Bismillah
Praise be to Allah Lord of the Worlds, King of the Kings Owner of Skies and earth and what is between, peace and prayers be upon His final Messenger and prophet Mohamed and all other messengers and prophets.
Insh a Allah we are going to move back and elaborate on the Ayah of evil and good due to its major importance since as we observed it stands as criterion for us to fit as the best Ummah among people. Plus it is being a criterion for our Duas to be accepted and granted
Alhamdulelah for being a native Arabic speaker and I wanted to tap on this privilege may Allah maintain it upon us.
<b>كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ
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Kuntum khayra 'ummatin 'ukhrijat lilnnāsi ta'murūna bil-Ma`rūfi wa tanhawna `ani al-Munkari wa tu'uminūna billāhi wa law 'Āmana 'ahlu al-Kitābi lakāna khayrāan lahum minhumu al-Mu'uminūna wa 'aktharuhumu al-Fāsiqūna.
The translation of the meaning, although brought the best a translator can do, yet it didn’t really convey the core, the in depth sense of the words. Insh a Allah I will try my best seeking Allah’s close guidance to explain them.
In this context, we have two sides of the issue to address: a. the implication of the word amr, b. the implication of the word nahy (derivative of tanhawna), this is one side the other side is: a. ma`ruf and b. munkar.
Those words are the main issue on this noble Ayah that we must very well realize in order to be able to apply and gain the major, or better say mega benefit.
The Ayah starts with the verb: taamoroun. In the translation it says enjoin. It is more than this. Taamoroun is derived from amr = order, command, charge, direct, demand, talk others into but in a strict manner, talk oneself into in a strict manner, diffuse, spread, call for, …etc. In other words, it is more than simply enjoining, it is a vast act with a deep meaning. Allah Used this word to convey the significance of this act as well as its necessity at the same time. Again using such word serves in a two – way manner, to let the doer understand how important it is to carry on this mission, while making the recipient comprehend what the other party is doing as essential. However, Allah Said give order, diffuse, call for… but didn’t say compel, push, frustrate, keep saying, insist. Please note the difference. Although we are encouraged to command and give order to follow the correct path, obey, do good, listen to Allah’s commands (marouf), we are not supposed to push others to do it, we just command and order and then let go, we are not even supposed to follow up in order to ensure the other party’s response.
The word marouf is not simply good, it is much much much more than this, let me try and quote a number of examples to positions where Allah Used this word:
<b>But if the killer is forgiven </b>
by the brother of the killed
against (payment of) blood money,
then adhering to it with fairness
and payment of the blood money,
to the heir should be made in fairness. 2:178
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It is prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you, if he leaves wealth, that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable manners. (This is) a duty upon muttaqun (the pious). 2:180
<b>And when you have divorced women and they have fulfilled the term of their prescribed period, do not prevent them from marrying their (former) husbands, if they mutually agree on reasonable basis 2:232</b>
I would say it is more than reasonable, it bears the sense of kindness, softness, easiness,
At the same time, Allah Did not use Marouf haphazardly, but actually it works both ways. I mean because Allah Commands us to give orders, commands…etc of doing marouf, simultaneously Allah Is reminding us to do this using an approach of marouf. One of the meanings of marouf is: what is known, the prevailing, the established tradition. We can thus, derive, that Allah Is telling us to command ourselves and others of applying what is already known, established, perceived as traditionally acceptable. If we think deeper, we will realise that through using this word, Allah Is Explaining much, explaining that what is traditionally acceptable is what we should follow and this will certainly equal what is Halal in every aspect of our life and death. In another implication, we use this word in Arabic to convey the meaning of doing a favor. Thus, if we do apply this meaning as well, we can even institute a deeper meaning here, is that by commanding others to do follow marouf, we are doing them a favor manifested in helping them, reminding them, alerting them to come back to the correct path.