Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 28 of Nawawi
Hadith number 28 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
📖 34 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.
Ma'dan, except Thawr ibn Yazid. He also reported it from him: Bahir ibn Sa'd, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim at-Taymi and others. I say: the matter is not as he thought, and the hadith is not upon their condition: for they reported nothing from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Amr as-Sulami nor from Hujr al-Kala'i, and they are not known for knowledge and narration. Moreover, disagreement on Khalid ibn Ma'dan was reported, as preceded. And it is reported from him, from Ibn Abi Bilal, from al-Irbad. Imam Ahmad reports it by this route too. And it is reported from Damra ibn Habib, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Amr as-Sulami, from al-Irbad; Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah report it by his route, adding in his hadith: "and I have left you upon the clear path: its night like its day: none deviates from it after me but a perisher," and adding at the hadith's end: "the believer is like the bridled camel: wherever it is tethered it obeys." A group of the traditionists denied this addition at the hadith's end, saying: it is inserted into the hadith, not of it: Ahmad ibn Salih the Egyptian and others. Al-Hakim reports it, saying in its hadith: Asad ibn Wada'a added in this hadith: "the believer is like the bridled camel: wherever it is tethered it obeys." Ibn Majah reports it too, from the narration of Abd Allah ibn al-Ala ibn Zabr: Yahya ibn Abi al-Muta' informed me: I heard al-Irbad, and he mentions it.
[The hadith's chain:] This, in appearance, is a good connected isnad, its narrators trustworthy and famous, with hearing stated. Al-Bukhari mentions in his history that Yahya ibn Abi al-Muta' heard from al-Irbad, relying on this narration; but the traditionists of Syria denied it, saying: Yahya ibn Abi al-Muta' heard not from al-Irbad nor met him, and this narration is an error. Among those mentioning it: Abu Zur'a ad-Dimashqi, reporting it from Duhaym; these know their elders better than others; and al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, falls in his history into illusions in the reports of Syria's people. Al-Irbad is reported by other routes too. And the hadith of Burayda, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), is reported, except that Burayda's hadith's chain is not established, and Allah knows best.
Al-Irbad's saying: "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gave us a sermon"; in the narration of Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi: "penetrating"; and in their narration: that was after his dawn prayer. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) often counselled his companions outside the fixed sermons, like the Friday and festival sermons; Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, commanded him that, saying:
"And counsel them, and say to them, for themselves, a penetrating word."
An-Nisa, 63
and He says:
"Call to the path of your Lord with wisdom and good counsel."
An-Nahl, 125
But he counselled them not continuously: he gave it them at intervals; as in the two authentic collections, from Abu Wail, who said: Abd Allah ibn Mas'oud reminded us every Thursday; a man said: O Abu Abd ar-Rahman! We love your discourse and desire it: would that you speak to us every day? He said: "What prevents me speaking to you every day is fear of wearying you: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gave us counsel at intervals, fearing weariness upon us."
Eloquence in counsel is commendable, for it is nearer to hearts' acceptance and winning them; eloquence is the means of clarifying intended meanings, conveying them to the listeners' hearts in the finest form of words: the clearest, sweetest to hearing, most touching to hearts.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) shortened his sermon, not prolonging it: he conveyed and was concise. In the Sahih of Muslim, from Jabir ibn Samura, may Allah be pleased with him: "I prayed with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): his prayer was moderate, and his sermon moderate." Abu Dawud reports it, its wording: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prolonged not the Friday counsel: it is but few words." Muslim reports from Abu Wail's hadith, who said: Ammar, may Allah be pleased with him, preached: brief and penetrating; when he descended we said: O Abu al-Yaqzan! You conveyed and were brief: had you but drawn breath? He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "A man's long prayer and short sermon are a sign of his understanding: lengthen prayer and shorten the sermon; for in eloquence is magic."
Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawud report from the hadith of al-Hakam ibn Hazn, may Allah be pleased with him: I attended Friday with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); he rose leaning on a staff or bow; he praised Allah and commended Him: light, good, blessed words. Abu Dawud reports from Amr ibn al-As, may Allah be pleased with him: a man rose one day and multiplied speech; Amr said: had he aimed in speech it had been better: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "I have seen, or been commanded, to economize in speech: economy is better."
