One of the necessary requirements of faith is that people
be exhorted to do good and to abstain from wrong. Both the exhortation and
admonition should be done with sagacity and benevolence in the manner of
suggestion and advice. The righteousness or deviation of people is a matter that
is in God’s hands. He is aware of those who have deviated from His path as well
as of those who will be guided. Therefore, in calling people to truth and
justice, no one should play the keeper of morals or decree Heaven or Hell for
any of his or her addressees. It is obvious from the Qur’ān that, in his role of
calling people to the truth, none of the messengers of God was allowed to go
beyond effective and clear communication or exhortation and reminding. God
Almighty says:
Your task is to admonish; you are not responsible for
their supervision.
However, matters are different in the domain of authority.
For example, on attaining maturity, a man may become a husband to a wife and, as
a consequence of this relationship, a father to his children. Nature and
religion entail that a certain degree of authority be granted to him in both
these roles. Similar is the role of institutions and governments. When they are
formed, their heads are also granted a certain degree of authority. It is
regarding the ambit of this authority that the Prophet (sws) is reported to have
said:
He amongst you who sees a wrong should redress it by
hand; if he does not find in himself the strength to do it, then by his tongue;
and, if even that is not possible, he should despise the wrong in his heart --
and this is the lowest level of faith.
The Arabic word used here for “wrong” is munkar. It doesn't
refer to sins of purely religious nature; instead, it refers to those wrongs
that all humankind, regardless of religion or creed, regards as evil. Theft,
perjury, dishonesty, misappropriation, embezzlement, fraud, adulteration,
violation of others’ rights, indecency, causing injury to life or damage to
property or honour, and other violations of these kinds fall within the category
of munkar. This statement attributed to the Prophet (sws) also relates to these
wrongs. It is an offshoot of the Qur’ānic directive of amr bi’l-ma‘rūf
(commanding right) and nahī ‘an al-munkar (forbidding wrong). The Prophet (sws)
has warned that, if, in the realm of one’s authority, one does not even regard
these wrongs as evil, one falls below the lowest level of faith.
The words in lam yastaṭi‘ also need to be properly
understood. They do not refer to the kind of ability that entails
responsibility. The reason is that in the absence of this kind of ability, a
person does not remain accountable and therefore does not fall in the levels of
faith. In this reported statement, the words connote “strength” and “courage”
that may increase or decrease with the level of one's faith. It is therefore
only in the sphere of one's authority that one might be considered as having
fallen to lower levels of faith if one does not remedy a wrong by hand. The
reason for this difference is that, in this latter case, the person does not
make the required endeavour to eradicate evil despite having the right and the
authority to do so. The moral imperative here does not at all mean that, for
achieving a higher level of faith, people have the right to gather their
followers on their own and go out as vigilantes to end wrong. Such steps, if
taken, translate into the worst kind of disorder, which has no sanction at all
in religion. All directives in religion are given in relation to one’s ability
and authority. Lā yukallifu Allāh nafsan illā wus‘ahā
is an unequivocal principle that is kept in consideration in all the directives
of religion and the Divine law. It is this principle that should be kept in
consideration to understand the Prophet’s statement regarding the prohibition of
wrong.
(Translated by Asif Iftikhar)
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