters lurking in the Western societies. So, what would we say about a youth who was in the land of Jihad, then he decided to travel to Sweden? Why do you wish to go? He said: “To get a passport from there.”
May Allah not bless you, and may He not bless your passport. Do you wish to exchange the lands of Jihad for the most evil lands on Earth?”
['Fi Dhilal Surat at-Tawbah'; p. 12]
Living in the West
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