Are Muslims required to obey civil law when living in a non-Muslim country?

Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim countries are generally taught to uphold the civil laws of the country they reside in, based on the Islamic principle of honoring agreements and contracts. The Quran commands, 'O you who believe, fulfill [all] contracts' (5:1), a principle jurists apply to the implicit and explicit obligations of citizenship, residency, or entry into a country. Historical precedent includes the early Muslims who migrated to Abyssinia and were instructed by the Prophet Muhammad to respect the authority of its just Christian king, and Muslim minority communities have lived under non-Muslim rule throughout history while maintaining their faith. Mainstream scholarly opinion today holds that Muslims abroad should obey the law of the land as part of their covenant with the society they live in, so long as they are not compelled to violate core religious obligations — and even then, most guidance favors lawful advocacy, exemption-seeking, or peaceful means over unilateral law-breaking. Some scholars frame this as an extension of the concept of amanah (trustworthiness), since residency itself is treated as an implicit pledge of good conduct toward one's host society.

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