Mufti Menk – Acting Against Evil Or Bad Things
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of acknowledging which behavior is evil and making sure it is understood. They give examples of cases where people have authority and need to change their behavior. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of letting people know when they have authority and the need to ensure that they convey it to others.
AI: Summary ©
So the Prophet
here
says, Whoever from amongst you sees that which
is
that which is evil,
he should change it with his own hand.
Now it doesn't just mean you saw evil
and suddenly you start smashing the people, hitting
them, destroying them, creating a big commotion,
and, you know, making a bigger issue out
of that which was not really
as big.
Like I said, the minute you see something
evil, the first thing you do, you ask
yourself, is it really considered
unacceptable according to everyone or or is there
difference of opinion?
If there is difference of opinion, let it
be. But at the same time, in your
heart, you won't participate in it. Right? You
might want to speak about it. Those are
the other levels that I'm going to get
to. But the first level,
you need to make sure and this is
very, very important. Many people read this hadith
and immediately think, you know what? That's it.
I saw a a brother do this,
drinking alcohol. I'm gonna go and smash him.
I'm going to break the bottle. I'm gonna
take it and, you know, throw it on
1 side, not realizing you're probably going to
create more harm. You need to ask yourself,
is it wrong unanimously? The answer in the
case of alcohol is yes. Number 2, do
you have authority to do what you're about
to do? In a lot of the cases,
if you want to physically change things, you
probably don't have that authority.
You don't have the Sultan. Sultan meaning authorization,
authority.
The land, the law of the land you
live in, as much as it may or
may not be Islamic. If it is Islamic,
you need to make sure that you convey
that wrongdoing
to someone who is who has the authority
to sort it out. You don't just take
it.
There might be a procedure that you don't
know. You you may have there may be
someone drinking from a bottle that is outwardly
alcohol, and it's water inside. Who knows? I
mean, it sounds far fetched, but in the
case of need, necessity,
nobody knows the exact circumstance.
Sometimes there are bottles that look so alcoholic
and there is a small little sign there
saying,
0% alcohol.
For example, these are just examples. So you
need to have authority. Sometimes it's not a
Muslim land and what they are doing is
permissible according to the land you are living
in,
or the land you are visiting,
or or residing in. So what what would
you do in that particular case? In that
particular case, you go to the next level.
The next level is,
you know, to to say something.
And if if you're not permitted to say
things,
if you cannot say things because they will
cause greater harm
than the goodness you're trying to achieve, then
at least feel in your heart that, you
know what? That was wrong. I won't do
it, and I pray that this person leaves
as well for the sake of Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So here it goes.
Whoever sees from amongst you that which is
bad or munkar, unacceptable,
they should change it by their hands. Which
means you physically change it, make sure that
like your child picks up a knife. What
do you do? The first thing you do
is you go to the child and you
hold the you take
the knife away from the child. That's the
first thing you should do.
If, for example, there is a swimming pool
and you see
a person wanting to, you know, falling into
the pool, a child or a blind person,
You need to make sure that you go
and stop it by hand. You can't just
say, oh, I felt in my heart that
what they were doing was wrong, you know,
and let them drown and die. SubhanAllah.
The the same rule applies. If 2 people
are fighting, then normally,
as much as you might not have supreme
authority on land, but you have the right,
the right given by the law of the
land to stop something that is about to
degenerate into killing.
If you're seeing a thief, you stop the
thief because that is part of the law
of almost every land,
Muslim or non Muslim.