Judging dissolute people and dealing with them
18-4-2015 | IslamWeb
Question:
salama aleikoum brother, A faasiq is one who commits big sins or is consistent in doing smaller sins according to the defintion of your site and many others. But can we still call one faasiq after he does tauwbah?Then another point is, we know the reality of today that many people do big sins like not doing hajj while having money, threating parents bad, neglecting prayer, drinking alcohol, gambling, lying, bribing, sorcery. And even more so insisting in sins like not wearing hijaab, gossiping, watching tv with music and nude women, listening music, making eyebrows smaller, make-up, shaving beard. Especially the smaller ones people tend not to make tauwbah wa Allahu a3lam.Can we as common people judge these people to be faasiq? I would become very stressed and maybe ill if i had to judge people because all the signs of being faasiq according to the definition are present without doubt. If we take the more stricter opinion one has to keep these people away from many acts like adhaan, etc. Nowadays silaat ra7eem is very bad but if i judge my family to be fussaaq, and probably most of them watch tv and shave beard and lots of them neglect salaah at times, etc., this juding them to be fussaaq would create even more distance. wa Allahu a3lam.
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.
Someone who makes Tawbah (repentance) is like someone who has never sinned, so the person who made Tawbah is not called a Faasiq (dissolute person), and it is not permissible to describe him as such.
Bakr Abu Zayd 
said: “It is not permissible to degrade or assign an insulting name to someone who made Tawbah from sin. Just as embracing Islam erases what was done before it, so does Tawbah erase the sins committed before it. We should think well of people, not think ill of them. Therefore, we should not say to a Muslim who committed a sin and then repented from it, You are a Faasiq.” [End of quote]
As relates to judging a Muslim to be a Faasiq, the word "judge" is too general. Does it mean to believe that he is a Faasiq, or to describe him as a Faasiq and inform people about him being a Faasiq, or to address him with this word as an insult?
In any case, the presumption is that one is not obliged to make judgments about this, and that this does not have significant consequences. But with regard to interacting with someone who demonstrates Fisq (dissoluteness), what should be done is to advise him and call him to Allaah in a gentle manner. As regards shunning him, for example, this depends on the expected benefit; but in this day and age, with the weakness of people's religiosity and the spread of Fisq, shunning a Faasiq will not benefit him; rather, it will make him more immoral.
It is not permissible to describe someone who has committed a sin as a Faasiq, whether in his absence or in his presence, unless there is an legitimate benefit in doing so, like warning against him, admonishing him, warning him of Allaah or the like. It is not permissible to do this just to insult him or to gloat.
Subul As-Salaam reads: “Most scholars hold the view that it is permissible to say to a Faasiq 'O Faasiq' or 'O immoral', and it is also permissible to say this in his absence on condition of intending advice for him or for others, in order to demonstrate his condition or deter people from doing what he does, and not with the purpose of slandering him. There must be a valid intention unless it is in response to someone who started insulting him, as it is permissible for him to defend himself (in the same manner he was wronged).” [End of quote]
Excessively describing people's conditions and being preoccupied with judging them as dissolute may lead to great evils, such as self-praise, considering oneself more righteous than others, pride against others and disdain for others because of their sins. If this is the case, then he is worse than the sinners themselves. A Hadeeth reads: “Whoever says 'people are doomed' is the most doomed among them.” [Muslim]
Ibn Al-Qayyim 
said in Madaarij As-Saalikeen: “Insulting your brother for his sin is more sinful than his sin, and it is a graver sin than his sin, because it involves praising one's acts of obedience, self-praise and self-thanks, and a declaration of innocence from sin and of your brother having committed it.” [End of quote]
Concerning this matter, it is important to note that the change of time and place should be taken into account with regard to the judgments related to the bad or good moral character of a person – such as those relevant to testimony, assuming authority and the like. If bad moral character is prevalent, then the people chosen (for testimony and the like) should be those who are less immoral than others.
Ibn Al-Qayyim said in At-Turuq Al-Hukmiyyah: “So, if the people are all dissolute except a few, then the testimony of some of them is accepted against others, and the judgment will be based on the testimony of the best of them and then the next best. This is the correct view that should be implemented although many jurists rejected it with their tongues. Also, it is valid for a dissolute person to assume authority and for his judgments to be effective although they (jurists) reject it with their tongues.” [End of quote]
Allaah Knows best.