Then he read from this book a chapter from (The Conflict of Benefits and Harms)?

The questioner : It contains matters that, if you wish, we can discuss; that is, important matters regarding the attributes of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil. This does not mean that this is the primary importance, but rather we are speaking about patience among these categories of these... , and then about the conflict between benefit and harm in this chapter.
This means he speaks about it in a good way, and I would like you to hear it and see the perspectiveThe Shaykh : on the subject, and also about the common errors today regarding the subject of benefit and harm. This is a discussion we would like to hear, meaning the opinionThe Shaykh : on this subject as well. So, either we start speaking about the attributes of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil, or we start speaking about the conflict between benefit and harm. What do you think?

The Shaykh : What is Abu Malik’s opinion?
Abu Malik: By Allah, the attributes of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil may be known, but this is important: the second section, the conflict between harm and benefit.

The questioner : Or we can take from the attributes of the one who enjoins good and forbids evil and read, Shaykh, only the attribute of patience.

The Shaykh : Even if it is understood.

The questioner : Fine, okay. The conflict between benefit and harm in this chapter. It says: "And this topic is of the utmost importance, and deficiency in its jurisprudence leads to many errors in action and abstention. This is because many people possess the ability to distinguish the clear benefit that is hardly tainted by harm, and is not mixed with damage, and they possess the ability to distinguish the pure, clear harm that is hardly tainted by benefit, and is hardly mixed with anything of profit. However, when benefits and harms overlap and mix, it becomes difficult or impossible for most people to distinguish the stronger of them and to do what the Shari'ah requires. The more they mix and the closer their amounts become, the more difficult it is to distinguish between them and to do the stronger of them. And if it is apparent that the further people are from the time of the Message, the greater the strangeness of the Shari'ahs, the more apparent the harms become, and the more the benefit becomes entangled with the harm, and the more difficult it is to attain it except by bearing a degree of harm, then this confirms the importance of the jurisprudence of this issue for those who undertake da'wah and hisbah through enjoining good and forbidding evil in this era. The general rule in this is that enjoining good and forbidding evil is among the greatest of the commanded acts by which Allah has made us worship, and the obligatory and recommended acts must have their benefit outweighing their harm.
Shuqara: And what are the obligatory acts?
Khashan: The obligatory and recommended acts must have their benefit outweighing their harm. It is written like this; it may be 'the obligatory and the recommended.' The obligatory and the recommended acts must have their benefit outweighing their harm. For by this the messengers were sent and the books were revealed, and everything that Allah has commanded is rectitude. And Allah has praised rectitude, the righteous, and those who bring about rectitude in more than one place, and He has condemned corruption and those who bring about corruption in more than one place. So where the harm of the command or prohibition... "

The Shaykh : How is the phrase 'in more than one place' by Allah?
Ali Khashan: In many places, in more than one place.

The Shaykh : Repeat the phrase.
Ali Khashan: "And Allah has praised rectitude, the righteous, and those who bring about rectitude in more than one place, and He has condemned corruption and those who bring about corruption in more than one place.

The Shaykh : Ah, it does not need interpretation.
Khashan: So where the harm of the command or prohibition is greater than its benefit, it is not among what Allah has commanded, even if it involves leaving an obligatory act or doing a forbidden act, for the believer is required to fear Allah in His servants, but it is not required of him to guide them. And where the benefit of the command and prohibition is greater than its harm, it is among what Allah and His Messenger have commanded, for the Shari'ah came to bring about benefits and attain them, and to repel harms and reduce them." Then, of course, he places a reference and returns to the sources: "Al-Muwafaqat" by al-Shatibi, "Qawa'id al-Ahkam" by al-Imam al-Aziz ibn 'Abd al-Salam, "Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din" by al-Ghazali, "I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in" by Ibn al-Qayyim, and others. "So when benefits and harms, good deeds and bad deeds, conflict or compete, it is obligatory to prefer the stronger of them. For the command and prohibition, even if it involves attaining a benefit and repelling a harm, one must look at what opposes it. If what is lost of benefits or what is attained of harms is greater, it is not commanded; rather, it becomes forbidden if its harm is greater than its benefit. But considering the amounts of benefits and harms is by the scale of the Shari'ah. So when a person is able to follow the texts, he does not deviate from them; otherwise, he exercises independent legal reasoning to know the similar and analogous cases.

