Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Brother, thanks a lot for your question and for you care and concern about Muslims’ affairs.
Before addressing this question, it is essential to state the following: The Islamic approach towards dealing with any issue relating to faith and practice is direct. Thus this invariably involves looking at what the Qur’an has to say, how this was understood and applied by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the pious generations, who are considered our perennial role models in all matters of religion.
Reflecting on the practices of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as stated in the Prophetic seerah (biography), we notice fine examples set by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that make it clear that cooperating with non-Muslims in worldly affairs is permissible as long as that will bring benefits to Muslims and will help establish justice or ward off injustice.
Hence, there is nothing in Muslims’ participating in elections run in non-Muslim countries, especially when such participation accrues benefits to Muslims or wards off harm.
Answering this question, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mochtar Al-Shinqiti, Professor of Political Ethics and Religions History at Qatr University, states:
First of all, I’d like to draw the questioner’s attention to two incidents which deserve deep reflection and which can be taken as the basis and reference of the issue in hand. One of them is mentioned in the Qur’an and the other is reported in the Prophet’s Sunnah.
The first is the story of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph, peace be upon him), as recorded in the Glorious Qur’an. We see that Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon him) asked the king of Egypt to appoint him as the keeper of Egypt’s public treasury. Allah Almighty says, “He said: Set me over the storehouses of the land, I am a skilled custodian.” (Yusuf 12:55)
This shows that Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon him) did not pay heed to the fact that the king was disbeliever or despotic. His main concern was the general welfare of the people and their need of a man as knowledgeable and clever as he was to care for them.
The second incident reported in the Sunnah is that of Muslims’ migration to Abyssinia, as recorded in Musnad of Imam Ahmad on the authority of Umm Salamah, Mother of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with her), who was among those who migrated to Abyssinia.
It is reported that Umm Salamah, narrating the incident of their migration, said,
“We stayed in his (An-Najashi’s) land, where we were treated with great generosity and hospitality. During my stay there, some people rebelled against him (An-Najashi) and tried to take the hold of the reins of power. By Allah, we haven’t felt sadness as we felt at that time, for fear that such rebellious (ones) might succeed in their scheme, and then a man who does not know the truth of our religion (nor does he observe our right as refugees) as An-Najashi did may be the sovereign.
An-Najashi set out to meet the enemy, who was on the opposite bank of the Nile River. Then the Prophet’s companions said that a man of them may cross the river to investigate the enemy intensively. On that, Az-Zubayr ibn Al-`Awwam, who was one of the youngest among us, said, ‘I will.’ Then they gave him a float and he swam to the opposite bank and investigated the enemy’s preparations for the battle. During this, we observed du`a’ (supplication) heavily for An-Najashi to be victorious over his enemy and he succeeded and stability was achieved again in Abyssinia.” (Ahmad)
You see, when An-Najashi’s nephew rebelled against him and tried to elbow him out, the Muslim migrants in Abyssinia did not stand as onlookers; they didn’t stay idle because An-Najashi was a Christian and so was the enemy. Rather, they made du`a’ to Allah to give An-Najashi victory over his enemy. They also sent a man from among them to collect information about the battle, and if they had anything more to do, they would have willingly offered it.
That is the way that Muslims living in non-Muslim countries in the West should look upon participation in the political life there. In this context, taking part in the US elections is required, so that goodness may overcome evil and justice would prevail. It is not a sign of affiliation to the polytheists, nor is it a kind of support for the oppressors. Therefore, judging parliaments to be gatherings of disbelief and polytheism is inappropriate, as this does not take into account the complicated nature of such parliaments.
The US Congress, for instance, is not a religious organization, as the American constitution neither supports a certain religion nor restricts another. The US Congress is not, thus, a gathering of disbelief, even though its members are disbelievers. Also, it is not a gathering of belief, even if there are Muslim members in it. It is a neutral political body in relation to matters of religion, according to the American constitution.
The US Congress can only tackle issues related to public welfare, which a Muslim is enjoined to participate in achieving, whether for the favor of Muslims inside or outside America, or even in relation to non-Muslims. So, Muslims who participate in the US elections should not have selfish objectives in doing so; that is, they should not aim at achieving the welfare of the Muslim minority only.
Rather, they should aim at rescuing the whole American nation from creedal, moral, and social degradation that they suffer from, in the same way that Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon him) saved a pagan people from famine.
Given the above, we can see that there is nothing wrong in Muslims participating in elections held in non-Muslim countries. It may sometimes be commendable for Muslims to take part in the political life of non-Muslim societies, so as to help achieve general justice and welfare for the Muslims and non-Muslims alike, ward off any discriminative schemes, and restore moral life in the society.
Allah Almighty knows best.