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 a faithful English translation.
Updated on 10 September 2026 at 2:45 AM
📖 22 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 Ibrahim ibn Sa'd, except that he says: "It is of a man's beautiful Islam that he leave what does not concern him." Of those who say it is not authentic except as mursal from Ali ibn Husayn: Imam Ahmad, Yahya ibn Ma'in, al-Bukhari and ad-Daraqutni. The weak mixed his chain upon az-Zuhri with gross mixture; and the correct is the mursal. Abd Allah ibn Umar al-Amri reports it from az-Zuhri, from Ali ibn Husayn, from his father, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), connecting it and making it of the isnad of al-Husayn ibn Ali. Imam Ahmad reports it in his Musnad by this route; and al-Amri is no hafiz. He reports it also by another route, from al-Husayn, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Al-Bukhari deemed it weak in his history by this route too, saying: it is not authentic except as mursal from Ali ibn Husayn; and it is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by other routes, all weak.
This hadith is a great root of the roots of etiquette. Imam Abu Amr ibn as-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the Maliki imam of his time, that he said: "It is the sum of the etiquettes of good, and its core derives from four hadiths: the Prophet's saying (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): 'Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him say good or be silent'; his saying: 'It is of a man's beautiful Islam that he leave what does not concern him'; his saying to the one he counseled briefly: 'Be not angry'; and his saying: 'The believer loves for his brother what he loves for himself.'"
The meaning of this hadith: he whose Islam is beautiful leaves what does not concern him, of words and deeds, and confines himself to what concerns him of words and deeds. What concerns him: his attention attaches to it, and it is of his aim and pursuit. Attention is intensity of interest in a thing: "he attended to it" when he took interest and sought it. It is not meant that he leaves what has no attention or will for it, by passion and the soul's pursuit, but by the Law and Islam. That is why he made it of beautiful Islam: when a man's Islam is beautiful, he leaves what does not concern him in Islam of words and deeds; for Islam requires doing the obligations, as preceded in the commentary of the hadith of Jibril, upon him peace; and complete, praised Islam includes leaving the prohibited, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe." Even to the ambiguous things, the disliked deeds, and the surplus of permissible things
When Islam is beautiful, it requires leaving all that does not concern the Muslim, of the prohibited, the ambiguous, the disliked, and the surplus of permissible things he needs not; for all that does not concern the Muslim when his Islam is complete and he reaches the rank of excellence, which is worshipping Allah, the Most High, as if he sees Him; if he sees Him not, Allah sees him.
Whoever worships Allah bringing to mind His nearness and seeing Him with his heart, or bringing to mind that Allah is near him and looks upon him, has beautified his Islam; it then becomes necessary that he leave all that does not concern him in Islam and occupy himself with what concerns him: for from these two stations are born shyness before Allah and leaving all of which one is shy, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) counseled a man to be shy before Allah as he would be before a righteous man of his kin who never leaves him. In the Musnad and at-Tirmidhi, from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, in raised form: "Shyness before Allah, the Most High: keeping the head and what it contains, keeping the belly and what it contains, remembering death and decay; and whoever desires the Hereafter leaves the world's adornment: whoever does that has been shy before Allah rightfully."
Some said: "Be shy before Allah to the measure of His nearness to you, and fear Allah to the measure of His power over you." Some of the knowers of Allah said: "When you speak, remember Allah hears you; when you are silent, remember He looks at you." The allusion to this meaning came in the great Qur'an in places, like His word:
"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 right and left: no word he utters but a watcher ready is with him."
Qaf, 16-18
and His word:
"Whatever state you are in, and whatever part of the Qur'an you recite, and whatever deed you do, We are witness over you when you engage in it: nothing escapes your Lord, not the weight of an ant on earth or in heaven, nor smaller nor greater, but it is in a clear book."
Yunus, 61
And the Most High says:
"Do they think We hear not their secrets and private converse? Yes, and Our messengers with them write."
Az-Zukhruf, 80
Of the beauties of Islam: little speech in what does not concern
Most intended by leaving what does not concern is keeping the tongue from idle speech, as the first verses, in Surat Qaf, indicate. In the Musnad, from the hadith of al-Husayn, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Of the beauty of a man's Islam is little speech in what does not concern him." Al-Khara'iti reports from the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, 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: "Command them to spread the salam, and to speak little except of what concerns them."
