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"And take that which the Messenger has brought you"
(the Holy
Quran)
Translation of Imam An-Nawawi's Book
Introduction
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Eternal Guardian of the heavens and the earths, Disposer of all created beings,
Despatcher of Messengers (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon them all)
who were sent to those they have been entrusted to guide and to reveal the
religious laws to, with positive signs and clear-cut proofs. I praise Him for
His favours and ask Him to increase His grace and generosity. I bear witness
that there is no god but Allah alone, He having no associate, the One, the
Subduer, the Generous, the Pardoner, and I bear witness that our master Muhammed
is His servant and His messenger, His dear one and His beloved, the best of
created beings, who was honoured with the precious Quran, the enduring miracle
through the passing of the years, and with the sunnahs that enlighten spiritual
guides; our master Muhammed, singled out for pithiness of speech and tolerance
in religion may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, upon the rest of
the prophets and messengers, and upon all their families and upon the rest of
godly persons.
To proceed: It has been transmitted to us on the
authority of Ali bin Abi Talib, Abdullah bin Masud, Muadh bin Jabal, Abu
Al-Darda, Ibn Omar, Ibn Abbas, Anas bin Malik, Abu Hurairah and Abu Saeed
Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with them all, through many chains of
authorities and in various versions, that the messenger of Allah said:
"Whosoever memorises and preserves for my people forty hadith relating to their
religion, Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Judgment in the company of
jurists and religious scholars ".
In another version it reads: "Allah will resurrect him as
a jurist and religious scholar ". In the version of Abu Al-Darda it reads: "On
the Day of Judgment I shall be an intercessor and a witness for him". In the
version of Ibn Masud it reads: "It will be said to him: Enter by whichever of
the doors of Paradise you wish ". In the version of Ibn Omar it reads: " He will
be written down in the company of the religious scholars and will be resurrected
in the company of the martyrs ". Scholars of hadith are agreed that it is a weak
hadith despite its many lines of transmission.
The religious scholars, may Allah be pleased with them,
have composed innumerable works in this field. The first one I knew of who did
so was Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak, followed by Ibn Aslam Al-Tusi, the godly
scholar, then Al-Hasan bin Sufiyan Al-Nasai, Abu Bakr Al-Ajurri, Abu-Bakr
Mubammad bin Ibrahim Al-Asfihani, Al-Daraqutni, Al-Hakim, Abu Nuaim, Abu Abd
Al-Rahman Al-Sulami, Abu Saeed Al-Malini, Abu Uthman Al-Saboni, Abdullah bin
Muhammed Al-Ansari, Abu Bakr Al-Baihaqi, and countless others, both ancient and
modern.
I have asked Allah Almightly for guidance in bringing
together forty hadith in emulation af those eminant religious leaders and
guardians of Islam. Religious scholars are agreed it is permissible to put into
practice a weak hadith if virtuous deeds are concerned; despite this, I do not
rely on this hadith but on his having said the [ following ] sound hadith:
"Let him who was a witness among you inform him who was absent", and on
his having said : "May Allah make radiant [the face of] someone who has heard
what I have said, has learnt it by heart and has transmitted it as he heard
it". Furthermore, there were some religious scholars who brought together
forty hadiths on the basic rules of religion, on subsidiary matters, or on
jihad, while others did so on asceticism, on rules of conduct or on sermons. All
these are godly aims-may Allah be pleased with those who pursued them. I,
however, considered it best to bring together forty hadith more important than
all of these, being forty hadith which would incolporate all of these, each
hadith being one of the great precepts of religion, described by religious
scholars as being "the axis of Islam " or "the half of Islam" or "the third of
it ", or the like, and to make it a rule that these forty hadith be [classified
as] sound and that the majority of them be in the sahihs of Al-Bukhari and
Muslim. I give them without the chains of authorities so as to make it easier to
memorise them and to make them of wider benefit if Allah Almighty wills, and I
append to them a section explaining abstruse expressions.(Note here) every
person wishing to attain the Hereafter should know these hadith because of the
important matters they contain and the directions they give in respect of all
forms of obedience, this being obvious to anyone who has reflected upon it. On
Allah do I rely and depend and to Him do I entrust myself; to Him be praise and
grace, and with Him is success and immunity [to errors].
