Is there an encouraging word for the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Prohibiting Vice?

The questioner : I say, may Allah reward you, given our work in the apparatus of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Prohibiting Vice, and the many who engage with this apparatus, speak of its errors, and attack it, we want an encouraging word from you, O honorable Shaykh?

The Shaykh : The word I want to say is that the status of enjoining good and forbidding evil is among the greatest statuses in the religion, to the extent that it was part of the description of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), where the Exalted said: He mentioned four descriptions, starting with enjoining good and forbidding evil, then he said: So it is the duty of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and it is a distinctive feature of this nation and the Children of Israel did not refrain from the evil they did. So the status of enjoining good and forbidding evil is among the highest statuses in the religion. The one who enters into it with the intention of reforming the servants of Allah is like the one who strives in the path of Allah. And the one who directs blame and criticism at it, if he intends the status of enjoining good and forbidding evil, he is in great danger, because if he intends this, he has criticized what? He has criticized the religion, he has criticized the Shari'ah. But if he intends the criticism or blame to be directed at some of the men of the Hisbah who may not possess wisdom in enjoining and forbidding, then its danger is not like the first. But even so, it is obligatory upon the Muslims, if they see from some of those who carry out enjoining good and forbidding evil something that contradicts wisdom, that they advise them, either directly or through their chief, meaning either he says to the man of the Hisbah himself: "O so-and-so, you said such and such, and this is not befitting," or through his direct supervisor. Then I say to these brothers: You must be afflicted with harm, as Luqman said to his son: Yes, you must be afflicted with harm, because not all people are on the straight path, and they must have enemies. But they must have patience and seek reward, and they must know that all the worry, grief, and sadness that befalls them is written for them. The one who enjoins good and forbids evil is written two rewards: the first reward is for performing the work, and the second reward is for the harm that befalls him from people, as came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the authentic hadith: So they must have patience, seek reward, and use wisdom. If their opponents become severe, let them be soft until this and that are reconciled. But if your opponent becomes severe and you become severe, there is no agreement between you. And how many things have occurred that support what I said, that softness is among the best things in enjoining good and forbidding evil. And in *Al-Adab al-Shar'iyyah*, in the first part by Ibn Muflih, one of the students of the Shaykh al-Islam, there are good, good, good chapters that the commissions should look into and see how the righteous Salaf dealt with the people of evil and those who abandon good. Yes.