Studying man-made laws

Q 3: What is the ruling on studying man-made laws and trying to apply them while acknowledging that the Shari`ah is better and superior? What is the ruling on teaching man-made laws, philosophy, logic, and psychology? It should be noted that these sciences include a great deal of falsehood, such as their questioning the Essence of Allah, His Attributes, Names, Lawfulness and unlawfulness. They also include the study of Communism, Existentialism and Liberalism. What is the ruling on those who teach and learn these subjects? Especially that these subjects are in the general curriculums all over the state and the teachers and students do not study religious knowledge. In fact they are ordinary Muslim people who if (Part No. 12; Page No. 135) exposed to doubts, may doubt religious tenets. If they are advised to leave all that, they would say: What can we do? We obtain our living from it, or we are simply seeking knowledge.

A: It is not permissible to study man-made laws to apply them as long as they are against the Shari`ah. However, it is permissible to study them in order to expose that they are inappropriate and deviated from the Truth on one hand, and to manifest the aspects of justice, uprightness and righteousness in Islam and its appropriateness for the interests of mankind. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to study philosophy, man-made laws and the like if they are unable to distinguish the right from the wrong lest they should deviate from the Straight Path of Allah (Exalted be He). It is permissible for those who are able to study and digest these sciences, of course after studying the Qur'an and Sunnah, to study them with the intention of distinguishing between the right and wrong in them as long as this will not distract them from the more important purpose of the Shari`ah. Accordingly, it should be known that it is not permissible to make these sciences a general field of study in our schools and educational institutions. In fact, they should be studied by qualified specialized Muslims who take it as an Islamic duty to defend the Truth and refute falsehood.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.