Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 34 of Nawawi
Hadith number 34 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
📖 14 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 the first has precedence, and a man knowing Allah's religion falls silent at it: seeing who acts in good, loving it upon him; seeing who acts in falsehood, hating it upon him: that is what is saved upon its stopping. That is gharib, its chain interrupted. Al-Ismaili reports it from the hadith of Haroun al-Abdi, very weak, from Umar's mawla, from Umar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "This community is about to perish, except three persons: a man denying by his hand, his tongue and his heart; if too cowardly by his hand, then by his tongue and heart; if too cowardly by tongue and hand, then by heart." He also reports, from al-Awza'i's narration, from Omayr ibn Hani, from Ali, heard of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "After me will come trials the believer cannot change therein by hand nor tongue?" I said: "O Messenger of Allah, how so?" He said: "They deny it by their hearts." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, does that diminish their faith?" He said: "No; except as the drop diminishes from the rock." And this chain is interrupted. At-Tabarani reports its sense from the hadith of Oubada ibn as-Samit, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), with a weak chain.
All these hadiths indicate the obligation of denying the blamable according to capacity, and that denying it by the heart is inevitable: whoever denies not by his heart the blamable shows faith having left him. Reported from Abu Jouhayfa that Ali said: "The first of things you will be overcome in of jihad: jihad by your hands, then jihad by your tongues, then jihad by your hearts; he whose heart knows not the good and denies not the blamable will be overturned, his top made bottom." Ibn Mas'oud heard a man saying: "Perished he who commands not good and forbids not the blamable," and Ibn Mas'oud said: "Perished he who knows not by his heart the good and blamable." Indicating knowing good and blamable by heart is obligation falling from none; whoever knows it not is lost. As for denying by tongue and hand: due by capacity, as in Abu Bakr as-Siddiq's hadith (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "No people committing among them disobediences, able to change without changing: but that Allah nears covering them with punishment." Abu Dawoud reports it with this wording. And he said: Chou'ba said therein: "No people committing among them disobediences, they more numerous than who commits, without changing: but Allah nears covering them with punishment." Reported also from Jarir's hadith: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "No man being among a people committing disobediences, able to change upon them without changing: but Allah afflicts them punishment before their death." Imam Ahmad reports it with the wording: "No people committing disobediences, they more honored and numerous than who commits, without changing: but Allah nears covering them with punishment." Reported also from the hadith of Adiyy ibn Amira: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Allah punishes not the common for the particular's act until seeing the blamable among them, and able denying, without denying; when they do that: Allah punishes the particular and common." Reported also, of him and Ibn Majah, from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Allah will question the servant on Resurrection day until he says: what prevented you, seeing the blamable, denying it? When Allah makes a servant recite his argument, he says: O Lord, I hoped in You and feared the people." As for what at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report, of Abu Sa'id also, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said in a sermon: "Listen: let no man be prevented by people's reverence from saying truth when knowing it." Abu Sa'id wept and said: "By Allah, we have seen things and fallen silent." Imam Ahmad reports it, adding: "for it draws near no term, nor distances sustenance, that truth be said or a grandeur remembered." Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah report also from Abu Sa'id's hadith, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Let none of you despise his soul." They said: "O Messenger of Allah, how would one of us despise his soul?" He said: "He sees an affair for Allah requiring speech and says not therein: Allah the Mighty and Majestic says to him Resurrection day: what prevented you saying in such and such? He says: people's fear. Allah says: it was Me you should have feared." These two hadiths are understood the preventer of denial being mere reverence, without the fear nullifying denial. Sa'id ibn Joubayr said: I said to Ibn Abbas: counsel I the sultan good, forbid him wrong? He said: if you fear he kills you, no. Then I returned and he said me the like, then returned and said me the like, and said: if resolved doing: between you and him. Tawous said: a man came to Ibn Abbas saying: rise I not against this sultan commanding him and forbidding him? He said: be not to him a trial. He said: see, if he commands me Allah's disobedience? He said: that is what you want: be then free.
