| Public supervision |
| In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful |
| After appropriate training by the family and the teacher the next prescribed by Islam for the prevention of deviation is the general supervision of Muslims over the actions of one another. According to this explicit Islamic commandment it is the right, rather the duty of every Muslim to supervise the acts openly committed by another and to invite him to good deeds and prevent him from doing evil. The subject of 'ordering to do good and preventing from doing evil' has been repeated in many verses of the holy Qur'an. At times the holy Book praises Muslims for having performed this duty and at others it introduces it as a part of good actions. And at times it also encourages Muslims to do this good act by mentioning it among the exhortations by Luqman to his son. And on some occasions Allah's blessings are promised to those who discharge this important duty. Islam says: If you desire that cruelty and injustice should not prevail in your society and the society should not face destruction do not forget general supervision and proper criticism. Imam al Raza (P) says: "Invite others to good deeds and prevent wickedness, otherwise the cruel and the unjust will prevail over you. At that time those among you who are good will pray, but their invocations will not be accepted." Imam Ali (P) says: "The earlier nations perished because they committed sins and their clergymen and rabbis did not prevent them from doing so." Again, the holy Prophet (P) says: "My followers will always be endowed with beneficence and prosperity, provided they invite others to goodness and restrain them from doing evil deeds and cooperate in good actions. However, if they do not do so some of them will prevail over the others and they will find no helper either on earth or in heaven." If some persons can prevent others from committing sins but do not do so, Islam considers them to be accomplices of sinners. |