any discomfort regarding what Allah and His Messenger have decreed.
Third: “and submit in full submission,” that is, they comply with complete, unhesitating obedience, without delay or retreat. These, then, are three conditions without which faith is not fulfilled:
- To refer judgment to the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him;
- That a person experience no inward unease about what the Messenger, peace be upon him, has decided;
- And that he surrender in wholehearted, total submission.
Accordingly, we state: those who rule today by man-made statutes while casting behind them the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, are not believers—indeed, they are not believers at all. Allah the Exalted says, “But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge concerning whatever arises between them” (Q 4:65), and He says, “Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed—such people are the disbelievers” (Q 5:44).
These lawmakers do not apply such statutes merely in a single case where they happened to clash with the Book and the Sunnah out of whim or injustice; rather, they have replaced the religion itself with these laws, making them a substitute for Allah’s Sacred Law. This is unbelief—even if they pray, fast, give charity, and perform pilgrimage. They remain disbelievers so long as they knowingly turn away from Allah’s ruling to statutes that oppose it.
“But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge concerning whatever arises between them; then they find within themselves no discomfort about what you have decided, and they submit with full submission” (Q 4:65). Therefore, do not be surprised when we say that whoever substitutes Allah’s Law with other statutes becomes a disbeliever, even if he prays and fasts; for rejecting part of the Book is rejection of the whole Book. The Sacred Law is indivisible: either you believe in all of it, or you disbelieve in all of it. If you believe in some of it