On the authority of Omar bin Al-Khattab, who said : I heared the
messenger of Allah salla Allah u alihi wa sallam say :
"Actions
are but by intention and every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus
he whose migration was for Allah and His messenger, his migration was for Allah
and His messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or
to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he
migrated."
related by Bukhari and Muslim
One day while we were sitting with the messenger of Allah there appeared
before us a man whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was
exceedingly black; no signs of journeying were to be seen on him and none of us
knew him. He walked up and sat down by the prophet. Resting his knees against
his and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs, he said:"O Muhammed, tell
me about Islam". The messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is
no god but Allah and Muhammed is the messenger of Allah, to perform the prayers,
to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadhan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House
if you are able to do so." He said:"You have spoken rightly", and we were amazed
at him asking him and saying that he had spoken rightly. He said: "Then tell me
about eman."He said:"It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books,
His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the
good and the evil thereof." He said:"You have spoken rightly". He said: " Then
tell me about ehsan." He said: "It is to worship Allah as though you are
seeing Him, and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you". He said: "Then
tell me about the Hour". He said: "The one questioned about it knows no better
than the questioner." He said: "Then tell me about its signs." He said: "That
the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and that you will see the
barefooted, naked, destitute herdsman competing in constructing lofty
buildings." Then he took himself off and I stayed for a time. Then he said: "O
Omar, do you know who the questioner was?" I said: "Allah and His messenger know
best". He said: "He was Jebreel (Gabriel), who came to you to teach you your
religion." "Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you
doubt." "Counsel me". He said : " Do not become angry". The man repeated [his
request] several times, and he said: "Do not become angry ". "Young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice] : Be mindful of Allah,
and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front
of you. If you ask, ask of Allah; if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know
that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it
would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you,
and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would harm you
only with something Allah had already prescribed for you. The pens have been
lifted and the pages have dried." "O My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it
forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another.
O My servants, all of you are astray except for those I have guided, so seek
guidance of Me and I shall guide you. O My servants, all of you are hungry
except for those I have fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you. O My
servants, all of you are naked except for those I have clothed, so seek clothing
of Me and I shall clothe you. O My servants, you sin by night and by day, and I
forgive all sins, so seek forgiveness of Me and I shall forgive you.
O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and you will
not attain benefiting Me so as to benefit Me. O my servants, were the first of
you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to become as pious
as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My
kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you,
the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of
any one man of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My
servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the
jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give
everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more than a
needle decreases the sea if put into it.
O My servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then
recompense you for, so let him who finds good praise Allah, and let him who
finds other than that blame no one but himself."
related by Muslim. "Who forsake their beds to cry unto their Lord in fear and hope, and
spend of that We have bestowed on them. No soul knoweth what is kept hid for
them of joy, as a reward for what they used to do". (quran, verse)
Then he said: " Shall I not tell you of the peak of the matter, its pillar,
and its topmost part?" I said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He said: "The peak
of the matter is Islam; the pillar is prayer; and its topmost part is jihad."
Then he said: "Shall I not tell you of the controling of all that ?" I
said:"Yes, O Messenger of Allah", and he took hold of his tongue and said:
"Restrain this." I said: "O Prophet of Allah, will what we say be held against
us ?" He said: "May your mother be bereaved of you, Muadh ! Is there anything
that topples people on their faces - or he said on their noses into Hell-fire
other than the jests of their tongues ?"
Also on the
authority of Omar, who said :
narrated by Muslim
On the authority of
Ibn Omar, the son of Omar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with both, who
said : I heared the messenger of Allah say :
"Islam has been built on
five [pillars]: testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammed is
the messenger of Allah, performing the prayers, paying the zakat, making the
pilgrimage to the House, and fasting in Ramadan."
