Expressing his concerns over the prevalence of misdeeds and corruptions in the society, Shaikh Abdol-Hamid urged on enjoining good and forbidding evil that is the duty of all individuals of the society.
Khateeb of Ahl-us-Sunnah in Zahedan began his speech on Friday, 6 Dec. 2013 by reciting the Noble verse of the Qur’an: «كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَّهُم مِّنْهُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ» [آل عمران:110], (You are the best ‘Ummah ever raised for mankind. You bid the Fair and forbid the Unfair, and you believe in Allah. If the people of the Book had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them, there are believers, while most of them are sinners.)
He said, “Allah Almighty has made this world a place for examining mankind; we are now in the test and angels note each and every action of us. The Sublime tests us with various kinds of evil, sins and temptations of the inner self in order to see how we can save ourselves from those misdeeds.”
The eminent Sunni scholar added more that on the other hand Allah Almighty dispatched the prophets and sent the divine books to guide the mankind towards the straight path. Through these sources, He told people what to do and what to not do. Allah has made the very important deeds ‘obligatory’ for Muslims and the devastating acts ‘Haram’ and forbidden.
“The responsibility of conveying the commands of Allah was on the shoulders of prophets before. Until the prophecy of our beloved prophet, peace be upon him; now the Ummah of the prophet Muhammad has to carry out this great duty. We all are on duty to call on others to the right way, to enjoin all towards good and forbid them from wrong. Muslims must work hard to purify themselves first, and then go on the footprints of the prophets, peace be upon all of them,” Shaikh Abdol-Hamid further said.
The rector of Darululoom Zahedan, the biggest Islamic seminary of the Sunni community in Iran, went on to say more, “It is the natural law of the universe that committing a sin makes the man to commit more and more evil deeds. Allah says in the Noble Qur’an: «مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا», (whoever kills a person not in retaliation for a person killed, nor (as a punishment) for spreading disorder on the earth, is as if he has killed the whole of humankind); it proves when a person kills somebody unreasonably and illegally, he paves the way for more killings in any society. In the same way, usury spreads this big sin in the society exciting others to commit such sins. When there are sins in the society, people cannot deny their duties regarding the involved individuals. It is a wrong idea to neglect duty; Islam calls on the individuals to enjoin others to good and forbid them from wrong.”
He underlined the perfect religion of Islam is the religion of responsibility and mandate. Muslims should not keep silent when they see any misdeed in the society. They should carry out their duty of ‘enjoining to good and forbidding evil’. The beloved prophet and his companions used to react on observing any misdeed. It must not be forgotten that ‘discretion’ and ‘wisdom’ are the preconditions of Da’wah, calling to good and forbidding from bad.
Khateeb of the Sunni Muslims in Zahedan, provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, southeastern Iran, alluded to the stages of ‘forbidding from wrong deeds’ and said, “If someone can halt others from doing bad by the help of hand, s/he must do so. It is the first and best step of forbidding others when the person can stop others doing wrong with his hand; commonly it is the responsibility of rulers and heads of the states to not let people committing sins, otherwise they would be questioned on the Judgment Day.”
Pointing out to the second stage, Shaikh Isma’eelzahi said, “If somebody is unable to use his hand and influence to forbid others from wrong actions, he must use the force of his tongue. If we see any neighbor committing misdeeds, we should, warn him, at least by tongue. If we neglect this duty, in result we will see more misdeeds and corruptions in the society which may affect us and our children too. If we are not in any of the above positions, the term of the last stage begins; by seeing any misdeed, at least our faces must change and we should be annoyed with that sin.”
Shaikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hamid indicated to the consequences of misdeeds in any society, saying, “The outbreak of sins and evil in any society brings the anger and punishment of Allah. A famous narration of the prophet, peace be upon him, suggests that when sins spread among any nation, the punishment of Allah would come down. Good people would pray, making Du’a, but their Du’as would not be accepted. Nowadays people complain they pray to Allah but their Du’as are not accepted, the reason is the prevalence of sins and the negligence of people over the spread misdeeds.”
“As there are some contagious diseases and health care officials struggle to halt such diseases, in the same method there are many infectious sins which are dangerous for spiritual and outward health of the society. If we and the rest of responsible sides do not strive to rein laziness in offering prayers, Hijab (veil) and many other sins, the bad consequences of those misdeeds would affect the entire society. If members of any family show negligence in their religious duties, the entire family would meet bad effects of ‘neglecting duty’. Sins are like cancer and very perilous diseases which may demolish any society completely,” chairman of the Coordination Council of Sunni Seminaries underlined.
Shaikh Abdol-Hamid termed purification of society a ‘public responsibility’, saying, “Some people may think it is only the duty of Islamic scholars and preachers to fight with misdeeds and purify individuals; it is an incorrect idea, every person has responsibilities to resist as much as s/he can and meditate how to reform the society.”