Shaykh Ṣāliḥ bn Fawzān al-Fawzān
The affair is very serious. And this contains the obligation of refuting the opposer, in contrast to what those individuals say.
They say: “Abandon refutations. Leave the people. Everyone has his own opinion and honour. And freedom of opinion and speech.”
With this, the Ummah will perish. The Ummah will perish due to this.
The Salaf (righteous predecessors) did not keep silent regarding the likes of these. They exposed and refuted them, due to their [i.e., the Salaf’s] knowledge of their danger upon the Ummah.
We are not permitted to keep silent regarding their evil. Rather, what Allāh revealed must be clarified. Otherwise, we will be concealers, among those whom Allāh said regarding them [what means]:
﴾Verily, those who conceal the clear proofs, evidences and the guidance, which We have sent down, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book, they are the ones cursed by Allah and cursed by the cursers.﴿ [Al-Baqarah: 159]
The affair is not limited to the innovator alone. Rather, it also includes the one who keeps silent regarding him.
The one who keeps silent regarding him, the blame/sin (dhamm/dhanb) and punishment touches him too, because what is compulsory for him is to clarify and explain to the people.
And this is the job of the knowledge-based refutations.
The knowledge-based refutations that are now available in the libraries of the Muslims all defend the straight path and warn against these individuals.
So, this ideology should not spread among us—the ideology of freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, and respecting [the opinion of] others, etc.
Our aim is not the other. Our aim is the truth. Our aim is not to disparage the people and speak against them.
The aim is to clarify the truth. And this is a trust Allāh imposed upon the scholars.
So, it is not permissible to keep silent regarding the likes of these.
However, sadly, if a person were to refute the likes of these, they will say, “You are too hasty,” “You possess this and that,“ “This person does not deserve to be refuted,” “If you had kept silent about him, his affair would not have become popular,” and whisperings other than that.
This does not deter the people of knowledge from clarifying the evil of these callers to misguidance to the people. It does not deter them.
