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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is your advice for the da'is who enjoin good and forbid evil, while they themselves have violations of the Shari'ah and fall short in fulfilling the obligation of purification and education?

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The questioner : The questioner:The questioner : Is it permissible for some da'is to enjoin good and forbid evil, even though they themselves have violations of the Shari'ah and do not fulfill the obligation of purification and education?

The Shaykh : Yes, this question feels to me as if the previous answer to the first question includes something of an answer to this question, but the matter requires detail.
I understand from the question that those who want to enjoin good and forbid evil but do not care about purification and education mean that they are only concerned with the name, which is Islam, and with this name they perhaps want to fight evil and enjoin good regarding political aspects. If they were to enjoin good and forbid evil in the broad sense that is not limited to rulers but includes both the ruler and the ruled, then we say: this is the complete answer to this question, and this is the limit of knowledge and fairness in my opinion.
We say: it is not possible to find a complete person who does everything from the Shari'ah, whether it is obligatory, recommended, or encouraged. There must be some deficiency in him. But what should be predominant in him?
What should be predominant in him is adherence to the Shari'ah, and it would be an anomaly for him to violate the Shari'ah in matters that may be limited. If the one who enjoins good and forbids evil is predominantly adherent to the Book and the Sunnah, but has some illusions or actual or verbal errors, then we should not imagine that it is not permissible for him to enjoin good and forbid evil. Because in that case, we should block the door of enjoining good and forbidding evil, because there is no complete person after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, I remember well that Imam al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned a narration from Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) containing the utmost wisdom, where Imam Malik was asked: Is it permissible for a person who is not yet complete to enjoin good and forbid evil?
He said: "If we condition the one who enjoins good and forbids evil with perfection, we would nullify enjoining good and forbidding evil, because there is no perfection for any person on the face of the earth. Rather, the matter is based on what is predominant in him, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Be moderate and approximate. ساددوا وقاربوا
"
So, in summary, if the one who wants to enjoin good and forbid evil cares about rectifying himself and his relatives as much as possible, and then cares about enjoining good and forbidding evil, then he may do so. In fact, that is obligatory upon him. As for saying: No, because he is deficient, which of us is complete? There is absolutely no complete person among us.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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