by people.”

He replied:

“He did not mean this. Rather, he meant someone who introduces innovations into his religion or is wicked in his worldly affairs.”

I have discussed these “two types” at length elsewhere, as in our discussion in Iqtidā’ al-Sirāt al-Mustaqīm (Following the Straight Path) of Allah’s words:

“They enjoyed their share, and you have enjoyed your share just as those before you enjoyed theirs, and you have indulged in idle discourse as they did.”

A fuller discussion of this belongs elsewhere. Abandoning an obligation and committing a forbidden act necessarily go together. Hence, someone who does what he has been forbidden to do is said to have disobeyed the command.

If a man says to his wife, “If you disobey my command, you are divorced,” then forbids her to do something and she disobeys him, there are two views concerning this. The sounder view is that the divorce takes effect. Some jurists explain this on the grounds that such a person is considered disobedient in customary usage, while treating commands and prohibitions as fundamentally two distinct categories. The correct analysis, however, is that every prohibition contains a request and a demand for what the one issuing it intends. It is therefore a command, and the term “command” encompasses both.

An example is al-Khidr’s words to Moses:

“You will never be able to bear patiently with me. And how can you bear patiently with something beyond your knowledge?”

Moses said, “You will find me patient, if Allah wills, and I will not disobey any command of yours.”

He then told him:

“If you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I myself mention it to you.”

Thus his words: