The Preamble of the Declaration recalls in general terms the values and purposes which the Declaration is designed to secure and the methods through which they might be secured.
The preceding sections have drawn attention to some of these values as being part of those that Islam seeks to inculcate and establish. These and some others will be considered in somewhat greater detail with reference to the specific articles of the Declaration. So far as the Preamble is concerned it should be enough to point out that Islam lays the duty of constantly promulgating Islamic values upon every individual Muslim. The generic word for these values is ma‘roof, meaning that which is good, equitable, desirable. “You are the best people, for you have been raised for the good of mankind, you enjoin what is equitable [ma’roof ] and forbid evil and believe in Allah” (3:111). “Let there be among you a body of persons who should invite to goodness, and enjoin equity [ma’roof ] and forbid evil. It is they who shall prosper” (3:105).
It is characteristic of the Quran that it accords generous recognition to merit wherever it finds it. In the present context it refers to peoples who believe in other scriptures in these terms: “They are not all alike. Among the People of the Book there is a party who stand by their covenant, they recite the word of Allah in the hours of night and prostrate themselves before Him.
“They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and enjoin what is good [ma‘roof] and forbid evil, and hasten, vying with one another, towards the doing of good. These are among the righteous.
“Whatever they do, they shall not be denied its due reward. Allah well knows the God-fearing” (3:114-116).