Hadith 34 of Nawawi : « Whoever among you sees a wrong, let him change it with his hand;… »

The priority of the first, and the pious scruple of silence

And the first has precedence, and a man knowing the religion of Allah falls silent concerning it: if he sees one acting in good, he loves him for it; and if he sees one acting in falsehood, he detests him for it: that is what is saved regarding his verdict." And this is gharib, its chain severed. Al-Isma'ili reports it from the hadith of Haroun al-'Abdi, very weak, from the mawla of 'Omar, from 'Omar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "This community is on the point of perishing, except three persons: a man who denies by his hand, his tongue and his heart; if he is too weak by his hand, then by his tongue and his heart; and if he is too weak by his tongue and his hand, then by his heart." And he also reports, from the narration of al-'Awza'i, from 'Omayr ibn Hani, from 'Ali, heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "After me will come trials in which the believer cannot change anything, neither by his hand nor by his tongue." I say: "O Messenger of Allah, how is that?" He said, "They deny it in their hearts." I say: "O Messenger of Allah, does that diminish their faith?" He said, "No; otherwise as the drop diminishes from the rock." And this chain is severed. At-Tabarani reports the meaning of the hadith from 'Oubada ibn as-Samit, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), with a weak chain.

The significance of these hadiths

All these hadiths indicate the obligation of denying the blameworthy according to one's capacity, and that denial by the heart is unavoidable: whoever does not deny the blameworthy in his heart shows that faith has departed from him. It is reported from Abu Jouhayfa that 'Ali said: "The first of the things in which you will be defeated of jihad: the jihad by your hands, then the jihad by your tongues, then the jihad by your hearts; he whose heart knows not the good and denies not the blamable will be overturned, his upper part brought low." And Ibn Mas'oud heard a man say, "Ruined is he who does not command the good and does not forbid the blameworthy," and Ibn Mas'oud said: "Ruined is he who knows not in his heart the good and the blameworthy." It indicates that knowing the good and the blameworthy by the heart is an obligation falling from no one; whoever knows it not is lost. As for denial by the tongue and the hand, it is due only according to capacity.

Ibn Mas'oud said: "It is near that whoever of you lives will see a blameworthy thing he can do nothing about, but that Allah knows of him that he is a hater of it." In the Sunan of Abu Dawoud, from al-'Irs ibn 'Amira, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "When disobedience is committed on earth, the one who sees it and hates it is like the one who was absent from it; and the one who was absent from it and approved of it is like the one who saw it." The one who sees the disobedience and hates it in his heart is like the one absent from it, when he is unable to deny it by tongue and hand. And the one absent from it who approves of it is like the one who saw it, being able to deny it and not denying it: for approving of acts of disobedience is among the ugliest of prohibitions, missing in it the denial of sin by the heart, an obligation of every Muslim falling from no one in any state.

Ibn Abi ad-Dunya reports from the hadith of Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever witnesses a disobedience and hates it is as one absent from it; and whoever is absent from it and loves it is as one present," similar to the previous one. It thus appears that denial by the heart is the obligation of every Muslim in every state. As for denial by the hand and the tongue: according to capacity, as in the hadith of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "No people committing disobediences among them, able to change them yet not changing them, but that Allah soon covers them with punishment." Abu Dawoud reports it with this wording. And he says: Chou'ba said concerning it: "No people committing disobediences among them, they more numerous and mightier than those who commit them, without changing them, but that Allah covers them with punishment."

And it is also reported from the hadith of Jarir: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "No man being in a people among whom disobediences are committed, able to change them yet not changing them, but that Allah strikes them with punishment before their death." Imam Ahmad reports it with the wording: "No people committing disobediences, they more honoured and more numerous than those who commit them, without changing them, but that Allah covers them with punishment." And it is also reported from the hadith of 'Adiyy ibn 'Amira: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Allah does not punish the common people for the deed of the particular until they see the blameworthy among them, and are able to deny it, and do not deny it; when they do that, Allah punishes the particular and the common."

