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Lesson 6 of 6

You are allowed to speak

This is the answer to do not air the family's business, and it is in the Qur'an rather than in a leaflet.

Allah does not like the public mention of evil, except by one who has been wronged. The exception is written into the verse. The person who has been wronged is not covered by the rule about keeping things quiet. And elsewhere the Qur'an asks why believers would not fight for the oppressed who cry out for help, which is a question addressed to a community rather than to a victim.

Forgiveness verses exist, and they are addressed to the wronged person as something she may choose. They are not addressed to a community as an instruction to suppress her complaint.

Qur’an and Sunnah

۞لَّا يُحِبُّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡجَهۡرَ بِٱلسُّوٓءِ مِنَ ٱلۡقَوۡلِ إِلَّا مَن ظُلِمَۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ سَمِيعًا عَلِيمًا

God does not like bad words to be made public unless someone has been wronged: He is all hearing and all knowing

Qur’an 4:148

وَمَا لَكُمۡ لَا تُقَٰتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡمُسۡتَضۡعَفِينَ مِنَ ٱلرِّجَالِ وَٱلنِّسَآءِ وَٱلۡوِلۡدَٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ أَخۡرِجۡنَا مِنۡ هَٰذِهِ ٱلۡقَرۡيَةِ ٱلظَّالِمِ أَهۡلُهَا وَٱجۡعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيࣰّ ا وَٱجۡعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا

Why should you not fight in God’s cause and for those oppressed men, women, and children who cry out, ‘Lord, rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors! By Your grace, give us a protector and give us a helper!’

Qur’an 4:75

Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.