Imām Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf al-Barbahārī (d. 329 AH/941 CE) ؒ said:
ومن السنة أن لا تطيع أحدا في معصية الله، ولا الوالدين والخلق أجمعين، لا طاعة لبشر في معصية الله، ولا يحب عليه أحدا، واكره ذلك كله لله تبارك وتعالى.
“It is from the Sunnah not to obey anyone in disobedience to Allah, neither one’s parents nor any of creation. There is no obedience to a human being in disobedience to Allah. Do not love anyone on account of that disobedience, and hate all of it for the sake of Allah, Blessed and Most High.” (Sharḥ as-Sunnah, as quoted in al-Fawzān’s commentary.)
Explanation
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Fawzān explains that not obeying anyone in disobedience to Allah is a fundamental principle of Ahl as-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah. It derives from the Prophet’s statement:
لا طاعة لمخلوق في معصية الخالق.
“There is no obedience to a created being in disobedience to the Creator.” (Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Al-Musnad, no. 1095, and aṭ-Ṭabarānī, Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, no. 367)
Likewise, he said, as reported by ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib:
إِنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي الْمَعْرُوفِ.
“Obedience is only in what is good.” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 7257, excerpt.)
These narrations form the basis of this foundational rule.
Accordingly, whoever commands disobedience to Allah is not to be obeyed in that matter, regardless of who he may be. Even if the person is one’s father, mother, closest relative, ruler, or leader, he is not to be obeyed in disobedience. Allah mentioned concerning the Jews and Christians:
اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
“They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah.” [Q 9:31] (excerpt)
This occurred when they obeyed their scholars and monks in matters of disobedience to Allah, thereby elevating them to a status of unwarranted authority.
This principle applies to parents and all of creation.
Allah said concerning parents:
وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ وَهْنًا عَلَىٰ وَهْنٍ وَفِصَالُهُ فِي عَامَيْنِ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ إِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرُ وَإِنْ جَاهَدَاكَ عَلَىٰ أَنْ تُشْرِكَ بِي مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَا ۖ وَصَاحِبْهُمَا فِي الدُّنْيَا مَعْرُوفًا ۖ وَاتَّبِعْ سَبِيلَ مَنْ أَنَابَ إِلَيَّ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
“And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and good to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years. Give thanks to Me and to your parents. Unto Me is the final destination. But if they both strive with you to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them, but accompany them in this world with kindness, and follow the path of those who turn to Me in repentance and obedience. Then to Me will be your return, and I shall inform you of what you used to do.” [Q 31:14–15]
Allah also said:
وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حُسْنًا ۖ وَإِنْ جَاهَدَاكَ لِتُشْرِكَ بِي مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَا ۚ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
“And We have enjoined on man to be good and dutiful to his parents. But if they strive to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them. Unto Me is your return, and I shall inform you of what you used to do.” [Q 29:8]
These verses clearly establish that obedience to parents, despite its great importance in Islam, is conditional upon obedience to Allah. When parents command disobedience, they are not to be obeyed, though kindness and good companionship must still be maintained.
Therefore, there is no obedience to any created being in that which involves disobedience to the Creator. This applies even to the closest of relatives, such as one’s parents. If this principle applies to them, then it applies with even greater force to others.
Al-Barbahārī’s closing words concern loving someone on account of disobedience and hating such disobedience for Allah’s sake.
This means that there is no love for disobedience, nor for the one who commands disobedience. Rather, disobedience is hated, and its people are hated for the sake of Allah. Sins are hated, as are those who commit them and those who call others to them. In this regard, the Prophet said, as reported by Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī:
مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ.
“Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand. If he is not able, then with his tongue. If he is not able, then with his heart, and that is the weakest level of faith.” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 49a.)
Thus, sins and those who promote them are to be disliked for the sake of Allah, and this attitude forms part of true faith.
References
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241 AH/855 CE). Al-Musnad, no. 1095 as cited in al-Fawzān’s electronic commentary edited by Shuʿayb al-Arnāʾūṭ and others, Muʾassasat ar-Risālah, Beirut, 1995, 4:432.
Aṭ-Ṭabarānī, Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad (d. 360 AH/971 CE). Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, no. 367 as cited in al-Fawzān edited by Ḥamdī ʿAbd al-Majīd as-Salafī, Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah, Cairo, 1994, 18:185.
Al-Barbahārī, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf (d. 329 AH/941 CE). Sharḥ as-Sunnah, statement on obedience, as quoted in al-Fawzān’s commentary.
Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (d. 256 AH/870 CE). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 7257, Sunnah.com numbering. The commentary cites no. 4085 in a different numbering system.
Al-Fawzān, Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbd Allah. Itḥāf al-Qārī bi-t-Taʿlīqāt ʿalā Sharḥ as-Sunnah li-l-Imām al-Barbahārī, section on obedience, checked against the author’s electronic library, pp. 1–2 of the section. Maktabat ar-Rushd, Riyadh, 2005, 2:123, no. 169.
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 261 AH/875 CE). Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 49a, Sunnah.com numbering edited by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī, Dār Iḥyāʾ at-Turāth al-ʿArabī, Beirut, 1:69
The Qurʾān, Q 9:31 (excerpt), 31:14–15 and 29:8.
