The Ruling on Reporting Corrupters Under the Pretext of Preserving Friendship

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, I have a friend who was disobedient to Allah and then repented. He knows many corrupters, such as those who promote narcotics, or some of those who run houses of prostitution. He is to report them to the responsible authorities, because he claims that reporting them is a betrayal of them and a failure to preserve the covenant and friendship, even though they continue in these sins and do not want to repent. What is your opinion?

Answer:
It is obligatory to report them, because this is part of forbidding evil. Leaving them and not reporting them is part of being pleased with evil. It is not permissible to leave them ever. It is obligatory to report them. This is not a betrayal of trust as he says; rather, the betrayal of trust is leaving them. The betrayal of trust is leaving them and not reporting them, because forbidding evil is a trust between the servant and his Lord. So if he leaves it, he betrays the trust.
As for the one who leaves the sinners in their sin, this is not from trust; rather, it is from betrayal, because he is a traitor to Allah and a traitor to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So it is obligatory that we report on him, because this is from forbidding evil and eliminating the harms.
He has a reward for that if he reports on them and they are prevented from corruption and the lands are purified from them, he will have a reward for that because he strived for reform. Reporting on them is not a betrayal of trust; rather, it is reform, forbidding evil, and calling to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.