# Who has the right to tell other Muslims off for doing something haram?

*Who may forbid evil: hisbah belongs to legitimate authority and qualified scholars*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/6_dmojl-_bi/s/5/
- Date: 2017-09-29 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Propaganda against Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan - Mufti Abu Layth (13:04–15:41)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_dmOJl-_bI&t=784s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/6_dmojl-_bi/

**Topics:** Public law and governance; Legal theory and method; The Maliki school

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Hisbah, commanding good and forbidding evil, is for legitimate authority and for qualified scholars, and only in matters that are clearly agreed upon. Imam Malik said one may advise but not argue or dispute.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that commanding good and forbidding evil (hisbah) belongs to legitimate authority and to qualified scholars, only in matters that are clearly agreed upon, and not to individuals acting on their own.

**Evidence, his words at 13:18:** “they are only four people in legit authority to take to task they are not for you and me to just go around and command the good and forbid the evil” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_dmOJl-_bI&t=798s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says that using the Prophet's words to justify the campaign is itself an abuse of religion, and that commanding good and forbidding evil falls under what the shari'ah calls the rulings of accountability, ahkam al-hisbah, which are for people in legitimate authority and not for anyone to take upon themselves. Secondly, he says scholars from the earliest generations held that hisbah may only be exercised by a scholar who knows what is haram and halal and the disagreements that go with it, since what one person condemns may be permitted according to many scholars, and only in matters that are clearly agreed upon, such as murder or the Rohingya genocide, not in disputed questions. He cites Imam Malik, who when asked whether one may tell someone off for something replied that one may advise him, that one may not argue to prove the point, and that one should state the ruling and move on without disputing. He concludes that most of those involved are not detailed scholars and are not versed in the disagreements or in usul.

## Sources and names cited

- hisbah (ahkam al-hisbah, the rulings of accountability)
- al-amr bil-ma'ruf wa al-nahy an al-munkar (commanding good and forbidding evil)
- Imam Malik
- the Rohingya genocide
- ikhtilaf (scholarly disagreement)

## Transcript (machine tier, 13:04–15:41)

[12:40] they people have said we have the right to come on the good and forbid the evil first of all no you do not know you do not write anybody telling you that is misleading you and misusing the Sharia they are misusing the words of the messenger of allah muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that in itself is an abuse of religion this this ruling comes under in the Sharia they call a camel hiss per the rulings of accountability they are not for any and all they are not for anybody to just to take upon

[13:18] themselves they are only four people in legit authority to take to task they are not for you and me to just go around and command the good and forbid the evil nobody has said that secondly the scholars right from the cellar have highlighted that you cannot do his BA this is called his MA you cannot do his bar unless you are actually a scholar of who is well aware of what is Haram what is halal and the IFTA laughs that goes with it because I might be condemning something which according to you is

[13:57] haram and according to many Allah my Allah so I have to be familiar with the a camel mortal of fear and they say you can only command somebody tell somebody off when it is absolutely agreed upon a clear clear if somebody was committing murder that is clear that is not it's a genocide the Rohingya genocide going on these things are clear brutality disagreed and other kind of fear little eerie theory by codes will come to you

[14:36] cannot tell somebody if somebody asked in my Malek can I tell somebody off for something he said you may advise him about something he said no but can I argue with him to prove it he said laughs no you cannot if my malik said you may simply if you knew something he can simply state that in Islam this is what it is and then he said you move on he said you don't even like Jarrell I know it doesn't even dispute over it this is Imam Malik the legend of Medina

[15:14] okay to start off with so this I can tell people off because you know this is haram in Islam no no you cannot you're not even a skull most of these people are not even detailed scholars of Islam most of them are not even well-versed on the esta laughs the 54 or the Oh su Lee through I had people engaged with me saying to me online I've had and I'm not trying to judge here but I'm being very clear so there's women saying I'd a woman say online well I may not be

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 6_dmOJl-_bI/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/6_dmojl-_bi/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.