And it is also reported, from him and Ibn Majah, from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Allah will question the servant on the Day of Resurrection until he says: what prevented you, seeing the blameworthy, from denying it? When Allah makes the servant recite his argument, he says: O Lord, I hoped in You and I feared the people." As for what at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report, also from the hadith of Abu Sa'id, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said in a sermon: "Listen: let no man be held back by the reverence of people from speaking the truth when he knows it." Abu Sa'id wept and said: "By Allah, we have seen things and we kept silent." And Imam Ahmad reports it, adding: "for it brings no term nearer, nor drives away a provision, that one speak the truth or recall a greatness."

And Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah also report from the hadith of Abu Sa'id, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Let none of you despise his own soul." They said, "O Messenger of Allah, how could any one of us despise his own soul?" He said, "He sees a matter for Allah requiring speech and says nothing of it; Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says to him on the Day of Resurrection: what prevented you from speaking in such and such a matter? He says: the fear of people. Allah says: it is Me you should have feared." These two hadiths are understood as the distractor of denial being reverence alone, not fear abolishing the denial. Sa'id ibn Joubayr said: I say to Ibn 'Abbas: shall I counsel the sultan towards good and forbid him the blameworthy? He said: if you fear he will kill you, no. Then I returned and he said the like to me, then I returned again and he said the like, and said: if you are resolved upon it: between you and him. And Tawous said: a man came to Ibn 'Abbas saying: shall I not be raised against this sultan to command him and forbid him? He said: do not be a trial to him. He said: and what if he commands me a disobedience of Allah? He said: that is what you want: be then a free man.

The jihad by the hand of the rulers

And we have already mentioned the hadith of Ibn Mas'oud contained therein: "After them will come successors who say what they do not do; whoever fights them by the hand is a believer..." the hadith. It indicates the jihad of the rulers by the hand. Imam Ahmad criticized this hadith in the version of Abu Dawoud and said: it contradicts the hadiths in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded patience under the injustice of the imams. One may answer: changing by the hand does not imply fighting. Ahmad also made this explicit in the version of Salih, saying: changing by the hand is not by the sword and the weapon. The jihad of the rulers by the hand then means: removing from their hand what they did of blameworthy things, such as having their khamr poured away, or breaking their instruments of entertainment, or nullifying from their hand what they ordered of injustice, if one has the capacity. All of that is permitted, and is not fighting against them, nor the forbidden rebellion: for the most feared of that is that the commander alone be killed. As for rebellion against them by the sword: one fears the trials leading to the blood of Muslims being shed.

Yes! If he fears, in raising the denial against the kings, that his family or neighbours be harmed, it does not then befit him to expose himself to them, for that would be bringing harm upon others. So said al-Foudayl ibn Iyad and others. And despite that, when he fears from them the sword, the whip, the prison, the chains, exile, the seizure of wealth or the like wrong: his commanding and forbidding fall away. The imams made it explicit, among them Malik, Ahmad, Ishaq and others. Ahmad said: "Do not expose yourself to the sultan: his sword is unsheathed." And Ibn Choubrouma said: "The commanding of good and the forbidding of the blameworthy are like jihad: it falls to the solitary one to be patient in both, and it is illicit for him to flee both, and patience beyond that is not his duty; if he fears insult or the hearing of foul speech, the denial does not fall to him for that, as Ahmad made explicit. And if he endures the wrong and fortifies himself: that is better, as Ahmad also made explicit."

It was said to him: has it not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he said, "it does not befit the believer to humiliate himself", meaning exposing himself to trial for what he cannot? He said: it is not of that. Indicating what he says, that reported by Abu Dawoud, Ibn Majah and at-Tirmidhi, from the hadith of Abu Sa'id, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The best jihad: a word of justice before a tyrannical sultan." And Ibn Majah reports its meaning from the hadith of Abu 'Umama. And in the Mousnad of al-Bazzar, with an unknown chain, from Abu 'Obayda ibn al-Jarrah: I say, "O Messenger of Allah, which of the martyrs is the noblest before Allah?" He said, "The man who stands before a tyrannical imam, commanding him the good and forbidding him the blameworthy, and he kills him." Its meaning is reported by other channels, all weak.

