The Ruling on Euphemism and Interpretation to Escape from Bad Companions
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A person, may Allah guide him, has bad friends. He makes excuses to them, saying that no one is in the house and that he is busy. He fears that he is lying in this manner.
This person, whom Allah has granted guidance, has bad companions. If he makes excuses to them when they come to him by saying he is busy, there is no blame on him if he does so and intends by "busy" that every person is busy with the remembrance of Allah, busy with his family, busy with fixing the house, or the like. He may interpret the situation this way, and there is no harm in it; because he wants to be safe from their evil. However, there is something better than this: that he invites them and presents to them the path of guidance.He invites them to guidance and says to them, for example: Praise be to Allah who guided me, and I found that guidance is light, an expansion of the chest, comfort, and tranquility. I was like you in the past, but I found good and guidance, so strive for this good.
He invites them, and perhaps they will be guided. If he does not see a response from them, he can visit one of them privately at home and invite him; because if you are unable to gather them, you must deal with them individually. This is wisdom; because if they are all together, some of them may strengthen the others in refusing to accept, and they will remain as they are. But if you approach them one by one, they will respond to you, one after another. This is what the Quraysh did when they broke the pact they had agreed upon to boycott the Banu Hashim until they besieged them in the valley of Abu Talib—and you may have read about this in the books of biography—Some of them stood up and said: It is not possible, for the Banu Hashim are among us and among our nobles. How can we let them be besieged in the valley? So each person began to go away individually,He says: breaking the pact, abandoning this, until they all abandoned it.
So this is better if he is able to reform them and guide them, and it is the preferred course.But if he is not able, there is no harm in saying: I am busy.Or saying to the people of the house if he knows that they are the ones: Say: So-and-so is not present.
So this is permissible if he intends that he is not present in one of the rooms of the house, and that is the truth, even if he is present in another room.
This person, whom Allah has granted guidance, has bad companions. If he makes excuses to them when they come to him by saying he is busy, there is no blame on him if he does so and intends by "busy" that every person is busy with the remembrance of Allah, busy with his family, busy with fixing the house, or the like. He may interpret the situation this way, and there is no harm in it; because he wants to be safe from their evil. However, there is something better than this: that he invites them and presents to them the path of guidance.He invites them to guidance and says to them, for example: Praise be to Allah who guided me, and I found that guidance is light, an expansion of the chest, comfort, and tranquility. I was like you in the past, but I found good and guidance, so strive for this good.
He invites them, and perhaps they will be guided. If he does not see a response from them, he can visit one of them privately at home and invite him; because if you are unable to gather them, you must deal with them individually. This is wisdom; because if they are all together, some of them may strengthen the others in refusing to accept, and they will remain as they are. But if you approach them one by one, they will respond to you, one after another. This is what the Quraysh did when they broke the pact they had agreed upon to boycott the Banu Hashim until they besieged them in the valley of Abu Talib—and you may have read about this in the books of biography—Some of them stood up and said: It is not possible, for the Banu Hashim are among us and among our nobles. How can we let them be besieged in the valley? So each person began to go away individually,He says: breaking the pact, abandoning this, until they all abandoned it.
So this is better if he is able to reform them and guide them, and it is the preferred course.But if he is not able, there is no harm in saying: I am busy.Or saying to the people of the house if he knows that they are the ones: Say: So-and-so is not present.
So this is permissible if he intends that he is not present in one of the rooms of the house, and that is the truth, even if he is present in another room.
