This contains some guidelines and information regarding the issues of abandonment according to the Sharee'ah. He was asked:

• From whom is it obligatory or permissible to show hatred or abandon for the sake of Allah The Most High.

• And what are the conditions under which one hates such person or abandons him for the sake of Allah The Most High.

• And does the one who leaves prayer fall under this category of abandonment or not.

• And when the person who is being shunned gives salaams, is it obligatory for the one shunning him to return salaams or not.

• And what is the duration of such hatred and shunning for the sake of Allah, [is it] as long as one is certain that the attributes which require hatred and shunning are present, or is there a fixed limit for it. [If so] then what are its regulations, please explain how it works.

The Hijrah of the Sharee'ah is of two types:

1. Meaning to leave evil;

2. With the meaning of punishment for it [evil].
 

As for the first, it is mentioned in Allah The Most High`s saying,
 

So these mean that one is not to witness evil [al-munkaraat] without necessity. Like the people who drink intoxicants or sitting with them, or people who invite to a feast in which intoxicants or wind instruments are common. It is not obligatory to accept their invitation or their likes. The difference is over one who attends them intending only to object to [such behavior], or by other than his own choice. And for this is the saying, One who witnesses evil is like the one who does it and the hadeeth,

Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him not sit at a table in which khamr is drunk.

This type of Hijrah is that in which one removes himself from doing evil. As he (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said,
 

This is the topic of migration from the lands of disbelief and disobedience to the lands of Islam and faith, a migration from living among the disbelievers and hypocrites for one who is incapable of doing what Allah has ordered him to do. As Allah said,
 

The second type is Hijrah with the aim of discipline. It is abandoning the one who displays evil, abandoning him until he repents from it as the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) and the Muslims abandoned the three who stayed home until Allah revealed that they had repented - when without an excuse they did not go out for jihad for which they were called. And Hijrah is not made of one who demonstrates good, even if he is a hypocrite. So here Hijrah holds the status of punishment (at-ta`zeer). And at-ta`zeer is for anyone who abandoned an obligatory duty, or does what is forbidden, like abandoning obligations such as prayer, zakah, or establishing oppression and immorality, and inviting to innovation which contradicts the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Imams of the Salaf - that which is clearly innovation.

This is the correct saying among sayings of Imams of the Salaf: That is that testimony is not accepted from those who call to innovation, nor are they to be prayed behind, nor is knowledge to be taken from them, nor are they to be married. This is the punishment for them until they refrain. And here they make a distinction between the one who invites to it and the one who does not, because the one who invites spreads the evil, so he deserves the punishment. The case is opposite with the one who is discrete about it, for he is no more evil than the hypocrites whose outward appearance the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) accepted, entrusting their intent with Allah, although he was cognizant of the condition of many of them. Similar is the hadeeth:
 

And that is because the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) said,
 

This Hijrah differs for the people who perform it depending upon their strength, their weakness, and their numbers, large or small. The aim of it is to scold the one who is abandoned and discipline him and save the society from a similar outcome. So if the good in doing so is more preponderate as far as one can ascertain, then Hijrah until the evil is weakened and diminishes is permissible. But if the one abandoned or others cannot leave the evil but increase in evil due to the treatment, or the one abandoning is weak - so much so that it is improbable that the good will prevail - then Hijrah is not allowed.

Rather, being friendly to some people is more beneficial than shunning them. And shunning is more beneficial with some people than friendliness. The Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) was friendly with some people and he abandoned others. As in the case of the three who stayed home, they were better than many others whom he was friendly with. This is because those people held the reigns of obedience over their tribesmen. So the religion derived the most benefit from softening their hearts. And these people, they were believers, and there were many other believers like them, so by shunning them, the religion became fortified and this helped to purify them from their sins. This is similar to waging war sometimes and making treaties of peace at others. All of this depends upon the situation and the good expected. And the answers of the Imams like Ahmad and others regarding this topic are based upon this principle.

The same distinction occurs between locations in which innovation is predominate - like the concept of al-Qadariya in Basrah, astrology in Khurasan, Shi'ism in Koofah - and other areas that do not have these problems. There is also a distinction between the people of power and those other than them.
 

When this is clear, then the Hijrah of the Sharee'ah is among those deeds which Allah and His Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) command. So obedience in it must no doubt be sincere for Allah and in conformity with His command. Then if it is sincere for Allah it is correct. But, whoever makes Hijrah due to his own desires or he makes a Hijrah other than what has been commanded, then his Hijrah is not included here. The more the souls act according to their desire, the more doubt there is that it is being done out of obedience to Allah.

Now Hijrah for the sake of oneself is not allowed for more than three days, as is found in the Sahihayn that the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) said,
 

So permission for this Hijrah does not extend beyond three days, just as permission to marry additional wives does not extend beyond three. In the Sahihayn the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) is reported to have said,
 

Such abandoning of ones rights is prohibited, there is only an allowance for some people, like in the case of the wife, her husband abandoning her bed when she rebels is like the allowance to abandon for three days.

Here it is necessary to distinguish between the Hijrah which is Allah`s right, and the Hijrah which is one`s own right. The first of them is something that is commanded, and the second is something forbidden, because the believers are brethren. In an authentic hadeeth it is reported that the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) said,
 

In a hadeeth from the Sunan, he (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) said,
 

In an authentic hadeeth he (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) said,
 

This is so because Hijrah is among the legislated punishments. It is a type of jihad in Allah`s way. It is done so that Allah`s Word be supreme and so the entirety of the religion be for Him. The believer is required to make enmity for Allah`s sake, and to befriend for Allah`s sake, so much so that the believer is required to maintain the friendship even if he is oppressed. For oppression does not sever the allegiance of faith (al-muwalaat al imaaniyah). Allah The Most High said,
 

He renders them brothers even while they are fighting and committing oppression, and He commands reconciliation between them.

So the believer must distinguish between these two types. Which has more doubt in it than the other? Then know that your allegiance is obligatory to the believer, even if you are oppressed or attacked, and your enmity of the disbeliever is obligatory even if he is beneficent and is good to you. For Allah glorious is He sent the Messenger and revealed the Book so that the entirety of the religion be for Allah, so love is for His allies and enmity for His enemies, honor is for His allies and disgrace for His enemies, reward is for His allies and punishment is for His enemies.

Now if both good and evil are present in a man, both sin and obedience, disobedience, Sunnah, and innovation: He has the right to allegiance and friendship in proportion to his goodness, and the right to enmity and punishment according to his evil. So it may be that one personality possesses what warrants both honor and dishonor, he possesses some of this and some of that, like the poor thief whose hand is cut off for what he has stolen but he is given what will satisfy his needs from the storage of charity.

These are the fundamentals which are agreed upon by Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jamaa`ah, whereas the Khawaarij, the Mu'tazilah and those of similar thinking differ. For them the people are either deserving of absolute reward or absolute punishment. But Ahl as-Sunnah say: Allah punishes some people of major sins in the Fire, then they are taken out of it by means of the intercession of those whom He permits to intercede by virtue of His Mercy, as is elaborated upon by the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam). And Allah - Glorious is He and Most High - knows best. O Allah make mention of Muhammad and his family and his companions.