Yasir Qadhi – Ask Shaykh YQ #108 – Regarding Economic Boycotts of Corporations and Countries For The Sake of the Ummah

			The next question we have sister offered in emails us
		

			and asks the ruling about economic boycotts and says that those countries that have done harm to the
Muslims or companies that are known for helping regimes or basically, you know, helping illegal
occupation, that what is the Islamic stance on economic boycotts are not purchasing the goods that
are from that company or from that country?
		

			One
		

			out of seven,
		

			poverty in
		

			no he him first.
		

			The response to this question is that this issue of economic boycott, it is an issue of tactics, it
is an issue of means, it is an issue of methodology, not an issue of goals. And we need to
understand that this idea has come with goals it did not come with means the shediac came with a
final like what do you need to do? And it did not tell you how to get to that need. Let me give you
a simple example, the Shetty I told us to preach Islam to others. The Sherry I did not tell us the
specific methodology, the tactics of how to give Dawa and therefore, for example, writing an op ed
in the newspaper, okay, did the Sahaba ever write an op ed in the newspaper? There were no
		

			newspapers to sway public opinion. Did they ever do that? In fact, even the concept of swaying
public opinion in this type of manner you know, if you look at the letters of the Prophet salallahu
it seems totally different time and place. He's inviting them straight to Islam. Excellent,
beautiful. What if somebody were to
		

			do slightly different tactics as I said, write an op ed or article or whatnot in which we correct
certain you know, misinformation without necessarily getting to the point of inviting them to Islam
that's a stepping stone we're gonna get there. Is there anything wrong with that? Right The goal is
that what how specifically that was done using the internet Okay, how what we put on the internet,
you know, the, the methodology, the languages, the styles that we're going to use, all of this is
from the tactics and it is from the means to get to the goal. The goal is that what the goal is
inviting others to the way of Allah subhana wa Tada. Allah says in the Quran, Udo Elizabeth Rebecca
		

			bill Hekmati. What motivated has entity which I did humility here isin. Call to the way of your Lord
with wisdom been hikma? Well, more than hessen and good preaching, what jack did ability, he said
and if you have to argue, argue in a manner that is the best wisdom now, all three of these are
contextual call to your Lord with wisdom. Anybody who is multicultural, knows that wisdom and how
you say something and the language that you use and the tone that you use, and the examples that you
give, and how strict or lenient you can be, it is culture specific. Anybody who is multicultural,
knows this, how you would speak to somebody of this land would be different than how you speak to
		

			somebody from another land. They all goes back to your culture. So when Allah is saying, call to
your Lord with wisdom, right then in their wisdom varies from time and place and culture and
society. And Allah says, one more Ableton has good more ever good Motorola, Motorola means the
emotional argument more or less means you really get to their soul. Once again, this is something
that the tactics and the methodology would vary from time to place to to people, it's very specific,
it's culture specific, how I would speak to a Western audience, a non Muslim audience, when I talk
to them about Islam is very different than let's say how somebody you know, 500 years ago in maybe
		

			another land would speak to the people of that land very different. The examples I would give the
concepts I would bring up the the, the the languages, everything would be totally different. And
Allah is saying that call them with the best matter. And then if you must argue, which I didn't
build up to here as an argue in the manner that is best as well, everything all three of these alone
made culture specific. And the same goes when it comes to tactics that are meant to basically hurt
those that are harming us. The same goes that, for example, the issue of economic boycotts. The goal
is that anybody who harms us, we do not support them. That's the goal. Allah says in the Quran, with
		

			Alvin rideability, with taqwa wallet are a familiar with one cooperate in good and piety and do not
cooperate an evil and do not cooperate in transgression. Now, there is a company that we know that
they are harming people harming Muslims, they're doing evil things. So boycotting
		

			To them, if it is going to achieve a good goal, and if the experts tell us that there's going to be
benefit in this, then definitely it is something that should be done, it becomes a tactic, because
the goal we all agree that we want to minimize harm. The goal is to minimize oppression, to hurt the
oppressor so that they stopped the oppression. So the tactics vary from time to place to situation,
and therefore, economic boycotts are a tactic, and they are most definitely permissible they are, it
is it is permissible to do that. And in fact, the Quraysh themselves used this tactic against the
Muslims, what was the boycott, you know, the famous boycott, when the Prophet system was in the
		

			shadow of the Benny Hashem right when the Muslims had to leave and live in the mountains for a
while, what was that boycott, that boycott was that they would stop selling their goods to the
Muslims, and stop intermarriage with the Muslims and stop everything with the Muslims. So the
Quraysh used economic boycott against Islam. And a few years later, the Muslims of Makkah as well as
the Muslims of Medina, when they migrated as well, there are references to them not engaging in
general trade with the Irish as well, because they're not going to have peaceful trade anymore with
the people that attempted to kill them. So they use that and they in fact, pinched the lifeline of
		

