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' / - / · \) u:UT J +i ǚ_;:- - / -/ "Verily, those who like that lewd sinful acts should be propagated among those who believe, they will have a painful torment in this world and in the Hereafter" (al-Noor 19). Allah says in the Quran, नi: ध J ৿L J-lj .j'(lj upl / i:;C'(I 0/ u¸ ,.. / / ,,, "Truly, We did offer the Trust (moral responsibility) to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it. But man bore it. Verily, he was unjust [to himself] and ignorant [of its results]" (al­ Ahzaab 72). Ibn Uthaimeen points out that all humans-- except for those humans whom Allah protects from this by giving them knowledge and righteousness-­ have the characteristics of injustice to themselves and ignorance. Out of injustice to himself, a person knows that something is wrong and harmful to himself but he still does it. Secondly, people also do things ignorantly, not knowing what is right or wrong. Therefore, by their nature, all humans are going to have some faults, shortcomings and mistakes. So a Muslim should conceal his brother's faults and not inform others of them, unless he must do so out of necessity. The sinful brother may have temporarily yielded to his desires or did something wrong without realizing how wrong it was. But the person who notices those mistakes in others most likely also has his own mistakes and shortcomings. He would not like others to know when he makes mistakes and, therefore, he should not spread the mistakes of others. If he, for example, sees someone lying or cheating in his business transactions, instead of publicly announcing that, he should go to the person and advise him to change his ways. If he does so, that should be the end of the matter and there is no need to inform others of his mistake (unless they have been injured by his acts). If he does not change his ways, then one may be forced to warn others about him. 1 Those Whose Sins Should be Concealed Obviously, everybody commits sins and has faults. Everyone should love that Allah would conceal those faults and not reveal them to others. Part 1 Ibn Uthaimeen, Sharh Riyaadh, vol. 5, pp. 5-6. Hadith #36: "Whoever Relieves a Believer . . . " of Allah's concealing of a fault is his overlooking it and excusing it. If a person is desirous of that reward, he should not expose the slips and faults of his brother Muslims. He should not speak about them and he should not mention them to others. But does this ruling apply to every Muslim? First, it must be noted that this hadith is giving a recommendation and not a command. Al-Haitami states that there is a consensus that if somebody witnesses a sin and he does not conceal that sin but he reports that action to the proper authorities, he is not committing a sin by not concealing the act. It would have been better or preferred for him to have concealed that act but there is no sin on him for reporting such an act. 1 Second, there are two types of people. One type is known to be religious, performs the obligatory and recommended acts and, in general, remains away from what is forbidden. A second type is one who is known to openly and brazenly commit sins and acts that are forbidden by the shareeah. In the light of the teachings of this hadith, the action with respect to each type is different. As for the first type of people-- the religious ones who are not known for committing sins-- if a person witnesses such a one committing a sin, he should conceal it on his behalf. Everyone is prone to make mistakes one time or another and there is no need for a person's life or reputation to be ruined because of one mistake that he has made. Allah willing, if a Muslim conceals the sin of such a brother, Allah will conceal for him his sins and forgive them. Allah will conceal them for him in this life and will conceal them and forgive them in the Hereafter. However, the following conditions must be met for this approach to be followed:2 ( 1) The sin that the person committed must be one related to the "rights of Allah" and not the rights of mankind. In other words, if a Muslim witnessed another pious Muslim sampling alcohol for the first time, he may, if he so wills, conceal that sin for the Muslim because it does not harm anyone else. However, if a Muslim witnessed another pious Muslim stealing something from somebody else, then he cannot remain silent because another individual's rights have been violated. (2) The sin must have been already finished.