AssalamualaikumAre Muslims permitted to vote for a non-Muslim Politician who is allegedly a homosexual ?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If the candidate whom you asked about is less evil and less harmful to the Muslims than the other candidate, and is more useful and beneficial than the other candidate, then there is no harm in voting for him despite the flaws he has.
Dr. Ahmad ‘Abdur-Rahmaan Al-Qaadhi once asked the prominent scholar, Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, may Allaah have mercy upon him, “Should the Muslims in America take part in elections by voting in favor of a candidate who supports the Muslims’ interests?” Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, may Allaah have mercy upon him, answered in the affirmative without any hesitation.
We have already stated in previous Fataawa that participating in the electoral process is an issue of the Islamic Sharee’ah that deals with policy and administration, the rules of which are founded on the consequent benefit or harm. Therefore, when the benefit outweighs the harm, then the predominant rule is to do it; otherwise, the predominant rule is not to do it. There is no doubt that this varies from one country to another and from one situation to another. The scholars in each country should be consulted in this regard as they are more aware of the circumstances of their country.
The issue of choosing between candidates and deciding who is better among two non-Muslim candidates to lead a non-Muslim country is also decided accordingly to the same rule. If one of the candidates is expected to bring about more benefit and repel harm, and is closer to protect the interests of the Muslims, then he should be chosen, even if he has many negative qualities.
This is done based on the rule of repelling the greater of two disadvantages (or evils) by committing the lesser of them and bringing as much interests as possible.
Hence, the matter in estimating the interests and disadvantages, as we have already mentioned, depends on the scholars of that country.
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 181331 and 84199.
Allah knows best.