ma'ruf

{{Short description|Islamic concept}}

{{other uses|Maruf (disambiguation)}}

Ma'ruf ({{langx|ar|معروف}}) is an Islamic 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"{{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 }} and used 38 times in the Quran. The word is most often found in the Qur'anic exhortation: {{lang|ar|امر بالمعروف و نهى عن المنكر}} "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, "custom."{{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}}

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,https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/6896913.pdf" {{bare URL inline|date=February 2024}} singular (nukr). In today's religious expression, maʿrūf is sunnah (this concept was not different from custom in the beginning{{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}}{{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}}), 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;".{{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}}

Pre-modern Islamic literature describes pious Muslims (usually scholars) taking action to forbid wrong by destroying forbidden objects, particularly liquor 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, Saudi Arabia,[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna14738358 "Cats and dogs banned by Saudi religious police"], NBC News, 18 December 2006. Nigeria, Sudan, Malaysia, etc., at various times and with various levels of power.{{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}}