The ruling on boycotting neighbors who do not pray at all and informing the imam about them
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The ruling on boycotting neighbors who do not pray at all and informing the imam about them
The questioner: What is your opinion, may Allah reward you, regarding a man whose neighbors are negligent in prayer, some of whom do not attend the prayer at all, neither the midday nor the afternoon, nor the dawn nor the sunset? He has advised them and sent some of the brothers to them, but they refused to let them enter his house. This man has stopped visiting them because they are close to him, close neighbors. What is your opinion, may Allah reward you, regarding this man boycotting them?The Shaykh: I see that he did the best by advising them and continuing to advise them. If they are guided, that is what is desired. If they are not guided, he bears no sin for their sin.
The question remains: does the right of the neighbor drop because the neighbor is a sinner? It does not drop. The neighbor has a right, even if he is a sinner, even if he is a disbeliever; he has the right of neighborly relations. However, if we suppose that by boycotting them their conditions improve and the boycott becomes a cure, then that is good and there is no harm. But as you see today, boycotting only increases the sinner’s intensity and hatred for his companion. That is, we hear and have experienced that boycotting does not benefit now. If people, when a sinner is boycotted, returned to the state of Ka'b ibn Malik and his two companions,We would say: there is no harm, but the matter is the opposite. So I see that he should give them their right and not be excessive in calling them; he should call them once after another and not overdo it so that they become fed up.
The questioner: And what is the imam’s position regarding these people?The Shaykh: The imam is also in the same situation. The imam calls them in the best manner, without doing so publicly in front of a group. For example, he goes to one of them in his house or invites him to his house. And people today, unfortunately, generally only respond to gentleness, except for a person of authority and command; this one must use either gentleness or strictness according to what the situation requires.
The questioner: If the committee asks the imam to inform them of the names of those who do not pray, after they have been advised twice, or three times, or ten times, and they continue to not pray,Five prayers! The Shaykh: I see that if the imam is asked by an official body to write the names of the defaulters after he has advised them, I see that it is obligatory for him to do so; because this is from the category of cooperating in righteousness and piety. And praise be to Allah, Allah has made it easy for him,We did not say: You must go to their houses and show them. We do not say this. The minimum obligation is to inform the one in charge.
The questioner: What is your opinion, may Allah reward you, regarding a man whose neighbors are negligent in prayer, some of whom do not attend the prayer at all, neither the midday nor the afternoon, nor the dawn nor the sunset? He has advised them and sent some of the brothers to them, but they refused to let them enter his house. This man has stopped visiting them because they are close to him, close neighbors. What is your opinion, may Allah reward you, regarding this man boycotting them?The Shaykh: I see that he did the best by advising them and continuing to advise them. If they are guided, that is what is desired. If they are not guided, he bears no sin for their sin.
The question remains: does the right of the neighbor drop because the neighbor is a sinner? It does not drop. The neighbor has a right, even if he is a sinner, even if he is a disbeliever; he has the right of neighborly relations. However, if we suppose that by boycotting them their conditions improve and the boycott becomes a cure, then that is good and there is no harm. But as you see today, boycotting only increases the sinner’s intensity and hatred for his companion. That is, we hear and have experienced that boycotting does not benefit now. If people, when a sinner is boycotted, returned to the state of Ka'b ibn Malik and his two companions,We would say: there is no harm, but the matter is the opposite. So I see that he should give them their right and not be excessive in calling them; he should call them once after another and not overdo it so that they become fed up.
The questioner: And what is the imam’s position regarding these people?The Shaykh: The imam is also in the same situation. The imam calls them in the best manner, without doing so publicly in front of a group. For example, he goes to one of them in his house or invites him to his house. And people today, unfortunately, generally only respond to gentleness, except for a person of authority and command; this one must use either gentleness or strictness according to what the situation requires.
The questioner: If the committee asks the imam to inform them of the names of those who do not pray, after they have been advised twice, or three times, or ten times, and they continue to not pray,Five prayers! The Shaykh: I see that if the imam is asked by an official body to write the names of the defaulters after he has advised them, I see that it is obligatory for him to do so; because this is from the category of cooperating in righteousness and piety. And praise be to Allah, Allah has made it easy for him,We did not say: You must go to their houses and show them. We do not say this. The minimum obligation is to inform the one in charge.