His saying: "eyes wept and hearts trembled": these two attributes by which Allah praised the believers at hearing remembrance, as the Most High said:
"The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble; and when His verses are recited to them their faith increases."
Al-Anfal, 2
And He says:
"Give good news to the humble, those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble."
Al-Anfal, 2
And He says:
"Has not the time come for those who believed that their hearts soften to Allah's remembrance and the truth come down?"
Al-Hadid, 16
And the Most High says:
"Allah sent down the fairest speech, a book consistent, paired: the skins of those fearing their Lord shudder, then their skins and hearts soften to Allah's remembrance."
Az-Zumar, 23
And He says:
"When they hear what was sent down to the messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears for the truth they recognized."
Maryam, 58
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) changed state at counsel; Jabir said: "When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preached and mentioned the Hour, his anger intensified, his voice rose, his eyes reddened, like a warner of an army saying: the enemy has surprised you morning and evening." Muslim reports it in meaning. In the two authentic collections, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went out when the sun slipped; he prayed noon; when he greeted, he rose upon the pulpit, mentioned the Hour, and mentioned great things at its hands, then said: "Whoever loves to ask about a thing, let him ask: by Allah, you will ask Me nothing but I inform you of it in this standing." Anas said: the people wept much, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) kept repeating: "Ask me." A man rose and said: where is my entrance, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "The Fire," and mentions the hadith. In the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, from an-Nu'man ibn Bashir, may Allah be pleased with him, that he preached and said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preach, saying: "I warned you of the Fire," until a man in the market would hear it from my station. He said: until the cloak on his shoulders fell at his feet. In the two authentic collections, from Adi ibn Hatim, may Allah be pleased with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Fear the Fire"; then he turned and veered; then he said: "Fear the Fire"; then he turned and veered three times, until we thought he looked at it; then he said: "Fear the Fire, even with half a date: whoever finds not, with a good word." Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Abd Allah ibn Salama, from Ali or az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preached to us, reminding us of Allah's days, until it was known upon his face, like a warner of a people to whom the matter would be announced in the morning; and when the discourse of Jibril's era came, he smiled not until it left him. At-Tabarani and al-Bazzar report from Jabir's hadith, who said: when revelation came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), or he counselled, I would say: a warner of a people the punishment reached; when that left him, I saw him open-faced, most laughing and most bearer of good news (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Their saying: "O Messenger of Allah! This seems the counsel of one bidding farewell: so counsel us." It indicates he had conveyed in that counsel what he conveyed not elsewhere: they understood it a fareweller's counsel; for the fareweller specifies what others specify not in word and deed. That is why the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded the farewell prayer: whoever senses he prays a farewell prayer perfects it in the most complete ways. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) perhaps alluded to farewell in that sermon, as he alluded in his sermon at the farewell pilgrimage, saying: "I know not: perhaps I meet you not after this year of mine," and bade the people farewell, saying: this is the farewell pilgrimage.
[His bequest of the Qur'an and his family, at Ghadir Khumm:] When he returned from his pilgrimage to Medina, he gathered the people at a water between Mecca and Medina called Khumm, preached, and said: "O people! I am but a human: soon my Lord's messenger will come to me and I answer." Then he urged holding to Allah's book, and counselled his family. Muslim reports it.
In the two authentic collections, its wording Muslim's, from Uqba ibn Amir, may Allah be pleased with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed over the slain of Uhud, then mounted the pulpit like one bidding farewell to living and dead, and said: "I precede you to the pool; its breadth is like that of Ayla to al-Juhfa; I fear not for you associating after me, but I fear for you the world: that you vie in it and slay one another, perishing as those before you perished." Uqba, may Allah be pleased with him, said: that was the last I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) upon the pulpit. Imam Ahmad reports it, its wording: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed over the slain of Uhud after eight years, like one bidding farewell to living and dead; then he mounted the pulpit and said: "I precede you, and am witness over you; your tryst is the pool; I behold it; I fear not for you disbelief, but the world: that you vie in it."
