Beyond Personal Piety: Our Collective Duty To Society

The Primary Purpose of Our Existence

That we are obligated at a primary level, of course, is his ibadah, the primary purpose of our existence.

"I have not created jinn or ins, but for My worship," as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says. This is the primary purpose of our existence — the ibadah, the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

But the way we have been sent into this world is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created us in communities. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created us in families — husbands and wives, children, siblings. And there is a social structure that He has created for us.

We do not live in isolation, we do not live in caves, we live in communities. So just like there are individual obligations to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there are also societal obligations, communal obligations — huquq of our family members, huquq of our community. And if a person is focused only on his personal ibadah and personal taqwa, and does not fulfill the communal obligations, this person will also be negligent in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And this will impact a person's salvation and najat on the Day of Qiyamah. Amongst the communal obligations is that we have to have a genuine concern and a fiqh about the status of the ummah. Not only with respect to their worldly well-being, but even more importantly with regard to their akhira.

Amr Bil Ma'ruf and Nahiy Anil Munkar

And for this end, all of us have been obligated not only to do amal bil ma'ruf — to do good deeds — and to do istinab anil munkar — to abstain from sins — but along with that to do amr bil ma'ruf, to invite towards good deeds, and to do nahiy anil munkar, to prevent and forbid from evil deeds. At the individual level, we have to do amal bil ma'ruf, to do good deeds. We have to do istinab anil munkar, abstain from the munkar, from the sins.

That's the haq that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put upon us — haq al-'ubudiyyah. And then the haq of the community around us is that we cannot be just concerned about me, myself, and I. What's happening? What are our wives doing? What are our husbands doing? What are our children doing? What is our family up to? What is our society up to? We have to have that concern. And that can be fulfilled through the command of amr bil ma'ruf — to invite towards good — and nahiy anil munkar — to prevent from evil.

So this command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has been mentioned very explicitly in so many ayat of the Qur'an and so many ahadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. There are ayat that clearly explain this as a command of Allah. There are ayat that give the virtues of fulfilling this. There are ayat and ahadith that give the warnings of being negligent in fulfilling the above as well.

The Best of Nations

The virtue of it — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, for example, He says:

"You have been selected as the best of all the nations. You have been selected for the benefit of all humanity, all mankind. And what is your unique attribute? You invite towards good, you forbid from evil, and you have true faith in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You have iman in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala."

There is so much that the scholars of tafsir have written and beautiful points they have extracted. One glaring point that comes to mind — and cannot be overlooked — is that anyone who has a basic understanding of the deen should be aware, and I'm confident of the fact, that one basic condition for any good deed to be accepted in the court of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — one basic shart for qabuliyyah, a condition for acceptance — is that a person has to have iman.

So we are going to perform the salah of Jumu'ah. So there are shurut of salah, shurut of Jumu'ah — conditions. You have to be in a state of wudu. You have to be facing the qibla. It has to be the correct time. You have to be covering your 'awrah. Your clothes have to be pure.

"Face the qibla," etc.

Correct time. These are shurut for salah, shurut for zakah — hawalan al-hawl, the lunar year must pass, you must be malik al-nisab. Shurut for hajj. But there is a shart for all of the ibadah to be accepted, which doesn't even have to be mentioned, and that is that a person has to have iman. And without iman, any good deed is of no value.

The mountains of good deeds will be turned into dust.

The greatest losers — Allah Ta'ala mentions at the end of Surah Al-Kahf — are those who did a lot of good deeds, but without iman they will be of no value.

Why Is Iman Mentioned Last in the Ayah?

So over here the scholars ask: why is the order turned upside down? Because over here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ — "You invite towards good" — وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ — "You forbid from evil" — وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ — "And you believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala." Isn't iman something that is required before we do any action? Absolutely.

There are so many answers to this question. One of them — and subhanAllah — it is a reminder for us that amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar, inviting towards good and forbidding from evil — of course iman is a shart for it to be accepted — but it is such a beautiful amal, such a powerful amal, that by virtue of amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar, a person's iman will get stronger. It is an effort that will strengthen one's own iman.

So there is the iman that is a condition that must precede amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar for it to be acceptable — that iman is always there. But there is another iman that is coming after amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar. And which iman is that?

This is an iman that is a stronger iman. This is an iman that is a more resilient iman. So do amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar and you will find your iman is increasing. SubhanAllah.

Another answer to this question is that iman is a very necessary condition but it is also a very general condition. It is a condition that is there for this ummah and it is also a condition that was there for the previous ummahs. From the time of Adam and Nuh alayhi wa sallam, every ummah had to have iman. There is no ummah that came for which iman was not an obligation upon them.

