Advice to the Members of the Committee for Promoting Virtue and Prohibiting Evil
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Your Eminence! You know that many members of the Committee for Promoting Virtue and Prohibiting Evil face situations of seclusion, and among these are women who are dressed in non-covering clothing and are openly displaying their adornment and causing fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). What is your advice to these members who face such problems, and who sometimes, or perhaps often, are delayed in performing the prayers in the mosques?The Shaykh: What do you mean by seclusion?The questioner: Whether the seclusion is in a home or elsewhere.
The Shaykh: Is the seclusion a man being alone with a woman?The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: In any case, I believe there are directives from the General Presidency regarding this matter. I see that the member should follow these instructions and directives. If he finds something in them that is inappropriate, it is obligatory for him to write about it, explaining that it is inappropriate and that perhaps these instructions were issued twenty years or more ago, and circumstances have certainly changed. The situation of women today is not like the situation of women five years ago, let alone twenty years or more ago. So, what I see is that it is obligatory for the member to follow what the system or directive has brought, and if he sees something inappropriate, he has to write about it.
The questioner: From the perspective of the individual.
The Shaykh: This is the position; because the individual assumes this authority according to what the one in authority has delegated to him,And the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) said: The one who takes charge of a matter of the state does not have more authority than what has been delegated to him.
They even mentioned this in the context of judging: The judge does not judge except in what he has been directed to judge,They say: Either he is appointed to oversee the general work in general, or to oversee the general work in a specific matter, or to oversee a specific matter in general, or to oversee a specific matter in a specific matter.
Meaning: A person may be appointed to judge only in matters of marriage. This judge who was appointed to judge in matters of marriage cannot judge between two people in matters of sales; because his actions are limited to what has been delegated to him.
And praise be to Allah, as long as this is something he has been directed to do, his conscience is clear. But there is no harm in him speaking—for example—if he sees strong evidence indicating that this man and this woman are not in a proper state; he can speak to them calmly if it does not result in greater harm; because some of the brothers have jealousy and impulsiveness, so as soon as he sees a man with a woman, he stops the car and speaks and says: (Why?) and the like, and this is inappropriate.
As for the prayer, there is nothing wrong with the members being delayed in order to establish the people for prayer. Even if they miss the prayer, they pray in congregation. And perhaps this is indicated by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): (I was about to order that the prayer be established, then order a man to lead the people, then I would set out with men carrying bundles of firewood to a people who do not witness the prayer, and I would burn their houses over them) .
The Shaykh: Is the seclusion a man being alone with a woman?The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: In any case, I believe there are directives from the General Presidency regarding this matter. I see that the member should follow these instructions and directives. If he finds something in them that is inappropriate, it is obligatory for him to write about it, explaining that it is inappropriate and that perhaps these instructions were issued twenty years or more ago, and circumstances have certainly changed. The situation of women today is not like the situation of women five years ago, let alone twenty years or more ago. So, what I see is that it is obligatory for the member to follow what the system or directive has brought, and if he sees something inappropriate, he has to write about it.
The questioner: From the perspective of the individual.
The Shaykh: This is the position; because the individual assumes this authority according to what the one in authority has delegated to him,And the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) said: The one who takes charge of a matter of the state does not have more authority than what has been delegated to him.
They even mentioned this in the context of judging: The judge does not judge except in what he has been directed to judge,They say: Either he is appointed to oversee the general work in general, or to oversee the general work in a specific matter, or to oversee a specific matter in general, or to oversee a specific matter in a specific matter.
Meaning: A person may be appointed to judge only in matters of marriage. This judge who was appointed to judge in matters of marriage cannot judge between two people in matters of sales; because his actions are limited to what has been delegated to him.
And praise be to Allah, as long as this is something he has been directed to do, his conscience is clear. But there is no harm in him speaking—for example—if he sees strong evidence indicating that this man and this woman are not in a proper state; he can speak to them calmly if it does not result in greater harm; because some of the brothers have jealousy and impulsiveness, so as soon as he sees a man with a woman, he stops the car and speaks and says: (Why?) and the like, and this is inappropriate.
As for the prayer, there is nothing wrong with the members being delayed in order to establish the people for prayer. Even if they miss the prayer, they pray in congregation. And perhaps this is indicated by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): (I was about to order that the prayer be established, then order a man to lead the people, then I would set out with men carrying bundles of firewood to a people who do not witness the prayer, and I would burn their houses over them) .