A man went to Ibn ‘Abbas radiAllaahu ‘anhu and said, “O Ibn ‘Abbas, I want to enjoin people to do good and forbid them from doing evil.” Ibn ‘Abbas said, “And have you reached that level?” He said, “I hope that that is so.” He said, “If you do not fear to be exposed by three verses of Allah’s Book, then do so.” The man asked, “And what are they?” He mentioned this verse:
Enjoin you Al-Birr (piety and righteousness and each and every act of obedience to Allâh) on the people and you forget (to practise it) yourselves.” (Baqarah 2:44)
And then asked, “Have you applied the implications of this verse?” He said, “No.” Ibn ‘Abbas then mentioned the second verse:
O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is with Allâh that you say that which you do not do. (As-Saff 61:2-3)
After that he asked, “Have you applied the implications of this verse?” He said, “No.” He then mentioned the third verse regarding Shu’aib alayhi salaam:
“I wish not, in contradiction to you, to do that which I forbid you.” (Hud 11:88)
And then he asked, “Have you applied the implications of this verse? He said, “No.” Ibn ‘Abbas said, “Then begin with yourself.”
- Transcribed from: Gems and Jewels | Compiled by: Abdul-Malik Mujahid | DarusSalam
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu,
MashAllah, this is definitely one of the best and most useful Islamic blogs available; please keep your very educational posts coming. May Allah s.w.t. reward you and guide us all to that which is best for us, ameen.
Wassalaam.
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakatu
Ameen. BarakAllaahu feeki akhee.
Wa Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakatu
Dawah to Yourself
As Salaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh,
Mashaa’Allah ! JazakAllahu Khair
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakatu
Wa iyaaki ukhtee.
Something about this narration does not sound right. Do you have an orginal reference for this qoute?
Rather, there’s simply a list of general references at the end of the book from which the quotes in the book were derived. As for this particular quote, unfortunately the exact reference isn’t listed.
JazakAllaahu khayr for your query however. InshaAllaah if I come across this quote elsewhere and it lists the original reference, I’ll definitely provide it.
Wa Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakatu
Salaam aleikoem wr wb,
It reads very strange. I don’t know how to implement a narration like this. Its like saying, don’t do dawa till you are perfect. I don”t know about this narration. Can someone give me the arabic quote of this one.
I was just getting by some muslim badboys and give them some dawa, with this narration inmind you have to walk on and say nothing till you are an angel. We are all sinners and are boud to sin and the best of sinners is the one that repents to Allah. So if we keep away from enjoining people to do good and forbidding them from doing evil. We will get pushed by Allah. So people in this quote we have to learn to not judge people by theyre actions rather advise them and guide to the truth even when we are sinners and bound to sin. Don’t wait with dawa and enjoinng good end forbid evil. Do it and repent from yourownn evil and try hard to stay away yourself from evil. Practice what you preach thats the lesson, but not forget if you fall in the gutter again. Stand up on both feet and go on. Life is a struggle and a fight and keep on fighting and strugling till your meet your lord Allah. Try to do your utmost best and ask Allah for forgiveness.
Salaam aleikoem wr wb,
Abu Adam
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakatu
The chief benefit I get from the quote is the very title of the post, that is, to begin with yourself. I don’t take from the quote that we shouldn’t give da’wah unless we ourselves are perfect. For we will never reach a state of perfection in our ‘ibadah, nor one of satisfaction or contentment. Rather, we’ll be forever engaged, inshaAllaah, in an upward ascent to Allaah ta’ala, continually striving, and seeking His Face.
It emphasizes the need for our own self evaluation, and putting righteous deeds into action in our own lives, instead of merely telling others to implement them. I think it’s very pertinent to the Ummah, because many a time we get caught up in others’ mistakes and seek to correct them, while unfortunately forgetting our own mistakes and working to rectify them.
In reality, there is perhaps no one that doesn’t fear being exposed by these verses. No one that has yaqeen (certainty) that they don’t fall into these categories. The lesson, then, we can extract is to engage yourself in da’wah, yes, but don’t forget yourself along the way as so many do. Call others to His way, but don’t forget you yourself to adhere to His Path. Essentially, ‘begin with yourself’, and following such a methodology will inshaAllaah aid you in the path of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil.
And Allaah knows Best.
Wa Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakatu
Jazaaki Allahu khayran ukhti for the beneficial post.
I understand where the confusion is coming from, but we all know that no one is perfect so we cannot refrain from giving da’wah because we commit sins or do wrong.
Like tawheedfirst said, this is a reminder to begin with yourself and to always remember to hold yourself accountable before anyone else.
