Allah, the Exalted, says:
٢٣ - باب في الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر
Allah, the Exalted, says:
And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong,1 and those will be the successful.
And He, the Exalted, says:
You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allāh. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient.
And He, the Exalted, says:
Take what is given freely,1 enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant.
And He, the Exalted, says:
The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakāh and obey Allāh and His Messenger. Those - Allāh will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allāh is Exalted in Might and Wise.
And He, the Exalted, says:
Cursed were those who disbelieved among the Children of Israel by the tongue of David and of Jesus, the son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and [habitually] transgressed.
And He, the Exalted, says:
And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve." Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.
And He, the Exalted, says:
Then declare what you are commanded1 and turn away from the polytheists.2
And He, the Exalted, says:
And when they [i.e., those advised] forgot that by which they had been reminded, We saved those who had forbidden evil and seized those who wronged, with a wretched punishment, because they were defiantly disobeying.
The verses on this subject are many and well known.
As for the hadiths:
The first: From Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is unable, then with his tongue; and if he is unable, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith." Narrated by Muslim.
The second: From Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "There was no prophet whom Allah sent to a community before me but that he had, from among his community, disciples and companions who took up his way (sunnah) and followed his command. Then, after them, there came successors who said what they did not do and did what they were not commanded. So whoever strives against them with his hand is a believer; whoever strives against them with his heart is a believer; and whoever strives against them with his tongue is a believer; and beyond that there is not so much as a mustard-seed's weight of faith." Narrated by Muslim.
Third: From Abū al-Walīd ʿUbādah b. al-Ṣāmit (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to hear and obey, in hardship and in ease, in what we delight in and what we dislike, and even when preference is given to others over us; and that we would not contend with those entitled to authority for it, unless you see open disbelief regarding which you have clear proof from Allah the Exalted; and that we would speak the truth wherever we are, fearing for the sake of Allah no blame from any blamer. Agreed upon. "al-manshaṭ wa-l-makrah" — with a fatḥah on both their mīms — means: in ease and in difficulty. And "al-atharah" means: taking exclusive possession of what is shared; its explanation has already preceded. "bawāḥan" — with a fatḥah on the single-dotted bāʾ, followed by a wāw, then an alif, then an undotted ḥāʾ — means: manifest, admitting of no [contrary] interpretation.
Fourth: From al-Nuʿmān b. Bashīr (may Allah be pleased with them both), from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "The likeness of the one who upholds the limits set by Allah and the one who falls into [transgressing] them is like the likeness of a people who cast lots for places on a ship: some of them came to be in its upper part and some in its lower part. Those in its lower part, when they drew water, would pass by those above them. So they said: 'What if we bored a hole in our own portion and did not harm those above us?' Now if they [above] leave them to what they intend, all will perish together; but if they take hold of their hands, they will be saved and all will be saved." Narrated by al-Bukhārī. "The one who upholds the limits set by Allah the Exalted" means: the one who rejects [their violation], who stands to repel and remove it; and what is meant by "the limits" is whatever Allah has forbidden. "istahamū" means: they cast lots.
Fifth: From the Mother of the Believers Umm Salamah Hind bint Abī Umayyah Ḥudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with her), from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: "Rulers will be appointed over you, and you will approve [of some of what they do] and disapprove [of some]. Whoever detests [the wrong] is absolved, and whoever rejects it is kept safe; but [the one to blame is] he who is pleased and follows along." They said: O Messenger of Allah, shall we not fight them? He said: "No, so long as they establish the prayer among you." Narrated by Muslim. Its meaning is: whoever detests it in his heart but is unable to reject it with hand or tongue is absolved of sin and has discharged his duty; whoever rejects it according to his capacity is kept safe from this disobedience; and whoever is pleased with their deed and follows them along is the disobedient one.
Sixth: From the Mother of the Believers Umm al-Ḥakam Zaynab bint Jaḥsh (may Allah be pleased with her): that the Prophet ﷺ entered upon her alarmed, saying: "There is no god but Allah! Woe to the Arabs from an evil that has drawn near! Today an opening the like of this has been made in the barrier of Gog and Magog" — and he made a circle with his two fingers, the thumb and the one next to it. I said: O Messenger of Allah, shall we be destroyed while there are righteous people among us? He said: "Yes, when wickedness becomes widespread." Agreed upon.
