All the Prophets, the Ashâb-i kirâm, the Tâbi’în and the Salafi sâlihîn ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum ajma’în’ strove very much to perform Amr-i ma’rûf and Nahy-i munkar. They endured much torment and torture for this cause. If it were good in our religion not to interfere with anybody, it would not have been said that it was a symptom of îmân for the heart to refuse a sin. Indeed, it is stated in a hadîth: “Prevent the sinner from sinning with your hand. If you are unable to do so, prevent him through words. If you cannot do so either, dislike it [the sin] through your heart! And this is the lowest grade of îmân.” If it were good not to perform Amr-i ma’rûf, the worshipper who would not do Amr-i ma’rûf to a sinning tribe would not be destroyed together with them. As a matter of fact, it is declared in a hadith: “Allâhu ta’âlâ commanded Hadrat Jabraîl to sink a city into the earth. Jabraîl said, ‘Yâ Rabbî! A born slave of Thine in that city has not disobeyed Thee even for a moment. He has always obeyed and worshipped Thee;’ ‘Sink him, too! His face never changed when he saw sinners’.”

Imâm Muhammad al-Ghazâlî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ wrote in Kimyâ-yi sa’âdat: “It is fard for a Muslim to know and believe primarily the meaning of the utterance, Lâ ilâha il-l-Allah, Muhammadun Rasûlullah. This utterance is called Kalimat at-tawhîd. It is sufficient for every Muslim to believe without any doubt what this utterance means. It is not fard for him to prove it with evidence or to satisfy his mind. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ did not command the Arabs to know or mention the relevant proof-texts or to search and clarify any possible doubt. He commanded them to believe only and not to doubt. It is enough for everybody also to believe briefly. Yet it is fard kifâya that there should exist a few scholars in every town. It is wâjib for these scholars to know the proof-texts, to remove the doubts, and to answer the questions. They are like shepherds for Muslims. On the one hand, they teach them the knowledge of îmân, which is the knowledge of belief, and, on the other hand, they answer the slanders of the enemies of Islam.”