Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 25 of Nawawi
Hadith number 25 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
📖 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.
In this hadith also: the poor envied the people of wealth, that is, the possessions, for what befell them of the reward of alms through their wealth; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) therefore guided them towards alms within their reach.
In the two authentic collections, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him: the poor of the Emigrants came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: the people of wealth have carried off the high degrees and the lasting felicity? He said, "And why is that?" They said: they pray as we pray, fast as we fast, give alms without our giving, and emancipate without our emancipating. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Shall I inform you of a thing by which you would catch up with those who preceded you, and outstrip those who would come after you, and none be better than you, save he who did the like of what you do?" They said: yes, O Messenger of Allah! He said, "Glorify, magnify and praise thirty-three times after every prayer."
Abu Salih said: the poor of the Emigrants returned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: our brothers of wealth have heard what we did, and did the like. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "That is the grace of Allah: He gives it to whom He wills." A similar hadith is reported from a group of the Companions, among them 'Ali, Abu Dhar, Abu ad-Darda, Ibn 'Omar, Ibn 'Abbas and others.
The meaning: the poor believed there is no alms but by wealth, being incapable of it; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) therefore informed them that all the species of good and excellence are alms. In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Houdhayfa, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Every good thing is alms." And al-Boukhari reports it from the hadith of Jabir, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Alms is therefore applied to all the species of good and excellence, to the point that the grace of Allah reaching His servants is an alms from Him upon them. Certain righteous Ancients denied it, saying: alms comes only from one who seeks its reward. The correct is the contrary: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, of the prayer shortened in travel, "It is an alms Allah has made upon you: accept then His alms."
Mouslim reports it. And he said, "Whoever keeps a prayer of the night, and sleep overcomes him and he sleeps through it: Allah writes for him the reward of his prayer, and his sleep is an alms of Allah made upon him." An-Nasa'i and others report it from the hadith of 'Aicha, may Allah be pleased with her; Ibn Majah from the hadith of Abu ad-Darda. And in the Mousnad of Buqi ibn Makhlad and of al-Bazzar, from the hadith of Abu Dhar, in raised form: "Not a day, nor a night, nor an hour, but Allah makes therein an alms, granting pardon to whom He wills of His servants; and Allah has granted no servant anything like what He inspires him of His remembrance." And Khalid ibn Ma'dan said, "Allah makes each day an alms: and Allah has granted none of His creation anything better for him than making upon him the alms of His remembrance."
Alms beyond wealth is of two types. The first: what carries the conveying of excellence to the creation: it is an alms upon them, at times better than the alms of wealth: such as commanding the good and forbidding the blameworthy, for it is a call to the obedience of Allah and the restraint of His disobediences, better than profiting by wealth; likewise the teaching of useful knowledge, the recitation of the Quran, the clearing of nuisance from the path, the deed of bringing profit to the people and repelling harm from them; likewise supplication for the Muslims and seeking forgiveness for them. Ibn Marduwayh reports, by a chain with weakness, from Ibn 'Omar, in raised form: "Whoever has wealth, let him make alms of it; whoever has strength, let him make alms of it; whoever has knowledge, let him make alms of it." Perhaps it is stopped at the Companion.
And at-Tabarani reports, by a chain with weakness, from Samoura, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The best of alms: the tongue." It was said: O Messenger of Allah! And what is the alms of the tongue? He said, "The intercession by which the captive is freed, the blood is preserved, the good and excellence are drawn to your brother, and the displeasure repelled from him." And 'Amr ibn Dinar said: it has reached us that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "No alms more beloved to Allah than the good word." And he said, "listen to His words:"
"A good word and a forgiveness are better than an alms followed by harm."
Al-Baqara, 263
Ibn Abi Hatim reports it. And in the mursal reports of al-Hasan, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Among alms: greeting the people with an open face." Ibn Abi ad-Dunya reports it. And Mu'adh said, "the teaching of knowledge to the one who knows it not is an alms." It is reported in raised form.