It reminds us to be humble of the knowledge or da’wah capabilities Allah has given us. The downfall of Bani Isra’eel was that they were arrogant because Allah chose them and gave them knowledge, yet they did not practice birr when it came to their own selves but would preach it to others.
There is an authentic hadeeth that talks about a man in hell-fire with his intestines coming out and the people will say, did you not enjoin good upon us and forbid us from evil?! and he will say, yes but i did not practice it myself (may Allah protect us)..so I think this is what these ayaat and the statement of ibn Abbass are referring too. Really what good is preaching going to do if you do not practice?
Allahu ta’ala a’lam.
BarakAllaahu feeki Amatullah for the beneficial comment.
InshaAllaah I hope this is the lesson people may take away from the quote.
Salam 3alaykum 😀
Jazakallahu kheyran for sharing this, I really loved it…
Keep spreading the Deen…
Insha2allah, We’ll live in our Dream
(Jannat al Firdaws)
These beautiful, uncreated Ayahs , & its amazing how Ibn Abbas reflects back to these ayahs & matches them!
Woow…Sub7anallah!
May Allah give us the understanding of the prophets and the memory of the messengers, and those nearest to Him.
Ameen!
i think that we do fall short of practicing ,what we preach ,
not practicing is a sin agreed, but letting a sin happen and not trying to stop is another sin.
hence committing one sin does not grant you the excuse of doing another sin
i guess if we commit a particular sin rarely only than we can preach against it
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Wallaahu ‘alam, the issue is perhaps not as black and white as that (that is, one may only give naseeha [advice] on a matter if they either completely do not commit that sin, or rarely do).
If one looks at naseeha as only an advice directed to the other person, then they have lost some of the benefit of that naseeha. Naseeha is amazing in that it benefits both the one who gives it and the one who receives it. Furthermore, it is important for the giver of naseeha to acknowledge this, if he is to benefit from his naseeha as well.
It would seem that the underlying concept behind not giving naseeha because one may sometimes engage in a particular sin is this:
One cannot partake in khayr (goodness)* because they commit sins.
* in this case being the naseeha
It is dangerous to close the door to khayr to people on the basis that they are sinners themselves. For that concept may open the door to other wrongs.
To illustrate:
A sister is told she cannot wear hijaab, for she sins too much. She is not worthy of it and so should delay this act when she rids herself of these sins.
Or likewise, the situation of a brother who feels he cannot don the beard because he commits too many sins.
[And situations like this do indeed happen; one feeling unworthy of committing righteousness so they leave it on the basis that they are too sinful to be associated with that act of khayr. Allahu musta’aan.]
So we take an example of a Muslim who occasionally falls into the sin of listening to music. If a fellow Muslim comes to him praising a new song and urges him to hear it, or if one comes to him and tells him that he is struggling with listening to music and hopes to cease this, are we to say that he does not advise these individuals? That he should remain silent on the basis that he occasionally falls into this sin? We cannot nor should not set a condition like this. Instead, if he advises both, reminding them of Allaah and their duty to Him, there is khayr in this for all parties involved. The naseeha thus benefits the giver and the receiver of it.
Likewise, we take an example of a Muslim who is prey to chronically wasting his time. If one seeks him out and asks for help on this very same issue that they are struggling with, shall we prevent him from speaking on the value of time, the true purpose in life, and how we should strive to be? Rather, he should indeed proceed to advise his friend, and the benefit from the naseeha is inshaAllaah shared by both parties.
In both cases, the individuals who are giving the advice – albeit struggling with their issues – are doing so sincerely and wish well for the receiver of it. Moreover, they themselves sincerely wish to reform and make du’aa for this. Thus their advice is sincere and they themselves wish to benefit from such a reminder.
Evidently, the situation is not a black and white one, nor can we close the door in such a way to state that only those who rarely commit a certain sin may warn against it.
And Allaah knows best.
This narration doesn’t seem like it saying you have to be perfect but rather begin with yourself first before advising others as it is hated by Allah to say that which you do not do. Also it is from the Characteristics of the Jews as Allah says: “Enjoin you Al-birr (piety and righteouness and every act of obedience to Allah) on the people and you forget (to practise it) yourselves, while you recite the Scripture [the Taurat ( Torah) ]! Have you then no sense?”2:44
And Allah knows best, Jazakallahu khair for the useful post!
And you explained it very well Tahweed first, I’m sorry with the extremely late comment just thought to include a few things once again jazakallahu khayr!
As-salaamu alaikum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh,
I love this blog, and love the sincere and beneficial advice. May Allah Ta’ala grant you with success in this dunya and akhira. May Allah bless all of the Muslimeen who post and visit on this blog, and forgive us, and help us stay on the Sirat-ul-Mustaqeem.Ameen. Your sister in Islam