Regulating what is right and prohibiting what is reprehensible

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The logo of the Saudi “Committee for the Areas of Right and Prohibition of Reprehensible”.

Regulating what is right and prohibiting what is reprehensible ( Arabic الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-n-nahy ʿani-l-munkar ) is an Islamic principle of Koranic origin that describes the enforcement of Islamic norms and moral regulations in society. The performance of this task is considered to be the duty of the Muslim believers in classical Islamic law, but in some countries it is also institutionalized by the state, for example in Saudi Arabia in the form of the "Committee for the Areas of Rights and Prohibition of Reprehensible" ( Haiʾat al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-n-nahy ʿani-l-munkar ). In the classical Islamic political doctrine , the office that is responsible for the implementation of this principle is called Hisba , the office holder is called Muhtasib . In the western media, on the other hand, the term Islamic Religious Police is mostly used for organizations and groups that are dedicated to this task .

Koranic justification of the principle

This principle, which is also of central importance in modern times, is mentioned several times in the Koran : see Suras 3,110; 7,157; 9.71; 9.112; 22.41. Sura 3 , verse 110 emphasizes that it is precisely by observing this principle that the Muslim community differs from others:

“You (believers) are the best fellowship that has arisen among men. You command what is right, forbid what is reprehensible, and believe in God. "

- Translation by Rudi Paret

The self-image of this verse of the Koran is an important element of Muslim identity up to the present day. Originally, the exegesis of the Koran only relates the verse to the first muhajirun who emigrated from Mecca to Medina during Muhammad's work as a prophet , but extends the circle to include the companions of the prophet as a whole. In the modern understanding, the “best community” in any historical period is the community of all Muslims.

How deeply this principle is rooted in the Islamic world of thought is also confirmed in the expansion of the five pillars of Islam through jihad and by naming this very principle as a cornerstone of Islam. This time this happens not by a prophet's saying, but by referring to a corresponding saying by a companion of the prophet ( sahaba ).

Its moral and ethical significance is also made clear by a hadith traced back to the Prophet Mohammed in the traditional collection Saheeh by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj , in which he describes the time of political turmoil and the like. a. paraphrases as follows: the heart does not know what is right and does not forbid what is reprehensible.

History of the Principle in the Premodern

While al-Hasan al-Basri classified the area of ​​the right and the prohibition of the reprehensible merely as a voluntary achievement of the individual, its implementation in society according to Ahmad ibn Hanbal and at-Tabarī was a religious duty . Islamic orthodoxy has this moral norm during the mihna added to the five pillars ( al-arkān al-chamsa ), which caused the caliph al-Ma'mun to proclaim the omission of this principle after his entry into Baghdad . Adh-Dhahabī writes: When Maʿmūn moved into Baghdad, he called on people to refrain from “commanding what is right and forbidding what is reprehensible”, since scholars repeatedly punished people with beatings and imprisonment. Ma'mūn said: The people have now agreed on a ruler.

Al-Ghazālī († 1111) regarded this norm as the basis of religion and the divine message through the prophets; without it, there would be anarchy and people would be doomed. Al-Ghazālī considered it permissible for people who were themselves to be sinful to command the right, but said that in this case the right to do so would fail to have an effect on people's hearts.

The principle in modern times

The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (August 5, 1990) adopted on the occasion of the 19th Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference draws on this principle in Article 22, taking into account the Islamic legal norms of the Sharia :

"Everyone shall have the right to advocate what is right, and propagate what is good, and warn against what is wrong and evil according to the norms of Islamic Shari'ah."

- World Conference on Human Rights, 4th Session, Agenda Item 5 : Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (English translation)

In the constitution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of January 3, 1992, it says in Chapter 5 ("Rights and Duties"), Article 23: The state protects the Islamic faith, applies the Sharia, commands what is right, and forbids what is reprehensible. He fulfills the duty to call ( the people) to Islam ( Da'wa ).

At the Islamic University of Umm al-Qurā (Mecca) there is a professorship named after this principle with courses and master’s degree, which exclusively has this moral obligation on the subject. This chair is not mentioned on the English-speaking website of the university.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. M. Muranyi: Contributions to the history of Ḥadīṯ and legal scholarship of the Mālikiyya in North Africa up to the 5th century d. H. (Wiesbaden 1997). P. 165 and note 5.
  2. In terms of content, traditions with comparable content can be found in AJ Wensinck and JP Mensing (eds.): Concordance et indices de la tradition musulmane. Brill, Leiden 1962. Vol. 4, p. 193 compiled
  3. al-mausūʿa al-fiqhiyya ( Encyclopedia of Islamic Law ). 3. Edition. Kuwait 2004. Vol. 6, p. 248
  4. Cf. adh-Dhahabī : Siyar aʿlām an-nubalāʾ. Volume 10, p. 150; Josef van Ess : Theology and Society in the 2nd and 3rd Century Hijra. Berlin 1992. Vol. 2, p. 388.
  5. ^ See RP Buckley: The Book of the Islamic Market Inspector . Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999. p. 168.
  6. Basic Law of Saudi Arabia: Article 23 ( Memento of October 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ): The State shall protect the Islamic Creed, apply the Sharia, encourage good and discourage evil, and undertake its duty regarding the Propagation of Islam ( Islamic Dawa)
  7. Weblink ( Memento from December 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (Arabic)