their drinking wine. He therefore left them alone, fearing that they would fall into something even more reprehensible and graver still; this, beyond doubt, was a mark of his keen juristic insight.
Fourth condition: The scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—have differed over whether the one who enjoins right and forbids wrong must himself be practicing what he commands and abstaining from what he forbids. The sound position is that this is not a prerequisite. Should a person call to what is right or prohibit what is wrong while he himself fails to act upon the right or avoid the wrong, the burden of that shortcoming rests on him—but he is nonetheless obliged to command and forbid. If he were to abandon this duty on the grounds that he neither performs the commanded act nor avoids the prohibited one, he would only be adding one sin to another. Hence he must still enjoin right and forbid wrong even if he personally commits wrong and neglects right.
Ordinarily, basic human nature prevents a person from instructing others about matters he himself neglects; he feels shy and embarrassed to do so, and likewise to forbid them from what he is guilty of. Yet the obligation remains: he must urge whatever the Sacred Law has ordered, even if he does not yet practice it, and he must forbid whatever the Law has prohibited, even if he has not yet refrained from it. Each duty stands independently, even though they are inherently connected.
Furthermore, whoever enjoins right and forbids wrong must intend thereby the reform of people and the establishment of Allah’s law, not personal vengeance against the sinner or self-vindication. If his motive is retribution or self-glorification, Allah will not place blessing in his efforts. Rather, he should resemble a physician who seeks to treat people and ward off harm from them. His primary intention must be, first, the establishment of Allah’s law and, second, the betterment of Allah’s servants, so that he himself is righteous and a means of righteousness for others. We ask Allah to make us among the rightly guided, guiding others, and among the reformers. Indeed, He is Most Generous, Most Kind.