The definition of Enjoining good and forbidding evil
But in general, if we want to express a comprehensive and complete definition for what is Enjoining good and forbidding evil, we have to mention some different Viewpoints, For example:
1. Some people believe that reason is the difference between beauty and ugliness, while Ahl al-Sunnah and Jama’ah are of the opinion that Sharia determines the boundary of beauty and ugliness, of course, in other attributes that belong to perfection and imperfection.
2. Qazi Abdul Jabbar, who is one of the elders of the Mu’tazila, said in the definition of “Enjoining good”: “It is any act whose doer expresses its goodness, knows it or guides it”, and in the definition of prohibition of negation, he also said: “It is any act that Its doer should express its ugliness, know it or guide it.”
3. Shaykh Jurjani, may Allah have mercy on him, who is one of the late scholars of Ash’ari, says in a famous definition: «هو کل ما یحسن في الشرع»; It means that whatever the Shari’ah likes is Ma’roof.
In the vocabulary, the definitions of the Mu’tazila and the Ash’ara are collected and unified in this way, and the Ma’roof and the Munker are defined like this: uالمعروف اسم لکل فعل یعرف بالعقل أو الشرع حسنه، والمنکر ما ینکر بهما.» (Translation: Ma’roof is a noun for an action whose goodness is recognized by reason and Sharia, and Mankar is an action whose ugliness is recognized by reason and Sharia.)
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, also wrote in the definition of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil: “Commanding what is good and forbidding what is evil is the one whom Allah sent down in a book and sent in a messenger, and he is a believer.”; (Enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil is what Allah, the Exalted, has sent down His books for the sake of which He has sent His prophets and is a part of religion.)
The most comprehensive definition that we can take from all of the above definitions, which is consistent with the intellectual religion of Ahl al-Sunnah and Jama’ah and is aligned and compatible with the thoughts of the majority of religious scholars, is as follows:
«المعروف في الشرع: كل ما يعرفه الشرع ويأمر به ويمدحه ويثني على أهله، ويدخل في ذلك جميع الطاعات، وفي مقدمتها توحيد الله تعالی والإيمان به. والمنكر في الشرع هو كل ما ينكره الشرع وينهى عنه ويذمه ويذم أهله، ويدخل في ذلك جميع المعاصي والبدع، وفي مقدمتها الشرك بالله تعالی وإنكار وحدانيته أو ربوبيته أو أسمائه أو صفاته.»
Translation: (Ma;roof in Sharia means everything that the Sharia deems as good, orders to do it and binds its doer, under this definition, all obedience is included, which is at the top of all discussion of monotheism of Allah Almighty and faith in the essence But in the Shari’ah, it is all that the Shari’ah deems ugly and condemns the practice and the person who does it, which includes all kinds of sins and heresies Polytheism in the nature of Allah Almighty and denying the monotheism of divinity and lordship and the names and attributes of Allah Almighty.)
Therefore, with the previously mentioned definitions, we can come to the conclusion that enjoining what is good and forbidding what is bad are two opposite things, but they do not require two separate persons, one of whom is responsible for the command and the other for the prohibition, but at the same time, one person can do both things and command and forbid; However, in the definition of what is Ma’roof and Munker, it can be said in a simpler way that every word, action and thought that the Shari’ah deems legitimate, and perhaps its doer is rewarded and does not cause hatred in the Islamic society, is known, and the one who to give orders and guidance in these matters is called “Amr-ba Ma’roof” and his action is called “Amr ba Ma’roof”.
But on the contrary, every word, action, and thought that the Shari’ah deems illegitimate and condemns its doer and causes hatred in the Islamic society, is Munker, and the person who forbids these things is called a Nahi anl Munker, and his action is called forbidding the evil.
Of course, this point should not be forgotten that Munker is much more general sin, and its semantic scope is wider; Because sin is a sin that a person commits with his own free will, but it is an act of negation that is forbidden by reason and Sharia, and whether it is voluntary or compulsory, it is negated in any case. For this reason, it is obligatory to forbid children and insane people from drinking alcohol, even though they are not obliged to do so, and it is also obligatory to forbid animals from eating other people’s crops and to protect other people’s property from being wasted.
By admin2
