Is it permissible to mention the faults of the Muslims in the presence of people of the Book?
Praise
be to Allah.
I know that a
Muslim is the brother of his fellow Muslim and the enemy of the disbeliever.
But if a Muslim seems to have a bad attitude and mistreats people, and a
disbeliever is the opposite of that, the Muslim is more entitled to be
spoken of well and treated well in all circumstances.
Allah, may He be
exalted, and His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) have
enjoined taking the believers as friends and opposing the disbelievers in
many texts in the Book of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, and the
Sunnah of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), let
alone the words of the scholars and their unanimous agreement on that. Part
of their ‘aqeedah (belief) is taking the believers as friends and opposing
the disbelievers.
Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O you who
believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as Awliya’ (friends,
protectors, helpers, etc.), they are but Awliya’ to one another. And if any
amongst you takes them as Awliya’, then surely he is one of them. Verily,
Allah guides not those people who are the Zaalimoon (polytheists and
wrongdoers and unjust)”
[al-Maa’idah
5:51]
“Verily, your
Wali (Protector or Helper) is Allah, His Messenger, and the believers, –
those who perform As-Salat (Iqaamat-as-Salaah), and give Zakaah, and they
bow down (submit themselves with obedience to Allah in prayer).
And whosoever
takes Allah, His Messenger, and those who have believed, as Protectors, then
the party of Allah will be the victorious.
O you who
believe! Take not for Awliya’ (protectors and helpers) those who take your
religion for a mockery and fun from among those who received the Scripture
(Jews and Christians) before you, nor from among the disbelievers; and fear
Allah if you indeed are true believers”
[al-Maa’idah
5:55-57].
Shaykh Ibn Baaz
(may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The Qur’an calls
us to take the believers as friends and to oppose the disbelievers wherever
they are and however they are.
End quote from
Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 1/297
Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O you who
believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islam), Allah
will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him; humble towards
the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the Way of Allah,
and never afraid of the blame of the blamers. That is the Grace of Allah
which He bestows on whom He wills. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His
creatures needs, All-Knower”
[al-Maa’idah
5:54].
Shaykh as-Sa‘di
(may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The (believers)
are very humble when dealing with other believers, meaning that they love
them, are sincere, soft, gentle, compassionate, merciful and easygoing
towards them. But the way they should behave towards those who disbelieve in
Allah and reject His revelations and His Messengers, is to be stern towards
them. The believers are all united in opposing them and they strive hard in
every way to prevail over them. Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning): “severe
against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves”
[al-Fath 48:27].
Sternness towards the enemies of Allah is something that brings a person
closer to Him, as he is aware of the wrath of Allah towards them. However,
this sternness should not prevent us calling them to Islam in a gentle way.
In both cases, that serves their best interests and they will benefit from
it.
End quote from
Tafseer as-Sa‘di, p. 235
Muslim (2564)
narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not envy one another, do not artificially
inflate prices, do not hate one another, do not turn away from one another,
do not undercut one another. Be, O slaves of Allaah, brothers. The Muslim is
the brother of his fellow-Muslim. He does not wrong him, let him down or
despise him. Piety (taqwa) is here” – and he pointed to his chest three
times. “It is sufficient evil for a man to despise his Muslim brother. The
whole of a Muslim is sacred to another Muslim, his blood, his wealth and his
honour.”
Al-Bukhaari (6011)
and Muslim (2586) narrated that an-Nu ‘maan ibn Basheer said: The Messenger
of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon) said:
“The likeness of the believers in their mutual love, mercy and compassion is
that of the body; when one part of it is in pain, the rest of the body joins
it in restlessness and fever.”
What the Muslim
must do is show care towards his Muslim brother, help him, meet his needs
and conceal his mistakes. If he makes a mistake or commits a sin, he should
offer him sincere advice, enjoin him to do what is good and forbid him to do
what is evil, and he should not leave him to his shaytaan or his nafs (self)
that is inclined towards evil. If he commits a sin, major or minor, he
should not disavow him or fail to show him the friendship and care that are
his Islamic duty; rather he should disavow his wrongdoing, sin and enmity,
whilst maintaining the basic principle of friendship and love because of the
faith he has. If he gives up his sin and mistake, he should restore the ties
of friendship and support, according to the situation.
With regard to the
disbeliever, a Muslim has nothing to do with him because of his false
religion and his being far away from the straight path of Allah. What
comparison can there be between him and a believer, even if the latter falls
short and is negligent?
With regard to
speaking ill of his Muslim brother and putting him down in front of a
disbeliever, whether he is of the people of the Book or otherwise, this is
bad manners and is often indicative of a problem with one’s own ‘aqeedah.
Many Muslims are enchanted by non-Muslims, because of what they appear
outwardly to be, then if they see from another Muslim something that they
dislike, they criticize him for his shortcomings and think that an
non-Muslim is better than him.
But what is
enjoined is for the Muslims to conceal one another’s faults, so how can one
Muslim strive to expose another in front of the enemies of the Muslims,
whether they are the people of the Book or otherwise? How can he give the
enemies the opportunity to rejoice in the misfortunes of his fellow
believer, or show them his faults and shortcomings? Rather Imam an-Nawawi
(may Allah have mercy on him) said:
If a teacher says
to the children, “The Jews are much better than the Muslims, because they
give their children’s teacher his rights,” he has become a disbeliever!
End quote from
Rawdat at-Taalibeen, 10/69
In fact this is
the expected outcome of mentioning the bad deeds and faults of the Muslims
in front of the enemies of Allah among the disbelievers. It ends up with the
one who says that preferring the disbelievers over the Muslims, especially
when he starts to compare them; what usually happens is that he reduces all
characteristics to one, which he exaggerates to the exclusion of others and
bases his judgement of people on that one characteristic.
The wise person
should beware of helping (an enemy) against his brother or being a fitnah to
the disbelievers by mentioning the faults of the Muslims in front of them,
because by doing so he is barring them from the religion of Allah and
turning them away from it.
And Allah knows
best.
