The Ruling on Giving Advice in Secret and in Public

Question:
May Allah preserve you, when is advice given in secret and when is it given in public?

Answer:
The one giving advice should act in what is most beneficial. If he sees that it is better to give it in secret, he gives it in secret; if he sees that it is better to do it openly, he does it openly. However, if the sin is secret, the advice must be given in secret. If he knows in the end that it is a secret sin, he advises him in secret and does not expose him; he advises him between himself and him. But if the sin is public and people see it in the gathering, such as one standing up to drink intoxicants, or one standing up to call to intoxicants and speaking about them, or to riba (usury or interest), he says, "No, my brother, this is not permissible." As for a sin you learn about from your brother, where you learn from him that he drinks intoxicants or that he engages in riba, you advise him between you and him. You say in secret, "My brother, I have heard such and such, or such and such has reached me," and you advise him. But if he commits a wrong openly in the gathering, and you witness the wrong, or the people witness it, it is a wrong. If you remain silent, it means you have approved of it for some people. So if you are in a gathering where drinking intoxicants appears, you must denounce it. And if the apparent [sin] is present, and another wrong appears in it, such as backbiting, you say, "O brothers, do you not know that backbiting..." or something similar to these apparent sins. If you have knowledge of it, you denounce it, because this is an apparent wrong, and you do not remain silent about it, for this is part of making the truth apparent and calling to it. Yes.