related by Bukhari and
Muslim
On the authority of
Abdullah bin Masud, who said : the messenger of Allah, and he is the truthful,
the believed narrated to us :
"Verily the creation of each one of you is
brought together in his mother's belly for forty days in the form of seed, then
he is a clot of blood for a like period, then a morsel of flesh for a like
period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the breath of life into
him and who is commanded about four matters: to write down his means of
livelihood, his life span, his actions, and whether happy or unhappy. By Allah,
other than Whom there is no god, verily one of you behaves like the people of
Paradise until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which
has been written over takes him and so he behaves like the people of Hell-fire
and thus he enters it; and one of you behaves like the people of Hell-fire until
there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written
over takes him and so he behaves like the people of Paradise and thus he enters
it."
related by Bukhari and Muslim
On the authority of
Aishah, who said : The messenger of Allah said:
"He who innovates
something in this matter of ours that is not of it will have it
rejected."
narrated by Bukhari and Muslim
And in one version by
Muslim it reads :
"He who does an act which our matter is not [in
agreement] with will have it rejected."
On the authority of
Al-Numan bin Basheer, who said : I heared the messenger of Allah say
:
"That which is lawful is plain and that which is unlawful is plain and
between the two of them are doubtful matters about which not many people know.
Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and
his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters falls into that which is
unlawful, like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing
therein. Truly every king has a sanctuary, and truly Allah's sanctuary is His
prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be
whole, all the body is whole and which, if it be diseased, all of it is
diseased. Truly it is the heart."
narrated by Bukhari and
Muslim
On the authority of
Tamim Al-Dari that the prophet said:
"Religion is sincerity". We said:
"To whom?" He said: "To Allah and His Book, and His messenger, and to the
leaders of the Muslims and their common folk".
narrated by
Muslim
Abdullah bin Omar
narrated that the messenger of Allah said:
"I have been ordered to fight
against people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that
Muhammed is the messenger of Allah and until they perform the prayers and pay
the zakat, and if they do so they will have gained protection from me for their
lives and property, unless [they do acts that are punishable] in accordance with
Islam, and their reckoning will be with Allah the Almighty."
related by
Bukhari and Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah, who said : I heared the messenger of Allah say :
"What I
have forbidden to you, avoid; what I have ordered you [to do], do as much of it
as you can. It was only their excessive questioning and their disagreeing with
their prophets that destroyed those who were before you."
related bu
Bukhari and Muslim
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah, who said : the messenger of Allah said :
"Allah the
Almighty is good and accepts only that which is good. Allah has commanded the
faithful to do that which he commanded the messengers, and the Almighty has
said: "O ye messengers ! Eat of the good things and do right". And Allah the
Almighty has said : "O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith We have
provided you"
Then he mentioned [the case of] a man who, having journeyed
far, is dishevelled and dusty and who spreads out his hands to the sky [saying]
: "O Lord! O Lord!" - while his food is unlawful, his drink unlawful, his
clothing unlawful, and he is nourished unlawfully, so how can he be answered
!"
related by Muslim
On the authority of
Al-Hasan bin Ali, the grandson of the messenger of Allah, who said : I memorized
from the messenger of Allah his saying :
narrated by Termithi and Nasaee, and Tirmithi said it is true and
fine hadith.
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah, who said : The messenger of Allah said :
"Part of someone's
being a good Muslim is his leaving alone that which does not concern
him."
fine hadith narrated by Termithi and others
On the authority of
Anas bin Malik, the servant of the messenger of Allah, that the prophet said
:
"None of you [truely] believes until he wishes for his brother what he
wishes for himself."
related by Bukhari and Muslim
Abdullah bin Masud
narrated that the messenger of Allah said :
"The blood of a Muslim may
not be legally spilt other than in one of three [instances] : the married person
who commits adultery; a life for a life; and one who forsakes his religion and
abandons the community."
it was related by Bukhari and Muslim
Abu Hurairah
narrated that the messenger of Allah said :
"Let him who believes in
Allah and the Last Day either speak good or keep silent, and let him who
believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous to his neighbour, and let him who
believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous to his guest."
related by
Bukhari and Muslim
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah, who said : a man said to the prophet :
narrated by
Bukhari
Abu Yaala Shaddad
bin Aws said that the messenger of Allah said :
"Verily Allah has
prescribed proficiency in all things. Thus, if you kill, kill well; and if you
slaughter, slaughter well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him
spare suffering to the animal he slaughters."
related by
Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Dhar Jundub bin Junadah, and Muadh bin Jabal that the messenger of Allah
said :
"Fear Allah wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good
one and it will wipe it out, and behave well towards people."
