Editing Ma'ruf

{{Short description|Islamic concept}}
{{other uses|Maruf (disambiguation)}}

'''Ma'ruf''' ({{langx|ar|معروف}}) is an [[Islam]]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"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reinhart |first1=A. Kevin |title=What We Know about Maʿrūf |journal=Journal of Islamic Ethics |date=July 2017 |volume=1 |issue=1–2 |pages=51–82 |doi=10.1163/24685542-12340004|doi-access=free }}</ref> and used 38 times in the Quran. The word is most often found in the [[Qur'an]]ic exhortation: {{lang|ar|امر بالمعروف و نهى عن المنكر}} "''Amr bil Ma'ruf wa Nahy an al Munkar''", often translated as "[[Enjoining good and forbidding wrong|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]], "custom."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hazratji |first1=Z |title=The Application of ʻUrf in Islamic Law with Regard to Hijāb |journal=Astrolabe: A CIS Student Research Journal |date=September 2020 |url=https://www.hbku.edu.qa/sites/default/files/theapplicationofurfinislamiclaw.pdf}}</ref>

Although most common translations of the phrase is "[[good]]", the words used by [[Islamic philosophy]] in determining [[good and evil]] 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,<ref>https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/6896913.pdf" {{bare URL inline|date=February 2024}}</ref> singular (''nukr''). In today's religious expression, maʿrūf is [[sunnah]] (this concept was not different from custom in the beginning<ref name="Juynboll">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Juynboll |first=G. H. A. |date=1997 |title=Sunna |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill |editor1-first=P. |editor1-last=Bearman |editor2-first=Th. |editor2-last=Bianquis |editor3-first=C. E. |editor3-last=Bosworth |editor4-first=E. |editor4-last=van Donzel |editor5-first=W. P. |editor5-last=Heinrichs |volume=9 |pages=878–879}}</ref><ref name="Hameed">{{cite web |last1=Hameed |first1=Shahul |title=Why Hadith is Important |url= http://www.onislam.net/english/shariah/hadith/hadith-studies/441273-prophet-hadith-sunnah-quran-importance-traditions.html |website=OnIslam.net |access-date=2 September 2015 |date=24 November 2014}}</ref>), munkar is meant as [[bid'a]]. (a related topic: [[Istihsan]])

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;".<ref name="Hans Wehr-607">{{cite book |last1=Wehr |first1=Hans |title=Searcheable PDF of the Hans Wehr Dictionary:. [A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic; Arabic-English |date=January 2016 |publisher=Librarie du Liban |page=607 |url=https://giftsofknowledge.net/2016/01/01/searcheable-pdf-of-the-hans-wehr-dictionary/ |access-date=3 March 2022}}</ref> 

Pre-modern Islamic literature describes pious Muslims (usually scholars) taking action to forbid wrong by destroying forbidden objects, particularly [[Khamr|liquor]] and [[Islamic music#Differences of opinion over prohibition|musical instruments]].<ref name=Cook-31>Cook, ''Forbidding Wrong'', p.31</ref> In the contemporary Muslim world, [[Islamic religious police|various state or parastatal bodies]] (often with phrases like the "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" in their titles) have appeared in [[Guidance Patrol|Iran]], [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|Saudi Arabia]],<ref name=nbc-cats>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna14738358 "Cats and dogs banned by Saudi religious police"], NBC News, 18 December 2006.</ref> [[Kano State Hisbah Corps|Nigeria]], [[Sudan]], [[Malaysia]], etc., at various times and with various levels of power.<ref name=EI3>{{Cite encyclopedia|first=Jörn|last=Thielmann|title=Ḥisba (modern times)|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|edition=3rd|editor1=Kate Fleet|editor2=Gudrun Krämer|editor3=Denis Matringe|editor4=John Nawas|editor5=Everett Rowson|publisher=Brill|year=2017|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_30485}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Maharoof]] (Sri Lankan surname)
*[[Enjoining good and forbidding wrong]]
*[[Hisbah]]
*[[Ijma]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Arabic words and phrases in Sharia]]
[[Category:Islamic terminology]]