The Conditions of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil: First: That the one who enjoins must be knowledgeable about what is right.
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The Shaykh : But there are necessary conditions for this:
The first condition is that the one who enjoins must be knowledgeable about what is right, meaning he must know that this is something Allah has commanded. If he is ignorant, how can he command? Therefore, the ignorant person who enjoins good while he is ignorant of it does more harm than good. How many people do you find who are upon what is wrong, and this is most often the case with religious innovations, the innovations that bend necks and backs, which the ignorant person considers to be the truth while it is false. It is these that the ignorant ones command, thereby deceiving the common people. A person comes to you and says, "This is wrong." You ask, "Wrong? So-and-so commanded me to do it. How can it be wrong when the one who commanded me to do it is ignorant and not a scholar?" He is ignorant. Therefore, it is not permissible for you to command anything as being from the Shari'ah of Allah unless you are knowledgeable that it is from the Shari'ah of Allah. Otherwise, you will be held accountable from two sides: from the side that you attributed this matter to the Shari'ah of Allah while it is not part of it, and from the other side that you commanded the servants of Allah to do it, while it is not something with which Allah has commanded them to worship Him.
The first condition is that the one who enjoins must be knowledgeable about what is right, meaning he must know that this is something Allah has commanded. If he is ignorant, how can he command? Therefore, the ignorant person who enjoins good while he is ignorant of it does more harm than good. How many people do you find who are upon what is wrong, and this is most often the case with religious innovations, the innovations that bend necks and backs, which the ignorant person considers to be the truth while it is false. It is these that the ignorant ones command, thereby deceiving the common people. A person comes to you and says, "This is wrong." You ask, "Wrong? So-and-so commanded me to do it. How can it be wrong when the one who commanded me to do it is ignorant and not a scholar?" He is ignorant. Therefore, it is not permissible for you to command anything as being from the Shari'ah of Allah unless you are knowledgeable that it is from the Shari'ah of Allah. Otherwise, you will be held accountable from two sides: from the side that you attributed this matter to the Shari'ah of Allah while it is not part of it, and from the other side that you commanded the servants of Allah to do it, while it is not something with which Allah has commanded them to worship Him.
