Attending Celebrations That Are Not Free of Evilsحضور الاحتفالات التي لا تخلو من منكرات

(audio unclear) to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions, and abundant peace. To proceed:

The brother says: what is the ruling on attending celebrations that are not free of evils (munkarat)?

First, it is obligatory upon the Muslim, if he sees an evil, to censure it, because this is a matter Allah has made obligatory upon him. Allah, majestic and exalted is He, favoured this nation over the previous nations by their enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. Allah, majestic and exalted is He, says: "And fear a trial which will not strike those who have wronged among you exclusively." Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: "Allah commanded the believers not to allow evil to remain in their midst, lest Allah encompass them with punishment."

And in the Sahih of Imam Muslim, from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand." "Whoever" (man) is a conditional particle that makes the verb jussive, and it is among the most far-reaching forms of generality. "Whoever among you sees an evil": "an evil" here is indefinite, so as to include all evils. So nothing is excluded from that, one thing rather than another; nor one person rather than another; nor one group rather than another; nor one faction rather than another; nor in one land rather than another. So whoever sees an evil, "let him change it with his hand." The "fa" here connects the answer to the condition — the "fa" here connects the answer to the condition. And his statement "let him change" is evidence of obligation, and that changing the evil is obligatory if one finds a way to do so.

If he is unable to change the evil with the hand, it is obligatory upon him to change it with the tongue, because of his statement ﷺ: "If he is not able, then with his tongue" — by explaining that this is an evil, clarifying, guiding, and teaching. The messengers were sent with enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. "If he is not able [to do so] with his tongue, then let him censure it with his heart."

But this does not mean that he remains among the people of evils and says, "I am censuring with my heart." This has no basis, and none of the scholars [said it] — unless he is compelled to remain. If he is compelled to remain, then he censures with his heart: "Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity." But if he is not compelled to remain, then it is obligatory upon him to leave the place, because this is a place in which Allah is disobeyed, and you are unable to remove this disobedience. So it is obligatory upon you to leave this place.

None of the scholars said that a man may remain among the people of wine, the people of immorality, the people of gambling, and the people of misguidance who mock the religion of Allah or the people of knowledge and religion, and then remain [there] neither enjoining the good nor forbidding the evil, on the basis that he censures with his heart, while he is able to leave this place. This is a matter that has no basis, and no Shari'ah came with it. So it is obligatory upon him to leave this place; otherwise he is one of them, as Allah, majestic and exalted is He, said: "And He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah being disbelieved in and mocked, do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them."

And this would mean [he is] content. Had he not been content, he would have left them. If they were insulting him, [would he] sit with them? [Yet] when they were disobeying Allah, he did not care. And if he does not leave this place, then when will it be known that this is a place of falsehood? And if he does not leave this place, the people will take from him the image that he is one of those who do these things and practise these filthy acts, so he will be counted among them and will not be counted among the righteous.

A man, for example, frequents the banks of usury (riba), sits and talks with its employees, puts down a chair and talks with them — even if he does not deal in usury. This place is one of the strongholds of war against Allah and against the Messenger ﷺ. You sit [there], and the people imagine that you consume usury; and if the people do not imagine that, you give the people the impression that this is a light matter, or that there is no harm in it. And if this is not [the case] — if you had protective jealousy (ghayrah)... The one who has protective jealousy does not sit with the people of corruption and in the hotbed of corruption. The one who has (audio unclear) — his heart burns, he almost dies (audio unclear) the evils. So how about remaining among them and conversing with them?

Therefore the meaning that was asked about follows from this, and it is the second meaning: those who go to these celebrations while they are unable to change [the evil] — they do not attend these celebrations, and they are excused, even if it was an obligatory invitation, such as a wedding feast (walimah) and the like. So in this there is a concession for them, as Abu Ayyub and others among the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, did. Abu Ayyub was invited to a wedding feast, and when he saw something forbidden in the house, he went back and did not eat. Al-Bukhari related this in his Sahih in suspended form (mu'allaq).

And this is the duty of the people of knowledge, faith, and religion. These are the ones whose knowledge is trusted, whose fatwas are trusted, and whose religion is trusted, because they enjoin and forbid. On this basis, if he does not do this, he is sinful.

The condition [for this] is that the existence of the evil is established, because there may be a thing that this one says [is an evil] and this one does not say is an evil. If he himself believes that it is an evil, it is obligatory upon him to change it. If he believes that it is not an evil — for lack of evidence, for example, or because [the matter is one of] disagreement — he has an excuse before Allah, majestic and exalted is He. But the one who believes that it is an evil has no excuse before Allah, majestic and exalted is He. There are evils about which the scholars do not differ that they are evils, and there are evils over which people dispute: this one says it is not an evil. The preponderant view may be with the one who says it is an evil in one matter, and the preponderant view in another matter may be with the one who says it is not an evil.

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