Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Sālim Bāzmūl discusses the claim that Saudi Arabia’s entry into the UN treaty entails disbelief.
Question
Has Saudi Arabia become a disbelieving state by entering the UN treaty?
Answer
Some people declare this government disbelieving because it entered the United Nations treaty. They argue:
“The UN treaty contains terms of disbelief that oppose the Sharīʿah. Being pleased with them is therefore disbelief in Islam, and entering a peace treaty with them is invalid.”
They also argue:
“It is impermissible to enter a permanent treaty with disbelievers, because the Muslim ummah, when it has strength and ability, must undertake offensive jihād and daʿwah. A permanent peace treaty would abolish offensive jihād, rejecting what Allah has legislated.”
I say: Generalising in this way and making it a reason to declare Saudi Arabia disbelieving is incorrect. I shall clarify the truth for you, if Allah wills, so consider what follows.
The Duration of Treaties
The jurists, may Allah have mercy upon them, describe three types of treaty according to duration.
A treaty of unspecified duration has no fixed time limit but is not permanent. This occurred when the Messenger made an agreement with the Jews of Khaybar. He said:
نُقِرُّكُمْ بِهَا عَلَى ذَلِكَ مَا شِئْنَا
“We shall allow you to remain there on that condition for as long as we wish.” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 2338; excerpt.)
A treaty of fixed duration is exemplified by the Prophet’s agreement with Quraysh for ten years.
A permanent treaty explicitly stipulates permanence. This type is invalid and impermissible, because the principle is that Muslims undertake offensive jihād and daʿwah when they have strength and ability. Such a permanent agreement with disbelievers is therefore impermissible: they are invited to Islam; if they decline, jizyah is required; if they decline that, they are fought.
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE) ؒ said:
ويجوز عقدها مطلقا ومؤقتا، والمؤقت لازم من الطرفين، يجب الوفاء به ما لم ينقضه العدو، ولا ينقض بمجرد خوف الخيانة في أظهر قولي العلماء، وأما المطلق فهو عقد جائز يعمل الإمام فيه بالمصلحة.
“A truce may be concluded without a specified duration or for a fixed period. A fixed-term truce binds both parties and must be fulfilled unless the enemy breaks it. According to the stronger of the scholars’ two opinions, it is not broken merely out of fear of betrayal. A truce of unspecified duration is a revocable agreement in which the ruler acts according to the public interest.” (Al-Ikhtiyārāt al-Fiqhiyyah, p. 315 as cited in the verified Bāzmūl edition; p. 455)
The UN Treaty
The UN treaty is of unspecified duration, with no fixed time limit. It is therefore a permissible agreement that the ruler may conclude according to the benefit he considers strongest.
Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Bāz (d. 1420 AH/1999 CE) ؒ said:
تجوز الهدنة مع الأعداء مطلقة ومؤقتة إذا رأى ولي الأمر المصلحة في ذلك.
“A truce with enemies may be concluded without a specified duration or for a fixed period if the ruler considers it beneficial.” (Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa-Maqālāt Mutanawwiʿah, 8:212–213, as cited by Bāzmūl.)
He cited Allah’s statement:
وَإِن جَنَحُوا لِلسَّلْمِ فَاجْنَحْ لَهَا وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
“But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it and put your trust in Allah. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.” [Q 8:61]
Ibn Bāz continued:
“The Prophet did both. He made a pact with the people of Makkah to cease war for ten years, during which people would be safe and refrain from fighting one another. He likewise concluded agreements of unspecified duration with many Arab tribes. When Allah granted him the conquest of Makkah, he gave them notice that their covenants were terminated and granted those without a covenant four months, as in Allah’s statement:
بَرَاءَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى الَّذِينَ عَاهَدتُّم مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ فَسِيحُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْزِي الْكَافِرِينَ
“Freedom from all obligations is declared from Allah and His Messenger to those of the mushrikūn with whom you made a treaty. So travel freely for four months throughout the land, but know that you cannot escape Allah and that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers.” [Q 9:1–2]
“The Prophet sent heralds to announce this in the ninth year after the Hijrah, following the conquest, with Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq when he performed ḥajj. Necessity and the Islamic interest may require a truce of unspecified duration, followed by its termination when the need ends, as the Prophet did. Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d. 751 AH/1350 CE) discussed this at length in Aḥkām Ahl adh-Dhimmah. His teacher, Ibn Taymiyyah, and a group of scholars preferred this view. Allah is the source of success.” (Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa-Maqālāt Mutanawwiʿah, 8:212–213, as cited by Bāzmūl.)
Terms That Oppose the Sharīʿah
A treaty’s containing terms that oppose the Sharīʿah does not entail disbelief, because this state, Saudi Arabia, entered reservations concerning every term in the UN covenant that opposes Islam.
We continue to read each year that the UN human rights committee names Saudi Arabia among the states that do not apply human rights because it implements the punishments prescribed by Islamic law. The media have repeatedly criticised the Kingdom for rejecting some UN positions concerning women and freedom of religion. Saudi Arabia has reserved its position on everything in the covenant that opposes the Sharīʿah.
Some provisions are not mandatory, such as referring disputes to the International Court of Justice. The Kingdom has not referred its disputes to that court; instead, it has resolved border disputes with its neighbours through the love and trust Allah has bestowed upon it.
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Translator’s Notes
Saudi Arabia did not agree to the provision described in the supplied text as “point 10” of the human rights declaration, concerning men and women of full age marrying without restriction based on religion.
The government of tawḥīd stated in a memorandum sent to the UN:
“Islam prohibits a Muslim man from marrying an idol-worshipper or a woman who does not believe in God. A non-Muslim man may not marry a Muslim woman.”
The government of tawḥīd did not agree to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grants each person freedom to change religion.
The Kingdom did not join the two international covenants concerning economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights, because they contain provisions contrary to the teachings of the Islamic Sharīʿah.
Certainty Is Not Removed by Doubt
This discussion shows that declaring Saudi Arabia disbelieving for this reason rests on assumptions and doubts. Certainty is not removed by doubt, so we remain upon the certainty that Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state, both its government and its people. Allah is the source of success.
Article 16 concerns marriage and founding a family without restrictions based on race, nationality or religion. It provides for equal marital rights, marriage through the prospective spouses’ free and full consent, and protection of the family by society and the state.
Article 18 concerns freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including changing religion or belief and expressing it through teaching, practice, worship and observance, alone or with others, publicly or privately. The supplied quotation added “only with the permission of the person and not by force”; that phrase is absent from the official Article 18 text.
References
Qurʾān, 8:61 and 9:1–2.
Bāzmūl, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. Mudhakkirat at-Takfīr wa-Ḍawābiṭih, pp. 64–66 in the Arabic source published on the author’s website; Ar-Radd ʿalā Kutub Mashbūhah, Dār al-Istiqāmah, Cairo, 2008, p. 153.
Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (d. 256 AH/870 CE). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 2338.
Ibn Bāz, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allah (d. 1420 AH/1999 CE). Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa-Maqālāt Mutanawwiʿah, 8:212–213.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr (d. 751 AH/1350 CE). Aḥkām Ahl adh-Dhimmah.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm (d. 728 AH/1328 CE). Al-Ikhtiyārāt al-Fiqhiyyah, p. 315.
United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 16 and 18, official text.
