Ma'ruf () is an

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic term. "The term that best helps us to understand the nature of Qurʾān ethical prescriptions is maʿrūf, a word that appears repeatedly (in slightly varying forms) in the Qurʾān" and used 38 times in the Quran. The word is most often found in the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

ic exhortation: "''Amr bil Ma'ruf wa Nahy an al Munkar''", often translated as " Enjoin the good and forbid the wrong". Maʿrūf and munkar are widely discussed because of the duties the Quran imposes on believers through these concepts. Maʿrūf is seen as a key word in moral understanding of the Quran, and traditional commentators oppose the association of maʿrūf with its cognate

urf () is an Arabic Islamic term referring to the custom, or 'knowledge', of a given society. To be recognized in an Islamic society, must be compatible with Sharia.H. Patrick Glenn, ''Legal Traditions of the World''. Oxford University Press, 200 ...

, "custom." Although most common translations of the phrase is "

good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...

", the words used by

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and p ...

in determining

good and evil In philosophy, religion, and psychology, "good and evil" is a common dichotomy. In religions with Manichaeism, Manichaean and Abrahamic influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic cosmology, dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which ...

discourses are ''ḥusn'' and ''qubh''. In its most common usage, maʿrūf is "in accordance with the custom", while munkar, which has no place in the custom, as its opposite, singular (''nukr''). In today's religious expression, maʿrūf is

sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

(this concept was not different from custom in the beginning), munkar is meant as bid'a. (a related topic:

Istihsan ' (Arabic: ) is an Arabic term for juristic discretion. In its literal sense it means "to consider something good". Muslim scholars may use it to express their preference for particular judgements in Islamic law over other possibilities. It is o ...

) However, today, according to the meanings attributed to the term with meaning expansions that are not based on etymological connection, the word can be used as "well-known, universally accepted, ... that which is good, beneficial ...; fairness, equity, equitableness;". Pre-modern Islamic literature describes pious Muslims (usually scholars) taking action to forbid wrong by destroying forbidden objects, particularly

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

and musical instruments.Cook, ''Forbidding Wrong'', p.31 In the contemporary Muslim world, various state or parastatal bodies (often with phrases like the "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" in their titles) have appeared in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

,"Cats and dogs banned by Saudi religious police"
NBC News, 18 December 2006.

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, etc., at various times and with various levels of power.

References

{{reflist Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Islamic terminology

See also

References