In Christianity, not judging others is major topic I remember from growing up reading the Bible and listening to the Sunday preachers.
What does the Quran tell us about not judging other people? What does the Hadith tell us about not judging other people? What about Imans, what do they say?
I searched but didnt see anything so maybe this is a duplicate.
Thanks
In addition to the Verse from surat al Hujurat (49:11) which was already mentioned by azam and pedro. I would like to recall the story of the Prophet Musa/Moses (Peace be upon him and al-Khidr which is mentioned in surat al-Kahf (18:60-82):
To sum up the story briefly, Prophet Musa (Peace be upon him) followed a learned man called Al-Khidr to get guidance. He kept seeing Al-Khidr do actions that to Musa seemed wrong and Musa would speak up and point out that they were wrong. At the end, it turned out that Al-Khidrs intention had been good all along and though his actions seemed wrong he was actually doing them to benefit the people. This shows us that there are things of which we have no knowledge and should not think that we do and therefore shouldn't judge.
For example judging others (being suspicious) is mentioned in Muwatta' al Imam Malik and both Sahihs:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
Avoid suspicion, for suspicion is the gravest lie in talk and do not be inquisitive about one another and do not spy upon one another and do not feel envy with the other, and nurse no malice, and nurse no aversion and hostility against one another. And be fellow-brothers and servants of Allah.
and also some ahadith provide stories of people who judged others and went to hell because they judged their intentions (something what we can't judge foresee) or showing that prejudice can lead to grave mistakes. So we could say that man does not have the authority to judge another in matters of faith as he cannot see into the hearts of others therefore Allah enjoins that He be the Judge of such affairs.
Also here are some statements on the matter:
O'mar ibn al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) said (My own translation so take it carefully):
ولا تظنن بكلمة خرجت من أخيك المسلم إلا خيرا ، وأنت تجد لها في الخير محملا
(From Tafsir ibn Kathir)
Do always think good/kindly for any word that your Muslim brother spoke out if you could find a good and nice sense (or even the smallest carrier to make it sound nice)!
Hamdun al-Qassar, one of the great early Muslims, said:
"If a friend among your friends errs, make seventy excuses for them. If your hearts are unable to do this, then know that the shortcoming is in your own selves [ibid]"
And the words of Imam Jafar as-Sadiq
"If you find see something you don’t like in a brother, try to find 1-70 excuses for him. And if you can’t find an excuse, say "There might be an excuse, but I don’t know it." "
Al-Dhahabî, speaking about the mistakes of the scholars, said the following: [Siyar al-A`lâm al-Nubalâ' (14/374)]:
If we were to discredit every person who made mistake in judgment or declare those people as innovators – people who are essentially of good faith and sincerely seek the truth – then scarcely would any of our scholars be spared.
And just as an addition, as i think one could say a lot more on this topic: Muslims are asked not to judge unless they would have clear proofs, and try to do their best to judge fairly and leave the final judgment to Allah.
Well i think it would be possible to add more information or elaborate a better answer if you provide us more information on what you'd like to focus on and what you mean by judging others!
And Allah knows best!
O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers. [Qur'an 49:11]
This is one of the verses I could find from the Qur'an. Let others add if they find something else either from Qur'an or Hadith.
People confuse judging, prejudice or generelasiation are not judging, judging entails that there is no ethical principle that also applies other people so you cannot under most circumstances judge other people for what they do, it means that people are free to choose and follow any kind of behaviour in limited boundary, this doesn't comply with Islam at all, because although the belief is between the God and the servan, it doesn't mean anyone can read Qur'an and derive "Islamic" judgements about it. Prophet pbuh and the righteous caliphs and the companions and other scholars never ever allowed for such a thing, there are lots and lots of hadith reporting that a companion gets angry at other companion because the other is doing something different which might not be from the prophet, ie made-up by the person, Allah commands muslims Ummah to have a group of righteous scholars who are afraid of God and be just and study the Islamic Sciences so to teach people.
There are red zones gray zones and green zones, red zone is where certain absolute principles and obligations of the Islamic Faith resides, accordingly one cannot have a different opinion about this and still claim to be Muslim, he shall be told that he is wrong to whatever extent his claim goes, for example one cannot argue about one of the pillars of Islam, say the Salat Prayer, its been practiced by the Ummah in a similar fashion for 1400 years, If one doesn't practice it he can be judged in certain social areas, like in "family" ofc these have limits and its own ways to be nice etc, using a hatred language is not what's demanded.
To summarize, the gray zone is debatable, green zone is very trivial stuff. Say, doing additional prayers, one cannot be judged for that. Gray zone is for example where how should one the social organization or marriage, or political regimes etc, from certain aspects though, marriage for example have a red zone, gray zone and green zone. Allah says there are boundaries and believers should be careful not to cross the line.
I hate to alter things according my wishes, we can be wrong but the text and tradition is out there, just to make this world beautiful we can't change what we deemed to be objective and present it in a collective "subjective" manner.
Major emphasis can be seen on reward and punishment all throughout the Quran. BELIEVE and reward is in gardens where underneath rivers flow, disobey and succumb to the fire. a major theme repeated over and over again .
Verses rather vague in detail as the major point of the Quran seems to be on "right belief".Monotheism is the major core requirement and doesn't go into much detail as far as "commandments". Again , the major emphasis is on having the right belief and assigning no partners to God. Even the Sunnah talks rather vaguely about what Muhammed did on this occasion, on that occasion regarding prayer during eclipses etc. This can be seen in Sunna al Bukhari
