his family, and grant him abundant peace. May He reward him on our behalf with the finest reward He has ever bestowed upon a prophet on behalf of his community.

To proceed, this is:

“A Principle Concerning Hisbah (Enjoining Right and Forbidding Wrong)”

The foundation of this subject is to understand that all offices of authority in Islam aim to ensure that religion is devoted entirely to Allah and that Allah’s word is supreme. For this purpose Allah, glorified and exalted, created His creatures, revealed the Scriptures, and sent the messengers; and for this the Messenger and the believers strove.

Allah Most High says:

“I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”

He also says:

“We never sent a messenger before you without revealing to him: ‘There is no god but Me, so worship Me.’”

And He says:

“We certainly sent a messenger to every nation, saying: ‘Worship Allah and shun false gods.’”

He has told us that every messenger said to his people:

“Worship Allah; you have no deity worthy of worship except Him.”

Worshipping Him consists in obeying Him and obeying His Messenger. This is goodness, righteousness, piety, good deeds, acts that draw one near to Allah, enduring deeds, righteous deeds, and righteous action—although there are subtle distinctions between these terms that are beyond the scope of this discussion.

It is for this that people fight, as Allah Most High says:

“Fight them until there is no more fitnah and religion is devoted entirely to Allah.”

And in the two Sahīh collections, it is related from Abū Mūsā