Today, many people misunderstand the concept of judging. They are swift to quote, “thou shall not judge” whenever someone attempts to correct their wrongdoing.
They go ahead to say, “he who is without sin should first cast a stone” without understanding the context of that statement. Jesus Christ was smart. The pharisees and sadducees wanted him to blaspheme, they wanted him to contradict Moses so they use it to prosecute him. This explains why Jesus Christ did not ask them to stone or not to stone that woman.
If “he who is without sin should first cast a stone” is applied to all situations, there would be no legal system in a society, there would be no concept of justice, consequently, there would be anarchy.
Calling a car a car is not judging, it is calling it what it is. This explains why Islam gives different measures to fight evil/corruption up to fighting it at heart.
For me, judging is dwelling so much on people’s flaws that we forget ours. It could also mean jumping into a conclusion without a proper understanding of the situation. This explains why in Islam, one is expected to give his brother an excuse even if alcohol were to be dripping from his beards.
Someone called my attention to a live video where I was drinking with my left hand. I explained that it wasn’t so, it is the camera. Imagine one who sees that, did not contact me and condemn me to hell immediately; I would call that judging.
The picture attached to this image is a glass with STAR (Lager beer) inscribed on it. The content is a non-alcoholic energy drink. See how easy it is to quickly conclude that whoever holds it is drinking beer?
“Don’t judge” should not be an excuse not to forbid evil and enjoin what is right, albeit, we may want to be patient and understand situations before conclusion.
Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman
English 
