وَعْظ

وَعْظ

Admonition (wa'z), lexically, is a rebuke joined with fear, and includes advice and reminding of consequences; technically it is reminding people of good in a way that softens the heart. Nasiha, sincere counsel, means calling to what is good and forbidding what is corrupt; the two share the call to good. ¹

The ruling: the basis is recommendation. Al-Haskafi says preaching from pulpits and being admonished is the practice of the prophets. It may be forbidden when it stirs up a calamity so that it becomes wailing, or when it aims at leadership, gain or popularity; the Hindiyya says a preacher may not beg from his audience during the sermon. ¹²

The pillars of admonition: the preacher, the one admonished, and the method. ²

Conditions of the preacher: sane, adult, just; a man of hadith, who has studied the hadith books and knows the sound from the weak; an exegete, who has studied the strange words and difficulties of the Qur'an; it is recommended that he be eloquent, gentle, speak to people only as far as they can understand, and make things easy rather than hard. ²³

The preacher's conduct: he should avoid acts that look wrong even if he is right, because people may take them as general permission, belittle him, think ill of him, reject his narrations, testimony and fatwas. If he must do such a thing, he should say it is not forbidden and explain its basis. The book cites the report of Sahl ibn Sa'd about the Prophet's pulpit, the report of Safiyya about the Prophet escorting her in the mosque, and the report of 'Ali drinking standing to show what he saw the Prophet do. ³⁴

Preventing the unqualified: the Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that a person who takes up admonition without being qualified, or who lies, must be prevented, lest people be deceived by him. The heretic may attend only to refute him, as the verse of sura al-An'am (cited by sura and verse) indicates. ⁴

Conduct of the listeners: they should listen and not talk among themselves; if they do not, the preacher may ask them to be silent, citing the report of Jarir that the Prophet asked the people to be silent at the Farewell Pilgrimage. ⁴⁵

Listening to the admonisher: the scholars hold that the learners must be silent before the learned, since scholars are the heirs of the prophets. The Prophet asked the people to be silent during his sermon at the Farewell Pilgrimage, and al-Thawri says the beginning of knowledge is listening, then silence, then memorising, then acting, then spreading. ⁵ Manners of the listeners: they should face the preacher, not play or talk during the admonition, and not ask too many questions. If a question is strongly connected to the matter but too subtle for common people, the listener keeps silent during the session and asks in private or waits until the talk ends. ⁵

The method of admonition. First, using clear words that convey the meaning and avoiding words the audience does not know, on the report of 'A'isha that the Prophet's speech was clear and that everyone who heard it understood. ⁵⁶ Second, repeating words when they are not understood without it, to give emphasis, or when the audience is large, on the report of Anas that the Prophet repeated a word three times until it was understood. ⁶ Third, taking account of people's condition: not telling them what their minds cannot bear or what may be distorted as they retell it, following the saying of 'Ali, 'speak to people in what they know and leave aside what they would deny', and Ibn Mas'ud's saying that a speech that a group's minds cannot reach becomes a trial for some of them. ⁶⁷ Fourth, moderation: neither so long as to bore nor so short as to be unclear, on the report of 'Ammar that a long prayer and a short sermon are a sign of understanding. ⁷ Fifth, the preacher should choose times when people are receptive, not admonish every day lest they tire, and fix a time such as Thursday, following the practice of Ibn Mas'ud. ⁷⁸

Sixth, knowing the wrong to be forbidden and the state of the one admonished: whether he committed it in ignorance or knowingly. The one who persists in a wrong known to be wrong, such as drinking, injustice or backbiting, is admonished by warning, fear of God and reports of threat, with kindness and without violence; admonition in private is better than in public, as Umm al-Darda' al-Sughra is reported to have said. ⁸

Forbidding wrong by admonition: the admonisher must know the wrong and the state of the one admonished, whether he committed it in ignorance or knowingly. One who commits a wrong while knowing it, or persists after knowing it, is admonished and warned by fear of God, with reports of threat and the example of the pious ancestors, with kindness and without violence; in private is better; if it does not work he seeks the help of the righteous, and then of the authorities. ⁸ A degree of forbidding is harsh speech, when gentleness has failed and persistence and mockery appear; the aim must be the wrongdoer's return, not the admonisher's own victory, citing Abraham's words in sura al-Anbiya' (by sura). ⁸

What the admonisher should use from verses, hadith and stories: four kinds, namely the verses that warn sinners, the stories of the prophets and the pious ancestors, the teaching that punishment in this world is expected for a sin, and the particular punishments of particular sins such as wine, adultery, theft, murder and backbiting. ⁸⁹

Admonition in other chapters of law: (a) admonishing a wife who is disobedient, by the verse of sura al-Nisa', the detail under disobedience. ⁹ (b) admonishing parties to a lian: the Malikis and Shafi'is recommend warning them before the oath and at the fifth oath, reading to them the verse of sura Al 'Imran, and saying to them what the Prophet said to those who swore lian; the Hanbalis recommend that the imam admonish them after the fourth oath and before the fifth, with a man's hand on the mouth of the husband and a woman's on the wife's. ⁹¹⁰ (c) admonition before the prayer for rain: most jurists recommend it. ¹⁰ (d) admonition after the eclipse prayer: the Malikis recommend it; the Hanafis and Hanbalis hold that the eclipse prayer has no sermon, the Shafi'is recommend two sermons. ¹⁰

Admonishing the ruler: there is no dispute that the ruler may be admonished and enjoined to good and forbidden from wrong when he is just. The jurists differ on a tyrant. The Hanafis, Shafi'is and a Hanbali report permit gentle and mild admonition; the Shafi'is and Ibn al-Jawzi forbid harsh speech to him, such as calling him an oppressor, if it would stir a sedition whose harm would reach others, but permit it if the harm falls on the admonisher alone, on the saying that the greatest struggle is a word of justice before an unjust ruler. ¹¹ The Malikis hold it obligatory to admonish and warn the ruler of the consequences in this world and the next; Abu 'Umar says this is most binding on those who associate with him and can advise him, and Malik adds, when there is hope of being heard. A Hanbali report holds that leaving off the denunciation of an unjust ruler is better; Ahmad is reported to have said not to confront the ruler, for his sword is drawn; where denunciation is allowed it must be done gently, citing God's words to Moses and Aaron in sura Ta-Ha. ¹¹

Admonishing rebels: when the imam sends someone to explain the right course to rebels who refuse to return, the Malikis and Hanbalis hold it obligatory to admonish them and warn them of fighting, since the aim is to restrain them and not to kill them; if they return by words, that is better than fighting, and if not they are fought, on the verse of sura al-Hujurat. The Hanafis hold that the people of justice should call the rebels to justice, citing the report that 'Ali sent Ibn 'Abbas to the Haruriyya to argue with them; the Shafi'is recommend admonishing them with encouragement and warning. ¹²

Earning by admonition: it is not lawful for the admonisher to ask his audience for anything for himself in the session, since this is earning worldly gain by knowledge; the Hanafis and Hanbalis hold so. ¹²

Women attending admonition sessions: the Hanafis and Shafi'is dislike the attendance of young women for fear of temptation, and allow older women, citing the report of 'A'isha that the women of the Children of Israel were forbidden the mosque. ¹²