Forbid Evil Even If You Do It Yourself

If I warn others against a sin, while I myself commit that particular sin – am I a hypocrite (منافق)?

No …

This is a mind-trick the devil plays on people to silence them.

All humans are sinners, but we still have to keep encouraging good and discouraging evil. If ‘commanding good’ and ‘forbidding evil’ was only to be done by the sinless, then nobody would have forbidden evil and commanded good, after the Prophets!

1- Abu Darda said:
إِنِّيْ لَآمُرُكُمْ بِالْأَمْرِ وَمَا أَفْعَلُهُ، وَلَكِنْ لَعَلَّ اللهَ يَأْجُرُنِيْ فِيْهِ
“It may be that I tell you to do something that I do not do myself, hoping that God will still reward me [for at least inviting others to it].”
[“Siyar A’lam al-Nubala”, 2/345].

2- Hassan al-Basri is quoted by Ibn Hazm:
وقد صحّ عن الحسن أنه سمع إنسانًا يقول: لا يجب أن ينهى عن الشر إلا من لا يفعله. قال الحسن: ود إبليس لو ظفر منا بهذه حتى لا ينهى أحد عن منكر ولا يأمر بمعروف.
Hassan Al-Basri heard a man say: “It is not befitting to warn against an evil except by the person who does not commit that evil.”
Hassan al-Basri said to him: “The devil would love to get victorious over us with type of attitude, because then nobody will be left to forbid the evil and nobody will be left to command the good.”
[“Al-Akhlaq wa Al-Siyar”, 99-100].

3- Imam al-Qurtubi al-Maliki says:
وقال حذاق أهل العلم: وليس من شرط الناهي أن يكون سليما عن معصية بل ينهى العصاة بعضهم بعضا.
“The intelligent people of knowledge said: It is not a requirement for the one who discourages sin to be free from sin, but sinners can continue forbidding each other from sins.”
[“Jami li Ahkam al-Qur’an”, 6/253].

4- Ibn Al-Jawzi Hanbali said:
وقد يلبس إبليس على الواعظ المحقق فيقول له مثلك لا يعظ وإنما يعظ متيقظ فيحمله على السكوت والانقطاع وذلك من دسائس إبليس لأنه يمنع فعل الخير ويقول إنك تلتذ بما تورده وتجد بذلك سد باب الخير وعن ثابت قال كان الحسن في مجلس فقيل للعلاء تكلم فقال أو هناك أنا ثم ذكر الكلام ومؤنته وتبعته قال ثابت فأعجبني قال ثم تكلم الحسن واننا هناك يود الشيطان أنكم أخذتموها عنه فلم يأمر أحدا بخبر ولم ينهه عن شر
“The devil may deceive a good preacher to make him feel that he is not worthy of preaching, causing him to stop preaching. This discontinues the good that this man was doing.”
[‘Tilbis Iblis’, 1/153].

5- Ibn Kathir says:
‎وَذَهَبَ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى أَنَّ مُرْتَكِبَ الْمَعَاصِي لَا يَنْهَى غَيْرَهُ عَنْهَا ، وَهَذَا ضَعِيفٌ ، وَأَضْعَفُ مِنْهُ تَمَسُّكُهُمْ بِهَذِهِ الْآيَةِ ؛ فَإِنَّهُ لَا حُجَّةَ لَهُمْ فِيهَا .
‎وَالصَّحِيحُ أَنَّ الْعَالِمَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَفْعَلْهُ ، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَإِنِ ارْتَكَبَهُ
“Some scholars were of the view that the one who commits sins should not tell others not to do them, but this view is da‘eef (WEAK),
and even weaker than that is their quoting this verse, because there is no proof for their view in it.
The correct view is that the one who has knowledge should enjoin what is right, even if he does not do it himself, and he should forbid what is wrong, even if he does it himself.”
[“Tafsir Ibn Kathir”, 1/248].

6- An-Nawawi said:
قَالَ الْعُلَمَاءُ : وَلَا يُشْتَرَطُ فِي الْآمِرِ وَالنَّاهِي أَنْ يَكُونَ كَامِلَ الْحَالِ ، مُمْتَثِلًا مَا يَأْمُرُ بِهِ ، مُجْتَنِبًا مَا يَنْهَى عَنْهُ ، بَلْ عَلَيْهِ الْأَمْرُ وَإِنْ كَانَ مُخِلًّا بِمَا يَأْمُرُ بِهِ ، وَالنَّهْيُ وَإِنْ كَانَ مُتَلَبِّسًا بِمَا يَنْهَى عَنْهُ .
فَإِنَّهُ يَجِبُ عَلَيْهِ شَيْئَانِ : أَنْ يَأْمُرَ نَفْسَهُ وَيَنْهَاهَا ، وَيَأْمُرَ غَيْرَهُ وَيَنْهَاهُ ، فَإِذَا أَخَلَّ بِأَحَدِهِمَا ، كَيْفَ يُبَاحُ لَهُ الْإِخْلَالُ بِالْآخَرِ؟!
“The scholars said: With regard to enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, it is not stipulated that one must be perfect, complying fully with what he enjoins and avoiding fully what he forbids; rather he must enjoin what is right, even if he is falling short in what he enjoins, and he must forbid what is wrong, even if he does some of that which he forbids.
So two things are required of him: to enjoin himself to do what is right and to forbid himself to do what is wrong, and to enjoin others to do what is right and forbid them to do what is wrong. If he falls short in one of them, how can it be permissible for him to fall short in the other?!”
[“Sharh Sahih Muslim”, 2/23].