The Shaykh : May Allah honor you.
Khashan: And it is rare that the texts are lacking for one who is an expert in them and in their indications of rulings. And so, if a person or a group combines a good deed and an evil deed, such that they do not distinguish between them, but either do both or leave both, then one must look. If the good deed is greater, he commands it, even if it entails what is less of the evil, and he does not forbid this evil that entails losing what is greater of obedience. And if the evil is greater, he forbids it, even if it entails losing what is less of obedience, and he does not command doing this obedience that entails what is greater of it. Yes, and he did not command.
Shuqara: By Allah, repeat it.
Khashan: And if the evil is greater, he forbids it, even if it entails losing what is less of obedience, and he does not command doing this obedience that entails what is greater of it from the evil. And if the matter is ambiguous, the believer seeks clarification until the truth becomes clear to him, so he does not proceed to obedience except with knowledge and intention." And he says: Look at "Al-Fatawa" of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah.

The Shaykh : Until it becomes clear to him. It is better that we say "he suspends judgment until it becomes clear."
Ali Khashan: "And if the matter is ambiguous, the believer seeks clarification." "Seeks clarification" means in the sense of...
Abu Malik: Here the wording is more precise, meaningThe Shaykh : He wants to say the wording that he suspends judgment until it becomes clear to him.

The Shaykh : Instead of "seeks clarification," "suspends judgment."

The questioner : No, "seeks clarification" means he searches until it becomes clear; the meaning of "seeks clarification" is he requests clarification.
Abu Malik: Here it suggests continuity in...

The questioner : Continuity in the search. "The believer seeks clarification until the truth becomes clear to him." "Seeks clarification" means he requests the data. "So he does not proceed to obedience except with knowledge and intention." After it becomes clear, it is understood from his speech that he suspends judgment, he cannot...

The Shaykh : Fine, if we put "suspends judgment," what will the meaning be?

The questioner : Fine, the meaning will be, but in his speech "seeks clarification" has something other than the subject of suspending judgment, which is the search, meaning.

The Shaykh : And "suspends judgment" has something that is not in "seeks clarification," but the sentence after it clarifies the meaning of the seeking clarification that you are circling around. But if he said "suspends judgment," it is as if he says he does not cut off with an opinion, and he suspends judgment until it becomes clear to him.

The questioner : Yes, and "seeks clarification," "suspends judgment" and "seeks clarification," it may be more eloquent and stronger.
"So the conflict, then, is either between two good deeds that cannot be combined, so we prefer the better of them by losing the other; or between two bad deeds that cannot be repelled together, so we repel the worse of them by tolerating the other; or between a good deed and a bad deed that cannot be separated, and leaving one entails leaving the other, so we look at the stronger of the benefit of the good deed or the harm of the bad deed. And the chapter of conflict is very broad, especially in these times when the effects of revelation have decreased, the effects of strangeness have increased, and the caliphate of prophethood has passed.
Shuqara: Decreased...
Khashan: The effects of revelation have decreased in them, the effects of strangeness have increased, and the caliphate of prophethood has passed. And this conflict and mixing between good deeds and bad deeds is among the causes of the wide difference among Muslims.
So a group looks at the good deeds... "
Abu Malik: What does he mean by the caliphate of prophethood? What came after prophethood, or what?

The questioner : No, I mean the Rightly Guided Caliphate.

The Shaykh : There is no caliphate now.
Ali Khashan: The Rightly Guided Caliphate now, no caliphate, and therefore...

The Shaykh : Al-Albani: I wish there were also a non-righteous caliphate.

