Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
There is a certain website which is full of slander and takfir on all muslims who are not of their group. I was one of the first, but definitely not the last, to be brainwashed by the putrid filth of said site, to the extent that I would even be thinking of my own family as mushriks and bidatis. Would it be permissible for me to hack into the website and replace the existing filth of the site with a page exposing their deviancy and deception?
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad, his folk, companions, and followers
No, such actions would be neither wise nor permissible. There is a fiqh principle that, “Harm is lifted,” but there is an important related conditioning principle that, “Harm is not lifted by harm.” [Ibn Nujaym, Al-Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir; Ali Haydar, Durar al-Hukkam Sharh Majallat al-Ahkam, 1.40, explaining item 25 of the Majalla]
It is a duty to command and promote the good, and to oppose the bad, but it is also a duty to do so in accordance with the radiant example of the Beloved Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah Most High commands, “Call to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and good words, and dispute with them in the best of ways.” [Qur’an, 16.125]
In a beautiful “gathering of a lifetime” at Shaykh Iyad al-Ghawj, there was a meeting last Summer of a number of major scholars, most notably Shaykh Adib Saleh and Mufti Rafi Usmani. Both these scholars made the point that darkness is not dispelled by fighting it, but rather by spreading the light: when light comes, darkness recedes. Allah Most High tells us, “Falsehood is indeed perishing.” [Qur’an]
Please use the search engine at www.SunniPath.com for commanding the good.
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani