Do we say that the one who errs or the one who holds a religious innovation should never be listened to, so that people are not influenced by him and do not admire him, if his errors are numerous and in matters of creed?

The questioner : My question is: In our lesson with you, we learned that if a person refutes another person's error, he is not required to mention his virtues along with his errors, because that weakens the side of the refutation. Rather, the one who hears these virtues may be deceived by them, admire the erring person, and be misled by him. So, is it said that one should not listen to this erring person in all his words and speech, even in those where he did not err but was correct? This is so that others do not admire him, and so that it does not lead them to adopt his errors and support them. And this is, of course, in the case of one whose errors are great, such as errors in creed and the methodology of calling to Allah, and in matters that lead to fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), the shedding of blood, and disparaging scholars, for example?

The Shaykh : We mentioned what the brother said in the lesson. We said: If a person wants to evaluate a person as he is, it is obligatory to mention his virtues and his faults, due to the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: For this reason, when the scholars speak about a man's life, they mention his virtues and his faults. But if you are in the context of refuting him, do not mention his virtues, for what we mentioned in what you heard in the question: if you mention his virtues, it weakens the side of the refutation against him, and perhaps a person will be impressed by the virtues he has and leave the errors aside. This is the way to mention a person's virtues and faults. But if you speak about him in any gathering, and you see that mentioning his virtues has a benefit, there is no harm in mentioning them. And if you fear a harm, do not mention them. Do not mention them, because it is not obligatory upon us to know that this person is with truth or falsehood. As for what he says of truth, regardless of its attribution to him, it must be accepted. It must be accepted. Why? Because the truth must be accepted from whoever speaks it. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, accepted the statement of the polytheists when they committed the indecency: He accepted their statement: because it was truth. So Allah, the Exalted, said in His response to them: What? And He was silent regarding their statement: And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when Abu Hurayrah informed him of what Satan advised him to do, which was to recite the Verse of the Throne every night, and that a guardian from Allah would remain over him and no Satan would approach him until morning, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And when the scholar of the Jews reported that they found in the Torah: that Allah places the heavens on one finger and the earths on one finger, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) laughed, affirming this statement and believing in it. So the important thing is that the truth must be accepted from any person. But if you fear that this will be attributed to its speaker, who is a man of religious innovation, and you fear that people will be deceived by him and admire him, do not do it, because warding off harms is more important than seeking benefits.