Tirmithi
narrated the hadith and said it was fine, and in another version, said ture and
fine
On the authority of
Abdullah bin Abbas, who said : One day I was behind the prophet and he said to
me:
narrated by Termithi, who said it is
true and fine hadith
In a version other than that of Tirmithi it
reads:
"..Be mindful of Allah, you will find Him before you. Get to know
Allah in prosperity and He will know you in adversity. Know that what has passed
you by was not going to befall you; and that what has befallen you was not going
to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with
affliction, and ease with hardship."
Uqbah bin Amre
Al-Ansari narrated that the messenger of Allah said :
"Among the words
people obtained from the First Prophecy are : If you feel no shame, then do as
you wish."
It was related by Bukhari.
On authority of
Sufian bin Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him said:
I said: "O
Messenger of Allah, tell me something about Islam which I can ask of no one but
you". He said:" Say:'I believe in Allah', and thereafter be
upright."
related by Muslim.
Jaber bin Abdullah
Al-Ansari narrated that :
A man asked the messenger of Allah :
"Do you
think that if I perform the obligatory prayers, fast in Ramadan, treat as lawful
that which is lawful and treat as forbidden that which is forbidden, and do
nothing further, I shall enter Paradise ?"
He said: "Yes."
related by
Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Malik Al-Harith bin Asim Al-Ashari said that the messenger of Allah
said:
"Purity is half of faith. alhamdu-lillah [Praise be to
Allah] fills the scales, and subhana-Allah [How far is Allah from every
imperfection] and alhamdu-lillah [Praise be to Allah] fill that which is
between heaven and earth. Prayer is light; charity is a proof; patience is
illumination; and the Quran is an argument for or against you. Everyone starts
his day and is a vendor of his soul, either freeing it or bringing about its
ruin."
related by Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Dharr Al-Ghafari, of the prophet is that among the sayings he relates from
his Lord is that He said:
On the authority of
Abu Dharr :
Some of the companions of the messenger of Allah said :" O
Messenger of Allah, the affluent have made of with the rewards, they pray as we
pray they fast as we fast, and they give away in charity the superfluity of
their wealth." He said:" Has not Allah made things for you to give away in
charity ? every tasbihah is a charity, every takbirah is a charity, every
tahmidah is a charity, and every tahlilah is a charity, to enjoin a good action
is a charity, to forbid an evil action is a charity, and in the sexual act of
each of you there is a charity." They said: "O Messenger of Allah, when one of
us fulfils his sexual desire will he have some reward for that?" He said: "Do
you not think that were he to act upon it unlawfully he would be sinning ?
Likewise, if he has acted upon it lawfully he will have a
reward."
related by Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah, who said: The messenger of Allah said :
"Each person's
every joint must perform a charity every day the sun comes up : to act justly
between two people is a charity; to help a man with his mount, lifting him onto
it or hoistingd up his belongings onto it is a charity: a good word is a
charity, every step you take to prayers is a charity and removing a harmful
thing from the road is a charity."
related by Bukhari and
Muslim.
On the authority of
Al-Nawwas bin Samaan, that the prophet said:
"Righteousness is good
morality, and wrongdoing is that which wavers in your soul and which you dislike
people finding out about."
related by Muslim.
And on the
authority of Wabisa bin Mabad, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
I
came to the messenger of Allah and he said: "You have come to ask about
righteousness ?" . I said:" Yes." He said: "Consult your heart. Righteousness is
that about which the soul feels tranquil and the heart feels tranquil, and
wrongdoing is that which wavers in the soul and moves to and from in the breast
even though people again and again have given you their legal opinion [in its
favor]."
a good hadith transmetted from the Musnads of the two Imams,
Ahmed bin Hanbal and Al-Darimi, with a good chain of authorities.
On the authority of
Abu Najih Al-Erbadh bin Sariah, who said :
The messenger of Allah gave us
a sermon by which our hearts were filled with fear and tears came to our eyes.
