Is a father considered an apostate if he mocks the rulings of Sharia and rejects them out of arrogance, and in this case, is it obligatory to continue enjoining good upon him and forbidding him from evil?

We advise you to abandon enjoining good and forbidding evil concerning your father if it will lead to a greater evil. The intention is to remind him of Allah, and if the probability of harm outweighs the benefit, then refraining from enjoining is more appropriate. Enjoining good and forbidding evil were legislated to spread good. If they result in greater corruption, then they are not permissible. As Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: "If you see someone doing this and they will not abandon it except for something worse, then do not call for the abandonment of an evil by committing a greater evil, or by abandoning an obligation or a recommended act whose abandonment is more harmful than committing that disliked act." He also said: "Enjoining and forbidding, even if they include achieving a benefit and averting harm, one must consider what opposes them. If what is lost in benefits or what is gained in harms is greater, then it is not commanded; rather, it is forbidden if its harm is greater than its benefit."

Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned that denouncing evil has four degrees. The first and second are permissible, the third is a matter of ijtihad (independent reasoning), and the fourth (which is that it is replaced by something worse than it) is forbidden. He gave examples of this, such as refraining from denouncing chess among the dissolute if it does not lead them to something more beloved to Allah, or leaving them to their amusement if moving them from it leads to something greater. He mentioned the story of Ibn Taymiyyah with the Tatars who were drinking alcohol, where he saw that leaving them to drink alcohol was better than deterring them from killing and taking captives.

If the matter concerns a parent, their rights and interests must be observed, and one must exhibit greater gentleness and leniency in addressing them. As Imam Ahmad ruled concerning dealing with a mother who prays incorrectly, he said: "No, but he teaches her and tells her," and he ordered him to command her with gentleness.