For shunning is a form of disciplinary punishment, and punishment is a form of abandonment—that is, abandoning evil deeds. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The emigrant is one who abandons evil deeds.”

He also said:

“One who abandons what Allah has forbidden.”

This is abandonment as an expression of piety. Shunning as a disciplinary measure and a form of jihad includes the shunning of the three who were left behind: he ordered the Muslims to shun them until Allah accepted their repentance.

Thus, abandonment is sometimes an expression of piety, when it consists of abandoning evil deeds. As Allah Most High said:

“When you see those who engage in offensive discourse about Our verses, turn away from them until they turn to another subject. And if Satan causes you to forget, then after remembering, do not sit with the wrongdoing people.”

“Those who fear Allah are not accountable for them in any way, but must remind them, so that perhaps they may fear Him.”

He, Glorified is He, thus made clear that the God-fearing are distinct from the wrongdoers, and that those commanded to leave gatherings where people engage in offensive discourse about Allah’s verses are the God-fearing.

At other times, shunning is a form of jihad, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, and enforcing the prescribed legal penalties. It constitutes punishment of someone who has transgressed and committed wrongdoing. Punishing and disciplining a wrongdoer is conditional upon having the ability to do so.

For this reason, the religious ruling concerning these two forms of abandonment differs according to whether one has the ability or lacks it, and whether wrongful innovators are few or many, strong or weak. The ruling similarly varies according to these factors in all other forms of wrongdoing, including disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience. Everything Allah has forbidden is wrongdoing, whether it infringes solely upon Allah’s rights, upon the rights of His servants, or upon both.

The abandonment He has commanded—whether through abstaining and desisting, or through shunning as punishment and discipline—applies only when it involves no benefit