Imām Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said in ‘I’lām al-Muwaqqi’īn’ (3/15):
“The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prescribed for his Ummah the obligation of enjoining good and forbidding evil so that good might result from it, which Allah and His Messenger love. But if enjoining good leads to something worse than the evil being forbidden, and more hated by Allah and His Messenger, then it is not permissible to forbid that evil, even if Allah detests it and despises its perpetrators. This is like the case of revolting against rulers by force, which is the root of all evil and tribulation until the end of time. The Companions sought permission from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to fight the rulers who delayed the prayer beyond its proper time.
They said: ‘Should we not fight them?’ He replied: ‘No, as long as they establish the prayer.’
He also said: ‘Whoever sees something from his ruler that he dislikes, let him be patient and not withdraw his hand from obedience to him.’
Whoever reflects upon the history of Islām, from its major and minor tribulations, will find that it stems from neglecting this fundamental principle and the failure to have patience with an evil, seeking to remove it, which then leads to something greater.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) witnessed the greatest evils in Makkah but was unable to change them. Even when Allah granted him victory and Makkah became a land of Islām, he intended to change the Ka’bah and return it to the foundations of Ibrahīm, but he refrained from doing so, despite having the power, out of fear of a greater harm, due to Quraysh’s recent conversion to Islām and their nearness to their previous disbelief. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not allow using force to correct the rulers, because it leads to something worse.”
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