7- Ibn Hajar said:
وَأَمَّا مَنْ قَالَ لَا يَأْمُرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ إِلَّا مَنْ لَيْسَتْ فِيهِ وَصْمَةٌ ، فَإِنْ أَرَادَ أَنَّهُ الْأَوْلَى فَجَيِّدٌ ، وَإلَّا فَيَسْتَلْزِمُ سَدَّ بَابِ الْأَمْرِ إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ هُنَاكَ غَيْرُهُ
“With regard to the one who says that no one should enjoin what is right except one who is free of all faults, if he means that this is what is preferable, all well and good, otherwise it implies closing the door to enjoining what is good, if there is no one else who can meet that condition.
[“Fath al-Baari”, 13/53].

8- Abdul-Rahman Sa’di says in his Tafsir (1/51):
وليس في الآية أن الإنسان إذا لم يقم بما أمر به أنه يترك الأمر بالمعروف، والنهي عن المنكر، لأنها دلت على التوبيخ بالنسبة إلى الواجبين،
وإلا فمن المعلوم أن على الإنسان واجبين: أمر غيره ونهيه، وأمر نفسه ونهيها، فترك أحدهما، لا يكون رخصة في ترك الآخر، فإن الكمال أن يقوم الإنسان بالواجبين
“It is well known that two things are required from a person:
1- Command & Forbid others
2- Command & Forbid himself
If a person lacks in one of them, it is no reason to drop the other obligation also with it!
The ideal scenario is is that a person combines these two.”

9- Al-Qadhy Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi al-Maliki said:
وَلَيْسَ مِنْ شَرْطِهِ أَنْ يَكُونَ عَدْلًا عِنْدَ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ ، وَقَالَتْ الْمُبْتَدِعَةُ : لَا يُغَيِّرُ الْمُنْكَرَ إلَّا عَدْلٌ .
وَهَذَا سَاقِطٌ ؛ فَإِنَّ الْعَدَالَةَ مَحْصُورَةٌ فِي قَلِيلٍ مِنْ الْخَلْقِ ، وَالنَّهْيُ عَنْ الْمُنْكَرِ عَامٌّ فِي جَمِيعِ النَّاسِ
“It is not stipulated that he should be of exemplary conduct according to Ahl as-Sunnah, but the innovators said that no one can change wrong actions except one who is of exemplary conduct. This is wrong, because truly exemplary conduct is limited to very few people, but forbidding what is wrong is something that is required of all people.”
[“Ahkaam al-Qur’an”, 1/349].

10-Imam al-Safarini Hanbali said:
وَقَدْ قِيلَ:
إذَا لَمْ يَعِظْ النَّاسَ مَنْ هُوَ مُذْنِبٌ *** فَمَنْ يَعِظُ الْعَاصِينَ بَعْدَ مُحَمَّدٍ
وَقِيلَ لِلْحَسَنِ الْبَصْرِيِّ: إنَّ فُلَانًا لَا يَعِظُ وَيَقُولُ : أَخَافُ أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَا أَفْعَلُ.
فَقَالَ الْحَسَنُ: وَأَيُّنَا يَفْعَلُ مَا يَقُولُ؟ وَدَّ الشَّيْطَانُ أَنَّهُ قَدْ ظَفِرَ بِهَذَا فَلَمْ يَأْمُرْ أَحَدٌ بِمَعْرُوفٍ وَلَمْ يَنْهَ عَنْ مُنْكَرٍ.
وَالْحَاصِلُ : أَنَّهُ يَجِبُ عَلَى كُلِّ مُؤْمِنٍ مَعَ الشُّرُوطِ الْمُتَقَدِّمَةِ الْأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيُ عَنْ الْمُنْكَرِ وَلَوْ فَاسِقًا
“It was said: If no one who is a sinner were to admonish the people, then who would admonish the sinners after Muhammad?
It was said to al-Hasan al-Basri: So and so does not admonish the people and he says: I am afraid to say what I do not do. Al-Hasan said: Which of us does what he says? That is what the Shaytaan wants people to think, then no one would enjoin anything that is right or forbid anything that is wrong.
To sum up: every believer, in line with the conditions outlined above, is required to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, even if he is an evildoer.”
[“Ghidha’ al-Albaab fi Sharh Manzoomat al-Adaab”, 1/215].