We already mentioned Ibn Mas'oud's hadith therein: "After them come successors saying what they do not; whoever strives them by hand is believer..." the hadith. That indicates the rulers' jihad by hand. Imam Ahmad criticized this hadith in Abu Dawoud's version, saying: it contradicts the hadiths wherein the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded patience on the imams' injustice. Answered: changing by hand entails not fighting. Ahmad also stated it in Salih's version, saying: changing by hand is not by sword and weapon. Then the rulers' jihad by hand: removing by hand what they did of blamables, like pouring their khamrs, breaking their amusement instruments, or voiding by hand what they commanded of injustice, had he capacity. All that is permitted, not of fighting them, nor the rebellion prohibited: for the most feared of that is the commander alone killed. As for rebelling against them by sword: feared the trials leading to Muslims' blood shed.
Yes! If fearing, advancing the denial against kings, harming his family or neighbors: not behooving then exposing them, that being carrying harm to other. Likewise said al-Foudayl ibn Iyad and others. And despite that, when fearing of them upon himself the sword, whip, prison, chains, exile, wealth-taking or like harm: their command and prohibition fall. The imams stated it, among them Malik, Ahmad, Ishaq and others. Ahmad said: "Expose not yourself to the sultan: his sword is unsheathed." Ibn Choubrouma said: "Enjoining good and forbidding wrong, like jihad: the individual must be patient in both, fleeing them unlawful, and patience beyond not due; fearing insult or hearing bad speech: denial falls not thereby, Ahmad explicit. And should he bear the harm, strengthening: better, Ahmad also explicit." Said to him: came it not of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saying: "no believer humbles himself", exposing it to trial of what no capacity? He said: this is not of that. Indicating his saying, what reported by Abu Dawoud, Ibn Majah and at-Tirmidhi, from Abu Sa'id's hadith, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The best jihad: a word of justice before an unjust sultan." Ibn Majah reports its sense from Abu Umama's hadith. And in al-Bazzar's Mousnad, with an unknown chain, from Abu Obayda ibn al-Jarrah: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, which martyr noblest with Allah?" He said: "A man standing to an unjust imam, commanding him good, forbidding him wrong: he kills him." Its sense reported by other ways all weak. As for the hadith: "befits not the believer humbling himself": it indicates only that knowing not bearing harm nor patient: not then exposing the matter, that is true. The speech is of him knowing of himself such patience: said the imams, like Soufyan, Ahmad, al-Foudayl ibn Iyad and others. Reported of Ahmad what indicates contenting with heart's denial. He said in Abu Dawoud's version: we hope denying by heart: safe; denying by hand: better. Understood he fears, as explicit in not one of the versions. The judge Abu Ya'la cites two narrations of Ahmad on the obligation of denying the blamable upon him knowing not accepted of him, and authenticated the opinion of its obligation: most scholars' opinion. Said to some Ancients therein? He said: he has excuse. As Allah informed of those denying the Sabbath-aggressors, they said: why exhort you a people Allah destroys or punishes severely? They said: excuse toward your Lord, and perhaps they fear.
Came what argued the falling of command and prohibition at acceptance and benefit's absence: in the Sunan of Abu Dawoud, Ibn Majah and at-Tirmidhi, from Abu Tha'laba al-Khouchani: said to him: what say you of this verse: "Occupy yourselves with your souls: harms you not who strays when guided"? He said: I asked a knower... By Allah, I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who said: "Command you rather good and forbid blamable until you see avarice obeyed, desire followed, world preferred, and each opinionated of his opinion: upon you your self, and leave the common's affair." In the Sunan of Abu Dawoud, from Abdallah ibn Amr: while we were around the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he mentioned the trial saying: "When you see the people, their covenants confused, their guarantees light, and being thus", and he intertwined his fingers, "I rose to him saying: how act then? Allah make me your ransom! He said: Hold your house, master your tongue, take what you know, leave what you deny, occupy with your private's affair and leave you the general's affair." Reported of a group of Companions, in the word of the Most High: "Occupy yourselves with your souls: harms you not who strays when guided", they said: its interpretation came not yet; only in time's end. From Ibn Mas'oud: "When hearts and desires diverge, heresies clothed you, and some of you taste some's severity: man commands then his self, that is then this verse's interpretation." From Ibn Umar: "This verse is for peoples coming after us: if said, accepted not of them." Joubayr ibn Noufayr: of a group of Companions said: "When you see avarice obeyed, desire followed, and each opinionated of his opinion: upon you then your self: harms you not who strays when guided." Of Mak'houl: "Its interpretation came not yet: when the exhorter fears, the exhorted denies: upon you then your self: harms you not who strays when guided." Of al-Hasan, reciting this verse: "O what a confidence is that! And what a breadth!" All that may carry upon one incapable of commanding good, or fearing harm, falling of him. Ibn Umar's word indicates him saying, accepted not of him, what obligatory, as cited the narration of Ahmad. Likewise al-Awza'i: command who you see accepting of you.
