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Will a person be questioned about the words uttered by another person concerning the Divine Being, if he was the one who angered that person? And will the listener be sinful for hearing such words?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Originally, a person is not responsible for what others utter, based on the Almighty's saying: "And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another." However, if it is highly probable that your angering someone will lead them to utter inappropriate words, then you must refrain from doing so, based on the principle of blocking the means (sadd al-dhara'i'), unless the dispute is over a rightful obligation. As for your hearing of the utterance, it does not in itself entail sin, but you must denounce it to the best of your ability. If denouncing it will cause greater evil, then denouncing is not permissible at that time; because if changing an evil leads to a greater evil, then the command to change it is dropped, and the person should be advised later at an appropriate time.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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