The ruling on one who encourages good deeds but does not perform them
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: I encourage others to stand in night prayer and to perform other righteous deeds, but I do not do what I encourage people to do as I should. Does the statement of Allah the Exalted, “Indeed, the worst of liars are those who lie about Allah,”[As-Saf 61:2] apply to me?
The Shaykh:
Yes, if you are asking about righteous deeds while you are encouraging people to do them, then you have a share in this verse, by virtue of[As-Saf 61:2], and because people follow your example. So if you command people to do something, let you be the first to hasten to it in acts of obedience, so that your actions confirm your words.
The presenter:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
So that you may be a righteous community. This is not a matter of obligation, but rather a matter of priority and superiority, and being the first to do it. As for obligatory matters, no one dares to abandon them. However, do not abandon calling to Allah and enjoining good and forbidding evil, even if you are lax in some matters. Do not combine two evils: abandoning the call, abandoning enjoining good and forbidding evil, and also abandoning good deeds or reducing them. Yes. May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.
He says: I encourage others to stand in night prayer and to perform other righteous deeds, but I do not do what I encourage people to do as I should. Does the statement of Allah the Exalted, “Indeed, the worst of liars are those who lie about Allah,”
do you say what you do not do?
تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَThe Shaykh:
Yes, if you are asking about righteous deeds while you are encouraging people to do them, then you have a share in this verse, by virtue of
do you say what you do not do?
تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَThe presenter:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
So that you may be a righteous community. This is not a matter of obligation, but rather a matter of priority and superiority, and being the first to do it. As for obligatory matters, no one dares to abandon them. However, do not abandon calling to Allah and enjoining good and forbidding evil, even if you are lax in some matters. Do not combine two evils: abandoning the call, abandoning enjoining good and forbidding evil, and also abandoning good deeds or reducing them. Yes. May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، يحث الناس على الأعمال الفاضلة ولا يقوم بها كما ينغي فهل ينطبق عليه قوله تعالى (لما تقولون ما لا...)؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.