As for the hadith, "it does not befit the believer to humiliate himself," it indicates that if he knows he cannot endure the wrong nor be patient, he does not then expose himself to the matter, and that is true. The statement concerns the one knowing patience of such a kind in himself, as the imams said, such as Soufyan, Ahmad, al-Foudayl ibn Iyad and others. Reported from Ahmad is that which indicates contentment with denial by the heart. He said in the version of Abu Dawoud: we hope that the one who denies by his heart is saved; and the one who denies by the hand is better. Understood that he fears, as made explicit in one of the versions. And the judge Abu Ya'la cites two narrations of Ahmad on the obligation of denying the blameworthy upon the one who knows it will not be accepted from him, and he authenticated the opinion of its obligation: the opinion of most of the scholars. It was said to certain Ancients about this? He said: he will have excuse. As Allah informed of those who denied to the aggressors of the sabbath, that they said: why do you exhort a people whom Allah will destroy with a severe punishment? They said: excuse towards your Lord, and perhaps they will fear.

There has come that by which one argues the falling away of command and prohibition when there is no acceptance and no benefit: in the Sunan of Abu Dawoud, Ibn Majah and at-Tirmidhi, from Abu Tha'laba al-Khouchani: it was said to him: what do you say of this verse, "Take care of your souls: he who strays cannot harm you when you are guided"? He said: I asked a man of knowledge... By Allah, I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: "Rather command one another the good and forbid the blameworthy, until you see avarice obeyed, passion followed, this world preferred, and every man of opinion admiring his own opinion: then attend to yourself and leave the affair of the common people."

In the Sunan of Abu Dawoud, from 'Abdallah ibn 'Amr: while we were around the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he mentioned the trial and said, "When you see the people, their covenants confused, their guarantees light, and being so," and he interlaced his fingers, "I rose towards him and said: how is one to act then? May Allah make me your ransom! He said: Keep to your house, master your tongue, take what you acknowledge, leave what you disapprove, attend to the affair of your own self, and leave yourself the affair of the general public." And it is reported from some of the Companions, concerning the words of the Most High, "Take care of your souls: he who strays cannot harm you when you are guided," they said: its interpretation has not yet come; it will come only at the end of time.

And from Ibn Mas'oud: "When the hearts and the passions diverge, and heresies are draped upon you, and some of you taste the harshness of others: then let a man command his own soul; that is then the interpretation of this verse." And from Ibn 'Omar: "This verse is for peoples coming after us: if they speak, it will not be accepted of them." And Joubayr ibn Noufayr: from a group of the Companions who said: "When you see avarice obeyed, passion followed, and every man of opinion admiring his own opinion: then attend to yourself: he who strays cannot harm you when you are guided." And from Mak'houl: "Its interpretation has not yet come: when the exhorer fears and the exhorted denies: then attend to yourself: he who strays cannot harm you when you are guided." And from al-Hasan, reciting this verse: "O what trust is that! And what breadth!" All of that can bear upon the one incapable of commanding the good, or fearing the wrong falling from him. And the words of Ibn 'Omar indicate that the speech of one whose word is not accepted is not his duty, as cited in the narration of Ahmad. Likewise al-'Awza'i: command the one you see accepting of you.

His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to the one who denied in his heart, "and that is the weakest of faith," indicate that commanding the good and forbidding the blameworthy are traits of faith, and that whoever is capable of a trait of faith and does it is better than the one who left it, incapable. It also indicates his words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) concerning women: "As for the deficiency of her religion: she spends days and nights not praying," aiming at the days of menstruation, though she is deprived of prayer then, and he counted that a deficiency of her religion: indicating that whoever is capable of an obligation and does it is better than the one incapable who left it, were they both excused for the abandonment. And Allah knows best.

His words: "whoever among you sees a blameworthy thing"

It indicates that denial is tied to sight: if it is covered and not seen, but known: the explicit statement of Ahmad in most narrations is that he does not expose himself to it, and that one does not pry into what is hidden. And from him another narration: he uncovers the covered if it is verified.

What to do if one hears forbidden song?

