Transliteration:( Yaaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanoo izaa tanaajaytum falaa tatanaajaw bil ismi wal 'udwaani wa ma'siyatir rasooli wa tanaajaw bil birri wattaqwaa wattaqul laahal lazeee ilaihi tuhsharoon )
“O believers! When you confer [36] together secretly, do not engage in secret deals for sin, transgression, and disobedience [37] to the Messenger. But rather, counsel each other with righteousness and piety [38]. And fear Allah, to Whom you will be gathered.”
In it, there is a hint that the believers should restrict their counselling to fellow believers, not to the infidels.
They should not make them their counsellors or sincere friends.
As Allah Almighty says:
“O believers! Do not make strangers your confidants—they leave no stone unturned in harming you” (Surah 3: Verse 118).
Even among fellow believers, counsel should be good, not wrong or misleading.
Whether in privacy or in public, a believer should always remain pure and respectful.
When alone, he should keep in mind the honor of the Holy Prophet ﷺ.
Blessed is the scholar who spends his solitude reflecting on the virtues of the Prophet ﷺ.
Cursed is the person who wastes such solitude thinking defamatory things about him.
This includes activities like:
Reciting the Holy Qur’an,
Imparting religious education,
Encouraging believers toward good,
Stopping them from evil,
Strategizing for the sake of Allah’s cause.
Such gatherings are blessed, and participation in them is a form of worship.
This tells us that:
Some types of counselling are obligatory,
Some are commendable,
Some are forbidden,
And some may even be acts of disbelief, depending on their intent and content.
The tafsir of Surah Mujadilah verse 9 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Mujadilah ayat 8 which provides the complete commentary from verse 8 through 10.
(58:9) Believers, when you converse in secrecy, let that not be concerning sin and transgression and disobedience to the Messenger; rather, converse concerning virtue and piety. And fear Allah to Whom all of you shall be mustered.[24]
24. This shows that najwa (talking secretly together) by itself is not forbidden, but it s being lawful or unlawful depends upon the character of the people who hold secret consultations and upon the circumstances under which such consultations are held, and upon nature of the consultations themselves, If the people whose sincerity, righteousness and purity of character are well known, are seen talking secretly together, nobody would have any misgiving that they were planning mischief. On the contrary, the whispering and secret consultations of the people who are notorious for their evil and wicked character, produce in every mind, the suspicion that they are engaged in a new conspiracy. Likewise, if a couple of persons talk for some time together on some matter secretly, it is not objectionable, but if some people have formed themselves into a gang and constantly engaged in a whispering campaign against the Muslim community, this would indeed be a prelude to some mischief. If nothing else, it would at least stir up divisions among the Muslims. Above all, the thing that decides whether najwa (secret counsel) is lawful or unlawful is the nature of the things talked of it. If two men hold a secret counsel in order to bring a dispute the an end, and to restore a person’s right, or to bring a dispute to an end, or to restore a person’s right, or to promote a good cause, it is no evil, but rather and an act of virtue, On the contrary, if the same secret counsel between two men is held with a view to creating mischief, or usurping the rights of others, or committing a sin, obviously the object itself would be evil and the secret counsel about it evil added to evil.
In this connection, the teaching given by the Prophet (peace be upon him) of social etiquette is: When three men are sitting together, no two of them should whisper to each other, for this would cause anguish to the third. (Bukhari, Muslim, Musnad Ahmad, Thirmidhi, Adu Daud). In another Hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Two men should not whisper together, without the leave of the third, for this would cause him anguish. (Muslim). This objectionable sort of whispering also applies to the case when two of the three men start talking in a language which is not understood by the third, and even more objectionable would be that during their whispering they should look towards the third person or gesticulate in a manner as to suggest that he is the topic of discussion between them.
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