Explaining the changing of evil according to the three levels.

The questioner : The third question, Your Eminence:The Shaykh : His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) This hadith, some of them said: changing by the hand is for the one in authority, or for whoever has power, changing by the tongue is for the scholar, and changing by the heart is for the general public. And others said: rather, every stage of these three stages is shared by the guardian, the scholar, and the general public. So what is the sayingThe Shaykh : in that?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that the first opinion is baseless and invalid, and the correct opinion is that the hadith encompasses all Muslims, with no distinction between a ruler and the ruled, or between a scholar, a student, and an ignorant person. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) first used the word "whoever," which is one of the forms of comprehensiveness. "And from you" is also a form of comprehensiveness, meaning "you, O Muslims." Then he divided these addressees of the general, comprehensive address to all Muslims into three levels. Whoever is able to change the wrong with his hand, that is what is obligatory, with no distinction in this between a ruler and the ruled. Whoever is not able to do so descends a level and changes the wrong with his tongue. And whoever is not able to do so does so with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith. The truth is that my wonder never ceases at people who deceive the people and mislead them into thinking that this hadith addresses three classes: rulers, scholars, and the general public. They know for certain that there are matters that occur in the home of a person who is not a ruler and not a scholar, and he sees a wrong and changes it with his hand. If he is not able to change it with his hand, he does so with his tongue. What is the benefit of this baseless, invalid division, which reality refutes from all Muslims? But in reality, they resort to such a division in order to treat a wrong with another wrong, meaning according to the school of Abu Nuwas: "And I treated it with that which was the disease." What is the wrong they want to treat with it? That many of the general public are seized by Islamic pride and Islamic zeal when they see a wrong, and they change it with their hands while they are not rulers, and a greater wrong results from this change. This is, without a doubt, not permissible. But its impermissibility is not because those who changed the wrong are not rulers, but rather because this change results in a harm greater than the benefit. That is, if the one changing it was the ruler himself, and he saw that a greater wrong would result from his changing this wrong, it would not be permissible for him to change it, even though he is the ruler, and the one they claimed is addressed only by his saying: . The evidence for this is when the Messenger (peace be upon him) entered the interior of the Ka'bah and prayed two rak'ahs, as came in the two Sahihs, then he came out, and the Lady Aisha wanted to strain herself and bear the hardship of climbing into the interior of the Ka'bah, because the door, as it is now, was high and elevated. So he (peace be upon him) said to her: , meaning "Have you put the Hajar (Black Stone) inside the Ka'bah?" . So this is the highest ruler after Allah on the face of the earth, the Messenger of Allah, and he saw the wrong, which is that half of the Ka'bah or a quarter of it is outside the Ka'bah. Why did he not change it? The reason is between . So these who distort the words from after their places, and interpret the hadith other than its indication, saying that "whoever of you sees a wrong" means the rulers, first contradict what we mentioned earlier, that many of the rulings are changed by one who is not a ruler, and this is a matter agreed upon by the Muslims, as we gave the example of the master of the house. And on the contrary, they said this interpretation is to prevent these people who are zealous for Islam from directly changing the wrong with their hands. So they should have said that changing the wrong is not a wrong because they are not rulers, but rather because they change the wrong by a means from which a harm greater than the benefit results. But they actually wanted to tie reform, or if I wished I would say corruption, to the hands of the rulers, to say that this changing of the wrong is, of course, reform, and this reform does not come except from the rulers. And they know that the rulers of the present time, unfortunately, do not rule with what Allah has revealed. So by this interpretation, they want to nullify the rulings of the Shari'ah. What is it to them if they applied the hadith as it is understood by every Arab, "whoever" being a form of comprehensiveness, , a form of comprehensiveness, and he is able to change with the hand without a greater harm, let him do it. No, by Allah, he cannot... . He descends to the second level, and if he is not able even with speech, then the third level. What is it to them if they did not apply the hadith with this generality, comprehensiveness, and universality? But they tell the people and the public that whoever of you is one who commands good, let his commanding of good not bring about a wrong in the way of what? Commanding good. And then the harm would be greater than the benefit he was hoping for from commanding good. This is the answer to this question, and it has become clear that the second opinion, which says the hadith is general and comprehensive, is the stronger position, and that the first opinion is invalid. But the second opinion, which is the stronger position, is restricted by the consideration of wisdom in implementing enjoining good and forbidding evil. And now I think you will turn, if Allah wills, to the prayer, and this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, there is still something on the tape.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : There is still something on the tape, perhaps the iqamah... so that we complete, meaning so that we complete for them an hour.

The Shaykh : What do you have?