and fearing His punishment, patiently accepting His judgment, and the like. It also includes speaking truthfully, fulfilling trusts, keeping covenants, maintaining ties of kinship, treating neighbours well, and striving in His cause with the heart, hand, and tongue.

Once this is clear, calling to Allah is obligatory upon those who follow him—his community. They call to Allah just as he called to Allah. This likewise entails commanding them to do what he commanded, forbidding them from what he forbade, and informing them of what he conveyed. Calling includes enjoining, and this encompasses enjoining everything that is right and forbidding everything that is wrong. Allah has described his community in these terms in several places, just as He described him. He, Most High, says:

“You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.”

And He, Most High, says:

“The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.”

And so the verse continues. This duty is incumbent upon the community as a whole. It is what the scholars call a collective obligation: if a group among them fulfils it, the rest are relieved of it. Thus, the entire community is commanded to undertake it, but if a group fulfils it, the rest are relieved of the obligation.

He, Most High, says:

“Let there be among you a group who call to goodness, enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong. It is they who will be successful.”

Thus, his community as a whole takes his place in calling to Allah; for this reason, their consensus is