Using online communication software that might be state-banned

3-1-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Regarding phone call facility through the internet in KSA, the government recently removed the restriction for the IMO, Skype calls etc. For the other type of calls, like through bestvoiz.com, they did not do so. For the bestvoiz call, we need to recharge and the cost of the call will be less than 10 halala per minute. Can we utilize these web services to make international calls?

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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 is His slave and Messenger.

It appears from the question that the ban on internet communication programs has been lifted, but you have some doubts about whether some of them are included in the ban lift or not; and if it is not included, you are asking whether or not you can call through them? 

If this is the case, then the answer is that this falls under the issue of restricting what is permissible.

The scholars stated that the ruler is entitled to restrict what is permissible if there is a public interest in doing so.

There is a difference between what involves an apparent public interest whose violation leads to an apparent public disadvantage and matters that are not so, such as the restriction of what is permissible for a private interest while violating it does not lead to a public disadvantage.

Tuhfat Al-Muhtaaj, which is one of the books of the Shaafi'i School, reads, “It appears that what the ruler orders that does not involve a public interest, it is not an obligation to abide by it except outwardly, meaning if one fears harm or tribulation, but if it involves a public interest, then it is an obligation to abide by it inwardly and outwardly.”

It is the experts and specialists who weigh the disadvantages and interests, and not the individual people.

Allah knows best.