And if he hears a voice of forbidden song, or instruments of entertainment, and knows the place where they are: he denies it, for the blameworthy is verified and the place known: he is as if he saw it. [Climbing the walls]: Ahmad made it explicit and said: if he does not know the place, nothing against him; as for climbing the walls upon people he knows to be gathered upon a blameworthy thing: the imams such as Soufyan ath-Thawri and others denied it, and it is of the prohibited spying. And it was said to Ibn Mas'oud: such a one lets his beard drip with khamr? He said: Allah has forbidden us spying.

When is spying permitted?

The judge Abu Ya'la says in the "Book of Sultanic Judgements": if in the blameworthy predominated the suspicion of concealment, by information from a trustworthy source, of an inviolability whose reparation would be lost, such as fornication and murder: spying, advancing to uncovering, and searching by way of precaution against the irrecoverable violation of the prohibitions are permitted. And if of a lower rank: spying upon him and uncovering are not permitted.

The limits of the blameworthy whose denial is obligatory

The blameworthy whose denial is obligatory: that which is a matter of consensus. As for the divergent: among our companions is the one who says: none must deny it except the one who did it as a jurist, or following a jurist by lawful imitation. And the judge excepted, in the Sultanic Judgements, that in which the divergence is weak and opens a way to a prohibition by consensus: such as the riba of bullion: a weak divergence, opening to the riba of women, prohibited by consensus. And the marriage of enjoyment: it opens to fornication. It is mentioned from Abu Ishaq ibn Chaqla that he said enjoyment is fornication outright; and from Ibn Battah that he said: the judgement of a judge is not annulled if he interpreted an interpretation, except a judged contract of enjoyment for a man, or he repudiated three times in one word and judged the return without husband: his judgement is sent back, and upon its author the penalty and the example. And the explicit statement of Ahmad: the denial of the player of chess; and the judge directed it at whoever played it without effort nor lawful imitation.

Herein is a consideration: for his explicit statement that he punished the divergent drinker of wine, and the establishing of the penalty is the most eloquent of degrees of denial, even though the doer does not become a sinner by it in his view: indicating that he denies every divergent, weak the divergence, by the indication of the Sunna to its prohibition, and does not put the interpreting actor outside of justice by that, and Allah knows best. Likewise Ahmad made explicit the denial of the one who does not complete his prayer, establishing not its column of bowing and prostration, despite divergence over its obligation. The motives of the commanding and the forbidding.

Know that the commanding of the good and the forbidding of the blameworthy: at times carry the hoped reward; at times the fear of punishment in the abandonment; at times the anger for Allah over the violation of His prohibitions; at times the counsel to the Muslims and mercy for them, hoping their salvation from what they have exposed their souls to of the anger of Allah and His punishment in this world and the Hereafter; at times they carry: the reverence of Allah and His greatness and His love, and that He is worthy of being obeyed not disobeyed, remembered not forgotten, thanked not unthanked, and that His prohibition is redeemed by souls and wealth. As one of the Ancients said: I would wish that all creation obeyed Allah, and my flesh were cut by saws. And 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on them) said to his father: I would wish that the cauldrons boil in me and in you for Allah.

How wrong is light upon the commander and the forbider

From this rank and the previous one: light upon him is all received of wrong for Allah the Most High, and perhaps he prays for the one who harmed him, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said when his people struck him, wiping the blood from his face: "Lord, forgive my people: they know not."

The gentleness determined in the denial

In every case gentleness is determined in the denial. Soufyan ath-Thawri said: none commands the good and forbids the blameworthy but the one possessing three traits: gentle in what he commands, gentle in what he forbids; just in what he commands, just in what he forbids; knowledgeable in what he commands, knowledgeable in what he forbids. Ahmad said: "The people have need of gentleness and mildness." The commanding of the good without harshness, except the man manifestly perverse: no inviolability attaches to him. He said: the companions of Ibn Mas'oud, passing near a people seeing of them what they disapproved, would say: gently, may Allah have mercy on you, gently, may Allah have mercy on you. And Ahmad said: "Gentleness and humility are commanded; if they hear what they disapprove, they are not to grow angry, wanting vengeance for themselves." And Allah knows best.