What is the wisdom in boycotting the people of innovation and sin?
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Question:
O our Shaykh, how is hatred in Allah to be directed toward the innovators, when boycotting them would result in a greater harm than if we opposed them and advised them?
Answer:
Boycott, O brother questioner, and O brother listener, and O sister in Allah, listener: Boycott is a treatment and a remedy. It is practiced where it benefits, and left where it does not benefit. So the innovator and the open sinner deserve to be boycotted after they have been advised, after they have been directed to good, after they have been commanded to obey Allah, after they have been forbidden from disobeying Allah, and after their error and their innovation have been explained to them. If they then persist and do not accept the advice, they deserve to be boycotted.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) boycotted three of the best of the Companions when they lagged behind the expedition to Tabuk without an excuse. They were Ka'b ibn Malik and his two companions. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Muslims boycotted them for fifty nights. Then Allah turned to them in mercy, so they left the boycott and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Muslims greeted them. And Allah revealed regarding this His saying, the Exalted: [At-Tawbah: 117], and then He said after that: [At-Tawbah 9:118] the verse [At-Tawbah: 118].
The point is that repentance is a treatment. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) boycotted these three, and the Muslims boycotted them in obedience to Allah and His Messenger, because there was a benefit in boycotting them: so that they would repent, and so that others would be wary of lagging behind the military expeditions and jihad when commanded to do so. For Allah commanded them to set out, so He said: [At-Tawbah: 39], and He said: [At-Tawbah 9:41] the verse [At-Tawbah: 41]. So if the one in authority commands them to set out, it is obligatory for them to set out to fight the enemies. If they lag behind, they deserve to be boycotted and punished.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) only boycotted them, and it has not reached us that he punished any of them. Then they repented and regretted, so Allah turned to them in mercy. He left others whom he did not boycott, because there was harm and evil in boycotting them. For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not boycott them. Among them, and at their head, was Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, the head of the hypocrites. He had vile positions and he had terrible words. Yet when this reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he would pardon, guide, speak, and admonish. He did not punish him, he did not imprison him, and he did not kill him, because in killing him, imprisoning him, or expelling him from the land, there was a great danger to the Muslims. For he was a respected leader among the Khazraj, and perhaps killing him, imprisoning him, or expelling him would result in consequences that are not to be praised. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that he should not do that, but rather win him over to good with kind words and advice. He has counterparts among the hypocrites; he has peers, but he is their head.
So the point is that in boycotting, the public benefit is considered. If the public benefit dictates boycotting and staying away from the person, he is boycotted and left, so that perhaps he will repent and regret. And if the public benefit dictates not boycotting, but rather continuing the advice and continuing the reminders, then that is done. This is known by everyone through observation. So if the one who commits sins or the one who commits innovations is an emir, or a king, or the president of the republic, or something similar, or the head of a tribe—a Shaykh in the tribe—and many harms result from boycotting him, then the obligatory thing at that time is to win him over, call him to Allah, and always advise him, so that his evil does not increase, and so that he does not harm the Muslim community. And so it is with those who openly commit sins. This is the ruling regarding the people of obvious innovations and sins.
O our Shaykh, how is hatred in Allah to be directed toward the innovators, when boycotting them would result in a greater harm than if we opposed them and advised them?
Answer:
Boycott, O brother questioner, and O brother listener, and O sister in Allah, listener: Boycott is a treatment and a remedy. It is practiced where it benefits, and left where it does not benefit. So the innovator and the open sinner deserve to be boycotted after they have been advised, after they have been directed to good, after they have been commanded to obey Allah, after they have been forbidden from disobeying Allah, and after their error and their innovation have been explained to them. If they then persist and do not accept the advice, they deserve to be boycotted.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) boycotted three of the best of the Companions when they lagged behind the expedition to Tabuk without an excuse. They were Ka'b ibn Malik and his two companions. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Muslims boycotted them for fifty nights. Then Allah turned to them in mercy, so they left the boycott and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Muslims greeted them. And Allah revealed regarding this His saying, the Exalted:
Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhajireen and the Ansar who followed him in the hour of difficulty after the hearts of a party of them had almost inclined [to doubt], and then He forgave them. Indeed, He was to them Kind and Merciful.
لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنْصَارِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا كَادَ يَزِيغُ قُلُوبُ فَرِيقٍ مِنْهُمْ ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌAnd [He also forgave] the three who were left behind
وَعَلَى الثَّلَاثَةِ الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا...The point is that repentance is a treatment. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) boycotted these three, and the Muslims boycotted them in obedience to Allah and His Messenger, because there was a benefit in boycotting them: so that they would repent, and so that others would be wary of lagging behind the military expeditions and jihad when commanded to do so. For Allah commanded them to set out, so He said:
If you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment
إِلَّا تَنْفِرُوا يُعَذِّبْكُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًاGo forth, whether light or heavy, and strive
انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُواThe Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) only boycotted them, and it has not reached us that he punished any of them. Then they repented and regretted, so Allah turned to them in mercy. He left others whom he did not boycott, because there was harm and evil in boycotting them. For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not boycott them. Among them, and at their head, was Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, the head of the hypocrites. He had vile positions and he had terrible words. Yet when this reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he would pardon, guide, speak, and admonish. He did not punish him, he did not imprison him, and he did not kill him, because in killing him, imprisoning him, or expelling him from the land, there was a great danger to the Muslims. For he was a respected leader among the Khazraj, and perhaps killing him, imprisoning him, or expelling him would result in consequences that are not to be praised. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that he should not do that, but rather win him over to good with kind words and advice. He has counterparts among the hypocrites; he has peers, but he is their head.
So the point is that in boycotting, the public benefit is considered. If the public benefit dictates boycotting and staying away from the person, he is boycotted and left, so that perhaps he will repent and regret. And if the public benefit dictates not boycotting, but rather continuing the advice and continuing the reminders, then that is done. This is known by everyone through observation. So if the one who commits sins or the one who commits innovations is an emir, or a king, or the president of the republic, or something similar, or the head of a tribe—a Shaykh in the tribe—and many harms result from boycotting him, then the obligatory thing at that time is to win him over, call him to Allah, and always advise him, so that his evil does not increase, and so that he does not harm the Muslim community. And so it is with those who openly commit sins. This is the ruling regarding the people of obvious innovations and sins.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.