What is better: standing in night prayer or enjoining good and forbidding evil?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: What is better, standing in night prayer, or enjoining good and forbidding evil?
Answer:
Enjoining good and forbidding evil is better, because its benefit extends to others. As for standing in night prayer, its benefit is limited to the individual. So enjoining good and forbidding evil in the manner prescribed by the Shari'ah, with wisdom and good exhortation, is better than standing in night prayer. Likewise, seeking knowledge and understanding the religion of Allah is better than standing in night prayer, because...
...its benefit reaches the individual and the people as well. The scholar benefits himself and benefits the people, whereas the worshipper only benefits himself. Therefore, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2682Da'if (Darussalam) Because the moon's light extends and people benefit from it, whereas the star's light is limited to itself.
So there is no doubt that the worship whose benefit extends to others is better than the worship whose benefit is limited to its practitioner. This is a principle among the scholars.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: What is better, standing in night prayer, or enjoining good and forbidding evil?
Answer:
Enjoining good and forbidding evil is better, because its benefit extends to others. As for standing in night prayer, its benefit is limited to the individual. So enjoining good and forbidding evil in the manner prescribed by the Shari'ah, with wisdom and good exhortation, is better than standing in night prayer. Likewise, seeking knowledge and understanding the religion of Allah is better than standing in night prayer, because...
...its benefit reaches the individual and the people as well. The scholar benefits himself and benefits the people, whereas the worshipper only benefits himself. Therefore, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
And superiority of the scholar over the worshiper is like the superiority of the moon over the rest of the celestial bodies.
فضل العالم على العابد كفضل القمر على سائر الكواكب،So there is no doubt that the worship whose benefit extends to others is better than the worship whose benefit is limited to its practitioner. This is a principle among the scholars.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما الأفضل قيام الليل أم الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.