Correcting a Misunderstanding of the Rule: Beginning the Call to What Is Most Important

The Shaykh : But this does not mean that if a mistake occurs in a gathering, even if that mistake is not among the major sins, that we must advise our brothers. As happened to me once, and as they say, "If I forget, I will not forget." I was once in the Prophet’s Mosque; I do not know if it was a day when I was a professor at the university, or on my way to Hajj or 'Umrah, or after returning from one of them. I was in the Prophet’s Mosque, a handsome young man with a beard, and I prayed beside me. When we sat for the tashahhud, I noticed a glint in his hand and a gold ring. After we finished the prayer, I said to him, "My brother, may Allah bless you. Praise be to Allah, our Lord has gathered us with you, and it seems you are not from this country." He said, "By Allah, I think he said he was Moroccan." In any case, he was not from this region. So how are you with us, and praise be to Allah, you are praying and performing 'Umrah, and you are wearing a gold ring? He surprised me by saying, "O Shaykh, there is something more important." This is a problem. There is something more important. He is truthful, truthful, that there is something more important. But at this moment, what is the most important? The most important is that he knows that this is a wrong, and that you are adding to your righteousness, your Hajj, your 'Umrah, and your prayer, the cessation of what Allah has forbidden. Is there anything more forbidden than this? Without a doubt. What is more forbidden? Zina, theft... Praise be to Allah, Allah has purified you, but you were surprised... This is the most important thing for this moment. By this standard, we must be callers to good, whether it is the most important or the important.