What is the criterion for enjoining good and forbidding evil for the common people, and does one forbid it even if it results in harm to oneself?
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The questioner : May the Shaykh be respected, what is the ruling on enjoining good and forbidding evil for the common people? And is it obligatory to enjoin good and forbid evil even if it results in harm to the person?
The Shaykh : Even if?
The questioner : Even if it results in harm to a person among the common people if he enjoins good and forbids evil.
The Shaykh : It is obligatory for everyone who has the ability to enjoin good and forbid evil, but with conditions:
The first condition: that he knows that this is an evil or that it is not an evil. Because some people think something is an evil when it is not an evil according to the Shari'ah, so it is necessary that he has knowledge that this is an evil. As for merely having a taste that repels him and seeing it as an evil, this is not permissible to forbid, because taste is not a Shari'ah measure and it is not the Shari'ah evidence. But if he knows that this is an evil, then he forbids it.
Second: that he knows that the doer of this evil is actually committing the evil, that he knows that this evil has occurred in what he did, for it is possible that this doer did it in a way that is not an evil in his case.
And for this reason, when the man entered and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon on Friday and he sat down, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not forbid him from sitting, but rather he asked him first:Bulugh al-Maram 2:376.
So if we see a man holding a woman's hand in the market, it is not permissible to forbid him, because it is possible that the woman is what? One of his mahrams, his wife, or his sister, or something similar to that.
So these two matters are necessary: the first matter is that he knows that this is an evil in the ruling of Allah, and the second meaning is that he knows that this man is engaged in it. If he does not know these two matters, it is not permissible for him to speak. Yes, the question that follows.
The Shaykh : Even if?
The questioner : Even if it results in harm to a person among the common people if he enjoins good and forbids evil.
The Shaykh : It is obligatory for everyone who has the ability to enjoin good and forbid evil, but with conditions:
The first condition: that he knows that this is an evil or that it is not an evil. Because some people think something is an evil when it is not an evil according to the Shari'ah, so it is necessary that he has knowledge that this is an evil. As for merely having a taste that repels him and seeing it as an evil, this is not permissible to forbid, because taste is not a Shari'ah measure and it is not the Shari'ah evidence. But if he knows that this is an evil, then he forbids it.
Second: that he knows that the doer of this evil is actually committing the evil, that he knows that this evil has occurred in what he did, for it is possible that this doer did it in a way that is not an evil in his case.
And for this reason, when the man entered and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon on Friday and he sat down, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not forbid him from sitting, but rather he asked him first:
Have you prayed? He replied, "No." He [the Prophet (ﷺ)] said, "Stand and pray two Rak'at."
هل صليت ؟ قال : لا . قال : قم فصل ركعتينSo if we see a man holding a woman's hand in the market, it is not permissible to forbid him, because it is possible that the woman is what? One of his mahrams, his wife, or his sister, or something similar to that.
So these two matters are necessary: the first matter is that he knows that this is an evil in the ruling of Allah, and the second meaning is that he knows that this man is engaged in it. If he does not know these two matters, it is not permissible for him to speak. Yes, the question that follows.