Imam Ahmad also reports from Abd Allah ibn Amr, may Allah be pleased with both: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came out to us one day like a fareweller and said: "I am Muhammad the unlettered prophet," saying it thrice, "and no prophet after me; I was given the words' openings and ends, their summaries, and I know the number of the Fire's keepers and the Throne's bearers; my Lord granted me economy, and my community pardoned: so hear and obey so long as I am among you; when I depart, hold to Allah's book: make lawful its lawful, forbid its unlawful." The sermon al-Irbad ibn Sariya alludes to in his hadith was perhaps part of this sermon, or the like, bearing farewell's allusion.
Their saying: "so counsel us" means: an all-embracing, sufficient counsel: for, understanding he bid farewell, they asked him a counsel to hold after him, containing sufficiency for whoever holds it, and happiness in this world and the Hereafter.
His saying: "I counsel you piety toward Allah, and hearing and obedience": these two words gather the happiness of both worlds. Piety guarantees both worlds' happiness for whoever holds it; it is Allah's bequest to the first and last, as the Most High said:
"We counselled those given the book before you, and you: fear Allah."
An-Nisa, 131
Piety's explanation preceded sufficiently in the commentary of the Prophet's bequest (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him.
As for hearing and obedience to the governors of the Muslims' affairs: they contain the world's happiness; by them the servants' interests are ordered in their lives, and they aid one another to manifest their religion and obey their Lord. As Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The people are reformed only by a righteous or wicked imam: if righteous, the servant worships his Lord thereby; the wicked carries them to their term thereby." Al-Hasan said of rulers: "They circle five of our affairs: Friday, congregation, the festival, the frontiers and the legal punishments: the religion stands not without them, though they wrong; Allah reforms by them more than they corrupt; and by Allah, obeying them is a constraint, and parting from them disbelief?!"
Al-Khallal reports in his book of the emirate from Abu Umama's hadith: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded his companions, after the evening prayer, to gather: for I have a need of you; when he finished dawn prayer he said: "Have you gathered as I commanded you?" They said: yes. He said: "Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him. Did you retain this?" Thrice; we said: yes. He said: "Establish prayer and give zakat. Did you retain this?" Thrice; we said: yes. He said: "Hear and obey," thrice, "did you retain this?" Thrice; we said: yes. He said: we thought the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would speak long; then we looked at his speech: he had gathered for us the whole affair.
By these two origins the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) counselled also in his sermon at the farewell pilgrimage, as Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi report from the narration of Umm al-Husayn al-Ahmasiyya, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preach at the farewell pilgrimage, saying: "O people! Fear Allah; and if a mutilated Abyssinian slave is placed in command over you, hear him and obey, so long as he establishes among you Allah's book." Muslim reports from him mention of hearing and obedience. Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi also report from Abu Umama's hadith, may Allah be pleased with him: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preach at the farewell pilgrimage, saying: "Fear Allah, pray your five, fast your month, give your wealths' zakat, and obey your commander: you enter your Lord's Paradise." In another narration he said: "O people! There is no prophet after me, nor community after you." He mentions the hadith in meaning. In the Musnad, from Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever meets Allah associating nothing with Him, gives his wealth's zakat, soul content, reckoning with Allah, hears and obeys: Paradise is his due, or he enters Paradise."
His saying: "and if a slave is placed in command over you"; in a narration: "Abyssinian": narrations multiplied on this from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and it is of what he perceived of his community's affair after him: slaves' dominion over them. In the Sahih of al-Bukhari, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: "Hear and obey, though a Abyssinian slave be placed over you, his head like a raisin." In the Sahih of Muslim, from Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "My intimate friend counselled me to hear and obey, though it be an Abyssinian slave with mutilated limbs."
