al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Nahy an al-Munkar fi Daw al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah

al-Amr bil-Ma'ruf wa al-Nahy 'an al-Munkar fi Daw' al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah ("Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil in the Light of the Book and the Sunnah") is a treatise on Islamic ethics and public accountability (hisbah) by the Saudi scholar Sulayman ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Huqayl al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…+1. The work gathers classical and modern scholarly discussions on commanding virtue and prohibiting vice, presenting them in an accessible format grounded in the Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…+1.

Purpose and Methodology

The author prepared the work through an inductive survey of classical and contemporary Islamic literature concerning the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…. Rather than targeting specialized jurists, the book was written for practicing Muslim youth preparing to undertake this obligation with sincere intention and religious knowledge al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…. Al-Huqayl structured his presentation around explicit questions regarding the legal status, wisdom, conditions, and practical methods of the duty, while documenting and attributing quoted statements to their original authorities al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…+1.

Structure and Content

The book is organized into four main chapters, followed by an appendix:

• Chapter One: Provides a historical background on the practice of enjoining good and forbidding evil in past nations and Islamic history, defines the concepts of ma'ruf (the good) and munkar (the evil), and outlines the importance of the duty, its merits, and the harms resulting from its abandonment al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na….
• Chapter Two: Examines the legal ruling (hukm) of commanding good and forbidding evil, addressing whether it constitutes a collective obligation (fard kifayah) or an individual duty (fard 'ayn), the underlying wisdom of its prescription in Islamic law, the qualifications required of the practitioner, and the conditions under which it becomes binding al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na….
• Chapter Three: Details the fundamental rules and general principles governing the practical execution of enjoining good and forbidding evil al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na….
• Chapter Four: Sets out the moral qualities and etiquettes with which a practitioner must be endowed to perform the duty properly al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na….

The book concludes with an appendix containing an epistle by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab addressed to Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Suwaylim and Thunayyan ibn Sa'ud, which explains the proper manner of censuring objectionable acts al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…+1.

Editions and Reception

The first edition of the book was rapidly exhausted within a few months of its release, prompting the publication of a second edition al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…. In the second edition, the author retained the original text unchanged while formally incorporating Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's epistle at the end al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na….

The work includes a prefatory endorsement by Dr. Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'id, then the General President of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Saudi Arabia al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…. Al-Sa'id commended the book for organizing scattered classical and contemporary rulings into a concise manual beneficial for ordinary Muslims and hisbah officers alike al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na…+1. He particularly highlighted al-Huqayl's analysis restricting the general public from physically altering wrongs with their own hands when an official regulatory authority exists to manage public order and censure al-Amr bil-Maruf wa al-Na….