1) Doing good (the individual person strives to implement all that is good in his life)
2) Enjoining others to do good
3) Avoiding evil
4) Enjoining others to avoid evil
People often group these four categories into just two and feel that you either:
a) Do good, avoid evil, and enjoin people to do good and forbid them from evil
or
b) You don’t do good and you don’t avoid evil and likewise you neither enjoin good nor forbid evil
They base that view on the verse in which Allah criticized the children of Israel when He said:
"Do ye enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget (To practice it) yourselves, and yet ye study the Scripture? Will ye not understand?" (Qur'an 2:44)
However Allah criticized them due to their failure to practice what they themselves advised others to do, however He did not criticize them merely for advising others.
Advising others to do good and avoid evil - as well as advising to what is the truth, is a command from Allah, regardless if one is able to implement what he is calling to in his own life - as Allah said:
"Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; But turn away from the ignorant." (Qur'an 7:199)
And this makes sense in real life - for example, surely an drug addicted father (who at least has some faith in his heart) would try his utmost to advise his children not to do drugs.
Now whether his advice will have any real bearing on the people he advises due to his own mishaps is a different story.
Furthermore, the scholars always advise to take what is true and good regardless of who it comes from - if it is the truth, the follow it.
There is a famous narration in which Iblees (shaytan) informed Abu Hurayrah of the benefits of Ayatul Kursi - the Prophet (p) said indeed he (shaytan) is a liar but he spoke the truth.
InshaAllah this clears things up
---------------------------------------------------------
You can find me on facebook. Amar Chaudhary, location, Qatar.
"I’d say in a given week I probably only do about 15 minutes of real actual work." - Peter, Office Space
britexpat - Salam akhi, there are 4 aspects here:
1) Doing good (the individual person strives to implement all that is good in his life)
2) Enjoining others to do good
3) Avoiding evil
4) Enjoining others to avoid evil
People often group these four categories into just two and feel that you either:
a) Do good, avoid evil, and enjoin people to do good and forbid them from evil
or
b) You don’t do good and you don’t avoid evil and likewise you neither enjoin good nor forbid evil
They base that view on the verse in which Allah criticized the children of Israel when He said:
"Do ye enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget (To practice it) yourselves, and yet ye study the Scripture? Will ye not understand?" (Qur'an 2:44)
However Allah criticized them due to their failure to practice what they themselves advised others to do, however He did not criticize them merely for advising others.
Advising others to do good and avoid evil - as well as advising to what is the truth, is a command from Allah, regardless if one is able to implement what he is calling to in his own life - as Allah said:
"Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; But turn away from the ignorant." (Qur'an 7:199)
And this makes sense in real life - for example, surely an drug addicted father (who at least has some faith in his heart) would try his utmost to advise his children not to do drugs.
Now whether his advice will have any real bearing on the people he advises due to his own mishaps is a different story.
Furthermore, the scholars always advise to take what is true and good regardless of who it comes from - if it is the truth, the follow it.
There is a famous narration in which Iblees (shaytan) informed Abu Hurayrah of the benefits of Ayatul Kursi - the Prophet (p) said indeed he (shaytan) is a liar but he spoke the truth.
InshaAllah this clears things up
---------------------------------------------------------
You can find me on facebook. Amar Chaudhary, location, Qatar.
"I’d say in a given week I probably only do about 15 minutes of real actual work." - Peter, Office Space