Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 12 of Nawawi
Hadith number 12 of the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi, in faithful English translation.
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Updated on 07 October 2026 at 4:51 AM
📖 24 min readThis hadith belongs to the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), the most studied hadith compilation in the world: foundations of faith, worship and character, all authentic narrations.
and Ibrahïm ibn Sa'd, except that he says, "It is part of the beautiful religion of a man that he leave what does not concern him." And among those who say it is not authentic, save in mursal form from 'Ali ibn Houssayn: Imam Ahmad, Yahya ibn Ma'in, al-Boukhari and ad-Daraqoutni. The weak ones mixed his chain upon az-Zouhri with a coarse mixing; and the correct is the mursal. And 'Abd Allah ibn 'Omar al-'Amri reports it from az-Zouhri, from 'Ali ibn Houssayn, from his father, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), connecting it thus and raising it to Houssayn ibn 'Ali. And Imam Ahmad reports it in his Mousnad by this channel; and al-'Amri is not a hafiz. And he reports it also by another channel, from al-Houssayn, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Al-Boukhari graded it weak in his history by this channel too, and said: it is not authentic, save in mursal form from 'Ali ibn Houssayn; and it is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by other channels, all weak.
This hadith is a great root of the roots of good conduct. Imam Abu 'Amr ibn as-Salah reports from Abu Mouhammad ibn Abi Zayd, imam of the Malikites of his time, that he said, "It is the sum of the good conducts, and its essence derives from four hadiths: the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), 'Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or keep silent'; his words, 'It is part of the beautiful religion of a man that he leave what does not concern him'; his words to the one he counselled briefly, 'do not become angry'; and his words, 'the believer loves for his brother what he loves for himself.'"
The meaning of this hadith: he whose religion is beautiful leaves what does not concern him, of words and deeds, and confines himself to what concerns him, of words and deeds. And the meaning of "what concerns him" is that his attention attaches to it, and that it be of his aim and his seeking. Attention is the intensity of interest in a thing: one says "he attached himself to it" when he took interest in it and sought it. And it is not meant that he leave what he attaches no attention nor will to according to passion and the pursuit of the soul, but according to the Law and Islam.
That is why he makes it part of the beautiful religion: when the religion of a man is beautiful, he leaves what does not concern him in Islam, of words and deeds; for Islam requires the performance of the obligations, as preceded in the commentary of the hadith of Jibril, upon him peace; and complete and praised Islam includes the leaving of the prohibitions, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "The Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe." Down to the ambiguous things, the disapproved deeds, and the superfluous of the lawful
When Islam is beautiful, it requires the leaving of everything that does not concern the Muslim, of the prohibitions, the ambiguous things, the disapproved deeds and the superfluous of the lawful things he has no need of: for none of that concerns the Muslim when his Islam is complete and he reaches the rank of excellence, which is to worship Allah the Most High as though he saw Him; if he sees Him not, Allah sees him.
Whoever worships Allah recalling His nearness and contemplating Him with his heart, or recalling that Allah is near to him and sees him, has beautified his religion; he must then leave everything that does not concern him in Islam and attend to what concerns him: for from these two stations arise modesty before Allah and the leaving of everything one is modest about, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recommended to a man to have modesty before Allah as he would have before a righteous man of his kin who never leaves him. And in the Mousnad and at-Tirmidhi, from Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, in raised form: "Modesty before Allah the Most High: guarding the head and what it contains, guarding the belly and what it contains, and remembering death and decomposition; and whoever desires the Hereafter leaves the adornment of the low world: whoever does that has shown modesty before Allah as it should be."
Some used to say, "Have modesty before Allah to the measure of His nearness to you, and fear Allah to the measure of His power over you." And certain knowers of Allah used to say, "When you speak, remember that Allah hears you; when you keep silent, remember that He watches you." The allusion to this meaning has come in the great Quran in several places, as His words:
"We created man, and We know what his soul whispers to him: We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. When the two receivers receive, seated at the right and at the left: not a word he utters but that with him is an observer ready."
Qaf, 16-18
and His words:
"Whatever your state, and whatever part of the Quran you recite, and whatever deed you do, We are witnesses over you when you engage in it: nothing escapes your Lord, not even the weight of an ant, on earth nor in heaven, nor smaller nor greater, but that it is in a book explicit."
Younous, 61
And the Most High says:
"Do they think that We hear not their secrets and their private counsels? Yes indeed: Our messengers, beside them, write."
Az-Zoukhrouf, 80
Beauties of Islam: little speech in what does not concern one
What is most intended by leaving what does not concern one is guarding the tongue from vain speech, as the first verses indicate, in sourate Qaf. And in the Mousnad, from the hadith of al-Houssayn, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "It is part of the beautiful religion of a man that he speak little of what does not concern him." And al-Khara'iti reports from the hadith of Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him: a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! I am obeyed among my people: what shall I command them? He said to him, "Command them to spread the salam, and to speak little, save of what concerns them."