[Among the types of alms:] Among the types of alms: withholding harm from the people: in the two authentic collections, from Abu Dhar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: I said, O Messenger of Allah! Which is the best of deeds? He said, "Faith in Allah and jihad in His path." I said: and which is the best of mounts? He said, "The dearest to their owners, and the dearest in price." I said: and if I do it not? He said, "Aid a workman, or make for one incapable." I said: O Messenger of Allah! If I am incapable of part of the deed? He said, "Withhold your harm from the people: it is an alms of your soul."
And other additions are reported in the hadith of Abu Dhar: at-Tirmidhi reports from the hadith of Abu Dhar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "Your smile upon the face of your brother is for you alms; your commanding of the good and your forbidding of the blameworthy are alms; your guiding of the man in the land of straying is for you alms; your clearing of the stone, the thorn and the bone from the path is for you alms; and your pouring of your bucket into the bucket of your brother is for you alms." Ibn Hibban reports in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Dhar, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "No soul of the son of Adam without alms upon it every day the sun rises." It was said: O Messenger of Allah! And from where would an alms to do come to us?
He said, "The gates of good are many: the glorification, the praise, the magnification and the formula of oneness; commanding the good, forbidding the blameworthy; clearing nuisance from the path; making the deaf hear, guiding the blind, directing the seeker towards his need; running on your two legs to the overwhelmed calling for succour, and bearing with your two arms alongside the weak: all of that is alms of you upon your soul."
And Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Abu Dhar, who said, "I said: O Messenger of Allah! The wealthy have carried off the reward: they pray, fast and pilgrimage? He said: and do you not pray, fast, pilgrimage? I said: O Messenger of Allah! They give alms without our giving? He said, "In you there is alms: your clearing of the bone from the path is alms; your guiding on the path is alms; your aid of the weak, with the surplus of your strength, is alms; your gladdening of the sad is alms; and your relation with your wife is alms?!" I said, "O Messenger of Allah! We come to our desire, and shall we be rewarded?" He said, "See: were you to place it in the forbidden, would you be a sinner?" I said: yes. He said, "Would you love to be counted with the evil without being counted with the good?" And in another version the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "In you there is much alms": he mentions the merit of his hearing and his sight.
And in another version of Imam Ahmad, he said, "Among the gates of alms: the magnification, Glory to Allah, the praise of Allah, there is no god but Allah, I seek forgiveness of Allah; commanding the good, forbidding the blameworthy; removing the thorn, the bone and the stone from the path; guiding the blind; making the deaf and mute hear until he understands; directing the seeker towards his need whose place you know; running on your two legs to the overwhelmed calling for succour; and bearing with your two arms alongside the weak. All of that is gates of the alms of you upon your soul; and in your relation with your wife you have reward." I said, "How should I have reward in my desire?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "See: had you a child who grew up and you hoped his good, then he died, would you be counted by him?" I said: yes. He said, "Is it you who created him?"
I said: Allah created him. He said, "Is it you who guided him?" I said: Allah guided him. He said, "Is it you who fed him?" I said: Allah fed him. He said, "Then place him in what is lawful, and keep him far from what is forbidden: if He wills, Allah makes him live; if He wills, He makes him die: and you have reward." The apparent of this context requires that he be rewarded for his relation with his family by the intention of seeking the child, from which the reward arises through his upbringing and discipline in life, and he is counted by it at his death; as for the one who intended nothing by his satisfaction: the people disputed his entry into this hadith. The hadith is authenticated that the spending of a man upon his family is alms: in the two authentic collections, from Abu Mas'oud al-'Ansari, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The spending of a man upon his family is alms."
And in a narration of Mouslim: "and he is counted by it." And in a wording of al-Boukhari: "when a man spends upon his family counting it: it is alms for him." It is thus indicated that he is rewarded only if he counts it with Allah: as in the hadith of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "You shall not spend a spending seeking thereby the face of Allah without being rewarded, down to the morsel you raise to the mouth of your wife."» The two authenticated it.
In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Thawban, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The best of dinars: the dinar spent by a man upon his dependants; the dinar spent upon his horse in the path of Allah; and the dinar spent by a man upon his companions in the path of Allah." Abu Qoulaba said, at the narration of this hadith, "He began with the dependants: what man has reward greater than the man spending upon his dependants young, that Allah thereby preserve them from indecency, and thereby enrich them?" And in the same collection also, from Sa'd, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Your spending upon your dependants is alms; and what your wife eats of your wealth is alms." And that was restricted in the other narration by the seeking of the face of Allah.
