The right to avoid sin
Islam confers the right on every citizen to refuse to comment a sin or a crime; if any government or adminitrator orders an individual to do a wrong, he may refuse to comply. Not only is his refusal not an offence, the giving of an order to one’s subordinates to commit a sin or do a wrong is itself an offence and such a serious one that the officer who gives it, whatever his rank, is liable to summary dismissal.
These clear instructions of the Prophet are sumarised in the following Hadith: “It is not permissible to disobey God in obedience to the orders of any human being” (Musnad of Ibn Hanbal). In other words, no has the right to order to his subordinates to act against the laws of God. No offender may seek to prove his innocence or escape punishment by saying that the offence was committed on the orders of a superior. If such a stuation arises, the person who commits the offence and the person who orders it are equally liable to criminal proceedings.
(Hal 33, Abul A’la Mawdudi, Human Rights in Islam The Islamic Foundation, Leicester, UK: 1976
