A Mufti claims that a junior should not practise Amr Bil Ma‟roof Nahy Anil Munkar to a senior, that is, to an Aalim/Mufti of high rank.

Answer

Most certainly a junior or a laymen has the right to practice Amr Bil Ma‟roof Nahy Anil Munkar to an Aalim even if he is the greatest Allaamah of the era or the greatest Buzrug. The genuine Aalim will not be offended if his attention is drawn to his errors.

Abstaining from Amr Bil Ma‟roof Nahy Anil Munkar on the basis of a man's seniority (him being an Aalim / Mufti / Allaamah / Buzrug, etc.) will bring one within the purview of the Aayat:

"They (the lay people of) Bani Israaeel took their

Ulama and Buzrugs as gods besides Allah…"

Perhaps you are aware of the episode of the old lady making Amr Bil Ma‟roof to Hadhrat Umar (Radhiyallahu anhu) whilst he was on the mimbar delivering a khutbah. And, perhaps you are aware of the episode of the young man resorting to Amr Bil Ma‟roof to Hadhrat Umar (Radhiyallahu anhu) whilst he was on the mimbar about to begin his khutbah. Hadhrat Umar (Radhiyallahu anhu) was not offended. He did not feel that he was being disrespected by the laymen who were proffering naseehat to him.

It is sheer takabbur (satanic pride) which causes an Aalim to become offended when he is given naseehat or when he is reprimanded. Every Muslim has the right to offer naseehat to any senior, be he an Aalim or Mufti or Allaamah. The issue of being offended is the effect of pride. An Aalim of Haqq is not annoyed when Amr Bil Ma‟roof Nahy Anil Munkar is directed to him.

The Mufti has erred by claiming that it is beyond the junior's ‗station' to give naseehat to an Aalim. Naseehat does not constitute disrespect. The one who is offended by naseehat is a Mutakabbir. A junior may offer naseehat to a senior.

Hifz-e-Maraatib, i.e. to observe the rank of a person, does not demand silence and abstention from naseehat. A ‗dumb devil' abstains from proffering naseehat. That is what Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had said. He described the one who abstains from proclaiming the Haqq as „shaitaan akhras‟.

Hifz-e-Maraatib does not mean Kitmaan-e-Haqq (Concealing the Haq) nor abstention from Amr Bil Ma‟roof Nahy Anil Munkar. It only means that a person should be addressed in a manner befitting his status/rank. Offering naseehat to one's father requires a method of acquittal which differs from the method of proffering naseehat to one's younger brother or to one's friend. But it never means that one has to maintain silence when one's father is committing fisq and fujoor.

As far as Mufti Taqi is concerned, whatever ‗rank' he may have had in the past prior to his deviation, has been eliminated by himself with his public acts and statements of baatil and fisq. Hence, by criticizing him for his publicly proclaimed and practiced deviation will not be in conflict with the principle of Hifz-e- Maraatib. The masses have to be protected from becoming entrapped in the baatil which he propagates.

Making ta‟weel (resorting to baseless interpretation) of his grave errors of deviation is haraam. It is to aid and abet baatil. It is to become like the people of Bani Israaeel who elevated their ahbaar and ruhbaan to the status of godhood.

The Mufti Sahib has failed to correctly understand the principle on which he has based his error.