Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on principles of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil
The scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Thursday and Friday nights, coinciding the 24th and 25th of the holy month of Ramadan. The Supreme Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudential issues.
Emphasizing the importance of using refined preaching and wisdom in enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi said: The Holy Prophet and the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon them, suspended not only hundreds but thousands of Divine Hudud. Even though, for example, during the governance of the Holy Prophet, there were thousands of hypocrites among his companions, they were not subjected to the Divine Hudud.
Referring to the good behavior of the Holy Prophet even with the hypocrites, his Eminence said: There is a tradition in Usul al-Kafi that Imam al-Sadiq mentions the story of the Prophet’s prayer over the corpse of Abdullah bin Ubay, which resulted in a thousand hypocrites abandoning their hypocrisy, making it clear that there were several thousand people in such state.
The Great Religious Authority went on to say: However, the Holy Prophet did not execute Hudud to even one of the hypocrites, even though all of them deserved them. The Commander of the Faithful likewise never carried out Hudud on those who fought with him and even cursed him or excommunicated him.
Regarding the treatment of Amir al-Mu’minin with those who waged war against him, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi said: Even during the war and conflict when some people came to kill Amir al-Mu’minin, like what Ibn Muljam later did, even though they definitely deserved the punishment, Amir al-Momineen did not submit them to Hudud.
His Eminence continued: Since the action of the Infallible carries the same Hujjat (proof) as their words, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil should initially be performed in this manner and should not be done in any other way.