The questioner : You have done well.
Abu Malik: We do not say that it was, for example, that the hadith , so here he added prophethood to the caliphate.

The questioner: The caliphate of prophethood; the successor of the Messenger of Allah, it must be... Yes, he says, "And this conflict and mixture between good deeds and bad deeds is one of the causes of the wide disagreement among Muslims: some people look at the good deeds and prioritize attaining them, even if they include great bad deeds; and some people look at the bad deeds and prioritize abandoning them, even if abandoning them entails missing out on great good deeds. And the moderates are those who compare the amount of benefit with the amount of harm, so they implement what has more good in it, even if it includes some evil, and they leave what has more evil in it, even if it entails missing out on a little good. And if the matter becomes ambiguous to them, they refrain until it becomes clear.

The Shaykh:...
Shuqara: Until it becomes clear; without blaming others in these matters of ijtihad where the views of those who examine differ. And he said, look at the Majmu' al-Fatawa. And Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) has precious chapters in the sections on benefit and harm, and their guidelines, rules, and examples, which the occasion does not allow us to mention or mention anything of them, so I refer the eager reader seeking clarity to some of their locations; such as in "al-Fatawa," a chapter on the conflict between good deeds and bad deeds, and in it also is the economy in actions, and also a very important fatwa on taking on some of the authorities in which there is oppression of the people, and the one who takes it on can alleviate this oppression, and also a rule on the caliphate and kingship and obeying the rulers and the like, and look at useful speech related to the topic by Imam al-Ghazali in Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, and by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah in I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in, and Miftah Dar al-Sa'adah, and al-Da' wa al-Dawa, and Rawdat al-Muhibbin. "Now we come to the errors, among the common errors today in the topic of benefit and harm. Do we continue or do you have more to say here?

The Shaykh : How?
Khashan: The common errors.

The Shaykh: Yes, but I have a note, also I would have liked, based on the disagreement he pointed out at the end of his research, that some people prioritize benefit over harm even though harm is predominant over benefit, and vice versa, as he pointed out at the end of his speech. I would have liked it to be said here and pointed out that the reason for this goes back to the disagreement of the disputants in knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah and their understanding, and understanding of reality which must be known well in order to be able to distinguish what is predominant, good or evil? I would have liked this issue to be pointed out as well, because many people, even beginners in seeking knowledge, even those who have no knowledge, say to you, my brother, this has benefit or this has harm, they do not have this extensive knowledge first in the Book and the Sunnah and their understanding, let alone being knowledgeable about the reality of the Muslim community and its internal problems. What is the professor's opinion, I mean perhaps you could grace us with something?
Abu Malik: I mean, I want to say, in fact, I see that this speech he mentioned, also, it would perhaps have been better if he had been more concise, even if he had been concise in it, it would have been better; because he introduced speech upon speech, and perhaps if he had been more concise, it would have been clearer in this chapter, this is my estimate.
Khashan: In any case.
Shuqara: And secondly, because he has spoken so far about the harms and benefits or the benefits and harms, meaning if he had also given examples, he kept it free of examples.

The questioner: Now some speech will come about the common errors.
Abu Malik: ... In fact, it is very important because it is not sufficient, because this is theoretical speech, and only the student of knowledge knows the examples in it, whereas the important thing is the example in this.

The questioner: Now in the errors, some of it may be addressed, he said: "Among the common errors today in the topic of benefit and harm, and this rule in the topic of the conflict of benefits and harms, many people are ignorant of it."
Abu Malik: Then, excuse me, this lengthening did not clarify that this falls under this explanation he explained under his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , meaning this explanation and lengthening falls under this, because he mentioned refraining and doubts and so on, in any case, perhaps he will point to examples.

The Shaykh: I think you have a machine oiler.
Al-Halabi: I mean the chapter... No, we do not have it, our Shaykh...

The Shaykh: Okay, I will get you some oil in a small cup and tilt it like this at this hinge.