al-Amr bil-Maruf wal-Nahy an al-Munkar - Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Ghurabā’ al-Athariyyah
al-Amr bil-Maruf wal-Nahy an al-Munkar (Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil) is a monograph by the Baghdadi traditionist Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) that compiles prophetic traditions and reports from early generations on the obligation, virtues, and rules of enjoining good and forbidding evil .
Transmission and Structure
The work is arranged in the traditional hadith format, where Ibn Abi al-Dunya presents individual reports introduced by complete chains of transmission (isnad) going back to the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions, and the Tabi'un . Among the prominent teachers from whom Ibn Abi al-Dunya received these narrations are Abu Khaythamah Zuhayr ibn Harb, Ali ibn al-Ja'd, Yusuf ibn Musa, Ibrahim ibn Abd Allah al-Harawi, and al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah .
The text was transmitted after Ibn Abi al-Dunya primarily through his student Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Safwan al-Bardha'i . The subsequent line of transmission documented by later scholars, including Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, passed through figures such as Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Akhi Mimi, Abu Talib al-Ushari, Abu al-Husayn al-Mubarak ibn Abd al-Jabbar, Hibat Allah ibn al-Hasan al-Daqqaq, and Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah .
Contents and Themes
The collection compiles narrations addressing the communal and individual necessity of enjoining what is right and prohibiting what is wrong, emphasizing its status as an essential duty:
- Exegesis of Quranic Verses: The book opens with narrations elucidating verses concerning personal responsibility and social obligation, notably: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ مَنْ ضَلَّ إِذَا اهْتَدَيْتُمْ ("O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided" [Surat al-Ma'idah: 105]) . Citing reports from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and Abu Tha'labah al-Khushani, the text clarifies that this verse does not abolish the duty of enjoining good, warning that neglecting it brings universal divine punishment .
- Consequences of Neglect: Several narrations caution that abandoning this duty leads to unanswered prayers, the empowerment of unjust rulers, and the removal of the blessing of revelation and respect for religious authority .
- Levels of Rectification and Courage: Ibn Abi al-Dunya includes the prophetic hadith regarding changing wrong with one's hand, tongue, or heart , alongside reports urging believers not to let fear of people deter them from speaking the truth .
- Hypocrisy and Accountability: The text transmits severe warnings against inconsistency between words and actions, such as the punishment in the Hereafter for those who enjoin good on others without practicing it themselves or forbid wrong while committing it . At the same time, it records reports stating that one must still enjoin good and forbid wrong even if one has not attained perfection in every deed .
- Sayings of Early Authorities: The book preserves sayings and reflections from early figures, including Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Umari, and Wuhayb ibn al-Ward .
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