And in the Sahih of Mouslim, from Abu Hourayra, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "A dinar you spent in the path of Allah; a dinar spent on a slave; a dinar given as alms to a poor man; and a dinar spent upon your family: the best of them is the dinar spent upon your family." Imam Ahmad and Ibn Hibban report in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Give alms." A man said: I have a dinar? He said, "Make alms of it upon yourself." He said: I have another dinar. He said, "Make alms of it upon your wife." He said: I have another dinar. He said, "Make alms of it upon your child." He said: I have another dinar. He said, "Make alms of it upon your servant." He said: I have another dinar. He said, "You are more discerning."
And Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of al-Miqdam ibn Ma'dikarib, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "What you feed your own soul is for you alms; what you feed your child is for you alms; what you feed your wife is for you alms; and what you feed your servant is for you alms." Of this sense, numerous hadiths, long to mention.
In the two authentic collections, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "No Muslim who plants a planting, or sows a crop, but that a man, a bird or a beast eats of it, but that it is for him alms."
In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "No Muslim who plants a plant but that what is eaten of it is for him alms, what is stolen of it for him alms, what the wild beast eats is for him alms, what the birds eat is for him alms: none causes him loss of it but that it is for him alms." And in a narration of him also: "a man, beast or bird eats of it: it is for him alms until the Day of Resurrection." And in the Mousnad, by a weak chain, from Mu'adh ibn Anas al-Juhani, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "Whoever builds a building without injustice nor aggression, or plants a planting without injustice nor aggression, shall have a running reward so long as anyone of the creation of the All-Merciful profits by it."
Al-Boukhari mentions in the story of the hadith of Jabir, in raised form: "Whoever digs a well from which no thirsty liver of djinn, man, wild beast or bird drinks: Allah rewards him on the Day of Resurrection."
The apparent of all these hadiths indicates that these things are an alms rewarded to the sower, the planter and the like, without intention nor purpose; and likewise the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "see: were you to place it in the forbidden, would he incur sin? Likewise when he places it in the lawful, he has reward": its apparent indicates that he is rewarded for coming to his family without intention (for the one who unites with his family is like the sower ploughing the earth and sowing in it). Part of the scholars went to that; Abu Mouhammad ibn Qutayba inclined to it, of eating, drinking and relation, arguing by the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "the believer is rewarded for everything, down to the morsel he raises to his mouth."
And this argued wording is unknown: the known is the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to Sa'd, "You shall not spend a spending seeking thereby the face of Allah without being rewarded, down to the morsel you raise to the mouth of your wife": restricted by the sincerity of intention for Allah; the absolute hadiths therefore bear upon it. And Allah knows best.
And the proof
It is indicated therein also by the words of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic:
"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; and whoever does that seeking the satisfaction of Allah, We shall soon give him an immense reward."
An-Nisa, 114
He therefore made good a name upon which reward is ordained, except with the intention of sincerity. If he does it for display, he is punished. The place of doubt is when he does it without good intention nor corrupt one. It has been said: the intention of Islam suffices him. Abu Sulayman ad-Darani said: "Whoever does a good deed without intention, the intention of his choosing Islam over the other religions suffices him." The apparent of that is that he is rewarded without intention at all: for in entering Islam he chose wholesale the deeds of good: he is therefore rewarded for every deed he does of it by that intention. And Allah knows best.
His words, "see: were you to place it in the forbidden, would he incur sin? Likewise when he places it in the lawful, he has reward": this is called, among the theologians, reasoning by the contrary: like the saying of Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, and I say otherwise of it: he said (the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "Whoever associates with Allah anything enters the Fire," and I say (I): whoever dies associating with Allah nothing enters Paradise.
The second type of non-financial alms: what whose utility is restricted to its doer: such as the species of remembrance: the magnification, the glorification, the praise, the formula of oneness, the seeking of forgiveness; likewise walking to the mosques is alms; and the prayer, the fast, the pilgrimage and the jihad were mentioned as alms in none of the hadiths. Most of these deeds are better than the financial alms: for it was mentioned in answer to the poor who asked him what rivals the supererogatory of the wealthy by their wealth; as for the obligations, they were all associated in them.
