IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL
THE FOURTH KHUTBAH FOR THE MONTH OF JUMADA AL-AWWAL
DATE: 23/5/1447 AH (14/11/2025 CE)
TOPIC: ENJOINING GOOD AND FORBIDDING EVIL WITHIN THE FAMILY CIRCLE
The First Sermon
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. We praise Him, Glorified and Exalted be He, we thank Him, seek His help, guidance, and forgiveness, and we repent to Him. Whomever Allah guides, none can mislead; and whomever He allows to go astray, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O Allah, send Your blessings, peace, and mercy upon him, his family, his companions, and all who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.
Thereafter, servants of Allah! I advise you and myself to fear Allah Almighty both in secret and in public, for it is the ultimate purpose of all acts of obedience and the goal of every divine command and prohibition. Allah, the Exalted, says:
﴿ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ﴾
“O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous.” (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:21)
Servants of Allah! Enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil is an obligation upon every Muslim according to his ability. It is one of the great symbols of Islam — indeed, it is the main pillar of the religion. It is for this purpose that Allah sent all the Prophets. Were this duty to be neglected, religion would fade away, misguidance would prevail, corruption would spread, lands would be ruined, and people would perish. It is the mission of the Prophets, the duty of the righteous, and the struggle of sincere callers to the path of Allah. Allah, the Exalted, says:
﴿ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِمَّنْ دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ﴾
“And who is better in speech than one who calls to Allah, does righteousness, and says: Indeed, I am of the Muslims.” (Surah Fussilat, 41:33)
If evil appears within your family, then you must teach them and forbid the wrongdoing with gentleness and wisdom. Warn them against what brings the anger of Allah, and do not be deterred by their surprise or mockery of what they do not understand. A Muslim must always speak the truth, even if people dislike it, and remain patient in the face of mockery or rejection. Allah, the Exalted, says:
﴿ وَأْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَانْهَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَى مَا أَصَابَكَ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ ﴾
“Enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over whatever befalls you. Surely this is among the matters requiring strong determination.” (Surah Luqman, 31:17)
The Prophet ﷺ used to take pledges from his Companions to always speak the truth and uphold righteousness. As reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Muslim from the narration of ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:
“We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to listen and obey in times of hardship and ease, in what we like and dislike, and not to dispute the authority of those in charge, and to speak the truth wherever we may be, and not to fear the blame of anyone for the sake of Allah.”
Virtues of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil
A. Through this, Allah has honored the Muslim Ummah as the best nation. Allah says:
﴿ كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ ﴾
“You are the best nation ever raised for mankind: you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah.” (Surah Āl ʿImrān, 3:110)
B. Upholding this duty leads to success and prosperity. Allah says:
﴿ وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴾
“Let there be among you a group that calls to goodness, enjoins what is right, and forbids what is wrong; and they are the ones who will be successful.” (Surah Āl ʿImrān, 3:104)
C- This is indeed part of truly following the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ—especially through knowledge and certainty in what one calls others to. Allah the Almighty says:
“قُلْ هَذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللهِ عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي…”
“Say, ‘This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight—I and those who follow me…’” (Yusuf 12:108)
O brothers in faith! Enjoining good and forbidding evil must begin from within the family, then extend to relatives and those around us. Allah the Exalted says:
“يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلَائِكَةٌ غِلَاظٌ شِدَادٌ لَا يَعْصُونَ اللهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ”
“O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.” (At-Tahrim 66:6)
Servant of Allah, let us begin by encouraging our family members to do good deeds and abandon evil practices within our homes. Whether these relate to manners and ethics or to neglecting obligations, all such evils must be uprooted from their roots. Among them are the following:
A. Excessive involvement in amusement:
In our age, entertainment has become an “art” that preoccupies nearly everyone. Amusement may be prohibited, disliked, or permissible—depending on its form and limits. Islam does not forbid permissible entertainment and recreation within lawful bounds, but it forbids being engrossed in it to the extent that prayers are neglected and desires dominate. Such a person becomes like an addict or idol worshipper, careless about his destiny, reward, or the Hereafter. Allah the Almighty says:
“فَخَلَفَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاتِ فَسَوْفَ يَلْقَوْنَ غَيًّا * إِلَّا مَنْ تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَأُولَئِكَ يَدْخُلُونَ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَا يُظْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا”
“But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil—except those who repent, believe, and do righteousness. For those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged at all.” (Maryam 19:59–60)
B. Severing ties of kinship and abandoning relatives:
Some people may go months without knowing anything about their family members, let alone checking on them or meeting their needs—whether on an individual or family level. The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The one who severs ties of kinship will not enter Paradise.”
Narrated by Jubayr ibn Mut‘im from his father (may Allah be pleased with them), recorded by Muslim in Kitab al-Birr waṣ-Ṣilah (Hadith 2556).
C. Misuse of the tongue:
This takes many forms—such as insulting, cursing, backbiting, lying, and slandering others’ lineage or profession. All of these are sinful acts. Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Reviling a Muslim is wickedness, and fighting him is disbelief.” (Agreed upon—narrated by al-Bukhari in Kitab al-Iman, Hadith 48, and Muslim in Kitab al-Iman, Hadith 64)
In another narration from Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both), the Prophet ﷺ said:
“A Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe, and a Muhajir (emigrant) is the one who abandons what Allah has forbidden.”
(Agreed upon—recorded by al-Bukhari in Kitab al-Iman, Hadith 10, and Muslim in Kitab al-Iman, Hadith 40)
D. Extravagance in food, drink, clothing, transport, and furnishings:
Extravagance and wastefulness are prohibited in all matters. Allah the Almighty says:
“وَلَا تُبَذِّرْ تَبْذِيرًا * إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ لِرَبِّهِ كَفُورًا”
“And do not spend wastefully. Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful.” (Al-Isra 17:26–27)
And He also says:
“وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ”
“And eat and drink, but do not be excessive. Indeed, He does not like those who commit excess.” (Al-A‘raf 7:31)
Likewise, Allah calls for moderation and balance in spending:
“وَلَا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَى عُنُقِكَ وَلَا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ الْبَسْطِ فَتَقْعُدَ مَلُومًا مَحْسُورًا”
“And do not make your hand [as] chained to your neck or extend it completely and [thereby] become blamed and insolvent.” (Al-Isra 17:29)
Among the forms of extravagance are the following: extravagance in wedding banquets, in honoring ceremonies, in daily meals, in the iftar table during Ramadan, in changing home furniture every year and similar acts; in changing one’s car model without any valid need except the desire for novelty; in keeping cushions and curtains with images on them; in hiring multiple servants and drivers without necessity but merely for show. The forms of extravagance are numerous, and if we were to list and give examples of them all, it would take us a long time. O servants of Allah! There is no doubt that parents are the direct and practical role models for their children in speaking with calmness and in avoiding all the evils of the tongue. The child learns morals, values, and noble ideals through his parents, imitating and following them, learning from their conduct, and perceiving whatever his parents do as the unquestionable truth. Therefore, it is obligatory upon parents to fulfill this educational role in the best manner and to guard themselves from mistakes so that their children do not imitate them in error.
The ancients said:
“Indeed, the youth among us grows up upon
that which his father has accustomed him to.”
We ask Allah Almighty to rectify our affairs and bless us in the children He grants us.
THE SECOND SERMON
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon His noble Messenger, and upon his family and all his companions. To proceed:
O honorable servants of Allah! Among the established laws (sunan) of Allah in His creation is that they never change, they show no favoritism to anyone, and they never fail when their causes exist. Among the divine laws that have come to pass is that Allah unleashes His punishment upon societies that neglect the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil. Allah the Almighty says:
“لُعِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَلَى لِسَانِ دَاوُودَ وَعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ * كَانُوا لَا يَتَنَاهَوْنَ عَنْ مُنْكَرٍ فَعَلُوهُ ۚ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ”
“Those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and of Jesus, the son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and habitually transgressed. They used not to forbid one another from wrongdoing that they did. How wretched was that which they were doing.” (Al-Ma’idah 5:78–79)
Among the calamities resulting from neglecting the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil is falling into desires and becoming immersed in them. This attachment to desires makes people worldly-minded, weak in spirit, and unserious in their pursuits. A youth whose only concern is an immoral song, an indecent magazine, a corrupt video, a lustful phone conversation, or a trip to places of immorality and permissiveness—such a youth whose life revolves entirely around desire—can he possibly free himself from the chains of worldliness and strive to acquire beneficial knowledge? Can he bear arms to defend himself and his nation? Certainly not, for he has become accustomed to the comforts of the world, to surrendering to lust, and to avoiding seriousness and discipline. You can observe the truth of this when you look at the condition of many students who are sent to Western countries for study: you find that the righteous and upright among them are the most serious in their academic pursuit, because they carry the concern of their Ummah. They have not worshipped their desires nor become shackled by the lowly chains of the worldly life.
