Turning Away from the One who has Made a Mistake, and Avoiding Argumenting him to Make him Come Back to the Right Way

al-bukhaari (may allaah have mercy on him) reported that ‘ali ibn abi taalib (may allaah be pleased with him) said that the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) came to him and faatimah’s (peace be upon her, the daughter of the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) one night and said to them,

“are you not praying?” ‘ali said, “o messenger of allaah, our souls are in the hand of allaah. if he wants to bring us back to life (from sleep), he will do so!” the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) went away when ‘ali said that to him, and he did not respond to it at all, but ‘ali heard him as he was walking away, slapping his thigh and saying, “ ‘… but, man is ever more quarrelsome than anything.’ [al-kahf 18:54 – interpretation of the meaning].” (the words of ‘ali could be understood in different ways. see al-fath, 7347).