The texts multiplied in preferring the remembrance to the alms of wealth and other deeds: as in the hadith of Abu ad-Darda, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "Shall I inform you of the best of your deeds, the purest with your King, the highest in your degrees, better for you than the spending of gold and silver, and better for you than meeting your enemy, you striking their necks and they striking your necks?" They said: yes, O Messenger of Allah! He said, "The remembrance of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi report it; and Malik mentions it in the Mouta in a version stopped at Abu ad-Darda.
In the two authentic collections, from Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever says a hundred times in a day: there is no god but Allah, alone, without associate, to Him the sovereignty, to Him the praise, He gives life and death, and He is powerful over everything: the equivalent of ten slaves is due to him; a hundred good deeds are written to him, a hundred evil deeds erased from him: and it is for him a protection against the devil that day until evening; and none came with better than what he brought, save he who did more than that." And in the two also, from Abu 'Ayyoub, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), that he said, "Whoever says it ten times is as the one who emancipates four souls of the sons of Isma'il." And Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi report from the hadith of Abu Sa'id that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked, "Which of the servants is best in degree with Allah on the Day of Resurrection?"
He said, "The much mentioners of Allah." I say, "O Messenger of Allah! And the fighter in the path of Allah?" He said, "Were he to strike the disbelievers and polytheists with his sword until his sword breaks and he be stained with blood: the mentioners of Allah would be better in degree than he." A similar hadith is reported from the hadith of Mou'adh and Jabir, in raised form: the correct is his version stopped at the Companion upon Mou'adh, of his words. And at-Tabarani reports from the hadith of Abu al-Wazi', from Abu Burda, from Abu Moussa, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said, "If a man had in his sleeve dirhams which he distributes, and another remembers Allah, the rememberer of Allah would be better." I say: the correct is from Abu al-Wazi', from Abu Bourza al-'Aslami, as his own words; Ja'far al-Faryabi reports it.
And he reports also from the hadith of Anas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever magnifies a hundred times, glorifies a hundred times, and pronounces the formula of oneness a hundred times: that is better for him than ten slaves he would emancipate, and seven offerings he would slaughter." And Ibn Abi ad-Dunya reports by his chain from Abu ad-Darda that it was said to him, "a man has emancipated a hundred souls." He said, "A hundred souls of the wealth of a man: much; and better than that: obligatory faith night and day, and that the tongue of one of you remain moist with the remembrance of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." And from Abu ad-Darda also, who said, "Saying Allah is greater a hundred times is dearer to me than giving as alms a hundred dinars." And Salman the Persian and others of the Companions and Successors said the like: the remembrance is better than the alms of the equivalent in wealth.
And Imam Ahmad and an-Nasa'i report from the hadith of 'Oumm Hani that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to her, "Glorify Allah a hundred glorifications: they equal a hundred slaves of the sons of Isma'il; praise Allah a hundred praises: they equal for you a hundred bridled, saddled horses you would ride in the path of Allah; magnify Allah a hundred magnifications: they equal for you a hundred tethered offerings, accepted; and pronounce the formula of oneness a hundred times" (I do not count that he said): "they fill what is between the sky and the earth: and that day nothing is raised for anyone the like of your deed, save he who came with the like of what you brought." And Ahmad also and Ibn Majah report it, and with them: "and my words, there is no god but Allah, a hundred times: they leave no sin, nor does any deed precede them."
And at-Tirmidhi reports it from the hadith of 'Amr ibn Chou'ayb, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), likewise. And at-Tabarani reports from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, in raised form, who said, "No alms better than the remembrance of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." And al-Faryabi reports, by a disputed chain, from Abu 'Oumama, in raised form: "The one to whom fell short the night of confronting it, who was miserly of his wealth in spending it, and cowardly before the enemy in fighting him, let him multiply Glory to Allah and His praise: for it is more beloved to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, than a mountain of gold or silver spent in the path of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." And al-Bazzar reports it, by a similar chain, from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, in raised form, and says in his hadith: "let him then multiply the remembrance of Allah"; adding no more. And in the sense, other numerous hadiths.