- Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil (Amr bi'l Ma'ruf wa Nahy 'anil Munkar)
Ma'ruf and Munkar
Ma’ruf is an act that is considered necessary and whose existence is deemed better than its absence according to the Holy Quran or people of intellect, and which is approved and seen as good. In short, everything that our religion and intellect consider good is called ma’ruf. Conversely, everything that Islam and intellect consider ugly and bad is called munkar.
The Virtue of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil
The ruling on enjoining good and forbidding evil is expressed in the 104th verse of Surah Al-Imran as follows:
“And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right (ma’ruf) and forbidding what is wrong (munkar), and those will be the successful.”
This noble verse indicates that enjoining good and forbidding evil is an obligation (fard). Because “let there be” is a command. The apparent meaning of a command expresses an obligation (wujub).
Furthermore, there is an indication in the noble verse that this duty is not an individual obligation (fard al-ayn), but rather a communal obligation (fard al-kifayah). Because it is commanded in the verse, “Let a group of you fulfill this duty.” This means, “if there are those in a community who fulfill this duty, this responsibility drops from the others.” If there is no one to perform this duty, they all become responsible together.
