Testifying about one whom you know to be trustworthy but who commits a sin
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. If a person I fully trust comes to me and says he saw someone committing a sin, is it permissible for me to testify that this person committed that sin?
Answer:
My brother, the basis is to cover up. Praise be to Allah; whoever covers a Muslim, Allah will cover him in this world and the Hereafter. If the sin is between him and Allah, he should cover it up, but he should advise him, he should advise him, and he should be ordered to repent. As for raising the matter, it is better that he cover it up. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. If a person I fully trust comes to me and says he saw someone committing a sin, is it permissible for me to testify that this person committed that sin?
Answer:
My brother, the basis is to cover up. Praise be to Allah; whoever covers a Muslim, Allah will cover him in this world and the Hereafter. If the sin is between him and Allah, he should cover it up, but he should advise him, he should advise him, and he should be ordered to repent. As for raising the matter, it is better that he cover it up. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 119 من 123 / شرح كتاب زاد المستقنع / الشهادات / صالح الفوزان / الفقه / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (43:04)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.