[The Wisdom Behind the Prohibition of Residing in the Midst of the Polytheists]

Answer: Allah, Glorified and Exalted, wants the Muslim to establish the rulings and laws of his religion, and that they be manifest, and that the word of Allah be the highest; and that is not attainable in the abode of the polytheists and unbelievers. Even if the Muslim establishes therein the rites of his religion and the rulings of his law, he does so in concealment. In general, the rulings of the unbelievers and polytheists in their lands are those that are manifest and uppermost, not the rulings of Islam. Allah, Exalted is He, does not love nor is He pleased that the rulings of His religion be the lower, and the rulings of the unbelievers be the upper. He, Exalted is He, said in Sūrat al-Tawbah: “And He made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, and the word of Allah – it is the highest.” [al-Tawbah:40] That is from one angle.
- And from another angle: Allah, Exalted is He, wants for the people of His religion and His friends honour and elevation, and He does not love nor is He pleased that they be in humiliation, under the mercy of the unbelievers and under their authority. He, Exalted is He, said: “But honour belongs to Allah, and to His Messenger, and to the believers.” [al-Munāfiqūn:8]
And Allah, Exalted is He, commanded His friends to leave from under the authority of the polytheists; He said: “O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship Me [alone].” [al-ʿAnkabūt:56]
And He, Exalted is He, forbade the believers from yielding and humbling themselves to the authority of the unbelievers; He, Glorified is He, said: “And do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers.” [Āl ʿImrān:139]
From what we have mentioned, the wisdom behind the prohibition of residing in the midst of the polytheists becomes clear to you. In brief, residing in their lands entails two things:
1. Humiliation of the religion, and its loss of its lofty station.
2. Humiliation of the Muslim, and his yielding and humbling himself to the authority of the unbelievers.
If it is said: “Indeed, Muslims who truly adhere to the rulings of their religion have, throughout most of Islamic history, been subdued, overcome, and in humiliation and disgrace, due to the dominance of oppressors and the strength of their authority: they have humiliated the friends of Allah and the bearers of His religion, except those who were pleased with their falsehood, aided them in their injustice, and followed their path. So, through the length of history, the two matters you mentioned have not been realized.”
We say: What we mentioned of the two matters is what is obligatory; but this obligation falls away when ability is absent, due to His saying, Exalted is He: “Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity.” [al-Baqarah:286] Allah, Exalted is He, excused the oppressed among the men, women, and children who cannot devise a plan nor find a way [out] from the duty of emigrating, and did not charge them with it due to their inability, while He did impose it on others who were able to do so.
The sincere religious people in the long course of Islamic history were in the position of the oppressed whom Allah, Exalted is He, excused from hijrah. For the rulers of Banū Umayyah and Banū al-ʿAbbās took control of the whole wide land of Islam, tightened their control over it, and their judgments and power ran over every part of it. The devout were unable to leave from under those rulers and found no escape: if they looked to the West, the ruler and his power stood before them; if they looked to the East, or North, or South, it was the same. So we say: they are excused before Allah, and that striving to obtain the two matters we mentioned is not obligatory upon them due to their inability.

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2