Seventh: From Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "Beware of sitting in the pathways!" They said: O Messenger of Allah, we have no alternative to our gatherings; we converse in them. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "If you will have nothing but to sit, then give the road its due." They said: And what is the due of the road, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "Lowering the gaze, refraining from causing harm, returning the greeting, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong." Agreed upon.
Eighth: From Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both): that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw a ring of gold on a man's hand, so he pulled it off and threw it down, and said: "Does one of you deliberately go for a live coal of fire and place it on his hand?!" After the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had departed, it was said to the man: Take your ring and make use of it. He said: No, by Allah, I will never take it after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has thrown it away. Narrated by Muslim.
Ninth: From Abū Saʿīd al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī: that ʿĀʾidh b. ʿAmr (may Allah be pleased with him) entered upon ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziyād and said: O my dear son, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "Indeed the worst of shepherds [rulers] is the harsh, brutal one" — so beware of being one of them. He [ʿUbayd Allah] said to him: Sit down; you are but among the chaff of the Companions of Muḥammad ﷺ. He replied: And did they have any chaff? Chaff came only after them and among others than them. Narrated by Muslim.
Tenth: From Ḥudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul, you shall certainly enjoin what is right and certainly forbid what is wrong, or else Allah will surely be about to send upon you a punishment from Himself; then you will supplicate to Him and you will not be answered." Narrated by al-Tirmidhī, who said: "A good (ḥasan) hadith."
Eleventh: From Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "The best jihad is a word of justice [spoken] before a tyrannical ruler." Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, who said: "A good (ḥasan) hadith."
Twelfth: From Abū ʿAbd Allah Ṭāriq b. Shihāb al-Bajalī al-Aḥmasī (may Allah be pleased with him): that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ — while he had placed his foot in the stirrup: Which jihad is best? He said: "A word of truth [spoken] before a tyrannical ruler." Narrated by al-Nasāʾī with a sound chain. "al-gharz" — with a dotted ghayn vowelled with fatḥah, then a quiescent rāʾ, then a zāy — it is the stirrup of a camel's saddle when it is made of leather or wood; and it is also said that it is not restricted to leather and wood.
Thirteenth: From Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The first deficiency that entered upon the Children of Israel was that a man would meet [another] man and say: O you, fear Allah and leave what you are doing, for it is not lawful for you. Then he would meet him the next day while he was in the same state, yet that did not prevent him from being his eating-companion, his drinking-companion, and his sitting-companion. When they did that, Allah struck the hearts of some of them against others." Then he recited: {Cursed were those who disbelieved among the Children of Israel by the tongue of David and of Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and were transgressing. They would not forbid one another the wrong that they did. Evil indeed was what they were doing. You see many of them allying themselves with those who disbelieved. Evil indeed is what their souls have sent ahead for them} — up to His words — {rebellious} [al-Māʾidah: 78–81]. Then he said: "Nay, by Allah, you shall certainly enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and you shall certainly take hold of the hand of the wrongdoer, and bend him firmly to the truth, and restrict him strictly to the truth, or else Allah will surely strike the hearts of some of you against others, and then curse you as He cursed them." Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, who said: "A good (ḥasan) hadith." This is the wording of Abū Dāwūd. The wording of al-Tirmidhī is: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When the Children of Israel fell into acts of disobedience, their scholars forbade them but they did not desist; so they [the scholars] sat with them in their gatherings, ate with them and drank with them, so Allah struck the hearts of some of them against others and cursed them by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary — that was because they disobeyed and were transgressing." Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who had been reclining, sat up and said: "No, by the One in whose hand is my soul — [there is no escape] until you bend them firmly to the truth." His words "taʾṭirūhum" mean: you bend them. "wa-la-taqṣurunnahu" means: you shall surely confine him.
Fourteenth: From Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: O people, you recite this verse: {O you who believe, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves; the one who goes astray will not harm you when you are rightly guided} [al-Māʾidah: 105]. But I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: "When people see the wrongdoer and do not take hold of his hands [to stop him], Allah is about to encompass them all with a punishment from Himself." Narrated by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasāʾī with sound chains.