Brief Comments on Riyaadh al-Saaliheen #28

Boycotting for more than 3 days

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد

[Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen, pg. 2/540]

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

لا يحل للمسلم أن يهجر أخاه فوق ثلاث يلتقيان فيعرض هذا ويعرض هذا وخيرهما الذي يبدأ في بالسلام

“It is not lawful for a Muslim to desert (not to speak to) his brother Muslim for more than three days while meeting, one turns his face to one side and the other turns his face to the other side. Lo! The better of the two is the one who starts greeting the other.” [1]

Shaikh al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله commented:

But you can boycott him for up to three days, if you see that there is a benefit. And you can boycott him for more (days) if you still see him persisting upon a sin and has not repented from it, and you see that boycotting him will lead him to repentance. And that is why the correct saying in this is that it is permissible to boycott up to three days; and what exceeds this, then the pros and cons should be evaluated. If it is beneficial then yes otherwise no. Even if he openly commits a sin and boycotting him will not have any effect then do not boycott him. [2]

[Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen (2/540)]

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[1] Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (6077, 6237) and Saheeh Muslim (4649, 4650).

[2] Extending the boycott for more than three days can be based upon the incident of Ka`b ibn Maalik and his two companions who were socially boycotted for a month or more.