It is reported that Prophet Muhamed, peace and blessing be upon him, have informed us:

"Ordering good is a charitable act, forbidding evil is a charitable act"

An important deed that is available to everyone, with or without wealth, is the ordering of good and the forbidding of evil. With the right intention, the reward for this may even be bigger than the giving of one's wealth. It is this characteristic of ordering the good and forbidding the evil that has set this nation apart from all other peoples.

Allah (swt) says:

"You are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin the good and forbid what is evil, and you believe in Allah" (Surah ali-Imraan:110)

Enjoining the good and forbidding the evil can have a direct positive impact on our wider societies, whereas prayer and fasting are primarily beneficial to the individual. For this reason it is a communal obligation (fardh kifaayah) and some scholars have said that these are perhaps more important than individual obligations (fardh ain). Imam al-Nawawi points out in his commentary that because enjoining the good and forbidding the evil comes under the category of an obligation, it is in fact more important than dhikr of Allah, which is a voluntray deed. More about this will be discussed in later hadith inshaaAllah.

Because of the degree of individual freedoms that we see in these times, people do not seem to realise how important this communal obligation is. And yet, one of the greatest ways of bringing about communal harmony and well-being, is the true protection of real individual freedom and rights – which is enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. When this attitude of encouraging the good and discouraging what is wrong prevails, the amount of evils will be kept to a minimum, as can be seen in the example of the Prophet's (s) society in Madinah. As a result, ordering the good and forbidding the evil is one of the greatest charities that an individual can perform on behalf of society as a whole.

Let's remember that we should always advise one another with wisdom and good words, and the right intention. For verily, some small deeds are made large in reward due to their intention, and some large deeds are made small in reward due to their intention.