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Enjoining Right
njoining Right
& Forbidding Wrong
orbidding Wrong
by Ibn Taymiyya
y Ibn Taymiyya
translated by
ranslated by
Salim Abdallah
alim Abdallah
ibn Morgan
bn Morgan
 
Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 1Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan
Enjoining Right & Forbidding WrongBy Ibn Taymiyya
Introduction
All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His aid, and seek His forgiveness. We seekrefuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves, and from the evil in our actions.Whoever Allah guides, none can send astray; whoever Allah sends astray, none can guide.I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah alone, and with no partner. And I bearwitness that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger. Allah sent him with the guidanceand the way of truth, that He might raise it above all other ways of life. Allah is sufficientas a witness. May Allah send His prayers and his greetings upon Muhammad and upon thepeople of Muhammad.Enjoining right and forbidding wrong is that with which Allah sent the revealed books, andwith it He sent His messengers, and it is an integral part of the way (i.e. the
deen
). Themessage of Allah is composed of informative and directive parts. As for the informative, itis Allah informing us about Himself, such as
tauhid 
(theology), or His informing us aboutHis creation, such as the stories of previous peoples and Prophets in which are containedfor us lessons, threats and promises. The directive part consists of commands to do,commands not to do, and things left to our choice and discretion.Thus, it has been mentioned in the hadith that the chapter of the Qur'an which starts out:[Say: He is Allah, the One...] is equal to one third of the Qur'an, because of its includingthe third of 
tauhid 
. The Qur'an consists of 
tauhid 
, commands, and historical events.
Enjoining Right: Our Prophet And Those Before Him
Allah said by way of description of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam):[He orders them with that which is good and forbids them that which is bad.And he makes allowed for them that which is clean and good, and forbidsthem that which is unclean and detestable.] Qur'an 7/157.
 
Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 2Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan
This illustrates the perfection of the message of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu `alayhiwa sallam). He is the one on whose tongue Allah has enjoined
all
that is good, forbidden
all
that is bad, allowed
every
clean thing and prohibited
every
unclean or harmful thing.For this reason, it is narrated that the Prophet said:"I have been sent to complete the qualities of good character."And he said in the agreed-upon hadith:"My analogy in relation to the other prophets of Allah is like the analogy of aman who built a house. He completed and perfected everything about thehouse all except for the location of a single brick. The people used to pass bythe house and express pleasure at its beauty, but they would say: "If only itweren't for that missing brick." I am that brick, and I am the seal of theProphets."Through Muhammad, Allah completed the way (
deen
) which includes the enjoining of allgood, the forbidding of all evil, the allowing of everything clean, and the prohibition of everything unclean. As for the Prophets who came before him, their messages sometimescontained the prohibition of some clean and good things, as Allah said:[Because of some crimes committed by the Jews, we forbad to them someclean things which had been allowed to them.] Qur'an 4/160Also, their messages sometimes did not forbid all unclean things as Allah said:[All food was once allowed to the children of Israel except that which theychose to forbid themselves before the sending down of the taurat.] Qur'an3/93.The forbidding of unclean things is included in the meaning of forbidding wrong, just as theallowing of all clean things is included in the meaning of enjoining right. This is because theprohibiting of clean and good things is part of what Allah has forbidden. Thus, the enjoiningof all good and the forbidding of all bad did not reach completion except in theProphethood of Muhammad (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) by means of whom Allahcompleted the qualities of good character, which includes all that is good. Allah said:[On this day I have perfected for you your way (
deen
), and have completedmy favor upon you, and have accepted for you Islam as your way (
deen
)].
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