Question:
We find many people speaking ill and harboring ill-will toward the [Muslim] rulers and the scholars, using descriptions that we detest. When we denounce their behavior, they laugh at us and say, ‘You are poor, soul-less people who do not know.’ I even remember being in a gathering where we were discussing this, and I mentioned to them that I pray (make Du’a) for the rulers; they laughed at me and mocked my words. So, what should be said to such people?
Answer:
You have fulfilled your duty and advised them. If they do not accept [your advice], then do not sit with them. Leave that gathering and do not keep their company, because you have done what was required of you while they refused to accept it and chose to laugh. Do not sit with them, for [Allah says]: ‘And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur’ân) that when you hear the Verses of Allâh being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them.’ [An-Nisa: 140]
It is not permissible to sit in gatherings where evil is present—especially such a grievous evil as this—except for one who denounces it and finds that their denunciation is accepted. However, if it is not accepted, then one must leave that gathering, [as Allah says]: ‘And when you (Muhammad) see those who engage in a false conversation about Our Verses (of the Qur’ân) by mocking at them, stay away from them till they turn to another topic. And if Shaitân (Satan) causes you to forget, then after the remembrance sit not you in the company of those people who are the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong-doers).’ [Al-An’am: 68].
These people are mocking the verses of Allah; because the verses of Allah forbid reviling the Muslim rulers and forbid attacking the honor of [any] Muslims. Yet, they mock the very verses of Allah that prohibit them from doing so.