In the Sahih of Ibn Hibban, from Abu Dharr, 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 sensible man, so long as he is not overpowered in his reason, should have hours: an hour conversing with his Lord, an hour judging his soul, an hour contemplating Allah's creation, and an hour attending to his need of food and drink. The sensible man should be concerned for nothing but three: provision for the Hereafter, mending his livelihood, or a pleasure not forbidden. The sensible man should be perceptive of his time, turned to his state, keeper of his tongue; and whoever reckons his speech among his deeds speaks little except of what concerns him." Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Whoever reckons his speech among his deeds speaks little except of what concerns him." And he is as he said: many people reckon not their speech among their deeds: they venture in it without guarding.
This was hidden from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, until he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): are we taken to account for what we say? He said: "May your mother lose you, O Mu'adh! What topples people upon their noses into the Fire but the harvests of their tongues?"
Allah negated good from much of what people converse about among themselves, and said:
"No good is there in much of their private conversation, except one who orders charity, or what is right, or reconciliation between people."
An-Nisa, 114
At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report from the hadith of Umm Habiba, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: "Every word of the son of Adam is against him, except enjoining right, forbidding wrong, and remembering Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." People marveled at this hadith before Sufyan ath-Thawri; Sufyan said: "Why do you marvel? Has not Allah, the Most High, said: no good is there in much of their private conversation, except one who orders charity, or what is right, or reconciliation between people? Has not the Most High said:
"The Day the Spirit and the angels stand in ranks: they speak not, except whom the Merciful permits, and who says what is right."
An-Naba, 38
Effects of speech in what does not concern: 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: glad tidings of Paradise! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Know you not he may have spoken of what did not concern him, or been stingy with what would not enrich him?" This hadith's meaning is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by multiple routes; in some, he was killed a martyr.
Little regard for one who speaks of what does not concern him
Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi reports in his lexicon from the hadith of Shihab ibn Malik, 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 who speaks much, refuses the gift that enriches her not, and asks about what does not concern her."
Al-Aqili reports from the hadith of Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, in raised form: "The most sin-burdened of people is the most spoken of what does not concern him."
Amr ibn Qays al-Mula'i said: a man passed by Luqman while people were with him; he said to him: are you not the bondsman of the folk of so-and-so? He said: yes. He said: the one who used to graze at the foot of such mountain? He said: yes. He said: what brought you to what I see? He said: "Truthfulness of report, and long silence about what does not concern me."
Wahb ibn Munabbih said: "Among the children of Israel were two men whose worship reached that they walked on water; while they walked on the sea, they saw a man walking on air. They said: O servant of Allah! By what did you reach this station? He said: by little of the world, calming my soul of desires, restraining my tongue from what does not concern me, desiring what my Lord called me to, and keeping silence: if I swear by Allah, He fulfills my oath; if I ask Him, He gives me."
They entered upon one of the Companions during his illness, his face beaming; they asked the cause of his beaming face: he said: "No deed is firmer with me than two traits: I spoke not of what did not concern me, and my heart was sound toward the Muslims." Murriq al-Ijli said: "A matter I have pursued for such and such years, unable to attain, and I will never abandon pursuing it." They said: and what is it? He said: "Withholding from what does not concern me." Ibn Abi al-Dunya reports it.
Asad ibn Musa reports: Abu Ma'shar informed us, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The first to enter upon you is a man of the people of Paradise." Abd Allah ibn Salam entered, and people rose to him, informed him, and said: tell us your firmest deed upon your soul. He said: "My deed is weak; the firmest I hope by: soundness of the breast, and leaving what does not concern me."
Abu Ubayda reports from al-Hasan that he said: "Among the signs of Allah, the Most High, turning away from a servant is making his occupation what does not concern him." Sahl at-Tustari said: "Whoever speaks of what does not concern him is deprived of truthfulness." Ma'ruf said: "The servant's speech in what does not concern him is a forsaking from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic."
