I say, and success is by Allah, that countries fall into three types:
- Those in which it is confirmed that the people are not Muslim.
- Those in which it is confirmed that its people are Muslim.
- Those where we do not know whether to judge them as part of the Land of Islam or the Land of Disbelief because we have no knowledge of them.
It is permitted to buy and own those brought from the first category by general agreement and consensus, Ahmad Baba said in the kitaab al-kashf wa’l-Bayan li-asnaf majlub as-Sudan, “There is absolutely no harm in owning them.” It is not permitted to buy and own those brought from the second category unless it is verified that the person was a born unbeliever. This is the fatwa given by the scholars of Andalusia like Ibn ‘Attab and others. This was followed by the judges of Fes as Ahmad Baba said in the kitab al-kashf. As for those brought from the third category, the faqih and hafiz Makhluf al-Balbali said,
“Whoever is concerned for his own safety should only buy from someone whose land is known so that it is evident whether he is from the land of Islam or the Land of Disbelief.”
The faqih and hafiz Abu Ishaq ibn Hall said that refraining from owning those brought from areas about which it is not known whether they are part of the Land of Islam or the Land of Disbelief is part of scrupulousness.
This is enough to achieve the answer to this point.
O Allah! Show us the true as true and make follow it! Show us the false as false and make us avoid it!
Intro and Summary
