Al-Baqarah: (44) Do you enjoin righteousness upon the people...

Translation and Exegesis

{أتأمرون الناس بالبر وتنسون أنفسكم وأنتم تتلون الكتاب أفلا تعقلون} (Do you enjoin righteousness upon the people while you forget yourselves, and you recite the Scripture? Do you not then understand?)

Analysis of the Verse:

The interrogative particle (Hamza) in {أتأمرون} (Do you enjoin?) carries the meaning of reproach and astonishment regarding their state.

Al-Birr (Righteousness):

• Birr is a comprehensive term for all good deeds.
• It includes honoring parents (obedience to them).
• A deed described as Mabroor (accepted/blessed) is one that Allah is pleased with.
• It can also mean truthfulness, as in "He was truthful in his oath" (Barra fi yaminih), meaning he was truthful and did not break it. One says: Sadaqta wa bararta (You spoke truly and you acted righteously).
• Allah states: {ولكن البر من اتقى} (But righteousness is for the one who fears Allah) [Al-Baqarah: 189], indicating that Birr encompasses piety (Taqwa).

The Context of Admonishment: After commanding belief and establishing religious laws based on the blessings bestowed upon them, Allah shifts to another basis for admonishment: neglecting good deeds while urging others toward them is inherently ugly in reason. The purpose of commanding others is either sincere advice or compassion. It is irrational to feel compassion for others or advise them while neglecting oneself. Thus, Allah warns them with this statement.

Interpretations of "Al-Birr" in this Context (Seven Views):

1. Al-Suddi's View: They commanded people to obey Allah and forbade them from disobeying Him, while they themselves abandoned obedience and committed sins.
2. Ibn Jurayj's View: They commanded people to perform Prayer and give Zakat, while they neglected both.
3. Secret Counsel: When someone secretly approached them to inquire about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), they would say he was truthful and his message was true, urging adherence. However, they themselves did not follow him due to their attachment to the gifts and offerings they received from their followers.
4. Pre-Prophethood Command (Abu Muslim's Choice): A group of Jews, before the Prophet's (PBUH) advent, informed the pagan Arabs that a messenger would arise from them calling to truth, and they commanded adherence to him. When he appeared, they abandoned him and turned away from his religion.
5. Al-Zajjaj's View: They commanded people to give charity, but they themselves were stingy, given that Allah described them with hardness of heart, usury, and illicit gain.
6. Hypocritical Jews: The hypocritical element among the Jews outwardly commanded adherence to Muhammad (PBUH), yet inwardly they denied him. Allah reprimanded them for this.
7. Adherence to the Torah: The Jews commanded others to follow the Torah, yet they themselves violated it because they found within it indications of Muhammad's (PBUH) truthfulness, which they refused to believe.

Analysis of Subsequent Phrases:

• {وتنسون أنفسكم} (and you forget yourselves): Nisyan (forgetting) here refers to heedlessness that occurs after knowledge has been established. One who is heedless is not held accountable, and Allah would not blame someone not accountable for their actions. Therefore, {وتنسون أنفسكم} means: You become heedless of what is beneficial for your own souls and deviate from what serves your welfare.
• {وأنتم تتلون الكتاب} (and you recite the Scripture): This means you read, study, and know what is in the Torah, which urges good deeds and warns against sinful acts.
• {أفلا تعقلون} (Do you not then understand?): This expresses astonishment from the perspective of the rational people regarding their actions. It is similar to {أف لكم ولما تعبدون من دون الله أفلا تعقلون} (Fie upon you and what you worship besides Allah! Will you not use reason?) [Al-Anbiya: 67].

Reasons for Astonishment ({أفلا تعقلون}):

1. Contradictory Action: The purpose of enjoining good and forbidding evil is to guide others, which is known through both reason and transmission. One who advises but does not heed the advice commits a self-contradictory act unacceptable to reason.
2. Encouraging Sin: One who preaches and displays their knowledge but then commits sin causes people to become bolder in sin. People reason: If this person, despite all his knowledge, commits the sin, it must be because he knows these warnings are baseless. Thus, he combines two contradictory things, which is unbecoming of the rational.
3. Conflicting Intentions: When one advises, they must strive for their advice to affect hearts. When one sins, their goal is often that their advice not affect hearts. Combining these two intentions is contradictory and unsuitable for the rational. Hence, Ali (RA) said: "Two men broke my back: a sinful scholar and a devout ignorant person."

