Use wisdom, knowledge, and patience to persuade others to do good and stop evil.( Abdullah Cheng)
Dear brothers and sisters,
One of the foundational responsibilities Allah has placed on this Ummah is the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil, and this is a concept that Allah repeats it many times in the Qur’an:
وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌۭ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى ٱلْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
“Let there arise from you a community inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. Those are the successful.” [3:104]
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ ۗ
“You are the best nation raised for mankind—you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah.” [3:110]
From these verses we understand, that this is a duty upon us, and not something optional, or only for a certain group of people. It is a responsibility to every Mu’min who cares about the well-being of the Ummah. Why is it related to the Ummah? Because you cannot enjoin good and forbid evil if you were alone. This is an action that requires interaction with different people.
So this command was never meant for individuals to focus on self-improvement. The point of enjoining good and forbidding evil is not to make ourselves look righteous, nor is it to look down on others, but for the sake of uplifting this Ummah. Because without people reminding each other, the community will lose its direction, and eventually it will collapse, and the people who did not enjoin good and forbid evil will be held accountable on the Day of Judgement.
Once when Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (RA) was addressing to the people, he quoted a verse from the Qur’an:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ لَا يَضُرُّكُم مَّن ضَلَّ إِذَا ٱهْتَدَيْتُمْ
O believers! You are accountable only for yourselves (after you have fulfilled your obligations of delivering the truth). Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided. [5:105]
Then Abu Bakr said, that he heard the Prophet ﷺ say: “When the people see the person who does wrong and they didn’t take him by the hand (they didn’t stop him), then soon Allah will cover them in punishment [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2168]
This means that when a community is normalizing something wrong, and nobody is trying to stop the evil, then everyone in that community will be responsible, whether they are righteous people or not.
However today, we witness a very common scenario. When a person gives another person advice, the response they give is: “Mind your own business.” “Who are you to tell me?” “Look at yourself first. You’re the last person on earth to tell me what to do”
Maybe because the person himself is not completely following what he is preaching, the person who received the advice may think that they don’t have the right to even advise others if they are not doing themselves. However, we should be extremely careful in this situation if we are the ones who have received the advice, even if the person who gave the advice is not following what they are preaching. Because following the command, and ordering the command, are two separate issues.
This is similar to a father who has the habit of smoking cigarettes, if his child wants to smoke, he should stop his child, regardless of whether he himself is still smoking or not. It would be more convincing if he himself stopped smoking, but that doesn’t mean that he should stay silent if his own child wants to commit the same mistake.
When Allah talks about the Jewish scholars who don’t follow what they preach, He mentioned:
أَتَأْمُرُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ بِٱلْبِرِّ وَتَنسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَتْلُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
Do you preach righteousness and fail to practice it yourselves, although you read the Scripture (despite having the knowledge)? Do you not understand? [2:44]
Imam Al-Qurtubi mentions in his tafsir, that in this verse, Allah is rebuking the person for abandoning and not fulfilling the acts of piety, Allah is not rebuking the person for advising others. Simply advising others does not make it more sinful, unless the action is done out of arrogance.
But of course, the Da’wah would always be best and most effective if we were to start with our own selves, because when we fix ourselves, then our message carries more weight.
And Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mentions 3 qualities that a person should have when they give advice to enjoin good and forbid evil:
Having the correct knowledge, the knowledge to differentiate between right and wrong. Because without the knowledge, the advice wouldn’t be correct either.
Gentleness, to advise with wisdom, with softness, with humility, because the message may not be comfortable to bear for the person who is receiving it.
Patience, because people will have a reaction, because of how we present it, and because of how they felt it
So this clearly shows us, that enjoining good and forbidding evil is not about showing off ourselves and proving that we are more superior, nor is it about exposing the sins of other people and looking down on them. It is a fundamental action that could save the Ummah from destruction. It is an action that not only helps the individual, but also helps the community and the Ummah to become stronger.
So let us try to remind each other, not for the sake of showing off, not for the sake of embarrassing others, but to protect our brothers and sisters as well as our community. And if we do get reminded, whether the person reminding us themselves are still making the same mistakes or not, that should not affect the message and we should try to take it to ourselves with humility.
May Allah make us among those who have wisdom, may Allah grant us sincerity in our deeds, and may Allah protect our community from all harms and punishments.