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Fatwa CenterBeware of harshness when giving advise and forbidding evil
Question
When going out of masjid I saw people smoking at the door. So I reprimanded them because they are harming others and exposing sins. Yet when I did this the people around me were silent and a smoker acted like I was the bad person and said I don't know what I'm talking about and that smoking isn't haram. So I told them the consensus among scholars is that its haram yet they keep acting like I was evil person for calling them out. Was what I did wrong and not how to forbid evil? I keep having these doubts and they are bothering me because it makes me feel out of place. I feel like I am becoming very strict but I am also tired of the disturbing smell and the evil they cause to others without caring. if muslims who pray in masjid behave like this how are other people supposed to be;
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Smoking is forbidden, but giving advice and forbidding evil is done with kindness, not by rebuking people. The Prophet said: “O `Aa’ishah 
! You should be kind and lenient, and beware of harshness…” [Al-Bukhari] And according to another wording reported in Saheeh Muslim, the Prophet said, “O 'Aa'ishah verily Allah is kind and He loves kindness and confers upon kindness that which he does not confer upon severity and does not confer upon anything else besides it (kindness)..” [Muslim] [End of quote].
Abu Hurayrah 
reported: “A Bedouin urinated in the mosque and some people rushed to beat him up. The Prophet said: “Leave him alone and pour a bucket of water over it. You have been sent to make things easy and not to make them difficult.” [Al-Bukhari]
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah 
said in Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa, while explaining some of the etiquettes of enjoining good and forbidding evil: “He who enjoins what is good and forbids what is evil should have knowledge in what he commands and in what forbids in the first place, he should be lenient in what he commands and in what he forbids, be patient in what he commands and in what he forbids, so knowledge comes before enjoining good and forbidding evil, in order to know the good and forbid the evil, and gentleness is required when commanding, so that one takes the closest path to achieve what is intended, and patience is required after commanding, in order to bear the harm that may come from people after giving them advise because they often get hurt by that.” [End of quote].
Thus, dear brother, the questioner, strive to enjoin good and forbid evil, but with gentleness, lenience, and wisdom.
Allah knows best.
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