In the context of this ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala starts off by saying, كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ — "You are the best of the ummahs." So the 'illat al-khairiyyah — meaning the causative factor — why are you the best of the nations? It needs to be highlighted, because that is what Allah begins the ayah by discussing, by expressing, by explaining, by giving us that title, conferring that title upon us.

Is it because you have iman? Well, iman is a common denominator — qadr al-mushtarak. Previous ummahs also had iman. What is unique about this ummah by virtue of which they have been given this title is because of amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar. It was there in the previous nations too. But the level of that obligation is far greater upon this ummah.

And why is it greater upon this ummah? Because of the fact that in the past, after every nabi would go away and the effort of deen would decline, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would send another nabi. And our Nabi — we have this aqeedah, we have this yaqeen, without any doubt — is the Khatam al-Anbiya.

"I am the seal of the Prophets, there is no prophet after me." (Sahih Muslim, Book 30, Hadith 5673)

There's no nabi to come after me. So the obligation of amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar is greater upon this ummah.

Was Nahiy Anil Munkar Obligatory on Previous Nations?

Sometimes people go so far as to say this is not an obligation on the previous nations — it is an obligation only on this ummah. This is actually incorrect, because the Qur'an itself proves that amr bil ma'ruf and nahiy anil munkar was an obligation on previous nations. Like:

This is the story of Ashab al-Sabt — the People of the Sabbath — when Allah Ta'ala mentions about them. This is from a previous nation, and when they were given the prohibition of fishing on Saturday, the fish was coming up on Saturday. So one group was putting the traps and catching the fish. Two other groups were abstaining. One was abstaining from fishing and abstaining from speaking against fishing. And the third group was abstaining from fishing and was also prohibiting the fishing.

So these two groups are now talking to one another. The one group that is not fishing, but is okay and is not making a big deal about it as well — they said: لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْمًا اللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ — "Why are you worried about these people and trying to prohibit them? Allah is going to destroy them." وَمُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا — "And Allah is going to bring a torment upon them." Why are you trying to advise them? They believe it's wrong. They believe a torment is going to come upon the perpetrators of wrong. They themselves are abstaining from the wrong. I mean, they've done everything, right? The only thing they're negligent on is — not speaking out against it. Continuing to sit and meet with them and maintain relations with them. That was the only crime.

So the group that was preventing it, they said: مَعْذِرَةً إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ — "This is a hujjah, the final evidence we can present in the court of Allah, that we tried our best. Perhaps they may also make tawbah and they may abstain."

But what happened is:

Allah Ta'ala says that when they persisted in this sin, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: أَنجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ — "We only saved that group which was preventing the evil." And those that were engaged in the evil, or those who were silent — there is a torment that comes upon those who are silent as well. There are different opinions about that. But the Qur'an is very explicit that the group that was saved for sure are those يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ — that were preventing the evil. They were not just quiet about it.

So this shows that nahiy anil munkar was there in the previous nations too. It's not that, oh, it wasn't important in the past. But it's more important for this ummah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam by virtue of his being the Khatam al-Nabiyyin.

Luqman's Advice to His Son

So this is just one ayah. There are many, many, many ayat that indicate the importance of this. Luqman alayhi wa sallam, for example — this is again a previous nation. He is telling his son:

"Oh my dear son, establish your own salah. And invite towards good and forbid evil. And be patient upon the trials and tribulations you will face in this path." Because when you are going to speak out against evil, people are not going to like that. People are going to try to stop you. People are going to attack you.

Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he was doing his own ibadah, he was known as الصَّادِق الْأَمِين — the trustworthy, the most truthful person. But when he started giving da'wah, including the amr bil ma'ruf as well as the nahiy anil munkar component, then they called him شَاعِر، كَاذِب، كَاهِن، مَجْنُون — we seek refuge in Allah — and all of these false allegations against his character. So there will be opposition. You will have to face it.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us strength. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for us to fulfill this obligation.

Addressing the Challenge: "I Am Not Qualified to Speak"

And one of the challenges that comes in this path — there is a challenge both from the perspective of the one who is doing nahiy anil munkar and there is a challenge from the person who is listening to the nahiy anil munkar on the receiving end. And this is an objection that comes from Shaytan. And this is one objection that comes through a misinterpretation of a Quranic ayah.

And that objection is a person says: "How can I do nahiy anil munkar when I am involved in the same? How can I do amr bil ma'ruf when I'm not doing a good deed myself? So I'm not qualified to speak on this. I have no moral authority to speak on this topic." This is the challenge for the speaker. And the challenge on the receiving end is a person will start attacking and say: "Why should I listen to you when you are not abstaining from the same sin you are preventing us from? Why should I listen to you when you are not doing the good deed that you yourself are inviting us to?"

