against joining the disbelievers in their festivals, for taking part in their celebrations or congratulating them on those occasions—such as saying, “Blessed festival,” “May Allah bless your feast,” and the like—undoubtedly amounts to approving the rites of disbelief, Allah’s refuge is sought.

I say: reviling the deities of the idolaters, their rituals, and those of other disbelievers, including the People of the Book, is in principle something the Law requires. Yet if doing so would lead to an evil even more heinous, then it is forbidden. Allah the Exalted says: “And do not insult those they invoke besides Allah, lest they insult Allah in hostility without knowledge” (Qur’an 6:108). That is, do not insult their idols. Their insulting of Allah would be sheer aggression born of ignorance, whereas your insulting of their gods would be grounded in justice and knowledge; nevertheless, their reviling of your Lord would be aggression without knowledge. Therefore, do not revile them, lest they revile Allah.

From these noble verses we learn that if one’s attempt to forbid an evil will drive people to commit an even worse evil, then silence becomes obligatory—until a time comes when one can forbid the wrong in such a way that the evil is replaced by good.

It is related that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—once passed through Syria with a companion and came upon a group of Tatars—an infamous nation who had once overpowered the Muslims, causing a tremendous trial. They were drinking wine, and he remained silent and did not censure them. His companion asked, “Why did you not forbid this wrongdoing?” He replied, “If we prohibit them from this, they will go off to violate Muslim women through fornication, plunder their property, and perhaps even kill them, whereas drinking wine is the lesser evil—and that is among