Michael Cook's classic study, Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought (Cambridge, 2001), reflected upon the Islamic injunction to forbid wrongdoing. This book is a short, accessible survey of the same material. Using Islamic history to illustrate his argument, Cook unravels the complexities of the subject by demonstrating how the past informs the present. At the book's core is an important message about the values of Islamic traditions and their relevance in the modern world.

Michael Cook is Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University. His publications include Early Muslim Dogma (1981), The Koran: A Very Short Introduction (2000) and Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought (2000).

1. Introduction; 2. The elements of the duty of forbidding wrong; 3. How is wrong to be forbidden; 4. When is one unable to forbid wrong; 5. What about privacy?; 6. The state as an agent of forbidding wrong; 7. The state as an agent of wrongdoing; 8. Is anyone against forbidding wrong?; 9. What was forbidding wrong like in practice?; 10. What has changed for the Sunnis in modern times?; 11. What has changed for the Imamis in modern times?; 12. Do non-Islamic cultures have similar values?; 13. Do we have similar values?