Question: Please mention the ahkam of engagement with the harbi fi’lan (যে দেশ গুলো মুসলিম দের সাথে যুদ্ধরত,যেমন USA, UK etc, like NATO ভুক্ত দেশগুলো) – are we allowed trading with them, buying their products, working for them……? Also there are certain mobile phone companies, for example Airtel owned by Indian, which operate here, are we allowed to buy their SIM cards……?
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Answer: The basic principle with the harbi fi’lan is that there is no engagement with them except in battle, their blood and property being halal for us. So the Khilafah will have no other relations with them and Muslims in Khilafah are not allowed to have any dealings with them. In the current situation where the rulers maintain relations with the harbi fi’lan, even have treaties with them, the Muslims are still obliged to ignore that and follow the Shari’ah:
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1. Muslims are allowed to travel and reside in harbi fi’lan countries; there are no Shari’ah restrictions on that. Muslims who reside in these countries live their life as normal, so they trade, buy, work etc
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2. Muslims in the Islamic lands are not allowed to work for companies of harbi fi’lan which operate in our countries
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3. Muslims in the Islamic lands are absolutely not allowed to import from or export to these countries. We are also not allowed to directly buy products from the companies of these countries which operate in our countries.
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4. However if a Muslim business buys products from these companies which operate in our countries or imports products from the harbi fi’lan countries, in that case Muslims are allowed to buy from that business because they are not trading with the harbi fi’lan, rather they are trading with the Muslim business, the sin is upon the businessmen who buy/import from the harbi. [Similarly if a Muslim bought products from companies owned by harbi hukman it is allowed for them even if the product is that of harbi fi’lan. For example if a Muslim trader bought Indian onions from a company owned by Nepalese citizens in Nepal it will be allowed for him to do that.]
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5. Regarding the mobile phone companies which operate here if you buy pre-paid SIM and top up cards from the dealers (who buy directly from the harbi) the hukm will be the same as above (point 4) i.e. allowed, because in this case it is the dealer who enters into direct contract with the harbi for a commission, you are not directly buying from the harbi. However if it is post-paid SIM it means you have to enter into a contract directly with the company in exchange for paying them regular monthly bills, in this case you will be directly dealing with them and this is not allowed.
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6. Having clarified the rules we will mention here that wherever there is an option Muslims should try to refrain from buying products of the harbi fi’lan because the Ummah has large populations and is a big market such that if the Muslims in their millions avoided the harbi’s products that will surely impact upon the profits of the harbi corporations. We will also remind here that this situation where the rulers maintain relations with the harbi fi’lan is another incident among many which shows the urgency of reestablishing the Khilafah so that our brothers, the Muslim traders, can be saved from the sin when the Khilafah will enforce suspending all relations with the harbi.
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Allah (SWT) knows best and may He reward you for seeking His Ahkam.