As for the lustful, deviant youth, you see him immersed in his desires and passions, unserious about his studies, and trivial in his interests, for he is preoccupied only with his whims. Thus, the nation loses him, and he becomes a burden upon it. In Muslim societies, there is no doubt that neglecting the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil is the reason why members of society are immersed in pleasures and desires that prevent them from pursuing noble goals.
Economic Crises: economic crises may befall a society that is negligent in enjoining good and forbidding evil, so the waves of poverty and hardship batter it and it tastes the woes of deprivation. These crises have brought some Muslim societies to a pitiable level of poverty, such that the individual labors hard to earn a livelihood yet cannot find it, which may drive him to those scheming Christians who exploit people’s needs to proselytize Muslims, and this leads to a Muslim falling into conversion to Christianity, God forbid; especially since his preoccupation with earning a living may cause him to neglect many of his religious duties, distancing him from them and making them seem insignificant to him. Perhaps one of the clearest and most evident examples is the economic devastation that afflicts societies because of neglecting to forbid usury (riba), which has brought great calamities to Muslim communities in the form of worsening standards of living and economic conditions: the poor grow poorer and the rich grow richer, so that wealth becomes concentrated among the rich and the nation heads toward the abyss of far-reaching destruction. Western research centers are already speaking of a dark fate awaiting capitalism within a decade or two, similar to the fate that befell communism!
﴿ فَهَلْ يَنْتَظِرُونَ إِلَّا مِثْلَ أَيَّامِ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ قُلْ فَانْتَظِرُوا ۖ إِنِّي مَعَكُمْ مِنَ الْمُنْتَظِرِينَ ﴾
“So do they wait except for the like of the days of those who passed on before them? Say, ‘Then wait; indeed, I am with you among those who wait.’” (Yūnus 10:102)
Failure of supplication being answered: O servants of Allah, when harm touches a person he turns to Allah alone and calls upon Him to remove the evil – even the polytheist does this — for Allah says:
﴿ ثُمَّ إِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الضُّرُّ فَإِلَيْهِ تَجْأَرُونَ ﴾
“Then when harm touches you, to Him you cry aloud.” (An-Nahl 16:53) and
﴿ وَإِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الضُّرُّ فِي الْبَحْرِ ضَلَّ مَنْ تَدْعُونَ إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ ﴾
“And when adversity touches you at sea, lost is he whom you invoke besides Him.” (Al-Isrā’ 17:67)
The Muslims who abandon the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil, when punishment descends upon them, they turn to Allah and supplicate, but He does not respond to them, as mentioned in the hadith of Hudhayfah cited earlier: the Prophet ﷺ said, “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, you will enjoin good and forbid evil, or Allah will send upon you a punishment from Him, then you will supplicate to Him and He will not answer you…”
The supplication: “O Allah, grant victory to the mujahidin in Your cause, reconcile their hearts, unite their ranks, and grant them success in following Your Book and the Sunnah of Your Prophet. O Allah, prepare for us the means to liberate Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, and guide Muslim rulers and subjects to establish Your Shariʿah and to support Your religion. O Allah, take vengeance upon the attacking Jews and upon those Christians and hypocrites who assist them; O Allah, punish them, divide their words, shake their feet, and send upon them Your punishment which You do not repel from the criminal people. Indeed You are the Answerer of prayers, worthy to answer and able to do so. And may Allah send blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.”