Nawawī’s Arbaýīn

A Collection of Forty Traditions of the Prophet ﷺ

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Identifying Good And Bad Deeds - Hadith 27

عن النَّوَّاسِ بنِ سِمْعانَ رَضِي اللهُ عَنْهُ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قالَ: الْبِرُّ حُسْنُ الْخُلْقِ , وَالإِثْمُ مَا حَاكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ وَكَرِهْتَ أنْ يَطَّلِعَ عليْهِ النَّاسُ. رواه مسلم

وعن وابِصَةَ بنِ مَعْبَدٍ رَضِي اللهُ عَنْهُ قالَ: أتيتُ رسولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقالَ: جِئْتَ تَسْأَلُ عَنِ الْبِرِّ قُلْتُ: نَعَمْ . قالَ: اسْتَفْتِ قَلْبَكَ؛ الْبِرُّ مَا اطْمَأنَّتْ إِلَيْهِ النَّفْسُ وَاطْمَأنَّ إِلَيْهِ الْقَلْبُ، وَالإِثْمُ مَا حَاكَ فِي النَّفْسِ وَتَرَدَّدَ فِي الصَّدْرِ وَإِنْ أَفْتَاكَ النَّاسُ وَأَفْتَوْكَ. حَديثٌ حَسَنٌ رُوِّينَاهُ في مُسْنَدَيِ الإمامَيْنِ أحمدَ بنِ حَنْبَلٍ والدَّارِمِيِّ بإسنادٍ حَسَنٍ

Narrated by Nawwās ibn Simáān[1] radiyAllāhu Anhu that RasūlAllāh ﷺ said:

Piety is good character – and sin is that which gnaws at your soul and you dislike that people learn about it.

Reported by Şaĥīĥ Muslim. [2]

Narrated by Wābişah ibn Maábad radiyAllāhu Anhu that I went to RasūlAllāh ﷺ and he said:

You have come to ask [me] about goodness.

I replied: Yes.

He said:

Ask your own heart. Goodness is that which the soul is at peace with, and the heart is at rest with; sin is that which gnaws upon your soul and there are qualms in your heart – even if people keep telling you otherwise.[3]

This is a Ĥasan ĥadīth [i.e. a fair chain] and we report this from the Musnads of the two imāms, Imām Aĥmad ibn Ĥanbal and Imām Dārimī, with a fair chain. [4]

Notes:

[1] The name can be pronounced as Simáān or Samáān; both are correct. [Haytamī]. Ibn Athīr wrote only kasrah, which indicates that Simáān is common [Shabrākhītī].

[2] Muslim 2553.

[3] Aftāk al-nās: Even if scholars have issued a ruling. wa aftawk: this is mentioned to emphasise that even if many people concur with the fatwā or if they repeatedly tell you the same thing – the verb is mentioned second time for emphasis.

[4] Musnad Imām Aĥmad 17922; Musnad Dārimī 2529.

References:

1. Nawawī’s Arbaýīn, Collection of Forty Traditions of the Prophet ﷺ, Hadith 27

[ English Translation ]

Mawlana Abu Hasan Ridawi,

Ridawi Press.