We said: "O Messenger of Allah, it is as though this is a farewell sermon, so
councel us." He said: "I councel you to fear Allah and to give absolute
obedience even if a slave becomes your leader. Verily he among you who lives
[long] will see great controversy, so you must keep to my sunnah and to the
sunnah of the rightly-guided Khalifahs - cling to them stubbornly. Beware of
newly invented matters, for every invented matter is an innovation and every
innovation is a going astray, and every going astray is in
Hell-fire."
related by Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmithi, who said that it was a
fine and true Hadith.
On the authority of
Muadh bin Jabal, who said:
I said: "O Messenger of Allah, tell me of an
act which will take me into Paradise and will keep me away from Hell fire." He
said: "You have asked me about a major matter, yet it is easy for him for whom
Allah Almighty makes it easy. You should worship Allah, associating nothing with
Him, you should perform the prayers, you should pay the zakat, you should fast
in Ramadan, and you should make the pilgrimage to the House." Then he said:"
Shall I not show you the gates of goodness ? Fasting [which] is a shield,
charity [which] extigueshes sin as water extebgueshes fire; and the praying of a
man in the deapth of night." Then he recited :
related by Al-Tirmithi, who said
it was a fine and true hadlth.
On the authority of
Jurthum bin Nashir that the messenger of Allah said :
"Allah the Almighty
has laid down religious duties, so do not neglict them. He has set boundaries,
so do not over step them. He has prohibited some things, so do not violate them;
about some things He was silent-out of compassion for you, not forgetfulness, so
seek not after them."
a fine hadith related by Al-Daraqutni and
others.
On the authority of
Sahl bin Saad Al-Saedi, who said :
A man came to the prophet and said: "O
Messenger of Allah, direct me to an act which, if I do it, [will cause] Allah to
love me and people to love me." He said: "Renounce the world and Allah will love
you, and renounce what people possess and people will love you."
a fine
Hadith related by Ibn Majah and others with good chains of
authorities.
On the authority of
Saad bin Malik Al-Khudari, that the messenger of Allah said :
"There
should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm."
a fine hadith related
by Ibn Majah, Al-Daraqutni and others
On the authority of
Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said:
"Were people to be given in
accordance with their claim, men would claim the fortunes and lives of [other]
people, but the onus of proof is on the claimant, and the taking of an oath is
incumbent upon him who denies."
a fine hadith related by Al-Baihaqi and
others
On the authority of
Abu Saeed Al-Khurdari, who said: I heard the messenger of Allah
say:
"Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his
hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not
able to do so, then with his heart; and that is the weakest of
faith."
related by Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah, who said : the messenger of Allah said :
"Do not envy one
another; do not inflate prices one to another; do not hate one another; do not
turn away from one another; and do not undercut one another, but be you, O
servants of Allah, brothers. A muslim is the brother of a muslim: he neither
oppresses him nor does he fail him, he neither lies to him nor does he hold him
in contempt. Piety is right here-and he pointed to his breast three times. It is
evil enough for a man to hold his brother muslim in contempt. The whole of a
muslim for another muslim is inviolable: his blood, his property, and his
honor."
related by Muslim.
On the authority of
Abu Hurairah that the Prophet said:
"Whosoever removes a worldly grief
from a believer, Allah will remove from him one of the griefs of the Day of
Judgment. Whosoever alleviates [the lot of] a needy person, Allah will alleviate
[his lot] in this world and the next. Whosoever shields a Muslim, Allah will
shield him in this world and the next. Allah will aid a servant [of His] so long
as the servant aids his brother. Whosoever follows a path to seek knowledge
therein, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather
together in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying
it among themselves, without tranquility descending upon them, mercy enveloping
them, the angels surrounding them, and Allah making mention of them amongst
those who are with Him. Whosoever is slowed down by his actions will not be
hastened forward by his lineage."
related by Muslim in these
words.
On the authority of
Ibn Abbas that the messenger of Allah, among the sayings he relates from his
Lord is :
"Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones." Then
he explained it [by saying that] :" He who has intended a good deed and has not
done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has
intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good
deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad
deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed,
but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad
deed."
related