Enjoining Right and forbidding wrong

Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 1
Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong
By Ibn Taymiyya
Introduction
All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His aid, and seek His forgiveness. We seek
refuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves, and from the evil in our actions.
Whoever Allah guides, none can send astray; whoever Allah sends astray, none can guide.
I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah alone, and with no partner. And I bear
witness that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger. Allah sent him with the guidance
and the way of truth, that He might raise it above all other ways of life. Allah is sufficient
as a witness. May Allah send His prayers and his greetings upon Muhammad and upon the
people of Muhammad.
Enjoining right and forbidding wrong is that with which Allah sent the revealed books, and
with it He sent His messengers, and it is an integral part of the way (i.e. the deen). The
message of Allah is composed of informative and directive parts. As for the informative, it
is Allah informing us about Himself, such as tauhid (theology), or His informing us about
His creation, such as the stories of previous peoples and Prophets in which are contained
for us lessons, threats and promises. The directive part consists of commands to do,
commands not to do, and things left to our choice and discretion.
Thus, it has been mentioned in the hadith that the chapter of the Qur'an which starts out:
[Say: He is Allah, the One...] is equal to one third of the Qur'an, because of its including
the third of tauhid. The Qur'an consists of tauhid, commands, and historical events.
Enjoining Right: Our Prophet And Those Before Him
Allah said by way of description of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam):
[He orders them with that which is good and forbids them that which is bad.
And he makes allowed for them that which is clean and good, and forbids
them that which is unclean and detestable.] Qur'an 7/157.
Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan