Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

I come from a country where jobs are few, and I cannot get any other job
with my high school diploma, but I found a job in the military. However there
is an issue, which is the salute; this is mandatory in the military. Is it
permissible for me to work in the military? But when I give the salute I do not
do so with the intention of showing respect; rather I do it with a different
intention. Is it permissible to do that? I hope that you will answer my
question in detail, because I am going to start this job in two months time.
Praise be to
Allah.
The military salute that soldiers give
to one another, in the form of a gesture with the hand, is a kind of greeting
that is not allowed in Islam; rather the greeting of the Muslims is by saying
as-salaamu alaykum (peace
be upon you).
At-Tirmidhi
(695) narrated from Amr ibn
Shu ayb, from his father, from his grandfather that
the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
He is
not one of us who imitates others. Do not imitate the Jews or the Christians.
The greeting of the Jews is a gesture with the fingers and the greeting of the
Christians is a gesture with the hand.
Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Tirmidhi.
It was narrated from Jaabir
ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: Do not greet
one
another with the greeting of the Jews; their greeting is with the head and the

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

hand, and with gestures.

Narrated by an-Nasaa i
in Aml al-Yawm wa l-Layla, 340; and by Abu Ya la
and by at-Tabaraani in al-Awsat.
Al-Haafiz said in al-Fath
(11/12): Its isnaad is jayyid.
It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
in as-Silsilah as-Saheehah,
1783
As for saluting the flag, it is an
innovation. It is not permissible to participate in it, in the army, in school
or otherwise, as was stated by the scholars.
The scholars of the Standing Committee
for Issuing Fatwas were asked: is it permissible to
stand up out of respect for any national anthem or flag?
They replied:
It is not permissible for the Muslim to
stand up out of respect for any national flag or national anthem; rather these
are reprehensible innovations that did not exist at the time of the Messenger
of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or at the time of his
successors, the Rightly Guided Caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them). It
is
contrary to the perfect Tawheed (affirmation of the
Oneness of Allah) and veneration of Allah alone that is required of the
Muslim.
It is also a means that leads to shirk, and is an imitation of the kuffaar in
their reprehensible customs, as well as going
along with them in their exaggeration about their leaders and their
ceremonies.
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade imitating
them
or resembling them. And Allah is the source of strength. May Allah send

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

blessings
and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
End quote.
Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa imah, 1/235
Shaykh Abd al- Azeez ibn
Abdillah ibn Baaz, Shaykh Abd
ar-Razaaq Afeefi, Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan, Shaykh Abdullah ibn
Qa ood
They were also asked (1/2336): What is
the ruling on saluting the flag in the army, showing respect to officers and
shaving the beard?
They replied:
It is not permissible to salute the
flag; rather it is an innovation, and the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: Whoever introduces
anything
into this matter of ours that is not part of it will have it rejected. Narrated by
al-Bukhaari and Muslim.
As for showing respect to officers as
they deserve according to their status, that is permissible, but going to
extremes in that is forbidden, whether they are officers or not.
And Allah is the source of strength. May
Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his
family and companions. End quote.
Shaykh Abd al- Azeez ibn
Abdillah ibn Baaz, Shaykh Abd
ar-Razaaq Afeefi, Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan, Shaykh Abdullah ibn
Qa ood

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

They were also asked (1/236): Please

advise me about the ruling on one who works in the Egyptian army and this
is
his source of income, but the army rules and regulations require us to salute
one another as foreigners do, and to greet and salute one another in a
manner
that is not that which Allah and His Messenger enjoined upon us, and to
venerate the country s flag, and to judge between us according to laws that
are
not the laws of Allah (i.e., military law).
They replied:
It is not permissible to salute the
flag; it is obligatory to rule according to the law of Islam and refer to it
for judgement; it is not permissible for the Muslim
to greet leaders and superiors with the greeting of non-Muslims, because of
what has been narrated of the prohibition on resembling them, and because
that
is going to extremes in showing respect to them.
And Allah is the source of strength. May
Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his
family and companions. End quote.
Shaykh Abd al- Azeez ibn
Abdillah ibn Baaz, Shaykh Abd
ar-Razaaq Afeefi, Shaykh Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan, Shaykh Abdullah ibn
Qa ood
Shaykh Ibn Jibreen (may Allah preserve
him) was asked: What is the ruling on putting the hand to the head in a
salute
to the flag as is done in schools?
He replied:

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

We think that this is bid ah (an innovation). The greeting of the Muslims is
salaam, and gesturing with the hand is the greeting of the Christians, as was
narrated. So gesturing with the hand or head is the greeting or salutation of
the Jews or Christians.
But the greeting of the Muslim is to say
As-salaamu alaykum (peace
be upon you) ; if the Muslim is far away from you then you can nod your
head
whilst saying as-salaamu alaykum ,
moving your head or your hand as a sign that you noticed him and are
greeting
him. So you can combine the two things, the salaam which is the way of the
Muslims, and the gesture, which is a sign that you have noticed him and are
greeting him.
The gesture is not only the greeting;
saluting the flag if the flag is one of those flags that are hung up like a
banner and so on is not permissible, because it is an inanimate object,
and
saluting it is a kind of veneration, and it is not permissible to venerate
created beings, so how about an inanimate object that cannot bring any
benefit
or hear? If that is an expression of veneration towards this inanimate object,
then this is a kind of shirk.
If what is meant by the flag is the
person who is carrying it, or the officer and so on,
then the greeting should be by saying salaam and not in any other way.
End quote from Fataawa
ash-Shaykh Ibn Jibreen
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (may Allah
preserve him) was asked: I am the principal of a school and instructions
have
come to me from the education department stating that it is compulsory for

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

the
students to salute the flag, stand up for it and sing the national anthem.
What
is the ruling on these actions? Do I have to obey?
He replied:
This is undoubtedly a sin. The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: There is no obedience to
any
created being if it involves disobedience towards the Creator. If it is
possible to get out of it and avoid doing it, then that is what you should do.
End quote from the Shaykh s
website
http://www.alfawzan.ws/AlFawzan/FatawaSearch/tabid/70/Default.aspx?Pag
eID=6564
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan also said,
refuting some writer:
With regard to saluting the flag,
saluting may mean venerating, and no one is to be venerated except Allah,
as we
say in the tashahhud when we pray: At-Tahiyyaatu Lillaahi (salutations
are for Allah) , i.e., all veneration is for Allah, may He be exalted, as He
alone deserves that. So it is a salutation of veneration and not a salutation
of greeting, for Allah is to be venerated and not to be greeted. Salutation in
the sense of a greeting, in which there is no veneration, is what is
prescribed
among the Muslims. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):
greet one
another with a greeting from Allah (i.e. say: As-Salamu
Alaikum - peace be on you) blessed and good

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

[an-Noor 24:61]
When you are greeted with a greeting,
greet in return with what is better than it, or (at
least) return it equally
[an-Nisa
4:86]
Allah, may He be exalted, says of the
people of Paradise (interpretation of the meaning):
Their greeting therein will be: Salam
(peace!)
[Ibraaheem
14:23]
And He says(interpretation
of the meaning):
Their greeting on the Day they shall
meet Him will be Salam: Peace (i.e. the angels will say to them: Salamu
Alaikum)!
[al-Ahzaab 33:44].
And the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: Shall I not you of something which, if you do it, you
will love one another? Spread (the greeting of) salaam
amongst yourselves.
So the greeting of salaam is only among
Muslims; there is no greeting of salaam for inanimate objects, pieces of
cloth
and so on, because salaam is a kind of supplication for wellbeing, or it is

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Ruling on military salutes and saluting the flag

one
of the names of Allah by which a Muslim prays for his fellow Muslim, asking
by
virtue thereof that he may be granted goodness and blessings.
What is meant by saluting the flag
nowadays is standing up out of respect and venerating it; this is what the
Standing Committee stated in a fatwa is haraam
because it is standing as an act of veneration.
If it is said that saluting the flag is
an act of respect for the government s symbols, our response is: We respect
the
government in the sense of what Allah has prescribed of listening and
obeying
in that which is right and proper, and praying for them to be guided.
Whenever
the Committee explains this to the Muslims, it is only explaining a shar i
ruling that all of us, government and people alike,
are obliged to obey, and our government may Allah
preserve them and bless them is the first one to obey that. This is what I
wanted to explain, so as to avoid the sin of concealing knowledge.
End quote from al-Jazeerah
newspaper, issue no. 11989, Tuesday 20/6/1426 AH, published on the
Islam Light
website:
http://www.islamlight.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1722
Based on that, if you want to work in
the army, then avoid this saluting.
And Allah knows best.

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