In the Sahih of Ibn Hibban, from Abu Dhar, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): it was in the pages of Ibrahim, upon him peace and salvation: "The man of sense, so long as his reason governs him, must have hours: an hour in which he converses with his Lord, an hour in which he judges his own soul, an hour in which he contemplates the creation of Allah the Most High, and an hour in which he allows himself his need of food and drink. And the man of sense must busy himself only for three things: provisioning for the Hereafter, sustaining his life, or a pleasure free of prohibition. And the man of sense must be clear-sighted over his time, attentive to his situation, guardian of his tongue; and whoever counts his speech among his deeds speaks little, save of what concerns him." And 'Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Whoever counts his speech among his deeds speaks little, save of what concerns him." And it is as he said: many people do not count their speech among their deeds: they venture into it without guarding against it.
That was hidden from Mou'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, to the point that he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): are we punished for what we say? He said, "May your mother lose you, O Mou'adh! What topples the people upon their faces into the Fire, but the harvests of their tongues?"
Allah denied good to most of what people talk of among themselves, and said:
"There is no good in much of their secret counsels, save the one who commands an alms, a good deed, or reconciliation between the people."
An-Nisa, 114
And at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report from the hadith of 'Oumm Houmayba, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "Every word of the son of Adam is against him, save commanding the good, forbidding the blameworthy, and the remembrance of Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic." And people were astonished at this hadith with Soufyan ath-Thawri; Soufyan said, "Why do you wonder? Has not Allah the Most High said: there is no good in much of their secret counsels, save the one who commands an alms, a good deed, or reconciliation between the people? Has not the Most High said:
"The day the spirit and the angels stand in ranks: they speak not, save the one whom the All-Merciful permits, and who speaks the truth."
An-Naba, 38
Effects of speech in what does not concern one: not entering Paradise
At-Tirmidhi reports from the hadith of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him: a man of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) died; a man said: give the good tidings of Paradise! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Know you not that perhaps he spoke of what did not concern him, or was miserly of what enriched him not?" And the meaning of this hadith is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by multiple channels; in some, he was killed a martyr.
And the little regard for whoever speaks of what does not concern him
Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi reports in his collection from the hadith of Chihab ibn Malik, who was part of the delegation to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when a woman said to him: O Messenger of Allah! Do you not greet us? He said, "You are of the kind of women who speak much, refuse the gift that enriches them not, and question what does not concern them."
Al-'Aqili reports from the hadith of Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him, in raised form: "The most laden with sins among the people is the most talkative about what does not concern him."
'Amr ibn Qays al-Moula'i said: a man passed before Louqman, and the people were at his house; he said to him: are you not the servant of the family of so and so? He said: yes. He said: the one who shepherded at the foot of such and such mountain? He said: yes. He said: what brought you to what I see? He said, "Truthfulness of speech, and long silence upon what does not concern me."
And Wahb ibn Mouannabih said, "There were among the sons of Israel two men whose worship reached that they walked upon the water; while they walked upon the sea, they saw a man walking upon the air. They said to him: O servant of Allah! By what have you attained this rank? He said: by few things of the low world, calming my soul of desires, restraining my tongue from what does not concern me, desiring that to which my Lord called me, and holding to silence: if I swear by Allah, He fulfils my oath; if I ask Him, He gives me."
One entered upon one of the Companions during his illness, and his face was radiant; they asked him the cause of the radiance of his face: he said, "No deed is firmer with me than two traits: I did not speak of what did not concern me, and my heart was sound towards the Muslims." And Mourriq al-Ijli said, "A matter I have pursued since such and such a year, which I have not been able to attain, and I shall never abandon." They said: and what is it? He said, "The restraint of what does not concern me." Ibn Abi ad-Dunya reports it.
And Asad ibn Moussa reports: Abu Ma'char informed us, from Mouhammad ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "The first who will enter upon you is a man of the people of Paradise." 'Abd Allah ibn Salam entered, and people rose towards him and informed him of it, and said: inform us of your deed firmest upon your soul. He said, "My deed is small; the firmest I hope for: the purity of the breast, and the leaving of what does not concern me."
And Abu 'Obayda reports from al-Hasan that he said, "Among the signs of the turning away of Allah the Most High from a servant is that He make his occupation in what does not concern him." And Sahl at-Toustari said, "Whoever speaks of what does not concern him is deprived of sincerity." And Ma'rouf said, "The speech of the servant in what does not concern him is an abandonment on the part of Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic."
