Questioner: “Our Shaykh, we have been tested in our country with those who say that demonstrations are permissible for enjoining good and forbidding evil. So if they see a particular evil, they gather and hold a demonstration, and they argue that the ruler permits them to do such things. What is your view?”
Shaykh: “Firstly, demonstrations bring no benefit, without a doubt. Rather, they open the door to evil and chaos. Demonstrations pass in large crowds, and they may pass by shops and properties, which end up being stolen or looted. There may also be mixing between youthful, beardless boys and older men, and sometimes women are present as well. So they are evil and there is no good in them.
But I have been informed that in some Western Christian countries, rights cannot be obtained except through demonstrations. The Christians and Westerners—when they want to silence their opponents—they demonstrate. So if this is something practiced in their lands, and these are lands of disbelievers who see no harm in it, and Muslims there cannot obtain their rights except through this means, then I hope there is no harm in that. But as for the Muslim lands, I hold that they are ḥarām and not permissible. And I am astonished at some rulers—if what you said is true—that they would allow them despite the chaos and disorder they contain. What benefit do they bring?
Yes, perhaps some rulers want to carry out something, but if they did it themselves, the West would criticize them. So, to appease and flatter the West, they allow the people to demonstrate, then they say to the Westerners: ‘Look, the people themselves demonstrated; they want such-and-such,’ or, ‘They do not want such-and-such.’ In these cases, perhaps it is being used as a means to another end, and in such matters one weighs whether its benefits outweigh its harms, or its harms outweigh its benefits.”
Questioner: “But suppose an evil occurred, so a demonstration was held, and it achieved a positive effect?”
Shaykh: “But it will cause more harm afterwards. Even if it happened to bring benefit one time, it will bring harm the next time. So overall, they are harmful—yes.”