Is speaking about the people of innovation and warning against them considered backbiting or not?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you. I mean, speaking about the people of innovation, for example, saying that they interpret the verses and hadiths figuratively, or that they do such and such. Is this considered backbiting if it is among the students?
The Shaykh : Is it considered what?
The questioner : Backbiting?
The Shaykh : Backbiting or not backbiting?
The questioner : Backbiting, backbiting.
The Shaykh : Speaking about the people of innovation and those who have unsound ideas or a methodology that is not straight, this is from the category of advice and not from backbiting. Rather, it is advice for the sake of Allah, His Book, His Messenger, and the Muslims. So if we see someone who is an innovator spreading his innovation, it is obligatory for us to make it clear that he is an innovator so that people are safe from his evil. And if we see a person who has ideas that contradict what the Salaf were upon, it is obligatory for us to make that clear so that people are not deceived by him. And if we see a person who has a specific methodology whose consequences are bad, it is obligatory for us to make that clear so that people are safe from his evil. This is from the category of advice for the sake of Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the leaders, and the Muslims, both their scholars and the general public.
The questioner : Shaykh, speaking to the students among themselves?
The Shaykh : Whether it is among the students or in other gatherings, and as long as we fear the spread of this innovation, or this thought, or this methodology that contradicts the methodology of the Salaf, it is obligatory for us to make it clear so that people are not deceived by it.
The Shaykh : Is it considered what?
The questioner : Backbiting?
The Shaykh : Backbiting or not backbiting?
The questioner : Backbiting, backbiting.
The Shaykh : Speaking about the people of innovation and those who have unsound ideas or a methodology that is not straight, this is from the category of advice and not from backbiting. Rather, it is advice for the sake of Allah, His Book, His Messenger, and the Muslims. So if we see someone who is an innovator spreading his innovation, it is obligatory for us to make it clear that he is an innovator so that people are safe from his evil. And if we see a person who has ideas that contradict what the Salaf were upon, it is obligatory for us to make that clear so that people are not deceived by him. And if we see a person who has a specific methodology whose consequences are bad, it is obligatory for us to make that clear so that people are safe from his evil. This is from the category of advice for the sake of Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the leaders, and the Muslims, both their scholars and the general public.
The questioner : Shaykh, speaking to the students among themselves?
The Shaykh : Whether it is among the students or in other gatherings, and as long as we fear the spread of this innovation, or this thought, or this methodology that contradicts the methodology of the Salaf, it is obligatory for us to make it clear so that people are not deceived by it.