This hadith indicates that leaving what does not concern is of the beauty of a man's Islam: when he leaves what does not concern him and does all that concerns him, his Islam's beauty is complete. Hadiths came of the merit of he whose Islam is beautiful: his good deeds multiply and his sins are expiated. The apparent is that multiplication is by the measure of Islam's beauty. In the Sahih of Muslim, from Abu Hurayra, 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 at ten times up to seven hundred times; and every sin is written as its like, until he meets Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." The good deed's multiplication at ten times is necessary, and the increase beyond is by the measure of Islam's beauty, sincerity of intention, need for that deed and its merit: like spending in jihad, pilgrimage, kin, orphans, the poor, and times of need for spending. It is witnessed by what is reported from Atiyya, from Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with both: "Whoever comes with a good deed has ten like it" was sent down concerning the Bedouins. He was told: what of the Emigrants? He said: more still. Then he recited the word of the Most High:
"And if it is a good deed, He multiplies it, and grants from Himself a great reward."
An-Nisa, 40
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 of the nearest, and erases from him every sin of the nearest; then comes after that the recompense: the good deed at ten times up to seven hundred times, and the sin as its like, except that Allah exceeds." In another version: "and it is said to him: work on."
[Islam demolishes what preceded:] The nearest good deeds and sins are what preceded Islam. This indicates he is rewarded for his good deeds in disbelief when he embraces Islam, and his sins are erased when he embraces Islam; but on condition of beautifying his Islam and guarding those sins in his state of Islam. Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, stated it explicitly. The two authentic collections indicate it, from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: we said: O Messenger of Allah! Are we taken to account for what we did in the days of ignorance? He said: "Whoever among you beautified his Islam will not be taken to account for it; and whoever did evil is taken for his deed in the days of ignorance and in Islam." In the Sahih of Muslim, from Amr ibn al-As, may Allah be pleased with him, who said to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), upon embracing Islam: I wish to stipulate a condition. He said: "What condition do you stipulate?" I said: that I be forgiven. He said: "Know you not that Islam demolishes what preceded it?" Imam Ahmad reports it, its wording: "Islam pulverizes the sins preceding it." This is carried on complete, beautiful Islam, joining it with the preceding hadith of Ibn Mas'ud. In the Sahih of Muslim also, from Hakim ibn Hizam, who said: O Messenger of Allah! I saw deeds I did in the days of ignorance: charity, freeing slaves, maintaining kinship: shall I have reward for them? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "You embraced Islam upon your past merits." In a narration of his: I said: by Allah, I will leave nothing I did in the days of ignorance without doing its like in Islam.
This indicates the disbeliever's good deeds, when he embraces Islam, are rewarded, as the preceding hadith of Abu Sa'id indicates.
It has been said: his sins in polytheism are changed to good deeds, and he is rewarded for them, taken from the word of the Most High:
"Those who invoke not with Allah another deity, nor kill the soul Allah has forbidden except by right, nor commit fornication: whoever does that shall meet the penalty; the punishment is doubled for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he abides therein humiliated, except whoever repents, believes and does righteous work: those, Allah changes their sins into good deeds."
Al-Furqan, 68-70
The exegetes differed on this change into two views. One said: it is in this world, meaning Allah changes, for whoever embraced Islam and repented to Him, the disbelief and disobediences upon him into faith and righteous deeds. Ibrahim al-Harbi reports this view in the rare-word treatise, from most exegetes, among them Ibn Abbas, Ata, Qatada, as-Suddi and Ikrima. I say: it is the famous view of al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him. Al-Hasan, Abu Malik and others said: it is for the people of polytheism specifically, not the people of Islam. I say: this view is sound only if the change is in the Hereafter, as will come; and if it is said to be in this world, the disbeliever who embraces Islam and the Muslim who repents are equal therein; rather the Muslim who repents is in better state than the disbeliever who embraces Islam. He said: others said: the change is in the Hereafter: a good deed is appointed for each sin; among them: Amr ibn Maymun, Makhul, Ibn al-Musayyib and Ali ibn al-Husayn. Abu al-Aliya, Mujahid and Khalid as-Sabtani denied it; there is ground for denial: it would follow that whoever's sins are many is in better state than whoever's are few, being given a good deed for each sin. Then he said: were one to say: Allah mentioned sins being changed to good deeds without mentioning the number: how does the change occur? It is possible the meaning of change is: whoever did one sin and repented of it, a hundred thousand good deeds are changed for him; and whoever did a thousand sins, a thousand good deeds are changed: then whoever has few sins is in better state. I say: this view, the change in the Hereafter, was denied by Abu al-Aliya, who recited the word of the Most High:
"You will 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 that a far distance."
