Islamic moral discipline makes penalties intrinsic to learning right action

Evidence

Penalties, whether emerging as incapacity from within the living body’s functions, or imposed as punishment on the body externally, are regarded as a necessary part of learning how to act appropriately. This formative process is set within the Islamic tradition of mutual discipline: al-amr bil-ma‘ru¯f wan-nahy ‘an al-munkar (literally, “the requiring of what is good and the rejection of what is reprehensible”). The individual’s acquisition of appropriate agency and its exercise are articulated by responsibility, a responsibility not merely of the agent but of the entire community of Muslims severally and collectively. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 443

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Islamic collective-discipline principle al-amr bil-ma’ruf wan-nahy ‘an al-munkar, ‘requiring good and rejecting the reprehensible.’