Subsidiary Issues (Masā'il)

Issue 1: Can a Sinner Enjoin Good and Forbid Evil?

Some argue that a sinner should not enjoin good or forbid evil, citing this verse and the verse {لم تقولون ما لا تفعلون كبر مقتا عند الله أن تقولوا ما لا تفعلون} (Why do you say that which you do not do? Great is the hatred of Allah that you say that which you do not do) [As-Saff: 3], as well as the rational argument: If it were permissible, a man committing adultery could forbid his partner from uncovering her face during the act, which is clearly reprehensible.

The Response: A responsible person is commanded with two duties:

1. Refraining from sin.
2. Preventing others from sinning. Failure in one duty does not negate the obligation of the other.

Regarding the verse {أتأمرون الناس بالبر وتنسون أنفسكم}: This is a prohibition against combining the two actions (enjoining and neglecting self). This prohibition can be interpreted in two ways:

1. A prohibition against neglecting the self absolutely.
2. A prohibition against urging people toward righteousness while neglecting oneself.

We hold that the verse means the first interpretation (absolute prohibition against self-neglect). If this is the case, the opponent's argument based on the verse fails. Furthermore, the rational argument they presented must then be turned back upon them.

Issue 2: The Mu'tazila Argument on Free Will

The Mu'tazila used this verse to argue that human actions are not created by Allah. They claim that the reproach in {أتأمرون الناس بالبر وتنسون أنفسكم} is only valid if the action originates from them. If the action were created in them by compulsion, it would be unjust to reproach them, just as one cannot tell a black person, "Why are you not white?" when blackness is inherent to them.

The Response: When one's power is capable of two opposites, if one occurs without a determining factor (murajjih), it is mere coincidence, and coincidence cannot be blamed. If the determining factor comes from the person, the debate returns to that factor. If the determining factor comes from Allah, then that side becomes preponderant (rājiḥ), and the other side becomes subordinate (marjūḥ). The subordinate state becomes impossible to occur, because if the state of equilibrium (where both were equally possible) was impossible to occur, the state of subordination is even more likely to be impossible. If one of the two opposites is impossible, the other must occur. Thus, everything you argued against us returns to you.

The true answer to all these points is: "He is not questioned for what He does" (referring to Allah's absolute decree).

Issue 3: Sayings Regarding the Sinful Preacher

(A) Narration from Anas (RA): The Prophet (PBUH) said: "During my Night Journey, I passed by people whose lips were being cut with scissors of fire. I asked, 'O brother Jibril, who are these?' He replied, 'These are the preachers of this world who used to enjoin righteousness upon the people but forgot themselves.'"

(B) The Prophet (PBUH) said: "In Hellfire, there is a man whose stench harms the people of Hell. When asked who he is, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) replied: 'A scholar who does not benefit from his knowledge.'"

(C) The Prophet (PBUH) said: "The likeness of one who teaches people good but does not practice it is like a lamp that illuminates people while burning itself."

(D) Al-Sha'bi narrated: People from Paradise will look down upon people in Hellfire and ask, "Why did you enter Hell when we entered Paradise partly due to your teaching?" They will reply, "We used to enjoin good but never practiced it."

As the saying goes: "One who advises by his word, his speech is lost; one who advises by his action, his arrows penetrate."

The poet said:

O teacher of others, Why was this teaching not for yourself? You describe medicine for the sick and afflicted, So that they may be cured while you remain ill. Begin with yourself, forbid it from its deviation, And if it refrains, then you are wise. Only then will your advice be accepted, followed, And your teaching beneficial.

It is said: The action of one man upon a thousand men is more eloquent than the word of a thousand men upon one man. As for one who advises and heeds the advice, his station with Allah is immense.

It is narrated that Yazid ibn Harun, a preacher and ascetic, died. He was seen in a dream, and it was asked, "What did Allah do with you?" He replied: "He forgave me. The first thing Munkar and Nakir asked me was: 'Who is your Lord?' I said: 'Are you not ashamed to ask an old man who called people to Allah for so many years, 'Who is your Lord?'"

When Al-Shibli was on his deathbed, he was told to say, "There is no god but Allah." He replied:

A house where You reside, Has no need for a lamp.

{واستعينوا بالصبر والصلاة وإنها لكبيرة إلا على الخاشعين، الذين يظنون أنهم ملاقوا ربهم وأنهم إليه راجعون} (And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [Al-Khāshi‘īn], Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that to Him they will return.)