Assalamu aliakum. Some people in our country do not consider breaking "secular laws" such as traffic laws & tax laws and such to be any sin; hence they openly defy these laws. They mostly present two arguments for their cases: Namely that the government is unislamic or is promoting unislamic values and hence they do not respect the laws of the government. Secondly, they claim that because the tax laws or traffic rules are not defined in the Quran and Sunnah, then it is not a sin to break them. Another argument that is presented when justifying the breaking of tax laws is that the government is corrupt and the money will be used unjustly. Is their understanding and interpretation correct? Or is a man rewarded when adhering to the rules of his government?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is not permissible to contravene the laws which do not contradict the Law of Allaah, and by which some religious benefits could be achieved, as is the case of traffic rules and the like; we have already clarified this in Fataawa 86458 and 85284.

As regards taxes, the ruling of avoiding them differs according to the situation; if they are imposed with right, it is not permissible to avoid them. However, if they are taken unjustly and without due right, then it is permissible to avoid paying them; for more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 89947 and 85356.

If a benefit is achieved by applying certain rules without contradiction to the Islamic Law, then it is to be followed, as it was stated by Ibn 'Aqeel .