Leaving off the forbidding of evil out of shyness or social courtesy, and its connection to minor shirk
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, you mentioned (may Allah preserve you) in a previous lesson that if a person sees an evil and is able to change it but does not change it out of shyness or social courtesy, he falls into minor shirk.
The Shaykh:
Of course, I mean, I mentioned it. I mentioned it.
The questioner:
So what do we do today, when we see most people shaving their beards, letting their garments hang below the ankles, and committing other sins in which many people are lax? How do we forbid them? And if we do not forbid them, do we fall under this warning?
The Shaykh:
If you do not forbid them out of shyness of them or fear of them, you enter into this obligation. What harm is there in holding his hand and whispering to him what is sufficient? I left a brother of mine, and I was concerned for him, and I advised him. What harm is there in that? We gain reward, and perhaps he will later feel ashamed and repent to Allah and reconsider himself. If you leave this off, there is no doubt that this is an error. But if you left it off out of fear of him or fear of others that they might harm you, that is minor shirk. Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and his Companions.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, you mentioned (may Allah preserve you) in a previous lesson that if a person sees an evil and is able to change it but does not change it out of shyness or social courtesy, he falls into minor shirk.
The Shaykh:
Of course, I mean, I mentioned it. I mentioned it.
The questioner:
So what do we do today, when we see most people shaving their beards, letting their garments hang below the ankles, and committing other sins in which many people are lax? How do we forbid them? And if we do not forbid them, do we fall under this warning?
The Shaykh:
If you do not forbid them out of shyness of them or fear of them, you enter into this obligation. What harm is there in holding his hand and whispering to him what is sufficient? I left a brother of mine, and I was concerned for him, and I advised him. What harm is there in that? We gain reward, and perhaps he will later feel ashamed and repent to Allah and reconsider himself. If you leave this off, there is no doubt that this is an error. But if you left it off out of fear of him or fear of others that they might harm you, that is minor shirk. Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and his Companions.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب قول الله - تعالى - : { وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ } — islamhouse.com (1:12:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.