Episode 2
Episode 2: Three Groups, and Those Who Forbade the Evil
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Facing that transgression, the townspeople split into groups. There were those who transgressed, those who forbade the evil, and a third group who did not join the transgression but questioned the point of advising a people already destined for destruction. Allah said, "And when a community among them said, โWhy do you advise a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?โ they [the advisors] said, โTo be absolved before your Lord, and so perhaps they may fear Himโ" (Qur'an 7:164). The answer of those who forbade the evil was truly noble: they advised not because they were sure the advice would be accepted, but to fulfil their duty before Allah and in hope that some might yet return to piety. When the warning was no longer heeded, Allah's decision came. Allah said, "So when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We saved those who had forbidden evil and seized those who wronged, with a wretched punishment, because they were defiantly disobeying" (Qur'an 7:165). Note carefully: those Allah explicitly names as saved are "those who had forbidden evil." Enjoining good and forbidding wrong (amr bi'l-ma'ruf, nahy 'an al-munkar) was the cause of their salvation. Reflection: forbidding wrong is both a duty and a shield of safety, even when it may not change others. Silence toward evil is not a safe neutrality; those saved are the ones who dared to forbid wrong in the right way. Source & Note: evidence from the Qur'an, 7:164-165. The three groups are understood from the verses (the transgressors, the forbidders, and those who said "why advise"); those Allah affirms as saved are the forbidders of wrong.
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Episode 3: 'Be Apes, Despised'