public, as stated in the report:
“Whoever sins in secret should repent in secret, and whoever sins openly should repent openly.”
Concealing such wrongdoing is not the concealment that Allah Most High loves, as described in the hadith:
“Whoever conceals a Muslim’s faults, Allah will conceal his faults.”
Rather, concealing it amounts to condoning manifest wrongdoing. Another hadith states:
“When a sin is concealed, it harms only the one who commits it; but when it is committed openly and is not denounced, it harms the community at large.”
Thus, when a sin is committed publicly, its punishment is made public, in accordance with whatever measure of justice is possible.
For this reason, speaking of someone who openly practises religious innovations and wickedness does not constitute backbiting, as has been reported from al-Hasan al-Basrī and others. By making such conduct public, he deserves punishment from the Muslims. The least of this is that he be censured for it, so that he may be deterred and people may keep away from him and avoid associating with him. Were he not censured and his wickedness, sin or religious innovation not mentioned, people would be deceived by him. He might even lead some of them to engage in the same conduct, while himself growing bolder, more wicked and more sinful. When his conduct is mentioned, however, he is restrained, and others refrain both from such conduct and from keeping his company or associating with him. Al-Hasan al-Basrī said:
“Are you reluctant to speak of the wicked person? Mention his faults so that people may beware of him.”
This has also been reported as a saying traced back to the Prophet. “Wickedness” is a comprehensive designation applying to anyone who openly commits sin or utters foul speech that reveals to the listener the wickedness of the speaker’s heart. For this reason, a person deserves to be shunned if he openly displays religious innovation, sin, wickedness or shamelessness, or associates with someone of this character, without caring that people censure him; for