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Fatwa CenterIf evil cannot be changed, move away so it can't be seen or heard
Question
Assalamualaikum, I am a 15 year old boy who lives in america. My questions are regarding those people that mock Islam. First, I was at soccer practice and I heard someone on the team mocking Islam, so I left just the general area with the excuse of getting soccer balls, and then I went back once I heard they left the conversation. Second, I was at summer school and I heard people playing and laughing at a video mocking Islam, so I immediatley got up and left but I was still considered in the class just away from their individual group. My questions are; If I am in a class or giant group and I hear just a couple of people mocking Islam, do I have to leave just those people or the entire classroom or group, which may get me in trouble, but I am willing to do it. Second, once I leave to where I cannot hear them mocking anymore, it they stop can I return, because in the Quran it says in the english translation something like "until they leave the conversation". May Allah reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It is obligatory for whoever sees or hears of an evil to disapprove of it to the extent of one's ability, and people vary in this regard. Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri 
narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “If anyone among you sees an evil, he must change it with his hand, if he is unable then with his tongue, and if he is unable, then with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith.” [Muslim]
For more benefit on the guidelines for enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, please refer to Fataawa 84348 and 17092.
If a person disapproves of an evil with his tongue, or disapproves of it in his heart because that is all he can do, and the sinner is not deterred but persists in his sin, then the person must leave this gathering. Abandoning such a gathering means moving to a place where he cannot see or hear this evil.
Accordingly, the scholars made this (i.e. not being able to see or hear evil) a condition for the permissibility of attending a wedding ceremony if the ceremony incorporates evil. Ar-Ruhaybaani from the Hanbali School, said: “If the invited person knows about the evil but neither sees or hears it, then he is permitted to stay and eat as explicitly stated, because what is forbidden is to see and hear the evil, and here, the evil does not exist (i.e. the person does not hear or see the evil).”
Allaah Knows best.
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