Shaikh Saalih
al-Fawzaan (hafidhahullaah) was questioned about "al-Muwaazanah":
It
has spread amongst the youth today amongst the youth that it is
obligatory to counterbalance between to good and bad points when
criticising and so they say: 'When you criticise such and such person
for an innovation and you expose his mistakes, it is necessary for you
to mention his good points - and this is from the perspective of justice
and fairness.' So is this manhaj (methodology) in criticising correct?
And is it necessary for me to mention the good points when criticising?
So he replied:
When
the one who is being criticised is from Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah and
his mistakes are in matters which do not relate to 'aqeedah, then yes...
his good points and exceptional [qualities] are mentioned. His mistakes
and slips are overwhelmed by his aid for the Sunnah.
But when the one being criticised is from the People of Misguidance and
the People of Deviation and from the People of Destructive and
Adulterated Principles, then it is not permissible for us to mention
their good points - when he has good points - because when we mention
them, this deceives the people and makes them hold a good opinion about
this strayer or about this innovator or deviant or parisan (one
engrossed with party-spirit). So then they accept the ideas of this
strayer or this innovator or this biased partisan. And Allaah jalla wa
'alaa refuted the Disbelievers, the Criminals and the Hypocrites and did
not mention any of their good points. And likewise the Scholars of the
Salaf refute the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah and the People of Misguidance
and they never mention any of their good points. This is because their
good deeds are impaired by their misguidance, disbelief, deviation and
hypocrisy. So it is not befitting that you refute a straying wanderer,
innovator, deviant and then mention his good points and that you say he
is a good man, he has this and that good deed, but he made a mistake! We
say to you: Your praise of him is stronger than your his misguidance,
because the people will hold on to you praise of him. So when you
promote this straying innovator and you praise him then you have
deceived the people and this opens up the door for accepting the ideas
of those who lead others astray...
Until he said:
And
the foundation for this doubt of counterbalancing between the good and
bad points in criticising, one of the youth spoke by it and wrote a book
on it. Then others received this with much joy. Then I came across this
book in which its author argues for the principle of counterbalancing
and I also came across the work of Shaikh Rabeeý bin Haadee al-Madkhalee
(The Methodology of Ahl us-Sunnah in Criticising Men, Books and
Movements) and he refuted that book in which its author justifies the
idea of counterbalancing with a complete refutation and explained what
such words contain of error and promotion of falsehood and he explained
the madhhab of the Salaf in refuting and that they used to refute people
who lead others astray and that they did not praise them because if
they had done that, this would have been contradictory.
source :
www.manhaj.com
