The Ruling on Listening to People’s Speech to Avert Harm
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
A person may need to listen to what people are saying in such cases. In the first situation, he may fear harm from some people and want to investigate the matter. Is that permissible?
The Shaykh:
The apparent meaning of the hadith is general, unless there are signs indicating danger, in which case there is no harm.
The questioner:
In the second case, the best course for you is this: if there is a wrong being committed and you are uncertain about it, or not, should you denounce it? If there is a wrong in one of the houses, and you are at ease regarding the perpetrator or the existing wrong, do you want to be certain before denouncing it, or should you turn away from it and leave it?
The Shaykh:
It is not known what is meant by the abrogating verse that requires certainty, yes.
A person may need to listen to what people are saying in such cases. In the first situation, he may fear harm from some people and want to investigate the matter. Is that permissible?
The Shaykh:
The apparent meaning of the hadith is general, unless there are signs indicating danger, in which case there is no harm.
The questioner:
In the second case, the best course for you is this: if there is a wrong being committed and you are uncertain about it, or not, should you denounce it? If there is a wrong in one of the houses, and you are at ease regarding the perpetrator or the existing wrong, do you want to be certain before denouncing it, or should you turn away from it and leave it?
The Shaykh:
It is not known what is meant by the abrogating verse that requires certainty, yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام [ ابن باز ] [ الشرح الجديد ]، تتمة باب الترهيب من مساوئ الأخلاق — islamhouse.com (4:35)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.