From the Reliance of the Traveller (Book Q)
[The Reliance of the Traveller is a book every English-speaking Muslim should have, even if they are not Shafi`i, because it contains much that is necessary for every morally responsible person to know…]
q0.0 INTRODUCTION
q0.1 (n: The discussion and analysis that follow are Imam Ghazali’s, edited by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Qudama Maqdisi from an earlier abridgement of Ghazali’s Ihya’ `ulum al-din by `Abd al-Rahman ibn Jawzi, which Maqdisi shortened to a single volume whose conciseness, if less vivid than the Ihya’, better lends itself to the purpose of the present section, which is to discuss the practical implications of an important aspect of Scared Law.)
q0.2 (Ibn Qudama Maqdisi:) One should know that commanding the right and forbidding the wrong is the most important fundamental of the religion, and is the mission that Allah sent the prophets to fulfill. If it were folded up and put away, religion itself would vanish, dissolution appear, and whole lands come to ruin.
q1.0 THE OBLIGATION TO COMMAND THE RIGHT
q1.1 Allah Most High says,
``Let there be a group of you who call to good, commanding the right and forbidding the wrong, for those are the successful’’ (Koran 3:104).
This verse explains that commanding the right and forbidding the wrong re a communal rather than a personal obligation (dis: c3.2), for He says, ``Let there be a group of you...’’and not, ``All of you command the right.’’ So if enough people do it (A: meaning that whenever a wrong is seen, one of those who see it corrects it), the responsibility is lifted from the rest, those who perform it being expressly mentioned as the successful. There are many verses in the Holy Koran about commanding the right and forbidding the wrong.
q1.2 The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
“Those who keep within Allah’s limits and those who transgress them or allow them to be compromised may be compared to people on a ship, some of whom must stay below deck in the hardest and worst place, while others get passage above. When those below need water, they pass through those on the upper deck, injuring and annoying them until those below reflect, ‘If we were to stave a hole in the hull we could get water without troubling those above. ‘Were those above deck to leave those below to themselves, all would be destroyed, while if they were to help them, all would be saved.”
“Whoever of you sees something wrong, let him change it with his hand. If unable to, then let him change it with his tongue. If unable, then with his heart. And that is the weakest degree of faith.”
“The best jihad is speaking the truth to an unjust ruler.”
“When you see my Community too intimidated by an oppressor to tell him, ‘You are a tyrant,’ then you may as well say good by to them.”
“Command the right and forbid the wrong, or Allah will put the worst of you in charge of the best of you, and the best will supplicate Allah and be left unanswered.”
q1.3 Abu Bakr (Allah be well pleased with him) rose from his place, and after having praised Allah Most High, said, “O people: you recite the verse,
“‘O you who believe: you are responsible for yourselves; those who go astray will not harm you if you are guided’ (Koran 5:105),”
while we have heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) say,
“‘People who do not change something wrong when they see it are on the verge of a sweeping punishment from Allah.’”
q2.0 WHO MAY COMMAND THE RIGHT AND FORBID THE WRONG
LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY
q2.1 There are four integrals (def: q2-5) in commanding the right and forbidding the wrong, the first of which is that the person doing so be legally responsible (def: c8.1), Muslim, and able to, these being the conditions for it to be obligatory, though a child of the age of discrimination (def: f1.2) who condemns something dishonorable is rewarded for doing so, even if it is not obligatory for him to.
MORAL RECTITUDE IS NOT A CONDITION
q2.2 As for requirements of moral rectitude in the person giving the reprimand, some scholars take this into consideration and say that a corrupt person is not entitled to censure, a position for which they adduce the word of Allah Most High,
“Do you enjoin piety to others and forget yourselves?” (Koran 2:44),
but there are no grounds in the verse for such and inference.
HAVING THE CALIPH’S PERMISSION
q2.3 Some scholars stipulate that the person delivering the censure must have permission to do so from the caliph (def: o25) or his regional appointee, and do not grant that private individuals may censure others. This is untrue, for the Koranic verses and hadiths all indicate that whoever sees something wrong and does nothing has sinned. Stipulating that there must be permission from the caliph is mere arbitrary opinion. One should realize that there are five levels of censure: explaining the wrong nature of the act, admonishing the person politely, reviling him and harshness, forcibly stopping the act (such as by breaking musical instruments or pouring out wine), and finally, intimidation and threatening to strike the person or actually hitting him to stop what he is doing. It is the latter level, not the first four, that requires the caliph, because it may lead to civil disorder. The early Muslims’ invariable practice of reprimanding those in authority decisively proves by their consensus (def: b7) that there is no need for a superior’s authorization. If it be wondered whether a child is entitled to reprove his father, or a wife her husband, or for private citizens to reprove their ruler, the answer is that all are fundamentally entitled to. We have distinguished the five levels: the child is entitled to explain the nature of the act, to admonish and advise his parents politely, and finally may censure at the fourth level by such things as breaking a lute, pouring out wine, and so forth. This is also the sequence that should be observed by a wife. As for private citizens with their ruler, the matter is much graver than a child’s reproving his father, and citizens are only entitled to explain the matter and advise.