Does Monitoring Semi-Private Sin Count as Spying or Moral Duty?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
Living in a Muslim country, does monitoring a sin that became less public but is still apparent count as forbidden spying, or is it part of enjoining good and forbidding evil?
Even if its outcome is not guaranteed, it’s for the greater good.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Spying is categorically prohibited in the Quran, as Allah Most High says:
“Do not spy on one another…” [Quran, 49:12]
The sacred principle here is clear—we do not seek out others’ faults. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“O community of people, who believed by their tongue, and belief did not enter their hearts, do not back-bite Muslims, and do not search for their faults, for if anyone searches for their faults, Allah will search for his fault, and if Allah searches for the fault of anyone, He disgraces him in his house.” [Abu Dawud]
Thus, monitoring a hidden or semi-private sin—even with good intent—can fall under forbidden spying if it involves prying into what is not openly public.
However, commanding the good and forbidding the evil is a duty when the wrong is clear, public, and actionable. If the sin is no longer publicly manifest, it returns to being a private matter between the person and Allah (Most High), and intervention becomes intrusive unless harm is spilling into the public.
Therefore, monitoring a sin would not be justified unless it clearly affects others or has become openly harmful. We must uphold the balance between wisdom, discretion, and due limits. Even the “greater good” must operate within Divine boundaries.
And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town. He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.
