Sincerity and Enjoining Right and Forbidding Wrong: If we judge, in light of someone’s capacity, that they can go further in worship, how should we act so that they take a step forward without compromising the sincerity of the person who advises them?

Question

🌱☘️ Peace be upon you.

Respected teacher, in discussing sincerity and enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, we sometimes recognise that someone has the capacity to go further in worship. For example, we encourage them to pray the night prayers, or to do some other good deed. The person may then wonder whether the speaker makes this suggestion because they practise these things themselves. They may even react in ways that raise questions about the speaker’s sincerity: was the suggestion intended to show off, or simply to guide the other person?

Of course, the speaker knows their own intention and that the suggestion was made solely to guide the other person. Yet complications can still arise. In such situations, how should one act so that the person takes a step forward on this path, while the speaker’s sincerity remains untarnished?

🌸🌷بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم🌷🌸
#Answer
🌹Peace be upon you.

🔆🌷Purify and affirm your intention in carrying out the duty of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. Seek help from God Most High to fulfil this duty well, and preserve your honesty and sincerity through constant remembrance of God and by seeking help at the Divine Threshold.