What is the criterion for remaining silent about the truth when public benefit and harm conflict?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: I am a young man who strives to seek knowledge to the best of my ability, and I benefit from the scholars of the Kingdom, both the living and the deceased. However, the people in my country are falling into many violations, and I, praise be to Allah, maintain loyalty and disavowal (al-wala' wa al-bara') with them. But the matter, Honorable Shaykh, becomes more difficult with the increase of trials (fitan). Is there a comprehensive criterion for remaining silent when benefits and harms conflict?
Answer:
If the harm is greater, it is to be averted. Averting harms takes precedence over seeking benefits, and committing the lesser of two harms to avert the greater is a requirement in Islam.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: I am a young man who strives to seek knowledge to the best of my ability, and I benefit from the scholars of the Kingdom, both the living and the deceased. However, the people in my country are falling into many violations, and I, praise be to Allah, maintain loyalty and disavowal (al-wala' wa al-bara') with them. But the matter, Honorable Shaykh, becomes more difficult with the increase of trials (fitan). Is there a comprehensive criterion for remaining silent when benefits and harms conflict?
Answer:
If the harm is greater, it is to be averted. Averting harms takes precedence over seeking benefits, and committing the lesser of two harms to avert the greater is a requirement in Islam.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما الضابط للسكوت عن الحق عند تعارض المصلحة والمفسدة؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.