And then they quote ayat from the Qur'an out of context. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about the Qur'an:

"Many people are misguided through the book. Many people are guided through the book. And only the sinners are misguided through the book." Another interesting thing here — someone may ask: "Wait a second, is misguidance mentioned first and guidance mentioned second? Does that mean the prime purpose of the Qur'an is misguidance and the secondary purpose is guidance?" Absolutely not. That's not the case. The purpose of the Qur'an is guidance, not misguidance.

But why is misguidance mentioned first? It is for the same reason that we should be awake by now. The objective of the Qur'an is guidance, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to alert us that yes, it is a book of guidance —

— however, many people are going to be quoting the Qur'an out of context and spreading misguidance. So be alert to this fact that people will be misquoting, making tahrif in the Qur'an. And that is why it's mentioned first — to attract our attention to this possibility that we may otherwise be unaware of.

The Misquoted Ayah from Surah Al-Saff

So they quote the ayah from Surah Al-Saff, for example:

"O those who believe, why do you say that which you don't do? This is a very major sin and source of anger for Allah — that you say that which you do not do."

So this ayah becomes a block. A block for the speaker — "I can't speak about nahiy anil munkar because I'm involved in the munkar." And a block for the audience — "I don't want to hear what you have to say because you're involved in that sin."

What is this ayah actually referring to? This ayah is not talking about nahiy anil munkar. لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ — in short, it's talking about khabar, not insha'. It's talking about claims. When people would make claims that "I did this." Allah Ta'ala is saying: "Why do you say you do things which you don't do?" Meaning, don't go out there and say, "I never missed my tahajjud, and I give $100 of sadaqah every day — how much do you give? You should give too." So you are making a claim of something which you have not done or are not planning to do. That is what this ayah is talking about. It's not talking about inviting towards good or preventing from evil. That's a completely different thing.

In fact, inviting towards good will encourage you and will make it easier for you to do the good. And preventing evil will give you the strength to abstain from the evil. Hakim al-Ummat, Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi rahimahullah used to say that when he was trying to select a topic — what should he give his wa'az and khutbah about — he would look and make muhasabah: what is his spiritual weakness that was most bothering him that day? And then he would say, "Let me do a wa'az on this particular topic." Why? Because my ears are closer to my mouth than yours. And when we're speaking, one of the basic etiquettes of speaking is: you never use the second person — "What's wrong with you? You need to do this." Rather, it's always referring to ourselves. We — singular first person, or plural first person. "I need to do this," or "we need to do that." It's never "you." So it's never from a platform high above everyone else, "You guys are all messed up. You need to fix yourself up." That's not how the Islamic ethics of speaking work. It's always about "we." And when the speaker is saying "we," he is referring first of all to himself. So you're always supposed to be speaking to yourself.

So this ayah is talking about: don't make claims of things that you have not done. It's not saying: don't speak about preventing an evil if you're not abstaining from it yourself.

Two Independent Commands of Allah

And very simply — it's like two commands. Like أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ — fasting and prayer. Salah, five times a day, is fard. And fasting is fard. Both are obligations. But fasting, subhanAllah, is a communal social ibadah. People fast together. Many people who fast, they don't pray. So if somebody in the month of Ramadan is excited to fast, are you gonna stop him and say, "You cannot fast because you don't pray?" No. You're gonna say, "MashaAllah, you are fasting — so just like you are fasting, you should also pray."

So doing a good deed is a command of Allah, and inviting towards a good deed is a command of Allah. If somebody is inviting towards a good deed and not doing it, you're not gonna say, "Stop inviting towards a good deed since you're not doing it." Rather you'll say, "MashaAllah, you are inviting towards a good deed — you should also start doing it." If someone is preventing from sin but is not abstaining from sin themselves, you're not gonna say, "Why are you preventing sin when you're not abstaining from it?" You'll say, "MashaAllah, you are preventing from sin — you need to also start abstaining from it." They are two independent commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. One is not contingent on the other. If you're doing one, you should start the other.

This is what Allah Ta'ala says:

"You're inviting towards good — start practicing it. You're preventing from evil — start abstaining as well."

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us tawfiq to have the correct understanding and to fulfill this obligation.

Du'a and Closing

وَبَارِكَ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَأَزْوَاجِهِ وَذُرِّيَّتِهِ وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ وَالتَّابِعِينَ وَرِضْوَانُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

We ask for duas for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and all the Muslim Ummah. Our beloved brother from the Ansar, his grandmother passed away — please make du'a for her maghfirah. Another community member's niece, Asra Hussain, 25 years old, passed away in the tragic airplane accident that took place in Washington D.C. Please make du'a. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for this family and all of the families throughout the world that are suffering.