It’s a thankless job, but somebody has to do it: Dr. Fazlullah Mumtaz is an Afghan Islamic scholar who helps Muslims in the West navigate the difficulties of an unfamiliar culture. He posts fatwas, which are just Islamic rulings on disputed questions, not always death sentences, on his Facebook wall. These fatwas help Muslims deal with issues that might never have come up if they had stayed in Afghanistan or Syria, such as whether or not it’s permitted for a Muslim man to marry a Jewish or Christian woman, whether Muslims running beauty salons should provide services for women who dare not to cover their heads, and the like.
Recently, however, Mumtaz ventured into more controversial territory than usual, and even went so far as to declare that Muslims shouldn’t be living in the West at all. Don’t watch, however, for any mass exodus of his Facebook followers; Mumtaz provided one condition on which Muslims could remain in Western countries, and it was one that all non-Muslim authorities should ponder carefully.
The indispensable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported Tuesday that according to Mumtaz, “living in non-Islamic countries is prohibited for Muslims when the permissive social environment causes them or their families to lose their religion, faith, and beliefs.”
Mumtaz explains: “Living and residing in non-Islamic countries is prohibited and a major sin for those who, as a result and consequence of Ibahah, fall into the trial of irreligion, lose their religion, faith and beliefs, and for whom acceptance of non-Islamic countries comes at the cost of their faith.”
Yeah, well, things aren’t likely to get any less permissive in the near future, so maybe it’s time to go home, eh, fellas?
No. Mumtaz issued a fatwa stating that “living in non-Islamic countries can be recommended and even become a collective religious obligation when a Muslim’s purpose is to conduct Islamic dawah (call to embrace Islam), teach shari’a rulings, and preserve and spread religious knowledge among Muslims living there.”
So it’s perfectly acceptable from an Islamic standpoint for a Muslim to live in a non-Muslim country if he is working to bring Sharia to his new land and transform it into another Islamic territory. This is not Mumtaz’s idea alone. In the Qur’an, Allah promises a reward to those who engage in such an endeavor: “Whoever emigrates for the sake of Allah will find much refuge and abundance in the earth, and whoever forsakes his home, a refugee for Allah and his messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then obligatory upon Allah. Allah is always forgiving, merciful.” (4:100)
No one takes that seriously — or do they? Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, preached on Feb. 2, 2024 that “America has grown old. It is old. It is on the verge of retirement. It is about to be admitted into a nursing home.” He predicted that “Islam will enter every home in every continent without exception, including every home in America.”
This is a more common view than most non-Muslims realize. A Muslim speaker told a large crowd in New York City at a rally in February 2026: “Oh, don’t scare them, brothers! Relax! They’re over here on purpose to be like, ‘Oh my God!’ Who’s seen those videos where they’re like, ‘Oh my God, the Muslims are taking over New York City!’ Seen those? You seen those? Let them know that we are taking over New York City! Takbir!” The crowd responded with enthusiastic screams of “Allahu akbar.”
Related: Trump Says He’d ‘Absolutely’ Ban Sharia
This also recalled a video that surfaced back in December 2025, in which a young Somali Muslim in the U.S. holds a large photo of President Donald Trump and says: “My biggest fear in life is that this man may never witness our full takeover. Yes, he may never wi— witness that. He already witnessed our partial takeover, our little success, in America…. So. He’s old and sick, I know, he may not witness our full takeover. But I promise you that his sons will witness.”
On May 27, 2026 at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, the imam Esam Omeish said: “The best thing we can do to America is help guide it with the guidance of Islam, and help guide it with the ability to rid itself of these illnesses that our Prophet Muhammad has described and has given us the prescription for.”
Yet what is noteworthy is that this idea has absolutely zero presence in the immigration debate. No one would dream of trying to determine whether or not Muslim immigrants are coming to the United States in order to subjugate and Islamize it. Even considering the possibility would be “Islamophobic.” So how many Muslims are here to do just that? There is simply no way to know. Or at least there is no way to know until the process is so far along that it could be irreversible.
