Behind Veils exists because silence became systemic.
Repeatedly, serious injustices surfaced — real harm, real victims, credible evidence — yet religious organizations and religious leaders refused to act. No intervention. No mediation. No accountability. No public clarification. Only avoidance, delay, and quiet protection of reputations.
When those entrusted with moral authority abdicate their responsibility, Islam does not instruct the community to remain silent. It instructs them to stand.
Allāh defines the moral identity of the Muslim community:
“You are the best nation brought forth for mankind: you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.”
[Qur’an 3:110]
This command is not selective. It does not apply only to charity, prayer, or uplifting reminders. It applies most forcefully when wrongdoing is uncomfortable to confront.
Classical scholars explained that when forbidding evil is abandoned — especially by leaders — the community loses its moral standing. Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality; it is inclination toward wrongdoing and, in many cases, complicity.
Allāh warns:
“Do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you.”
[Qur’an 11:113]
Inclination includes silence, justification, deflection, and refusal to warn.
Fitnah is not exposing harm.
Fitnah is allowing harm to continue unchecked.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it … and if he cannot, then with his tongue.”
[Sahīh Muslim]
When abuse, deception, or injustice is public and ongoing, then speaking becomes an obligation, not a choice.
Calling accountability “fitnah” while protecting perpetrators is a distortion of the religion. Islam does not preserve unity by burying victims — it preserves justice by confronting wrongdoing early and clearly.
Islam does encourage concealing private, personal sins.
It does not command concealing public harm, abuse, or ongoing injustice.
Allāh says:
“Indeed, those who conceal clear proofs and guidance after it has been made clear to the people — Allāh curses them.”
[Qur’an 2:159]
Scholars explained this applies when concealment:
enables harm
misleads the community
protects wrongdoers
endangers others
Warning people from harm is mercy, not slander.
The Prophet ﷺ described removing harm from people’s path as a righteous act. Sometimes that harm is not an object — it is a person or system causing damage.
The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:
“The greatest jihād is a word of truth spoken before a tyrannical authority.”
This hadith alone dismantles the claim that confronting authority is un-Islamic. The Prophet ﷺ did not say private, quiet, or safe — he emphasized courageous truth when power is abused.
Islamic obedience is conditional:
“There is no obedience to the creation in disobedience to the Creator.”
Authority that shields injustice forfeits its moral legitimacy.
Islamic jurists explicitly addressed what happens when judges, rulers, or institutions are:
inaccessible
unjust
compromised
unwilling to act
They were unequivocal:
When access to just authority is blocked, the upright Muslim community stands in its place.
This does not mean vigilante justice.
It means documentation, exposure, warning, and mobilizing the community toward accountability.
Justice does not disappear when systems fail — it moves closer to the people.
Al-Dusuqī (d. 1230 AH) mentioned in his marginal commentary, saying:
“Know that the upright Muslim community stands in the place of the judge in this matter and in every matter in which access to the judge is not possible, or when the judge is not just.”
Ibn Hajar al-Haytamī stated regarding the Muslims:
“If they appoint an upright person, all of his rulings are valid, and he becomes for them like a judge. Ijtihād is not required of him, because at most he is like an arbitrator (muḥakkam), and an arbitrator is not required to possess ijtihād except when a judge is present.”
Al-Dusuqī stated in his marginal commentary on al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr:
“By ‘the Muslim community’ he meant two upright persons or more.”
Abū al-ʿĀliyah said:
“I used to travel for days to reach a man, then examine his prayer. If I found that he performed it well and upheld it, I stayed with him and wrote from him. But if I found that he neglected it, I left him and said: one who neglects prayer will be even more negligent about matters other than prayer.”
Behind Veils does not claim legal authority.
We do not issue verdicts, punishments, or legal rulings.
Our role is clear and limited:
To document wrongdoing
To preserve evidence
To expose patterns of harm
To warn the community
To serve as a stepping stone toward justice
We exist to do what religious institutions refused to do: act.
Behind Veils exists so victims are not isolated, truth is not erased, and accountability is not indefinitely delayed under the guise of “wisdom” or “unity.”
We do not accept donations.
We do not monetize content.
We do not profit from exposure.
This is intentional.
Financial incentive compromises sincerity (ikhlās) and gives critics an easy escape. This work has cost time, family, peace, and comfort — not generated income.
The motive is singular: truth before reputation, justice before comfort.
From the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and centuries of scholarship, the conclusion is unavoidable:
Enjoining good and forbidding evil is obligatory
Silence in the face of injustice is blameworthy
Authority is conditional upon justice
Concealing public harm is sinful
Speaking truth to power is among the highest acts of faith
Behind Veils exists because those who were obligated to act chose silence.
This is not rebellion.
This is not fitnah.
This is Islam!