			the of the economic lifeline of the operation multiple times, and, you know, the the Battle of
budget and whatnot, that's one of the things that they were doing, they're pinching the lifeline,
the relative sheeta it was saved, they began to make sure that that lifeline of the economic trade
route became constricted became difficult, and it can be seen as a tactic of economic boycott.
Therefore, the notion of economic boycotts is something that we can actually derive from the Syrah
itself. And there should be no problem in saying that it is completely permissible to engage in
economic boycotts. And these days, of course, the issue is coming about France in particular, and
		

			what what it is doing, and should we, you know, boycott French products and whatnot. And the answer
to this is most definitely, if experts if economic policymakers because again, the point of
boycotts, they have to be effective, they have to do something, and who is going to decide that not
me, I'm not an economics expert, I'm not a political science expert, people who are in the business
people who know, they will tell us that, hey, if you know, so many millions of Muslims stopped
purchasing that product, it will be the most harmful to them. So it stopped, you know, being with
this type of business, it was going to be good for them. So we listen to the experts in the field.
		

			And us our scholar, the the job of scholars is to listen to these experts and then propagated to the
people However, all of that having been said and so therefore definitely no problems in boycotts, no
problem, although that haven't been said to caveats. And please don't understand these caveats as
being against the issue of boycotts. I've just told you, boycotts are a tactic that is valid and
effective when it is done properly. That having been said, two caveats. Firstly,
		

			we have to be accurate, we cannot be emotional, we have to be we have to understand the the company
or the the country or whatnot, is that is it really sinful or evil, that we should be boycotting it?
And again, I don't want to be too specific, because I don't want to endorse a brand or whatnot. But
let me just say there's a very popular, you know, coffee brand in America, very one of the most
popular popular brands. And there is this notion that this this chain is a supporter of the
apartheid regime of Israel, that this that if you purchase one coffee, you will you're literally you
know one of what there's a meme going around that every coffee is like a bullet tuna to our
		

			Palestinian brothers and sisters. And you know, it's a very not that I'm not endorsing the company.
I'm not frankly, it has mediocre coffee. But that's besides the point. I'm not endorsing the
company. I'm not criticizing it. I'm just being factual here. That that's just wrong. The company
itself does not support any political entity. Yes, the founder of his own personal wealth might have
a certain persuasion and if you feel that, you know by the time you calculate what percentage goes
to that person or wouldn't if you feel that you don't want to shop there, that's completely your
prerogative. But in reality, boycotting that company is not going to save the life of any any Muslim
		

			in the world or harm the life of any Muslim. I'm sure you're gonna save money I'm not saying you're
not going to eat coffee is overpriced over there. You might save money you can give a soda but to
make this an Islamic cause seems emotionalism. The same goes for again, you know, the when I was
growing up in the 80s you know, we were taught to that, you know, Pepsi stands for pay every penny
to the state of Islam. It's like these types of notions. They're just not true. I mean, I'm sure you
should boycott Pepsi simply because of the sugar in it. No question about that. You should boycott
it for health reasons I'll be the number one on the list. But to claim that these companies you know
		

			if you purchase them, you know you are killing Muslims are helping again, the problem comes down
		

			In the long run, you're damaging your own. You know, it's like the boy who cried wolf, you keep on
saying everything is how or, or related to this, it doesn't work that way. So be careful. And let
the experts tell you don't just base your fatwas on memes on the internet and whatever is people is
passing around be a little bit more discerning in this regard. The second and this is the more
technical and perhaps some of you will not like what I'm saying, but I have to be clear for the eyes
of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Listen, we cannot nobody, nobody can make it, how long for you to
purchase a product if Allah has not made it, how long and people circumstances are different, we can
		

			encourage we can, we can help people find alternatives, we can pass around legitimate information
that these are the companies that should be boycotted. But in the end of the day, if a particular
person through because of his or her circumstance is not able to boycott, we should not shame that
person of their circumstances forced them to do that. Let me give you a simple example. I mean,
		

			for example, the French you know, boycott Now, obviously, all of us can easily boycott you know,
whatever the I don't even know what the French produce on other than that it's not as a major
economy. What is it for us? Cheese are some perfumes odor, what else do the you know, and I don't
eat goat cheese anywhere. So I mean, it's not something that, you know, a major thing. But suppose
everybody came together and boycotted French products. Okay, what do you expect French Muslims to
do? They're going to boycott living in France. What do you expect them to do? They're living in the
country. What what's going to happen? Same goes, other countries might boycott the country we live
		

