Blaming the Person who has Made a Mistake

an obvious mistake cannot be ignored; blame must be directed at the person who has made the mistake, and he must be rebuked from the outset, so that he will realize that he has made a mistake. al-bukhaari narrated in his saheeh that ‘ali (may allaah be pleased with him) said: “i had a she-camel from my share of the booty of badr, and the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) had given me another she-camel from the khumus. when i wanted to marry faatimah, the daughter of the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him), i made an appointment with a goldsmith from banu qaynuqaa’ to go with me to idhkhur. i wanted to sell him the two gold bracelets and use the money for my waleemah (wedding celebration). whilst i was gathering together the saddles, sacks, ropes and other gear, my camels were sitting beside a room belonging to one of the ansaar. after collecting the things i had to collect, i came back and found my camels with their backs cut open, their sides stabbed and their livers removed. i could hardly bear to look at this scene. i said, ‘who did this?’ they said, ‘hamzah ibn ‘abd al-muttalib. he is in that house drinking with one of the ansaar.’ i went to the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him), and zayd ibn haarithah was with him. the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) knew something was wrong from my expression. the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said:

‘what is the matter with you?’ i said, ‘o messenger of allaah, i have never seen anything like today! hamzah attacked my two she-camels and cut their backs open and stabbed them in their sides. he is in a house, drinking.’ the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) called for his cloak and put it on, then he went walking, and zayd ibn haarithah and i followed him, until he reached the house where hamzah was. he asked permission to enter, and they gave permission. they were drinking, and the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) started to hurl blame at hamzah for what he had done, but then he noticed that hamzah was drunk and red-eyed. hamzah looked at the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him). he looked up at his knees, then at his navel, then at his face, then he said, ‘you are no more than a slave to my father.’ the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) realized that he was drunk, so he turned on his heels and we went out with him.” (fath, no. 3091).

this happened before drinking alcohol was forbidden.