Hadiths in this meaning are very many. It contradicts not his saying: "This matter remains in Quraysh so long as two remain of people"; nor his saying: "The people follow Quraysh"; nor his saying: "The imams are of Quraysh": for slaves' dominion may be by a Qurayshi imam's side. It is witnessed by what al-Hakim reports from Ali's hadith, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The imams are of Quraysh: their righteous are the commanders of their righteous, their wicked the commanders of their wicked; each has his right: give every right-holder his right; and if Quraysh place over you a mutilated Abyssinian slave, hear him and obey." Its isnad is good; but it is reported from Ali as Companion's statement. Ad-Daraqutni said: it is the closer. It has been said: the Abyssinian slave is mentioned only as a figure of utmost lowliness, even if its occurrence be not established: as his saying: "Whoever builds a mosque, even like a quail's nest."
His saying: "Whoever of you lives after me will see much divergence: hold then to my Sunna, and the Sunna of the rightly guided successors after me; bite upon it with the molars." This is his information (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of what occurred in his community after him: much divergence in the religion's roots and branches, in sayings, deeds and beliefs. It accords with what is reported of him: his community will divide into seventy-three sects, all in the Fire except one: whoever is upon what he and his companions were upon. And in this hadith also, at division and divergence, he commands holding to his Sunna and the rightly guided successors' Sunna after him.
[The Sunna:] The Sunna is the trodden way: it thus includes holding to what he and his rightly guided successors were upon, of beliefs, deeds and sayings: this is the complete Sunna; hence the predecessors of old called nothing Sunna but what embraces all that. Its meaning is reported from al-Hasan, al-Awza'i and al-Fudayl ibn Iyad. Many later scholars restrict the name Sunna to beliefs: for they are the religion's root, and contradicting therein is great peril.
Mentioning this word after commanding hearing and obedience to the authorities indicates no obedience to the authorities except in obeying Allah: as authenticated from him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Obedience is only in what is right." In the Musnad, from Anas: Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, said: O Messenger of Allah! If we have rulers not following your Sunna, taking not your command, what do you command regarding them? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "No obedience to one who obeys not Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." Ibn Majah reports from Ibn Mas'oud's hadith, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "After me men will govern your affairs: extinguishing the Sunna, working by innovation, delaying prayer from its times." I said: O Messenger of Allah! If I meet them, what do I do? He said: "You ask me, O son of Umm Abd! What to do? No obedience to one who disobeys Allah."
The Prophet's commanding (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) following his Sunna and his rightly guided successors', after commanding hearing and obedience to the authorities generally, indicates the rightly guided successors' Sunna is followed like his Sunna, unlike other authorities. In Imam Ahmad's Musnad, and at-Tirmidhi's collection, from Hudhayfa, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: we were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when he said: "I know not how long I remain among you: follow the two after me," pointing to Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with both, "and hold to Ammar's covenant, and what Ibn Mas'oud reported to you: believe it." In a narration: "Hold to the son of Umm Abd's covenant, and be guided by Ammar's guidance." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stated explicitly, at his life's end, who is followed after him.
The rightly guided successors we are commanded to emulate are: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, may Allah be pleased with them: for the ship's hadith says of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The caliphate after me lasts thirty years, then there is kingship." Imam Ahmad authenticated it, and the four imams argued by it against their contradictors. Many imams stated that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was also a rightly guided successor. It is witnessed by what Imam Ahmad reports from Hudhayfa's hadith, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: "Prophethood will be among you as long as Allah wills, then Allah raises it when He wills to raise it; then there is a caliphate upon prophethood's way: it is as long as Allah wills, then Allah raises it when He wills to raise it; then there is a biting kingship: it is as long as Allah wills, then Allah raises it when He wills to raise it; then there is a tyrannical kingship: it is as long as Allah wills, then Allah lifts it when He wills to lift it; then there is a caliphate upon prophethood's way." Then he fell silent. When Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz became caliph, a man entered upon him and related this hadith to him: he was pleased and delighted. Muhammad ibn Sirin, sometimes asked about a drink, said: the guided imam prohibited it: Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, may Allah be pleased with him and have mercy on him.
The scholars differed over the four successors' consensus: is it a consensus, a proof against other Companions' contradicting, or not? Two narrations exist from Imam Ahmad on it. Abu Hazim the Hanafi, in al-Mutadid's time, ruled inheritance for kin relatives, disregarding those contradicting the successors, and his judgment ran through the horizons.
