Question Summary:
One of my friends came across a salafi (probably) and that guy told him that voting is shirk as the one who is going to be the government is not going to rule with the orders of ALLAH Ta’ala.

Question Detail:

Sorry for the inconvenience Mufti Sahab. One of my friends came across a salafi (probably) and that guy told him that voting is shirk as the one who is going to be the government is not going to rule with the orders of ALLAH Ta’ala. He also gave me a written fatwa asking “Is ruling with rules other than Shareeah ‘kufr akbar or ‘kufr asgar’? I haven't read the fatwa as there is no reference of the one who gave the fatwa but i forwarded the question to you for an answer. I will be waiting for your rely   

Answer :

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Voting is not considered as shirk. Shirk means to attribute partners to Allah Ta’ala in His exclusive qualities and attributes. When a person is casting a vote, he is presenting his opinion in favor of one of the candidates to represent and lead a certain group or nation. If there is a suitable, pious and upright Muslim candidate, it would be in the best interest of all the Muslims to vote for such a candidate as he will see to the best interest of Islam and the Muslim masses. At times, it might happen that there is no such candidate; however, there is one extremely harmful candidate who will cause more harm to Islam and the Muslims and another candidate who, despite not benefiting Islam, will not cause harm to the affairs of the Muslims either. In such a situation, it would be better and advisable to vote for the candidate who is least harmful for the interests of the Muslims. In such a situation, a person will not be held liable for the wrongs of the candidate since the main intention of electing him into office was for the sake of safeguarding the Ummah from a greater evil.
And Allah knows best
Wassalam
Ml. Yusuf bin Yaqub,
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah