Is it permissible to expose the person of religious innovation and warn against him?
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The questioner : Is it permissible to expose the person of religious innovation, or to speak about him and criticize him?
The Shaykh : The person of religious innovation is in one of two states: either he is hidden from the people, or he is well-known among them. In the first case, there is no need to expose him because his harm is limited to himself. In the second case, it is necessary to expose him and warn against him so that the people who live among them are not deceived by him. This is not backbitting in any way, as some of the overly strict may imagine. The hadithSunan Abi Dawud 4874Sahih (Al-Albani) is a general text with a specific exception. I have mentioned to you the words of some jurists in two lines of poetry in which they gathered the backbitting that is exempted from prohibition. One of them said:
"Censure is not backbitting in six cases: *** the aggrieved, the one who identifies, and the one who warns"
"and the one who openly commits open sinfulness, the one who seeks a ruling, *** and the one who seeks assistance in removing a wrong".
Here, the innovator and the exposure of him fall under identifying him and warning against him. Therefore, the scholars of hadith agreed to describe many of the narrators of hadith with what they were upon of religious innovation in the religion. This is all part of their fulfillment of the obligation of clarification for the people, so that they know the righteous narrator and take from his creed, and the innovator narrator, so that he and his deviant creed are left alone...
The Shaykh : The person of religious innovation is in one of two states: either he is hidden from the people, or he is well-known among them. In the first case, there is no need to expose him because his harm is limited to himself. In the second case, it is necessary to expose him and warn against him so that the people who live among them are not deceived by him. This is not backbitting in any way, as some of the overly strict may imagine. The hadith
It is saying something about your brother which he would dislike
الغيبة ذكرك أخاك بما يكره"Censure is not backbitting in six cases: *** the aggrieved, the one who identifies, and the one who warns"
"and the one who openly commits open sinfulness, the one who seeks a ruling, *** and the one who seeks assistance in removing a wrong".
Here, the innovator and the exposure of him fall under identifying him and warning against him. Therefore, the scholars of hadith agreed to describe many of the narrators of hadith with what they were upon of religious innovation in the religion. This is all part of their fulfillment of the obligation of clarification for the people, so that they know the righteous narrator and take from his creed, and the innovator narrator, so that he and his deviant creed are left alone...