Fiqh Taghyir al-Munkar
- Author died
- 1446 AH
- Editions
- الكتاب منشور على موقع وزارة الأوقاف السعودية بدون بيانات
Fiqh Taghyir al-Munkar (The Jurisprudence of Rectifying Wrong) is a contemporary legal and conceptual treatise authored by Mahmud Tawfiq Muhammad Saad (d. 1446 AH), an Azharite professor, addressing the rules, levels, and ethical guidelines governing the duty of enjoining good and correcting wrongdoing in Islamic law.
Publication and Context
The work was published as the forty-first volume of the Kitab al-Ummah series, issued by the Center for Research and Studies at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Qatar, featuring an introductory presentation by Umar Ubayd Hasanah. The book was prepared to clarify the methodology, mechanisms, conditions, and prophetic guidelines for rectifying wrong, ensuring that Muslims navigate this religious duty with sound jurisprudence rather than deviation or inaction.
Conceptual Framework
The author anchors the study around the prophetic hadith narrated by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ، وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ ("Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith").
In examining the linguistic and legal nuances of the term taghyir (rectification/change)—referencing al-Raghib al-Isfahani—the author points out that taghyir is more specific than mere removal (izalah) or prevention (man'). It implies replacing a rejected act with an acceptable one, so that righteousness is instituted in place of the eradicated wrong to prevent its return.
Structure and Contents
The book organizes the analysis into five primary dimensions derived from the prophetic guidance:
- The Wrong (al-Munkar): Defining its reality and conditions. It stipulates that an act must be decisively established as reprehensible among the majority of scholars; matters subject to legitimate juristic disagreement (ikhtilaf) are not subject to obligatory intervention, but rather wise counsel. Furthermore, an otherwise impermissible act may be permitted for a specific individual due to a valid legal license (rukhsah) or necessity (darurah), in which case the obligation is to alleviate the underlying necessity rather than simply punish the act.
- The Act of Rectification (al-Taghyir): Its nature, legal qualifications, and operational parameters.
- The Person Rectifying (al-Mughayyir): The personal prerequisites, qualifications, and ethical conduct required of the individual undertaking intervention.
- The Perpetrator (Dhu al-Munkar): Understanding the conditions, status, and circumstances of the person committing the act.
- The Means and Degrees of Change (Wasa'il al-Taghyir): Classifying the practical avenues into internal (the heart) and external (the tongue and physical action/hand):
- Rectification by the hand: A general obligation whose application depends on the type of offense and the relationship of authority between the parties, categorized across five relational states: private authority over the wrongdoer (such as a parent over a child or a husband over a wife), public authority (such as a ruler over subjects), absence of mutual authority (between ordinary peers), the wrongdoer holding private authority over the rectifier (a parent or husband committing the wrong), and the wrongdoer holding public authority over the rectifier (a ruler committing the wrong).
- Rectification by the tongue: The medium of education, admonition, advising, and warning. Its forms range from informing authorities who possess physical capacity when one cannot act directly, to raising one's voice with the remembrance of God's majesty and warnings of punishment in earshot of the perpetrator to deter them.
- Rectification by the heart: The internal rejection and detestation of wrong, representing the required baseline when physical and verbal means cannot be performed.
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