Gradual Application of Sharia is not the Path to Real Change
(Translated)

The idea of gradual implementation of Allah’s rulings on earth is one of the most dangerous ideas that are alien to Islam. There is no evidence or proof that the Messenger (saw) postponed the implementation of some rulings, or that he asked his Companions (ra) to apply rulings and permitted them to postpone others so as to understand that there is gradualism in Islam. Likewise, it was not narrated that the Companions (ra) have done it. Every Shar’i ruling that was revealed was applied immediately. Islam was a radical and a comprehensive revolution in the lives of Muslims.

And it is clear from the evidence that the advocates of gradualism use that they do not follow the correct method in deduction, because after studying the Shariah evidence, they did not derive that gradualism is permissible, but rather it is clear that they decided that gradualism is necessary and then they began looking for evidence of its permissibility and put it in place without verifying its applicability to the reality of the inferred issue; hence, they spread the idea of gradualism, which would hinder the work of Shabab who are loyal to Islam, reduce their resolve, and keep them away from the stances of truth. Then comes the submissiveness and complacency, the acceptance of inferiority in religion, and the abandonment of the Shariah constants in all political actions to the extent that whoever applies the rulings of kufr under the pretext of gradualism is described as moderate, and whoever opposes it is described with extremism and fundamentalism!

Gradualism in applying Islam by applying one part and leaving another part is not permissible in Shariah, and the evidence for that is definitive proof, definitive evidence, as is evident in the Almighty’s saying:

(وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءهُمْ وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَن يَفْتِنُوكَ عَن بَعْضِ مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ إِلَيْكَ)

“And judge between them ˹O Prophet˺ by what Allah has revealed, and do not follow their desires. And beware, so they do not lure you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you.” [TMQ Al-Ma’idah:49].

The Prophet (saw) rejected the calls of the leaders of the Quraish for him to concede even a few of the rulings of Allah. This is what the caliphs followed after him in applying the rulings of Islam to the conquered lands. Their implementation of the rulings, May Allah be pleased with them, was all at once, without delay, procrastination or gradualism. They did not allow those who converted to Islam to drink alcohol or commit adultery for a year, for example, and then after that it was forbidden, but all the rulings were applied at once.

And the argument of some in the gradualism that the prohibition of alcohol was in several stages is not correct, and its prohibition in this way was from Allah the Almighty, and Muslims were committed to the ruling as soon as it was revealed, so the rule of Shariah in avoiding drunken people to pray was adhered to by Muslims immediately and none of them approached the prayer drunk, and when it was forbidden absolutely, none of them gradually quit it, rather, their abandonment of it was immediate, as they poured whatever wine they had in their hands or with them as soon as its prohibition came to them. And Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (ra) did not suspend the penalty for theft and did not gradually apply it, but rather he worked according to the Shariah ruling by not imposing the penalty for theft on those who stole in a famine.

Currently, the entire Sharia law is in our hands, and we are required to apply it all, and this is through the comprehensive radical change in all aspects of life that the Islamic State, the Khilafah (Caliphate) State, implements. And it is not as the advocates of gradualism claim that it is not possible to apply the rulings of Islam all at once, and therefore it is necessary to apply the rulings little by little; in other words, applying the rulings of disbelief in some issues and the rulings of Islam in others!! These people claim that they cannot implement all of Islam because of the domination of the West and the weakness of Muslim countries, and that applying some rulings is better than not applying them completely!! And the ruler who also rules in a system of disbelief and implements some of the Shariah rulings is either an unbeliever, an oppressor, or a sinner, according to what came in the Holy Qur’an, for whoever does not rule by what Allah has revealed, no matter how much he tries to beautify his image and deceive people that he is working for Islam.

If we look at some of the "moderate" Islamic groups, some of which have come to power, we will see that they did not aim to rule by Allah's Deen and His Law, but rather they looked at the positions of worldly life in governance without regard to the rulings of Allah. Some of them apply democracy and Kufr secularism!

In Sudan, for example, and before the Arab Spring, it was mentioned about the gradual application of Islam in Sudan, and this was praised by the so-called moderates in Islamic countries, so that it became clear after decades that the Bashir regime is far from Islam like other regimes, although it was always talking about the application of Islamic law, and here we now see Sudan and its situation; a country without Sharia in its rule, divided, its people suffer from poverty and it is rich in its looted resources!

And in Turkey, where the Justice and Development Party preceded other Muslim Brotherhood parties in the Arab countries, which many consider to be a model of lost rule! We do not know about any example to follow! Clear secularism and subordination to the West and Jews is not hidden from anyone, while talking about opening mosques and memorizing the Quran and allowing veiled women to work, deceiving the gullible that it implements Islam, after seducing them with the Turkish economic model!

In Jordan, such moderates who believe in gradualism do not fight for the sake of Islam, but rather for changing the electoral law so that the largest number of them can enter the new parliament, and their demands are completely devoid of any Shariah value, as they do not put the rulings of the Shariah (or even part of it) on the table of political conditions or claims, nor anything like that!

As for Egypt, the Kinana, they jumped for a while to power and parliament, so what was changed at that time towards Islam?! And no one says they didn't give them enough time. The goal was to please the West and not to please Allah under the pretext of gradualism, and this is evidenced by the stance at the time regarding the Jewish entity, the gas agreements, and the failure to support the people of Gaza except through mediation between them and the Jews, usurious loans, and other things that are forbidden in Islam. Their encouragement of some Islamic acts of worship and manifestations does not excuse them from this.

As for Tunisia, it has another story. In addition to not ruling by Islam, the rulings of definite texts established in the Holy Qur’an were violated in the social system which was the only system in which Islamic rulings were applied, such as the laws of equality in inheritance between males and females and the criminalization of polygamy, and the following rope by applying the rulings of laws emanating from malicious CEDAW.

It is worth mentioning here that the followers of the idea of gradual implementation of the Sharia are the refuge for the major disbelieving countries to present them to the Ummah. After the masks fell from the faces of the secularists, after the most important demand of the nation became the implementation of Islam. Through this malicious idea, the Muslims are reassured that the ruling has become in safe hands that want Islam because its appearance is Islamic!

From this and others, we are certain of the invalidity of the idea of gradualism and that gradual change will never lead to the desired change, and that real change will only be with radical, comprehensive and complete change, and this will only be with the Khilafah that implements Islam as a system and a constitution of life. We ask Him, the Almighty, to be among its witnesses and soldiers.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Muslimah Ash-Shami (Um Suhaib)

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