Respected Mufti sahib, My husband met a person who is apparently rather religious, and has always tried to portray himself as a ?perfect? candidate, who follows most of the Islamic tenets correctly. Anyhow, as we began to know this person even more, including his wife, we realized that they were rather egoistic, bossy, and did not even talk about other people with respect. In fact, this individual’s spouse also referred to another Muslimah with derogatory statements, which I didn?t like. Unfortunately, either out of courtesy or maybe I was too shocked, I didn?t say anything about it, but felt really bad about it. There are several other incidents as well, where their behavior was absolutely bad. My husband concluded that it would be best to keep our distance from these people. However, now that we have limited our contact with these people, they are now arguing and asking us why we are not speaking to them that much. We don’t want to directly tell them how we feel, only out of courtesy. How should we avoid such people, without making a big deal out of it?
It is commendable of you to detest the proud behaviour of this couple. If you feel that informing them of the true reason for severing relationship with them will not result in unsavoury repercussions and that they may change their attitude, you should inform them politely and diplomatically.
However, if you feel that your advice to them will have a negative impact, abstain from them. Your abstention from them would perhaps jolt them into realising their proud attitude.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Muhammad Kadwa
FATWA DEPT.