Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 48
48 in the world who fail to stir even their little finger in protest against a near relation, a friend or a neighbour openly indulging in anti- religious or immoral activity, because they do not want to hurt feelings, or would not want to involve themselves in controversy, or they do not feel concerned about the personal morals of anybody else. Evil takes root before their very eyes, grows from a sapling into a plant and from a plant into a tree, but they stay unmoved, little realising, through stupidity, that the fire that has gutted the house of their neighbour today, might spread far enough to destroy their own house tomorrow. Little doubt, therefore, that our chief, the Holy Prophet (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him) has laid down this profound and wise injunction that one should not be a disinterested spectator of the fire of evil and sit in one’s environment, but should hasten to put down the fire raging in the neighbour’s premises and then save one’s own house from the range of its destructiveness. He divided this instructional effort into three parts. Firstly, if someone has the necessary power, he should put down evil by his hand. Secondly, if he has not the power to do so, he should try to eliminate it by word of mouth and, if he cannot do even this, he should at least condemn it at heart. It should be remembered that the injunction to put down evil by hand does not mean that unconcerned people should be subjected to the use of force or of arms. In fact, it means that for those who are in a position to prevent evil by the strength of their arms, it is their duty to do so. As, for instance, a father seeing a son going the wrong way, or an officer seeing a subordinate going the wrong or evil way, are duty- bound to counteract this evil tendency by use of their legitimate authority. Preventing by word of mouth means counselling or, if necessary, admonishing. Prevention through condemnation at heart does not