the chance to give money in charity has passed you, there still remains charity in righteous deeds: “Each utterance of tasbīḥ (‘Subḥān-Allah’) is charity, each utterance of takbīr (‘Allāhu akbar’) is charity, each utterance of taḥmīd (‘Al-ḥamdu li-Llāh’) is charity, each utterance of tahlīl (‘Lā ilāha illā Allāh’) is charity, enjoining what is right is charity, and forbidding what is wrong is charity.” The first four of these have already been discussed earlier.

As for his statement ﷺ, “Enjoining what is right is charity, and forbidding what is wrong is charity,” enjoining right and forbidding wrong are among the finest kinds of charity, for it is precisely through them that Allah has preferred this community over the others. The Exalted says, “You are the best community ever raised for mankind: you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah” (Q 3:110).

Yet enjoining right and forbidding wrong are bound by certain conditions.

Condition 1: The person who enjoins or forbids must possess knowledge of the relevant ruling. If he is ignorant, he is not permitted to speak, for the one who calls others to what is right or warns them against what is wrong is effectively declaring to the people that this is the law of Allah—and he is not allowed to speak about Allah’s law without knowledge. Allah has expressly forbidden this, saying, “Say: ‘My Lord has only forbidden indecencies—both open and hidden—sin, wrongful oppression, associating with Allah that for which He sent down no authority, and saying about Allah what you do not know’” (Q 7:33).

Among the most blameworthy of matters, therefore, is for someone to state that a certain act is right without knowing that it is right, or to claim it is wrong without knowing that it is wrong.

Condition 2: He must also know that the person he is addressing has in fact abandoned a required duty or committed a prohibited act. If he is unaware of this, he is not permitted to proceed, for in that case he would be