The ruling on standing up for a person who is sitting in a gathering

Question:
Your Eminence said that if there is a fear that the person entering the gathering may have something in his heart, if he does not stand up for him, he should stand up to ward off his harm, or so that there may not be something in his heart. The question is: does not that amount to assisting the person entering in doing evil? And it falls under the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whoever loves for people to stand up for him, let him take his seat in the Fire.”

Answer:
First, what you mentioned is from the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in his *Majmu' al-Fatawa*, and his intention (may Allah have mercy on him) was that this falls under the category of committing the lesser of two harms to avert the greater of them; because the fact that it leads to hatred and animosity in hearts is greater than the harm of standing up for him, and the principle is that committing the lesser of two harms to avert the greater is prescribed, and that...
If, for example, you say that I am approving of this thing, you can teach him and explain it to him later, and he will know what the reason is. But if you sit while he does not know the reason, he thinks that you are boycotting him or that you hate him. But if you explain the reason to him and clarify it, the danger is removed. As for the hadith you mentioned , this is not in the subject I mentioned. This is about whoever loves for people to stand up for him while he is sitting, as the non-Arabs do. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said this when he prayed with his Companions while sitting, and they prayed standing behind him, so he gestured to them to sit, and said: “You were about to do the action of the Persians and Romans, who stand up for their rulers while they are sitting,” or as he said (peace and blessings be upon him). So if a person is sitting and they are standing over his head, that is from the category of grandeur and pride, as the kings of the non-Arabs do. This is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade. But if they are all standing, they are equal in standing, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said. And likewise, if they stand over his head for the purpose of guarding him, there is no harm in that, because al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah stood over the head of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) under the tree during the Pledge of 'Aqabah, standing holding his sword over the head of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is guarding, and there is no harm in it. Yes. However, if this is done from the category of pride and grandeur, not from the category of necessity. Yes.