			in because of the war crimes and whatnot, what are you you're paying your taxes, me and you are
paying our taxes? So what are you going to tell them when they say we're not buying anything from
that country, your country you live in, and you are paying taxes in that country? So there's two
sides to the coin always and feel free to boycott specific companies? No problem, feel free to you
know, boycott. You know, countries even in their products, no problem and it's good. But don't make
it allas watch it on other people don't bring in wajib and how wrong don't look don't use these
terms. Say let us collectively come together to put pressure excellent. Let us try our best to use
		

			the economies but do not make somebody sinful for something Allah has not made sinful. during times
when specific tribes of Medina the bundle final card, the bundle Corrado, the bundle novia, they
were causing problems for the Muslims, the Sahaba would still buy and sell and there was business
partnerships to the very end to the very end, there were business partnerships, because there was no
alternative. They could not boycott those tribes, you could work on the corporation, and they did
work on the corporation, they could not boycott those three tribes of the Australian background,
because they had economic lifeline in Medina, and they controlled the market and resources. And the
		

			Muslims continued to buy and sell and to be business partners with these three tribes until each one
of them what happened to them happened. So we cannot make this a matter of al Qaeda of theology of
how Rahman had the max, we can say, let's cooperate together. And let's try our best to put on
pressure. And also, again, let us be fair here because again, there's a lot of emotionalism going
on. That really, we it's very easy to boycott certain things, but to be consistent, people are going
to call us out right to be consistent. You're going to be called out because you cannot boycott each
and everything that is harmful. Again. Let's be very, very blunt here. There's a country here that
		

			let's call it by name, China, it is persecuting millions, millions of Muslims. Are you really going
to boycott each and every product from China go through your house? I guarantee you 70% 60% of your
products are somehow related to that country? What are you going to do our hearts bleed for our
weaker brothers and sisters we make to offer them what is happening now is unprecedented since the
times of world war two unprecedented the largest concentration camps since the Nazis and our hearts
are in pain. Were making the art for them. But that country is a superpower in terms of produce, to
what level are you going to boycott to what level The same goes for the apartheid regime. I boycott
		

			certain products from that regime. I boycott it, I do not buy anything that I know is using illegal
settlements. I try my best and I make it a point. But at the same time, there are products that are
somehow linked to our companies as well computer chips, this and that, that are produced in that in
that country. And we have our most of our computers have those products as well. So to what level
are we going to boycott? I'm not saying that just because we cannot be fully consistent we throw
everything we throw the baby out with the bathwater. I'm not saying that. But I'm asking us to be a
little bit more mature and a little bit more realistic and understand that there are times and
		

			places where economic boycott is possible and sensible. And then there are other times in places
where neither is it possible, nor is it sensible. So we leave it to the experts and be in touch with
those who understand the global economy and what
		

			And then see what we can do in this regard. The shady itself allows it, it doesn't mandate it. And
it doesn't make it sinful, the shady allows it. And my opinion, again, is that we allow the experts
to speak and therefore, given the current circumstances right now, as we speak, there's major trials
going on in France and whatnot, against the Muslim community, I have no problem that we publicize,
that we're not going to purchase anything from France. And we have the luxury of doing that at
hamdulillah plenty of alternatives, no problem, right. And the same goes again, me personally, I'm
very, very conscious about anything that is made using land that has been confiscated, basically,
		

			from the settlements, right, because, again, the entire region is confiscated in his own way. It's
an apartheid regime, they came in and they took the entire land, you know, it's like speak
everything from the beginning. But there are certain you know, lands that are even more illegal than
other lands. And so anytime there is a corporation that is operating in settlements, and you do your
research, we and we know exactly who they are, we should be extra careful how we should publicize
that we're not going to deal with any but if somebody if somebody once it goes and purchases them,
are you going to say that Alice land is on you, that is how you cannot use that language, you cannot
		

			use that language because that language, you are now infringing on the rights of Allah subhana wa
tada and Allah has not made it how long Allah has made it a tactic and whether you choose to use it
or not, that's up to you. And I personally as I said, I expect a lot to reward me I expect a lot to
reward me when I do not purchase products made by Israeli companies that are operating in in the
illegal settlement areas. I literally I my kids when I tell them do not purchase this company, this
company, we don't want any of these products you know if one of them says it tastes better, what
not? I said I don't care. We're gonna you know what I told one time when my wife said we're going to
		

			make it at home No problem, we're not going to I expect a lot to reward me but at the same time,
there must be a level of you know, common sense and whatnot. And as I said, we don't bring we don't
bring her on and hello to other Muslims you feel free to do it. You'd be as strict as you want. You
encourage others to do it in case somebody for whatever reason doesn't listen. That's that that's
their prerogative and you don't know their circumstance and you leave it to Allah subhana wa tada
and with that, inshallah, we conclude this question, until next week, duck maloca saramonic Manasa
to Lahore barakato.