If I fear harm to myself in forbidding evil, should I forbid it or remain silent?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: If I see an evil in a public place, and I fear harm to myself if I forbid the evil, should I remain silent, or should I forbid the evil and advise the people?
Answer:
If it is a great harm that you fear for yourself from their harm, then you stay away from them; do not mix with them or sit with them. Stay away from them until you are safe from their evil. As for if the harm is not great, but rather it is harm in their speech about you, their mockery of you, or in your body—perhaps they might hit you—if this is bearable, then you are patient with it.[Luqman 31:17] Exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to patience. If the harm is bearable, you count it as a reward with Allah and you proceed with enjoining good and forbidding evil. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: If I see an evil in a public place, and I fear harm to myself if I forbid the evil, should I remain silent, or should I forbid the evil and advise the people?
Answer:
If it is a great harm that you fear for yourself from their harm, then you stay away from them; do not mix with them or sit with them. Stay away from them until you are safe from their evil. As for if the harm is not great, but rather it is harm in their speech about you, their mockery of you, or in your body—perhaps they might hit you—if this is bearable, then you are patient with it.
O my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you.
يَا بُنَيَّ أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَانْهَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا أَصَابَكَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [2233- 4717] إذا خفت على نفسي الضرر في إنكار المنكر فهل أنكر أم اسكت؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.