Ethics of Islam

a scholar, He receives a promise from him as He did with
prophets.” He (’âlim) promises that he will not refrain from
stating what he knows when it is necessary. The following hadîthi-sherîf
and âyat-i-kerîma show that compromising the religion,
i.e., doing mudâhana is prohibited (harâm): “If one does not say
the knowledge given to him by Allâhu ta’âlâ when the situation
requires him to speak out, they will put a collar made of fire on his
neck on the day of Qiyâmat.” The thirty-sixth âyat-i-kerîma of
Sûra Nisâ of the Qur’ân al-kerîm purports: “Should those who are
endowed with true knowledge and guidance hide the bounty, may
they be steeped in condemnation, both from Allâhu ta’âlâ and
from all those who themselves have already incurred
condemnation!” The opposite of mudâhana is ‘ghayrat’, or
‘salâbat’. The fifty-fourth âyat-i-kerîma of Sûra Mâida of the
Qur’ân al-kerîm purports: “... people making jihâd in the way of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find
fault. ...” This âyat-i-kerîma informs us that it is necessary for
those who have religious “ghayrat” and “salâbat” to make jihâd
by using their property, life, speech and penmanship for the sake
of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states
in another hadîth-i-sherîf: “Tell the truth even if it is extremely
bitter.” A ‘zâhid’ person saw a group playing musical instruments
in the presence of the fourth Umayyad Caliph Marwân bin
Hakem, and broke their instruments to pieces. Thereupon
Marwân ordered that he should be shut in with the lions. Among
the lions, he presently began to perform namâz. The lions came by
him and began to lick him. So the guards took him back to the
caliph. When the caliph asked him if he had not been afraid of the
lions, he answered, “No. Fear of them did not even occur to me. I
spent the entire night pondering.” “What did you ponder about?”
“When the lions licked me, I pondered on whether their saliva
was najs, (i.e. canonically foul to nullify the prayer termed
namâz); I pondered on whether Allâhu ta’âlâ would accept my
prayer.” [Marwân bin Hakem was killed in 65 hijrî “683 A.D.”.]
If a person is not able to do Amr al-ma’rûf and Nahy anil
munkar because of his fear that his and others’ security might be
undermined, keeping quiet in order not to raise instigation in this
situation is called “doing mudârâ,” which is permissible, and even
blessed enough to produce the thawâb deserved for almsgiving,
provided that his heart should be willing to stop the harâm being
committed. Mudârâ should be done mildly and with a smiling
face. Mudârâ can also be exploited as a teaching method. Imâm
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