Accusing those who command obedience to the ruler and praise him
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Question:
Here is another question regarding the scholars. Some people say that if they see a scholar who commands obedience to the ruler or praises the ruler for one of his actions, they accuse him of being a sycophant in character and in wealth. What is your Eminence’s guidance on this?
Answer:
Everyone’s account is with Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and everyone will be held accountable by Allah for his words. So, the one who accuses the scholars of this accusation—scholars who try to unite the words of the Muslims with their rulers for the sake of the public interest, for the sake of the public interest, not for his own interest, but for the sake of uniting the word and the public interest—so, the one who praises the rulers with good is a doer of good, and he wants to unite the word. This is part of giving advice to the rulers: that you ward off backbiting from them, and you mention their virtues and do not mention their mistakes to the people, because this does not achieve a benefit, but rather it achieves pure harm.
What do people do? What do the people do with whom you sit and speak? They do nothing. So, speech in these matters is looked at in terms of its consequences and the harms it leads to. Do not let your tongue run wild; perhaps you will be, as we mentioned, the one who is wrong, and you are the one who understood incorrectly. And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:[Al-Hujurat 49:6] This is regarding the general people, so how about the rulers? It is obligatory to verify matters, it is obligatory to verify matters. If the mistake becomes clear, it is dealt with with wisdom, it is dealt with in a suitable manner, and it is not dealt with with publicizing and broadcasting. They broadcast it: [An-Nisa 4:83] It is not dealt with by broadcasting and publishing among the people. Even with individuals, it is not permissible to publicize their mistakes, and it is not permissible to backbite them. But advice is something else: that you advise them between you and them. This is a required matter; the religion is advice. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good,
Here is another question regarding the scholars. Some people say that if they see a scholar who commands obedience to the ruler or praises the ruler for one of his actions, they accuse him of being a sycophant in character and in wealth. What is your Eminence’s guidance on this?
Answer:
Everyone’s account is with Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and everyone will be held accountable by Allah for his words. So, the one who accuses the scholars of this accusation—scholars who try to unite the words of the Muslims with their rulers for the sake of the public interest, for the sake of the public interest, not for his own interest, but for the sake of uniting the word and the public interest—so, the one who praises the rulers with good is a doer of good, and he wants to unite the word. This is part of giving advice to the rulers: that you ward off backbiting from them, and you mention their virtues and do not mention their mistakes to the people, because this does not achieve a benefit, but rather it achieves pure harm.
What do people do? What do the people do with whom you sit and speak? They do nothing. So, speech in these matters is looked at in terms of its consequences and the harms it leads to. Do not let your tongue run wild; perhaps you will be, as we mentioned, the one who is wrong, and you are the one who understood incorrectly. And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:
O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَwhen there comes to them information about [public] security or fear, they spread it around
جَاءَهُمْ أَمْرٌ مِّنَ الْأَمْنِ أَوِ الْخَوْفِ أَذَاعُوا بِهِThe presenter:
May Allah reward you with good,
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-33-حقوق الراعي والرعية|صالح الفوزان|العام|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (45:22)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.