This hadith indicates that leaving what does not concern one is part of the beautiful religion of a man: when he leaves what does not concern him and does everything that concerns him, the beauty of his Islam is complete. Hadiths have come on the merit of the one whose Islam is beautiful: his good deeds multiply and his evil ones are expiated. The apparent is that the multiplication is to the measure of the beauty of the Islam. In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "When one of you beautifies his Islam, every good deed he does is written tenfold up to seven hundred times; and every evil deed is written the like of it, until he meets Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic."
The multiplication of the good deed tenfold is therefore obligatory, and the increase beyond is to the measure of the beauty of the Islam, of the sincerity of intention, of the need of that deed and of its merit: such as spending in jihad, the pilgrimage, near kin, orphans, the poor, and moments of need of the spending. It is witnessed by what is reported from 'Atiyya, from Ibn 'Omar, may Allah be pleased with both of them: "Whoever comes with a good deed has its tenfold" was sent down concerning the Bedouins. It was said to him: and what of the Emigrants? He said: it is more still. Then he recited the words of the Most High:
"And if it be a good deed, He multiplies it, and grants from Himself an immense reward."
An-Nisa, 40
And an-Nasa'i reports from the hadith of Abu Sa'id, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "When the servant embraces Islam and beautifies his Islam, Allah writes for him every good deed from the most recent, and erases from him every evil deed from the most recent; then comes afterwards the retribution: the good deed tenfold up to seven hundred times, and the evil deed the like of it, except that Allah surpasses." And in another version, "and it is said to him: deed on, again."
[Islam effaces what precedes it:] The most recent good deeds and evil deeds are those that preceded Islam. That indicates that he is rewarded for his good deeds in disbelief when he embraces Islam, and that his evil deeds are effaced when he embraces Islam; but on condition of beautifying his Islam and fearing those evil deeds in his state of Islam. Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, stated it explicitly. It is indicated by what is in the two authentic collections, from Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: we said, O Messenger of Allah! Shall we be punished for what we did in ignorance? He said, "Whoever of you has beautified his Islam shall not be punished for it; and whoever did evil is reproached for his deed in ignorance and in Islam." And in the Sahih of Mouslim, from 'Amr ibn al-'As, may Allah be pleased with him, who said to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when he embraced Islam: I wish to stipulate a condition.
He said, "What condition do you stipulate?" I said: that I be pardoned. He said, "Know you not that Islam effaces what precedes it?" And Imam Ahmad reports it, its wording being, "Islam pulverises the sins that precede it." That bears upon complete and beautiful Islam, joining it to the preceding hadith of Ibn Mas'oud. And in the Sahih of Mouslim also, from Hakim ibn Hizam, who said: O Messenger of Allah! I saw things I did in ignorance: alms, emancipation, maintaining kinship: shall I have their reward? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "You embraced Islam upon your past merits." And in a version of him: I say: by Allah, I shall abandon nothing of what I did in ignorance without doing its equivalent in Islam.
That indicates that the good deeds of the disbeliever, when he embraces Islam, are rewarded, as the hadith of Abu Sa'id already cited indicates.
It has been said: his evil deeds in polytheism are changed into good deeds, and he is rewarded for them, drawn from the words of the Most High:
"Those who invoke not with Allah another god, nor kill the soul Allah has forbidden, save with right, nor fornicate: whoever does that shall meet the sin; the punishment shall be doubled for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he shall abide therein humiliated eternally, save the one who repents, believes and does a righteous deed: those, Allah will change their evil deeds into good deeds."
Al-Fourqane, 68-70
The exegetes diverged over this replacement into two views. One said: it is in this low world, in the sense that Allah changes, for whoever embraces Islam and repents to Him, the disbelief and disobediences that were upon him into faith and righteous deeds. Ibrahim al-Harbi reports this view in the singularity of the hadith, from most of the exegetes, among them Ibn 'Abbas, 'Ata, Qatada, as-Soudi and Ikrima. I say: and it is the well-known view of al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him. It is said: al-Hasan, Abu Malik and others said: it is specific to the people of polytheism, not the people of Islam. I say: this saying is correct only if the replacement is in the Hereafter, as will come; and if one says it is in this low world, the disbeliever who embraces Islam and the Muslim who repents are equal therein; rather the Muslim who repents is in a better state than the disbeliever who embraces Islam.
And he says: others said: the replacement is in the Hereafter: in place of every evil deed a good deed is given them; among them: 'Amr ibn Maymoun, Mak'houl, Ibn al-Mousayyib and 'Ali ibn al-Houssayn. Abu al-'Aliya, Moujahid and Khalid as-Sabtani denied it; and there is ground for denial: it would result that whoever has many evil deeds is in a better state than whoever has few, since a good deed is given him in place of every evil deed. Then he says: if someone says, Allah mentioned that evil deeds are changed into good deeds without mentioning the number, how is the replacement done? It is possible that the meaning of the replacement be: whoever does one single evil deed and repents of it, a hundred thousand good deeds are changed for him; and whoever does a thousand evil deeds, a thousand good deeds are changed for him: whoever has few evil deeds would then be in a better state. I say: this view, which is the replacement in the Hereafter, was denied by Abu al-'Aliya, who recited the words of the Most High:
"You shall find every soul, that day, present with what it did of good, and what it did of evil: it will wish there were between it and him a long space."
