(al-Hajj 30) He did not mean that some idols were to be avoided; rather, He meant: “So avoid idols.” The lām in His saying, “And let there be,” is the lām of command. “Calling to what is good”: that is, to Islam; “enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. Those are the successful.”
Ismaʿil ʿAbd al-Qahir informed us; ʿAbd al-Ghafir ibn Muhammad told us; Muhammad ibn ʿIsa al-Juludi informed us; Ibrahim (1) ibn Muhammad ibn Sufyan informed us; Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj related to us; Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abi Shaybah related to us; Wakiʿ informed us, from Sufyan, from Qays ibn Muslim, from Tariq ibn Shihab, who said: Abu Saʿid, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “Whoever among you sees something wrong, let him change it with his hand. If he is unable to do so, then with his tongue. If he is unable to do so, then with his heart; and that is the weakest level of faith.” (2)
Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Fadl al-Khiraqi informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Taysafuni informed us; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar al-Jawhari informed us; Ahmad ibn ʿAli al-Kushmihani informed us; ʿAli ibn Hujr informed us; Ismaʿil ibn Jaʿfar informed us; ʿAmr ibn Abi ʿAmr told us, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Ashhali, from Hudhayfah, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, you must enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, or Allah will soon send upon you a punishment from Himself; then you will supplicate Him, but He will not answer you.” (3)
Imam Abu ʿAli al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Qadi informed us; Abu Tahir Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmish al-Ziyadi informed us; Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Qattan informed us; ʿAli ibn al-Husayn al-Darawardi told us; Abu al-Nuʿman informed us; ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Muslim al-Qasmali informed us; Ismaʿil ibn Abi Khalid told us, from Qays ibn Abi Hazim, who said: I heard Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, say: “O people, you recite this verse: ‘O you who believe, you are responsible for yourselves. Those who go astray cannot harm you if you are rightly guided.’ Yet I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, ‘When people see something wrong and do not change it, Allah may soon encompass them all in His punishment.’” (4)