Were one of the four successors to state a view, none of them contradicting, others of the Companions contradicting: is his word preferred to others'? The scholars have two views also. Explicitly stated of Ahmad: his word is preferred to other Companions'; al-Khattabi mentions likewise; most predecessors' speech indicates it, especially Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him: for it is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by routes: "Allah placed truth upon Umar's tongue and in his heart." Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz followed his rulings, arguing by the Prophet's word (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Allah placed truth upon Umar's tongue and in his heart." Malik said: "Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the authorities after him established ways: taking them is holding to Allah's book and strength in Allah's religion; none may change nor alter them, nor consider a matter contradicting them: whoever is guided by them is guided; whoever is aided by them is aided; whoever abandons them and follows other than the believers' way, Allah assigns him what he took, and drives him to Hell: an evil destination." Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam reports from Malik that he said: "Umar's resolve therein delighted me," meaning this speech. Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mahdi reports this speech from Malik, not reporting it from Umar. Khalf ibn Khalifa said: I witnessed Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz preaching the people while caliph, saying in his sermon: "What the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his two companions established is a religious function: we take by it and end at it." Abu Nu'aym reports from Arbad al-Kindi's hadith that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Things will occur after me: strive to hold to what Umar introduced." Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, followed his rulings and judgments, saying: "Umar was sensible in the matter." Al-Asch'ath reports from ash-Sha'bi, who said: "When the people differ over a thing, look how Umar judged it: Umar judged no matter without consulting before." Mujahid said: "When the people differ over a thing, look what Umar did, and take it." Ayyub reports from ash-Sha'bi: "Look what Muhammad's community (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) agreed upon: Allah gathered them not upon error; when they differ, look what Umar ibn al-Khattab did, and take it." Ikrima was asked about the mother of the child: freed at her master's death; he was told: by what do you say? He said: by the Qur'an. It was said: which Qur'an? He said: "Obey Allah, obey the messenger, and those in authority among you": and Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, is of the authorities. Waki' said: when Umar and Ali agree on something: it is the matter. Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, is reported to have sworn that the straight path is what Umar established upon, until entering Paradise.
In any case, what Umar gathered the Companions upon, and they agreed upon in his era: no doubt it is truth, though some contradicted him thereafter: as his judgment in questions of inheritance shares, like representation (aul), and in the spouse and parents, and the wife and parents: that the mother have a third of the remainder; and his judgment on one who had relations while in ihram: that he proceeds in his rites, with judgment and sacrifice upon him; and like what he judged of the missing woman's wife, other successors agreeing too; and like what the people gathered upon at his hands: the triple divorce, and prohibiting women's mut'a; and like what he did: establishing the register, levying land tax on unwillingly-held land, and concluding protection pacts with the dhimmi upon the conditions he stipulated, and the like. The soundness of what Umar gathered his companions upon, and they agreed, may Allah be pleased with them, without contradiction in his time, is witnessed by the Prophet's word (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "I saw myself in a dream drawing water from a well: Abu Bakr came and drew two buckets, with weakness in his drawing, and Allah forgives him; then Umar ibn al-Khattab came: it became a flood: I saw none drawing like his drawing, until the people watered and settled." In a narration: "I saw no genius among people drawing like the son of al-Khattab's drawing." In another: "until he took charge, and the pool overflowed." The allusion is that Umar died not until he placed matters in their places and matters stood aright: by his long duration, his devotion to events and attention to them, unlike Abu Bakr's duration: short, and he was occupied therein by conquests and dispatching armies to fight, without devoting to many events; things occurred in his time not reaching him nor raised to him; those events were raised to Umar: he returned the people therein to truth, and carried them to rightness, may Allah be pleased with him, and Abu Bakr, and all the Companions.
As for what Umar gathered not the people upon, having an opinion, permissible for another to hold a view contradicting: like the grandfather-with-brothers questions, and the question of the irrevocable triple divorce: Umar's word therein is no proof against other Companions. And Allah knows best.
The successors are described as rightly guided because they knew truth and judged by it: the rightly guided is the opposite of the strayer: the strayer is he who knew truth and acted contrary to it.
