Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil

قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم من راي منكم منكرا فليغيره بيده فان لم يستطع فبلسانه فان لم يستطع فبقلبه وذلك اضعف الايمان

The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said, "Whoever sees an evil action he should change it with his hand, if he is unable then with his tongue, if he is unable then with his heart
Sand that is the weakest of imaan."

منكر are those actions which are disowned and disapproved in the Qur'an and hadith. These are detestable and forbidden sins, which bring harm to the sinner and devastate the entire community.

These sins include:

1. Shirk (worshiping others beside Allah) 
2. Disrespecting and disobeying one's parents
3. Hurting another person physically/verbally through hitting or insulting, name calling, cursing, lying
4. Stealing
5. Eating or drinking haram foods and drinks
6. Listening to music, dressing immodestly, making friends with the opposite gender
7. Learning or performing magic

Just as every group and nation enjoys distinct qualities, Muslims are also known by their special trait.  Like intelligent students will get good grades in all their tests, complete their assignment on time and pay attention in class; good athletes will train hard and only eat healthy foods, a great qari will practice her recitation and read the same verse of the Qur'an over and over again until she is makes no mistakes and applies all the rules of tajweed - in the same way, Muslims encourage the people around them to do good deeds and warn them against منكر or sins.

Allah has chosen Muslims for the important task of inviting other people to do good deeds and to stop them from sins. Allah says, "You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah." [Qur'an, 3:110] Allah wants Muslims to motivate people to believe in Allah and do good deeds. In addition, Allah wants Muslims to save people from doing bad deeds because every sin has an evil consequence, it leads to mischief on earth and incurs Allah's anger and punishment. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said, "You cannot be a believer until you love for your brother what you love for yourself." [Bukhari] In another hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said that, "You will not enter Paradise until you believe; and you will not believe until you love one another." [Muslim] Muslims love to enter Paradise so we should want the same for others. Just as we hate to enter Hellfire and we should hate that anyone else is thrown into hellfire.

Therefore, Muslims cannot be selfish, we should not worship Allah by ourselves and do good deeds in secrecy so only we can get Paradise. Our goal should to take as many of our relatives and friends to Jannah with us.  For this reason, when praying Salah, call others so everyone can pray in congregation and get 27 times more reward. When helping parents, persuade siblings to give a hand as well because in obeying our parents we make Allah happy. When outside, greet everyone with Salam so peace and mercy spreads amongst the people. Take friends to Islamic class so there is a culture of learning Qur'an and hadith in the society. Share lunch with neighbours and donate to charitable organizations so everyone's needs are met. In the same way, Muslims should be compassionate. If someone is sinning, Muslims should become anxious and worried because every sin has an evil consequence, it makes Allah unhappy and leads to Hellfire. There are three ways to help the sinner leave sin.

1. Stop the sinner with hands = physically stop the sin i.e. hold the hand of the person who is hitting someone or stealing something from the store. Put a hand on their mouth if they are cursing or insulting someone. Turn off the TV or take away book that contains music or magic. Do not let them go to parties where there will be boys and girls and haram foods and drinks.
2. Stop the sinner with tongue = verbally speak and advise against committing sins i.e. Remind others of verse from the Qur'an or Prophet's Hadith. Relate to them stories of the Companions and describe to them Heaven and Hell.
3. Stop the sin with heart = if unable to use physical strength or speech to lure a person away from sins, then at least think of the sins as something despicable and detested in the heart. 

Staying away from sins and stopping others from is the strongest and highest level of imaan. Allah says (paraphrase), "Best in speech is one who invites to Allah and does righteousness." [Qur'an, 41:33] And the reward of righteousness in Paradise, "Give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally." [Qur'an, 2:25]. This being the case, worship Allah and stay away from sins and stop other people from sins.

Not stopping others is the lowest and weakest level of imaan. Increase imaan by learning more about Allah and Jannah in the Qur'an and hadith.