Seeking Help from Non-Muslim Nations in War
All praise is due to Allāh, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allāh be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true followers.
During the first Gulf War with Iraq from 2nd August 1990 till 28th February 1991[1], many radicals from the Ikhwān al-Muslimeen sect and their offshoots condemned the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for seeking and accepting help from the United States and the West against the army of Saddām Hussain that invaded Kuwait and had threatened the Kingdom. Till this day, the Khawārij (and followers of Sayyid Qutb) declare the rulership and scholars of Saudi Arabia to be apostates due to their permitting the American military onto Arabian soil.
A Fatwā was issued by the Mufti of Saudi Arabia at the time, the Sunni, the Salafi scholar Shaikh ʿAbdul-Azīz Ibn Bāz (Allah’s mercy be upon him) and the body of Major Scholars of the Kingdom, permitting seeking the aid of the US military.
These types of events require rulings of the Major Scholars of Islām (based upon proofs) due to the great implications and ramifications of such verdicts, which may involve the invasion of lands and the spilling of blood. The benefits and harms of such rulings cannot be comprehended except by those firmly grounded in Islamic jurisprudence, the knowledge of Prophetic Hadīths, Seerah, history and current affairs. This is not the realm of students of knowledge or the younger shaikhs who do not have the years of experience, wisdom, or the deep knowledge that is required; so they are not truly capable of weighing up the affairs so as to bring about a ruling in such matters.
And even less capable are the uneducated or the ignorant agitators and activists whose actions and ideology are driven more by what they see on social media and read in the press than what is derived from the religious texts. The Messenger of Allāh (salallahu ʿalaihi wassallam) stated:
إِنَّ مِنْ أَشْرَاطِ السَّاعَةِ ثَلَاثًا: إِحْدَاهُنَّ أَنْ يُلْتَمَسَ الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ الْأَصَاغِرِ
“The signs of the Final Hour are three: One of them is seeking knowledge from the small or lowly ones.”[2]
Nuʿaym said: It was said to Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (d. 181AH):
مَنِ الأصاغِرُ؟ قال: الذين يَقولونَ برَأيِهم، فأمَّا صَغيرٌ يَروي عن كبيرٍ فليس بصَغيرٍ .
“Who are the small or lowly ones?” He replied: “They are those who speak according to their own opinions. As for a young person who narrates from an elder, then he is not considered among the lowly ones.” And it is also reported from Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak that he said:
الأصاغِرُ مِن أهلِ البِدَعِ
“The small, lowly ones are from the people of innovation.” (See Az-Zuhd (1/21) of Ibn al-Mubārak and Sharh Usool Iʿtiqād Ahlis-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah (1/95) of Al-Lālikāʾī)
As for the issue itself of seeking assistance from non-Muslims in military campaigns, then it is a matter of ijtihād (judicial opinion) in which the great scholars of the past differed based upon the textual proofs revealed in the Qur’an and Sunnah.
In at-Tahrīr wat-Tanwīr (1/741), the author, Ibn ʿĀshūr (died 1393H, rahimahullah), explains:
“The believers took a group from the unbelievers as protectors in order to aid the Muslims against their enemy when there appeared from those unbelievers a liking for the Muslims and their honour. So, the Scholars differed regarding its ruling:
Ibn al-Qāsim (rahimahullah) stated in al-Mudawana: “The aid of the polytheists is not sought in battle due to what the Prophet (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) said to the unbeliever on the day of the battle of Badr, ‘Return back, for I do not seek the assistance of a polytheist.’”
And it is narrated from Abul-Faraj and ʿAbdul-Malik bin Habīb that Imām Mālik Ibn Anas (died 179H, rahimahullāh) said, “There is no harm in seeking their assistance in a time of need.”
Ibn ʿAbdul-Barr (rahimahullāh) said, “The narration of the Prophet (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam), ‘I do not seek the assistance of a polytheist’, then its chain of narration is differed over—and a group of scholars stated that it is abrogated.”[3]
Qādī ʿIyād (rahimahullāh) said, “Some of our scholars held that [the refusal] was for a particular period of time, and they use as a proof the assistance of Safwān bin Umayyah in battle, who was not a Muslim at the time, alongside the Prophet (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) at the battle of Hunayn and the battle of Tā’if.
They utilise as proof also the fact that when the Prophet found out that Abu Sufyān had gathered an army against the Muslims on the day of Uhud, he (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) said to the Jews of the tribe of Nadeer:
‘Indeed, you and we are people of scripture, and there is between the people of scripture the aiding of each other. So either you fight alongside us or give us some weapons.’
And upon this position we find Abu Hanīfah (died 150H), ash-Shāfiʿī (died 204H), al-Laith and al-Awzāʿī (died 157H)…”
Furthermore, Al-Hāfidh Ibn Hajr al-Asqalānī (died 852H) stated:
“Harmonisation between these two [narrations of the Prophet][4] can be done from various angles other than these [that have been mentioned]. From them is that he wanted to scrutinise the one to whom he said, ‘I do not seek the assistance of a polytheist’, desiring for him Islām, hoping that he would become Muslim—and his suspicion turned out to be true. Another angle is that seeking help from the disbelievers is up to the Ruler to decide. And both of these opinions are given consideration.”