In a narration: "the well guided": Allah guides them to truth and errs them not from it. The kinds are three: rightly guided, strayer, and astray: the rightly guided knew truth and followed it; the strayer knew it and followed it not; the astray knew it not at all. Every rightly guided is guided; every fully guided one is rightly guided: for guidance completes only by knowing truth and acting upon it also.
His saying: "bite upon it with the molars" alludes to the intensity of holding; the molars are the grinding teeth.
His saying: "beware of innovations of matters, for every innovation is misguidance": warning the community from following innovated new matters, confirming it by saying: "every innovation is misguidance."
Innovation means what was introduced having no root in the Law indicating it.
[What had a root:] As for what had a legal root indicating it: it is not a legal innovation, though a linguistic one. In the Sahih of Muslim, from Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said in his sermon: "The best speech is Allah's book; the best guidance Muhammad's guidance; the worst of matters are the new ones; and every innovation is misguidance." At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report from the hadith of Kathir ibn Abd Allah al-Muzani, with weakness in it, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: "Whoever innovates a misguiding innovation that neither Allah nor His messenger approves bears the like of the sins of whoever acts upon it, nothing diminished from their burdens." Imam Ahmad reports, from the narration of Ghudayf ibn al-Harith ath-Thumali, who said: Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan sent to me and said: [O Abu Asma!] We have gathered the people upon two things: raising hands upon the pulpits on Friday, and storytelling after dawn and noon? He said: those are the most like of your innovations; I answer you to neither, for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "A people innovate no innovation but its like is lifted from the Sunna: holding to Sunna is better than innovating innovation." Such is reported from Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.
His saying: "every innovation is misguidance" is of the summarizing words from which nothing escapes: a great root of the religion's roots, like his saying: "Whoever introduces into our matter what is not of it, it is rejected." Whoever introduces a thing ascribing it to religion, having no religious root to return to: it is misguidance, and the religion innocent of it: whether matters of beliefs, deeds, or outward and inward sayings.
As for what occurred in the predecessors' speech of approving some innovations: that is in linguistic innovations only, not legal. Of that is Umar's saying, may Allah be pleased with him, when he gathered the people for Ramadan's night prayer upon one imam in the mosque, went out and saw them praying so: "What a beautiful innovation!" It is reported of him: "If this is an innovation, what a beautiful innovation!" It is reported that Ubayy ibn Ka'b said to him: "This was not so"; Umar said: "I knew; but it is good."
Its meaning: this act was not so before this time, but it has a legal root to return to. Of that: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) urged Ramadan's night prayer and encouraged it; people in his time prayed in scattered groups and alone; he prayed with his companions in Ramadan several nights, then refrained, explaining he feared it be written upon them and they be unable: which was precluded after him. It is reported of him that he prayed with his companions the nights of singling in the last ten. Of that: he commanded following the rightly guided successors' Sunna: this became of the rightly guided successors' Sunna, the people agreeing in Umar's, Uthman's and Ali's time, may Allah be pleased with them.
Of that too: the first Friday call to prayer, which Uthman added for the people's need; Ali approved it, and the Muslims' practice continued upon it. Ibn Umar said it is an innovation; perhaps he meant what his father meant in Ramadan's month prayer.
Of that too: gathering the Qur'an into one book: Zayd ibn Thabit paused, and said to Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with both: "How do you two do what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not do?" Then he knew it was beneficial and agreed to its gathering. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded writing revelation: no difference between writing scattered or gathered; gathering was even better.
Likewise Uthman united the community upon one Qur'an codex, destroying what contradicted it, fearing the community's dispersion; Ali and most of the Companions approved it, may Allah be pleased with them: that was the very benefit.
Likewise fighting whoever withheld zakat: Umar and others paused, until Abu Bakr showed them the legal root to return to: the people agreed.