Az-Zalzala, 7-8
Some answered with His word:
"And whoever does an ant's weight of evil shall see it."
Az-Zalzala, 8
and His word:
"And the book is placed: you see the criminals fearful of what is in it, saying: woe to us! What is this book that leaves nothing small or great uncounted? And they find what they did present; and your Lord wrongs no one."
Al-Haqqqa, 18-19
It may be answered that the repentant is confronted with his sins, then they are changed to good deeds. Abu Uthman an-Nahdi said: "The believer will be given his book, covered by Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: he reads his sins; when he reads them his color changes; then he comes upon his good deeds, reads them, and his color returns to him; then he looks: his sins are changed to good deeds. He then says: 'Read my book!'" Some report it from Abu Uthman, from Ibn Mas'ud; some say: from Abu Uthman, from Salman. In the Sahih of Muslim, from the hadith of Abu Dharr, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: "I know the last of the people of Paradise to enter, and the last of the people of the Fire to leave: a man brought on the Day of Resurrection, and it is said: display his minor sins and withhold his major; his minor sins are displayed, and it is said: on such day you did this, on such day you did that? He says: yes: he cannot deny, fearful his major sins be displayed. It is said: for you is a good deed for each sin. He says: Lord! I did things I see not here!" And I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) laugh until his front teeth showed.
When sins are changed to good deeds for one punished for his sins with the Fire, then more so for one whose sins were erased by Islam and sincere repentance: their erasure thereby is dearer to Allah than by punishment. Al-Hakim reports, by the route of al-Fadl ibn Musa, from Abu al-Anbas, from his father, from Abu Hurayra, 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 sins." They said: how, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "Those whose sins Allah changed to good deeds." Ibn Abi Hatim reports it, by the route of Sulayman Abu Dawud az-Zuhri, from Abu al-Anbas, from his father, from Abu Hurayra, as a Companion's statement: and it is closer than the raised. The like is reported from al-Hasan al-Basri too, contradicting his famous view: the change is in this world. As for what al-Harbi mentioned of the change, that whoever's sins are few has his good deeds increased, and whoever's sins are many has his good deeds reduced: Abu Dharr's hadith is explicit in rejecting this: a good deed is given for each sin.
As for the saying that it follows that whoever's sins are many is in better state than whoever's are few: the change is only for one who regretted his sins, held them before his eyes, and each time he remembers them his fear, grief and shyness before Allah increase, and his hastening to expiating righteous deeds, as the Most High said:
"Except whoever repents, believes and does righteous work."
Al-Furqan, 70
All we mentioned is of the righteous deed: whoever's state this is swallows the bitterness of remorse and sorrow over his sins far beyond the sweetness he tasted in doing them, and each sin of his becomes a cause of righteous deeds erasing for him: after this, these sins becoming good deeds cannot be rejected. Explicit hadiths came: when the disbeliever embraces Islam and beautifies his Islam, his sins in polytheism become good deeds. At-Tabarani reports from the hadith of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from Abu Furwa Shatb: he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: what think you of a man who did all sins, leaving no great nor small evil: does he have repentance? He said: "Have you embraced Islam?" He said: yes. He said: "Do good deeds and leave evil ones: Allah will make them all good for you." He said: and my treacheries and indecencies? He said: "Yes." He said: and he did not cease magnifying Allah until he vanished. He reports it by another route, by a weak chain, from Salama ibn Nufayl, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Ibn Abi Hatim reports it likewise from the hadith of Makhul as mursal. Al-Bazzar reports the first hadith; he has, from Abu Taywil, Shatb in its lengthened form, that one came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mentioning its meaning. Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi reports it likewise in his lexicon, mentioning that the correct, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr, as mursal, is that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), Shatb, lengthened and open. And Shatb in the language is the open name: some narrators disfigured its writing, deeming it a man's name.