Enjoining Right and forbidding wrong

Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 22
The Difficulty Of These Requirements
Make no mistake about it, these requirements of enjoining right and forbidding wrong
introduce a high degree of difficulty into the situation for many people. Thus some imagine
that the obligation has fallen from his shoulders because of some lack in its prerequisites,
and so he neglects it. This may harm him more than he would have been harmed by
ordering and forbidding in spite of his lacks or deficiencies in one or more of these
requirements, or it may harm him less. Failing to carry out the obligation of enjoining right
is disobedience to Allah, and committing what Allah has forbidden therein is also
disobedience. One who flees from one act of disobedience to another is like one who seeks
refuge from the frying pan by jumping into the fire, or like one who flees from one false
religion to another, where the second one may be more evil than the first, or it may be less
evil, and they may be equally evil. This is the same in the case of the one who neglects his
obligations in enjoining right and forbidding wrong and the one who practices enjoining
right, but transgresses and disobeys Allah therein. The sin of the first one may be greater
than the second, or of the second one may be greater than the first, or they may be
equally great.
Disobedience To Allah Causes Difficulty, Obedience Causes Ease
One thing which is clearly established from the signs which Allah has shown us between
the horizons and in our selves, and with which He has born witness in His book -- is that
disobedience is a cause of calamities and difficulties. The evil of calamities and
punishments comes from the evil of ones actions. Also, obedience is a cause of plenty and
ease. The doing of good of the slave is a reason for the doing of good by Allah to him. Allah
said:
[And whatever calamity befalls you, it is according to that which your own
hands have earned - and Allah forgives much.] Qur'an 42/30
[Whatever good comes to you is from Allah, and whatever evil comes to you
is from your self.] Qur'an 4/79
[Verily, those of you who turned their backs on the day when the two armies
met, the Shaitan caused them to slip up because of some of what they had
earned. Allah has forgiven them.] Qur'an 3/155
Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan