An Address on Exhorting Good & Stopping Evil
Yahya bin Ya‘mur relates that on one occasion, Hazrat Ali (ra) bin Abi Talib delivered an address. After offering praise and glorifying Allah the Almighty, he stated:
“O people, there were those who came before and were destroyed owing to their sins. Their pious people and their religious scholars would not warn them against committing sins. Subsequently, when they exceeded all bounds in their sins, they were seized by all kinds of punishment. Therefore, you ought to exhort others to do good and stop them from committing evil, lest you also face punishment like them. Remember, exhorting others to do good and stopping them from evil will neither diminish your livelihoods, nor bring you closer to death.”
(Ibn Kathir, Tafsir-ul-Quran Al-Azim, Vol. 3, p. 132 [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, 1998], p. 132)