The ruling on those who speak ill of the rulers and the scholars
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Question:
This man asks: What is our position regarding those who speak ill of the rulers and the scholars, even if they are our brothers? Is it sufficient to ignore them, or is it obligatory for us to report them to the authorities, and…
Answer:
They fall into two categories: either they are Khawarij who follow the thought of the Khawarij, so beware of them and warn people against them; beware of them and warn people against them. Or they are people of backbiting and talebearing; they are not Khawarij, but they are people of backbiting and talebearing who eat the flesh of people, may Allah protect us. Backbiting is evil, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said when he explained the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Hujurat 49:12] He said: Backbiting is Sunan Abi Dawud 4874Sahih (Al-Albani). This means that the backbiter has not escaped sin; either he is a liar, or he is a backbiter. He eats the flesh of people, and eating the flesh of scholars and rulers is more severe, because it leads to the division of the word and bad suspicion of the rulers and the scholars. This results in bad suspicion and disunity among the Muslims. So these people do not fall outside of their being either Khawarij, or people of backbiting or talebearing. It is not permissible to sit with them except for the purpose of advising them, so that perhaps they will leave this action.
This man asks: What is our position regarding those who speak ill of the rulers and the scholars, even if they are our brothers? Is it sufficient to ignore them, or is it obligatory for us to report them to the authorities, and…
Answer:
They fall into two categories: either they are Khawarij who follow the thought of the Khawarij, so beware of them and warn people against them; beware of them and warn people against them. Or they are people of backbiting and talebearing; they are not Khawarij, but they are people of backbiting and talebearing who eat the flesh of people, may Allah protect us. Backbiting is evil, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said when he explained the saying of Allah the Exalted:
or backbite each other
وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًاIt is saying something about your brother which he would dislike. He was asked again: Tell me how the matter stands if what I say about my brother is true? He replied: If what you say of him is true, you have slandered him, and if what you say of him is not true, you have reviled him.
ذكرك أخاك بما يكره قال يا رسول الله أرأيت إن كان في أخي ما أقول؟ قال إن كان فيه ما تقول فقد اغتبته، وإن لم يكن فيه ما تقول فقد بهته
Source
الموقف إزاء من يتكلم في ولي الأمر — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.