Assalaamu alaykum, Sir. Please tell me, if you see anyone involved in any sin or committing (an act of) disbelief but he does not know about it while I do know that that thing is very serious but at the same time I do not have any courage or dare not to correct him, will I also become a disbeliever in that case? I do hate the sin/disbelief in my heart; I just lack the courage to correct anyone; so will I become a disbeliever then, or will I only be a sinner? I do supplicate for them. Please guide me; I feel really dead inside due to this problem...

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.

It is absolutely and definitely not Kufr (disbelief) to not deny evil by one’s hand or tongue from the one who commits sin or an act of Kufr.

The saying of Allah (which means): {And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation. Indeed, you would then be like them. Indeed Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers in Hell altogether.} [Quran 4:140], it means like them in sinning by not denying or leaving the place where the sin is being committed, but it does not mean like them in their Kufr or hypocrisy.

Ibn ‘Aashoor said, “This similarity (being like them) means the seriousness of the sin, a threat and an intimidation, but the believer does not become a hypocrite by sitting with the hypocrites; what is meant is similarity in sin but not in its amount; that is to say that you become a committer of sin like them.”

We advise you to beware of the dangers of obsessive whispers (Waswasah) and their great evil, and you should hasten to treat yourself from them. The best and the most effective cure for whispers is to repel them, ignore them, not to be preoccupied by them, not to ask questions about them, and seek refuge in Allah from them. You may also consult specialist doctors.

Allah knows best.