Of that too: storytelling; Ghudayf ibn al-Harith's word preceded: it is an innovation. Al-Hasan said: "Storytelling is an innovation: what a beautiful innovation! How many an answered prayer, a fulfilled need, a brother gained!" These meant by innovation: the collective form upon a fixed time: for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had no fixed time preaching his companions besides his fixed Friday and festival sermons; he reminded them sometimes, or upon an event needing reminder. The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, then agreed upon fixing a time: as preceded of Ibn Mas'oud reminding his companions every Thursday. In the Sahih of al-Bukhari, from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both, that he said: "Preach to the people every Friday once; if you refuse, twice; if you exceed, thrice, and weary not the people." In the Musnad, from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that she counselled Medina's preacher likewise. She is reported to have said to Ubayd ibn Umayr: preach one day, leave the people a day, weary them not. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz is reported to have commanded the preacher to preach once every three days. He is reported to have said to him: "Rest the people, burden them not; leave storytelling for Saturday and Tuesday."
The hafiz Abu Nu'aym reports by his chain from Ibrahim ibn al-Junayd, who said: I heard al-Shafi'i say: "Innovation is of two innovations: a praised innovation and a blameworthy innovation: what accords with the Sunna is praised; what contradicts the Sunna is blameworthy." He argued by Umar's word, may Allah be pleased with him: "What a beautiful innovation!" Al-Shafi'i's intent, may Allah be pleased with him, is what we mentioned before: the blameworthy innovation is what has no legal root to return to: it is innovation in the Law's absolute. The praised innovation is what accords with the Sunna, meaning what has a Sunna root to return to: it is innovation linguistically only, not legally, for according with the Sunna. Another speech is reported from al-Shafi'i explaining this: he said: "The new things are of two kinds: what was innovated contradicting book or consensus: this is the misguiding innovation; and what was innovated of good, no one contradicting: this is a new thing not blameworthy."
Many matters innovated not done before: the scholars differed: are they good innovations returning to the Sunna or not? Of that: writing hadith: Umar and a group of the Companions prohibited it, the majority permitted it, arguing by Sunna hadiths. Of that: writing hadith and Qur'an exegesis: some scholars disliked it, many permitted; likewise their differing on writing opinion in lawful and unlawful and the like; and expanding speech in transactions and heart deeds not transmitted from the Companions and Followers. Imam Ahmad disliked most of that.
In these times, far from the predecessors' sciences, consigning all transmitted from them is required, distinguishing thereby what was of knowledge existing in their time and what was innovated after them: thereby the Sunna is known from innovation. Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, is authenticated saying: "You have awakened today upon the sound nature; you will innovate and be innovated for: when you see an innovation, hold to the first guidance." Ibn Mas'oud said this in the rightly guided successors' time.
Ibn Mahdi reports from Malik, who said: "None of these desires existed in the Prophet's era (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), Abu Bakr's, Umar's or Uthman's." Malik perhaps gestures by the desires to the dispersion in religions: the Kharijites' affair, the Rawafid, the Murji'a and their like: those speaking of declaring Muslims unbelievers, making their bloods and wealths licit, or eternalizing them in the Fire, or declaring the elite of this community corrupt, or the reverse: the claim that disobediences harm not their doers, or that none of the people of oneness enters the Fire.
Harder still: what was innovated of speech on Allah's acts, the Most High: His decree and destiny, belying whoever belied thereby, claiming Allah transcended thereby injustice. Harder still: what was innovated of speech on Allah's essence and attributes, of which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), his companions and their Followers in excellence were silent.
The scholars before what was innovated: a people denied much of what came in the book and the Sunna, claiming transcendence of Allah of what reasons require transcending, claiming its entail impossible for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. A people sufficed not with affirming, until affirming what is thought to entail toward creatures: these entailments, in negation and affirmation, the community's first generation passed in silence upon.
Speech on lawful and unlawful by mere opinion: of what was innovated in the community after the Companions' and Followers' era: speech on lawful and unlawful by mere opinion, rejecting much the Sunna came with, for contradicting opinion and rational analogies.
Speech on reality by taste and unveiling: of what occurred after: speech on reality by taste and unveiling, claiming reality contradicts the Law, knowledge alone suffices with love, deeds needless or a veil, or the Law needed only by commoners.
And in essence and attributes: speech on essence and attributes may join it, known certainly to contradict the book, the Sunna and the community's predecessors' consensus. And Allah guides to a straight path whom He wills.