This happened because the first man dealt with him harshly, whereas the second approached him with gentleness. Even if we had not witnessed that particular incident, we still have the words of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Allah grants through gentleness what He does not grant through harshness,” and, “Gentleness is never found in a thing without adorning it, nor removed from anything without disfiguring it.” Therefore, anyone who commands right and forbids wrong must strive to do so with gentleness.

Third condition: the evil in question must not be replaced by something worse. If forbidding a certain wrong would lead to a greater one, then it is impermissible to forbid it, for we avert the greater of two evils by tolerating the lesser. When two harms confront us and one outweighs the other, we shield ourselves from the greater by bearing the lesser.

An example: A man is smoking tobacco in front of you, and you wish to rebuke him and remove him from the gathering. Yet you know that if you do, he will go and sit with drinkers. It is well known that drinking wine is more serious than smoking tobacco. In such a case, we do not forbid him; rather, we address him in the best manner so that the matter does not escalate into something more reprehensible and more severe.

It is related that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) once passed, in Syria, by a group of Tatars who were drinking wine. A companion was with him. Shaykh al-Islam walked past without forbidding them. His companion asked, “Why did you not stop them?” He answered, “Had we forbidden them, they would have gone on to violate the honour of the Muslims and plunder their wealth, and that is worse than