Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil: Between Speech and Example

Question:
Do you think that enjoining good and forbidding evil is sufficient to eliminate evil? I mean that the extensive speech we hear in sermons and other settings in the mosques is not sufficient unless there is a righteous role model and practical application by the scholars and those working in the fields of da'wah (calling others to Islam), so that people may know the truth. What is your Eminence's comment?

Answer:
There are many ways to remove evil, and calling people to Allah, enjoining good, and forbidding evil are among them. Perhaps Allah will guide by this whom He wills. Among these means is good conduct: the one who enjoins and forbids should adopt noble character and distance himself from what Allah has forbidden. The head of the household should conduct himself according to the Shari'ah etiquette and be a good example. The husband should be a good example. The father should be a good example for his other brothers, and so on. The members of the committee, and so on. The one who enjoins and forbids should seek out good, follow the example of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), hasten to good deeds, and distance himself from the worst. All of this is among the greatest causes for the success of enjoining good, meaning that the evil ceases. Likewise, it is the duty of the ruler, and the deterrents of the ruler, that they be carried out by the rulers. If the one who enjoins and forbids is unable to do so, the rulers should support him by striking the corrupters and punishing them with imprisonment, striking, exile, and other forms of discretionary punishment. Indeed, Allah accomplishes by the ruler what He does not accomplish by the Qur'an, as 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said. Therefore, these matters must cooperate and support one another, and one does not suffice in place of the other. Each one is a part of the obligation, a part of the causes of reform, and a part of the causes of good, but it is not sufficient on its own. Rather, cooperation in this great matter is necessary from the specialists and the general public. Good conduct is necessary from the one who enjoins and forbids, the head of the household, and the rulers. Deterrents are necessary: the hudud (fixed Qur'anic punishments) are established for those who commit evil, and ta'zir (discretionary punishments) are established for those who commit evil, according to what the one in authority sees and what the courts see in terms of deterrent ta'zir, if the sin is below the level of a hadd. In any case, the cooperation of the judges, the scholars, the rulers, and all those who enjoin and forbid is necessary in this matter from every angle and every path that helps to conceal vice and to manifest the truth. Yes.