Az-Zalzala, 7-8
Some answered by His words:
"And whoever does the weight of an ant of evil shall see it."
Az-Zalzala, 8
and His words:
"And the book shall be laid: you shall see the criminals fearful of what it contains, and they shall say: woe to us! What has this book to leave neither small nor great without counting them? And they shall find what they did present; and your Lord wrongs no one."
Al-Haqqqa, 18-19
But one may answer that the repentant is confronted with his evil deeds, then they are changed into good deeds. Abu 'Outhman an-Nahdi said, "The believer will receive his book, covered from the part of Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic: he reads his evil deeds; when he reads them, his complexion changes; then he comes to his good deeds, reads them, and his complexion returns to him; then he looks: his evil deeds are changed into good deeds. He says then: 'Here, read my book!'" And some report it from Abu 'Outhman, from Ibn Mas'oud; and some say: from Abu 'Outhman, from Salman.
And in the Sahih of Mouslim, from the hadith of Abu Dhar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "I know the last of the people of Paradise to enter it, and the last of the people of the Fire to leave it: a man who will be brought on the day of Resurrection, and it will be said: expose to him his small sins and withhold from him his great ones. His small sins are exposed to him, and it is said to him: such a day you did this, and such a day you did that? He says: yes: he cannot deny it, anxious that his great sins be exposed. It is said to him: in place of every evil deed, a good deed is given you. He says: Lord! I have done things I do not see here!" And I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) laugh until his teeth appeared.
If then the evil deeds are changed into good deeds in favour of the one who was punished for his sins by the Fire, all the more in favour of the one whose evil deeds were effaced by Islam and sincere repentance: for their effacement by that is more beloved to Allah than their effacement by punishment. Al-Hakim reports, by the way of al-Fadl ibn Moussa, from Abu al-'Anbas, from his father, from Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Peoples will wish they had multiplied evil deeds." They said: how, O Messenger of Allah? He said, "Those whose evil deeds Allah has changed into good deeds." And Ibn Abi Hatim reports it, by the way of Soulayman Abu Dawoud az-Zouhri, from Abu al-'Anbas, from his father, from Abu Hourayra, in a version stopped at the Companion: and it is nearer than the raised version.
Likewise reported from al-Hasan al-Basri; and that contradicts his famous saying: the replacement is in this low world. As for what al-Harbi mentions of replacement, that whoever has few evil deeds sees his good deeds increased, and whoever has many sees them diminished: the hadith of Abu Dhar is explicit in refuting it: a good deed is given him in place of every evil deed.
As for the saying that it results that whoever has many evil deeds is in a better state than whoever has few: the replacement is only for whoever regrets his evil deeds, holds them before his eyes, and each time he recalls them, his fear, his sorrow and his modesty before Allah increase, as does his race to the expiating righteous deeds, as the Most High says:
"Save the one who repents, believes and does a righteous deed."
Al-Fourqane, 70
Everything we have mentioned enters into the righteous deed: the one whose state that is swallows the bitterness of regret and sorrow for his sins far more than he tasted their sweetness in doing them, and every sin of his sins becomes a cause of righteous deeds that efface it: after that, one cannot wonder at those sins become good deeds. Explicit hadiths have come: when the disbeliever embraces Islam and beautifies his Islam, his evil deeds in polytheism become good deeds. At-Tabarani reports from the hadith of 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Joubayr ibn Noufayr, from Abu Fourwa Chattab: he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: what do you think of a man who has committed every sin, leaving neither great nor small evil: has he a repentance? He said, "Have you embraced Islam?" He said: yes. He said, "Do the righteous deeds and leave the evil ones: Allah will make them for you all good."
He said: and my treacheries and my turpitudes? He said, "Yes." He said: and he did not cease proclaiming the greatness of Allah until he disappeared. And he reports it by another channel, by a weak chain, from Salama ibn Noufayl, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). And Ibn Abi Hatim reports it likewise from the hadith of Mak'houl in mursal form. And al-Bazzar reports the first hadith; he has, from Abu Taywil, Chattab, the elongated form of the name, that one came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his meaning was mentioned. And likewise Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi reports it in his collection, and mentions that the correct, from 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Joubayr ibn Noufayr, in mursal form, is that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), Chattab, long-haired and loose. And Chattab in the language is the name for unkempt hair: reporters disfigured its writing by taking it for a man's name.