Imam Khamenei – Conditions under Which Enjoining the Good and Forbidding Evil Becomes Obligatory

Q 1: What is the rule if enjoining the good and forbidding evil compromises the dignity of someone who fails to carry out an obligatory act or perpetrates a prohibited act, and humiliates him before the people?

A: If one observes the conditions and etiquette of enjoining the good and forbidding evil and does not transgress their limits, it is no problem.

Q 2: Is it a governmental ordinance or a fatwā that under the Islamic state the people’s duty with respect to enjoining the good and forbidding evil is limited to oral enjoining and forbidding and the other grades are the responsibility of the authorities?

A: It is a jurisprudential fatwā.

Q 3: Is it permissible to forbid evil without the permission of the ruler when stopping someone from perpetrating evil depends on hitting him, imprisoning him, putting him to hardship, or on entering in / using his properties even if it leads to their destruction?

A: There are different situations and cases. Generally speaking, the different grades of enjoining the good and forbidding evil, so long as they do not affect the life or property of the perpetrator of the evil, do not require anybody’s permission and are obligatory up on all mukallafs. But if enjoining the good and forbidding evil involve measures beyond oral enjoining and forbidding and it is in a country ruled by an Islamic government and system that has taken charge of this Islamic responsibility, the matter will depend on the Leader’s permission or that of the relevant authorities, the local police force and righteous courts.

Q 4: If forbidding evil with respect to very important matters, such as protecting the life of a ‘respected person’ [i.e., to exclude the life of a murderer and the like], cannot be performed except through violence, such as hitting which may cause injury or occasionally even killing of the assailant, will the permission of the authorized religious authority be required?

A: If saving life of a ‘respected person’ and preventing murder depends on immediate and direct intervention, it is permissible and even obligatory according to Islamic law, because it is considered defense of a ‘respected person’. This obligation neither requires the authorized religious authority’s permission nor depends on obtaining any order to that effect. However, if defending a ‘respected person’ depends on killing the assailant, there are different cases whose rulings may differ as well.

Q 5: Is it obligatory for someone who wants to enjoin another person to the good or forbid him from evil to have the power to carry it out? When is it obligatory to enjoin someone to the good and forbid him from evil?

A: Whoever enjoins and forbids must know what the good and evil are and knows that the wrongdoer commits them intentionally and without any shar‘ī excuse. It is obligatory to enjoin the good and forbid evil only when it is likely to be effective and one is secure from harm in doing it, considering the extent of the expected harm and the importance of the good or evil in question. Otherwise, it is not obligatory for him.

Ayatollah Sistani -Interaction in Social Life

Q 1: Some Western governments allow the daughter to be independent of her parents, after she has passed the age of sixteen. If she seeks her parents advice, it is only for seeking their opinion or out of respect for them. Is such a virgin girl allowed to marry, be it permanent or a temporary marriage, without the consent of her father?

A: If this means that the father has allowed her to marry whomsoever she wants or that he has withdrawn from interfering in the matter of her marriage, it is permissible for her to do so; otherwise, based on obligatory precaution, it is not permissible.

Q 2: What is the difference between Ahl-e Kitab (the People of the Book) and the rest of the unbelievers with respect to Shari’ah law?

A: Ahl-e Kitab (Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians) are ritually pure and it is permissible to eat their foods even if we know that they have touched the food with wet hands. Yes, if their food contains meat, it is necessary that the meat should be ritually slaughtered Halal. As for those of non-Muslims who are not from the People of the Book, they are ritually impure (obligatory precaution) and their food is Najis, if it has been touched with a wet hand by them.

Q 3: Is it is permissible to consume a foodstuff that contains gelatin?

A: If you do not know whether the gelatin in the food comes from an animal or from vegetable, you can eat it.

Q 4: An elderly person has a habit of doing gheebat and it is very difficult for me to stop him and I also do not want to hear but I am forced to. What should I do?

A: To listen to someone who is backbiting is not Haram in it self, however the listener must act in accordance to enjoining the good (Amr bil Marouf) and forbidding the evil (Nahy anil Munkar)., and if it is not effective one must show their dissatisfaction from the person performing the backbiting.

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi – The Obligation of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil

Issue 2414: It is obligatory for all rational and mature individuals to enjoin good and forbid evil under the following conditions:

1. The person intending to enjoin or forbid must be certain that the other party is engaged in a sinful act or is neglecting a religious obligation.
2. They must believe that their enjoining or forbidding will have an effect, whether it is immediate or delayed, complete or partial. Therefore, if they know it will have no effect, it is not obligatory.
3. Their action of enjoining or forbidding must not result in harm or corruption. Thus, if they know or fear that their action might cause significant harm to life, honor, reputation, or property, either to themselves or other believers, it is not obligatory. However, if the good or evil pertains to matters of great importance in Islam (such as the preservation of Islam, the Qur’an, the independence of Islamic nations, or the protection of essential Islamic laws), then one must disregard the potential harm and strive to protect them, even if it requires sacrificing life or wealth.

Issue 2415: Whenever an innovation occurs in Islam (such as wrongful acts carried out by corrupt governments in the name of Islam), it is obligatory for everyone, especially the religious scholars, to express the truth and denounce falsehood. If the silence of the religious scholars results in the degradation of their status or leads to mistrust towards Islamic scholars, it becomes obligatory to express the truth in any possible way, even if they know it will not have an effect.