It is clear from this that some of the greatest scholars of Fiqh (Shariah Law) regarded the seeking of military assistance to be an issue based upon prevailing circumstances at any particular moment in time. It is reasonable on occasions to seek military assistance when there is a need, and on other occasions, the ruler may decide that there is no need or necessity.
Imām an-Nawawī (died 676H) mentions the statement of the Prophet (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam), wherein he refused the aid of the polytheist at the battle of Badr in the second year after the migration, yet he sought the help of the polytheist Safwān bin Umayyah at the battle of Hunayn in the eighth year after the migration. Imām an-Nawawī goes on to explain that some of the scholars took the first narration as an absolute forbiddance. However, he then moves on to clarify that Imām Shāfiʿī (died 204H) and others allowed the seeking of military assistance from the unbelievers who have a good opinion of the Muslims, and that there is a need for their help, and the non-Muslims have the ability to fulfil that need.
In situations other than this, it is disliked. He related that this was the position of scholars such as Mālik bin Anas (died 179H), ash-Shāfiʿī, Abu Hanīfah (died 150H) and indeed the majority of the scholars.[5] Similar arguments are made by other eminent scholars, such as al-Fayrozabādī in al-Muhadhab,[6] where he states the permissibility in situations when the Muslims are in need of military assistance from the unbelievers, perceiving a benefit and not fearing harm from their presence.
Ibn Qudāmah (died 620H) stated in al-Mughnī[7] that it is not permitted to seek the aid of a polytheist in according to the opinion of Ibn Mundhir, al-Jawzajānī and a group of other scholars. He then goes on to say that Imām Ahmad bin Hanbal (died 241H) allowed the seeking of military aid from non-Muslims.
Likewise, the speech of al-Kharaqī indicates the same, with the condition that there is a need for it and that they have good opinions towards the Muslims they are aiding. The respected reader is directed to consult similar discussions from Ibn Taymiyyah (died 728H)[8]. Amīr as-Sanʿānī (died 1182H)[9] concluded that seeking their military assistance is permissible.
And ash-Shawkānī (died 1250H)[10] mentioned an additional proof stating the consensus of the scholars upon the permissibility of accepting the military assistance of the hypocrites who are worse in disbelief than the unbelievers,[11] and Shaikh Sidīq Hasan Khān[12] who concluded that it is permissible to seek military assistance from non-Muslims in cases of necessity.
Conclusion
The point of this discussion is to highlight that allowing the US Military into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to aid the country in defending its borders from the armies of the Baʿthist Communist Saddām Hussain in 1990 is a ruling that rests on proofs from the Prophetic Ahādīth, and the ijtihād of the scholars throughout the ages.
And even if some of the scholars of previous centuries did not conclude that seeking military aid from the unbelievers was permissible, they did not regard those eminent scholars who differed with them to be misguided deviants, heretics or unbelievers.
In the readings of the Islamic texts and the statements of the scholars over the centuries, one can only agree with the position of the Imām Abdul-Azeez Ibn Bāz, Al-ʿAllāmah Muhammad Ibn Sālih al-ʿUthaimīn (rahimahumullāh) and others in their various fatawa permitting foreign troops to enter and protect Saudi Arabia from Irāqī threats and attacks.
And this is more so the case when one considers that the Communist Ba’thist regime of Saddam Hussein was the aggressor against the Muslim population of Kuwait, and they further threatened the borders of Saudi Arabia and its population, even making military strikes against the townships within Saudi Arabia.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The invasion of Kuwait by Irāqi troops, led by the Baʿthist communist Saddam Hussain that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. The US President, George H. W. Bush, deployed American forces to Saudi Arabia and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the Coalition of the Gulf War. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17th January 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 23rd February. This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The coalition ceased their advance, and declared a cease-fire one hundred hours after the ground campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on the border of Saudi Arabia. However, Iraq launched missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia. (Ref: Wikipedia)
[2] Narrated by Al-Tabarani (no. 908), and its chain of narration is good, as stated in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah (no. 695) by Imām Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani — see also Sahīh al-Jāmiʿ, no. 2207.
[3] Meaning that is was initially forbidden to seek their aid, and later it was allowed. The reason for this opinion is that the Messenger’s initial refusal of assistance took place at the battle of Badr in the year 2H, and his acceptance of assistance of aid from the polytheists took place at the battle of Hunain in the year 8H.
[4] Referring to the narration in which the Prophet (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam) refused the assistance of a polytheist at the battle of Badr and then years later accepted the assistance of the polytheists at the battle of Hunayn.
[5] Sharh Sahīh Muslim, vol. 12, p. 198.
[6] Vol. 3, p. 265.
[7] Vol. 10, p. 447.
[8] Al-Uddah fi Sharh al-ʿUmdah, vol. 1, p. 565.
[9] Subul as-Salām, vol. 1, p. 199.
[10] Nayl al-Awtār, vol. 1, p. 14.
[11] Nayl al-Awtār, vol. 8, p. 28.
[12] Ar-Rawdatun-Nadiyyah, vol. 2, p. 330.
Read the book, “The Rise of Jihadist Extremism in the West.” Salafi Publications, Birmingham.
