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Concealing Faults of Another

Answered by 

Shaykh Muhammad Ashraf

Question:

Assalamualaikum,
 
A couple of weeks back I accidentally became aware of some personal facts about one of my colleagues. When I enquired and showed her the letter which I had, she acknowledge that she had written it, but did not accept that this was the situation, in fact she made made fictitious stories about the letter. I know that she is lying and having some relation ship legal or illegal with her immediate boss as I have seen and know many things beside the letter.
 
She does not acknowledge the facts and sticks to fictitious stories which she cannot prove. I can prove to her that she is wrong but don’t want her to do any thing foolish aur against the Shari’ah or the society. So far I have kept quite and kept on asking her if I can help her in any way, I also do not want to disgrace her in front of any one.
 
What should I do.. should I tell every one and place the proofs ( as hiding a Shahadah is a bad act ) or should I keep in silence ( as hiding ones ‘Aib is a good act).
 
I am not sure if the relation is legitimate or not, but i fear that even if she has married this guy, she is in a very weak position as neither her folks nor the parents of the man are not aware of the situation.
 
Please guide me according to the Shari’ah.
 
Jazakallah

Answer:

 

It is best that you conceal her faults as a Muslim, especially when you are not even sure if the relationship is legitimate or not and you have also fulfilled your obligation of advising her. Abu Hurairah (R.A.) narrates that Nabi (S.A.W.) said: “A servant does not conceal the fault of another servant except Allah will conceal his fault on the Day of Qiyaamah” (Muslim)

You should also clearly understand that concealing a testimony will only be impermissible in a situation where a Qadhi (Muslim judge) is looking for a witness or the witness is asked to testify and then he refuses to do so. This is obviously not the case in your situation therefore one can not regard it as hiding a Shahadah.  

And Allah Ta’ala knows best

Ilyaas bin Hashim Limbada

Attested to as correct by:

Mufti Muhammad Ashraf

Darul Iftaa

Jameah Mahmoodiyah

Springs

24 August 2004

07 Rajab 1425

This Q&A was indexed in 2012 from the website of Jameah Mahmoodiyah, South Africa. The original website no longer exists.
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