His word (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to the heart-denier: "and that is faith's weakest" indicates commanding good and forbidding wrong are traits of faith, and that one capable of a faith's trait doing it is better than one leaving it incapable. Indicating also his word (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regarding women: "As for her religion's deficiency: she remains days and nights not praying", meaning the menstruation days, though prohibited prayer then, making that her religion's deficiency: indicating whoever capable an obligatory doing is better than one incapable and leaving, though excused in leaving. Allah knows best.
Indicates denial is tied to vision: were it covered, not seen, but known: Ahmad's explicit in most narrations: he exposes not himself, and searches not what wondered. Of him another narration: he uncovers the covered if verifying. What if hearing a forbidden singing voice, or amusement instruments, knowing the place: he denies them, the blamable verified and place known: as seeing it. [Climbing walls]: Ahmad explicit, saying: knowing not its place, nothing upon him; as for walls' climbing upon whom knowing gathered on blamable: the imams like Soufyan ath-Thawri and others denied, entering the prohibited spying. Said to Ibn Mas'oud: so-and-so drips his beard khamr? He said: Allah forbade us spying.
The judge Abu Ya'la said in the "Book of Sultanian Judgments": were in the blamable predominant its concealment by a reliable one's information, an inviolability whose repair is lost, like fornication and killing: spying, advancing revelation and careful search permitted, precaution of losing the irrecoverable violation of forbidden. Lesser rank: spying upon him and revelation not permitted.
The blamable obligatory denying: what is unanimous. The divergent: of our companions saying: denial not due upon its doer as jurist or following a jurist by licit imitation. The judge excepted in the Sultanian Judgments what divergence weakened and was means to an unanimous forbidden: like cash riba: divergence weak, and means to women's riba unanimous forbidden. And pleasure-marriage: means to fornication. Mentioned of Abu Ishaq ibn Chaqla he said pleasure is fornication explicitly; and of Ibn Battah saying: annuls not a marriage judged by a judge should he have interpreted an interpretation, except judging a man a pleasure contract, or divorced thrice in one wording and judged returning without husband: his judgment returned, and its doer the punishment and example. Ahmad's explicit: denial upon the chess player; the judge oriented it upon playing without effort or licit imitation. Therein a look: the explicit of him, he limits the divergent wine-drinker, establishing the limit most eloquent of denial degrees though he becomes not sinner thereby with him: indicating he denies every divergent, weak the divergence, by the Sunna's indication of its prohibition, and exits not the interpreting actor of justice thereby and Allah knows best. Ahmad explicit denial upon one completing not his prayer, establishing not its column of bowing and prostration, with divergence in its obligation. The motives to commanding and forbidding.
Know commanding good and forbidding wrong: sometimes carried hoping its reward; sometimes fearing punishment in leaving; sometimes anger for Allah on violating His forbidden; sometimes the counsel to the believers, mercy for them, hoping saving them from what they put their selves exposing Allah's anger and His punishment in world and hereafter; sometimes carried: Allah's reverence and magnification and love, and that He deserves obeyed not disobeyed, remembered not forgotten, thanked not disbelieved, and His forbidden's violation ransomed by souls and wealth. As some Ancients said: I wished the creation all obeyed Allah, and my flesh cut with saws. Abd al-Malik ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on them) said to his father: I wished pots boiling in me and you for Allah.
From this rank and the prior: light on him all received of harm for Allah the Most High, and perhaps praying him who harmed him, as the Prophet said (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when his people struck him, wiping the blood from his face saying: "Lord, forgive my people: they know not."
In every case softness is determined in denial. Soufyan ath-Thawri said: none commands good and forbids wrong but having three traits: gentle in what commands, gentle in what forbids; just in what commands, just in what forbids; knowing what commands, knowing what forbids: the din's traits all. Ahmad said: "The people need management and gentleness." Commanding good without harshness; except a man publicized of perversion: no inviolability to him. He said: Ibn Mas'oud's companions, passing near a people seeing of them what they disapprove, said: gently, Allah mercy you, gently, Allah mercy you. Ahmad said: "Commanded the softness and humility; should they hear what they hate, anger not, being he intends avenging himself" and Allah knows best.