Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 41 of Nawawi
Hadith number 41 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
📖 11 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.
"Our elders transmitted to us, Hisham transmitted to us or someone else."
I say: authenticating this hadith is very far-fetched, for several reasons. First, it is a hadith reported through a unique route by Nu'aym ibn Hammad al-Marwazi. This Nu'aym, although groups of imams deemed him reliable and al-Bukhari narrated from him, for the hadith imams thought well of him because of his uprightness in the Sunna and his firmness in refuting the people of desires, nonetheless came to regard him as careless and to confuse him in some hadiths; when their discoveries of his misdeeds multiplied, they declared him weak. Salih ibn Muhammad the hafiz narrates from Ibn Ma'in that he was asked about him and said: "He is nothing, but he is a man of the Sunna." Salih said: he narrated from memory, and he had many uncorroborated misdeeds. Abu Dawud said: with Nu'aym there are some twenty hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with no basis. An-Nasa'i said: weak; and once: "he is not trustworthy"; and another time: "his unique narration from known imams multiplied in many hadiths, until he became of the rank of one who cannot be used as evidence." Abu Zur'a al-Dimashqi said: "he transmits hadiths that people suspend", meaning he raised suspended reports. Abu Uruba al-Harrani said: "his situation is obscure."
Abu Sa'id ibn Yunus said: "he narrated objectionable hadiths from trustworthy narrators"; others accused him of fabricating hadith. But where were the companions of Abd al-Wahhab al-Thaqafi, the companions of Hisham ibn Hassan, the companions of Ibn Sirin with respect to this hadith, such that Nu'aym alone narrated it?!
Among the reasons as well: Nu'aym's chain was subject to discrepancy. One narrates from him, from al-Thaqafi, from Hisham. Another narrates from him, from al-Thaqafi: "our elders transmitted to us: Hisham or someone else", according to this version, the elder al-Thaqafi is not identified. Another: "our elders transmitted to us, Hisham transmitted to us or someone else", according to this one, al-Thaqafi narrates it from an unknown elder, and his elder from an unspecified one: the obscurity of the chain doubles.
Among this as well: in its chain is Uqba ibn Aws al-Sadusi al-Basri, it is also said: Ya'qub ibn Aws. Abu Dawud, an-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah reported from him a hadith of Abdallah ibn Amr, it is also said: Abdallah ibn Umar. His chain is troubled; al-Ijli, Ibn Sa'd and Ibn Hibban declared him reliable. Ibn Khuzayma said: "Ibn Sirin narrated from him in consideration of his stature." Ibn Abd al-Barr said: "he is unknown." Al-Ghallabi said in his history: "they claim he did not hear from Abdallah ibn Amr, but rather says: Abdallah ibn Amr said, upon which his narrations from Abdallah ibn Amr would be discontinuous, and Allah knows best."
The meaning of the hadith is that a man does not possess the complete obligatory faith unless his love follows what the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came with of commands and prohibitions and otherwise: loving what he commanded and detesting what he forbade.
The Quran came with the like of this in more than one place. The Most High says:
"But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge concerning what is disputed between them, then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have decided and submit in full willing submission."
An-Nisa, 65
And He says:
"It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, to have any choice in their affair."
Al-Ahzab, 36
He Glorified is He blamed the one who detests what Allah loves and loves what Allah detests. Allah the Most High says:
"That is because they detested what Allah revealed, so He rendered their deeds worthless."
Muhammad, 9
And He says:
"That is because they followed what angered Allah and detested His pleasure, so He rendered their deeds worthless."
Muhammad, 28
It is therefore incumbent upon every believer to love what Allah loves with a love that obliges him to come with what is obligatory therein; if the love grows until he performs what is recommended therein, that is extra. And to detest what Allah the Most High detests with a detestation that obliges him to abstain from what is forbidden therein; if it grows until it obliges abstention from what is merely disliked, that is extra.
It is established in the two Sahihs that he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "None of you truly believes until I am dearer to him than his own self, his child, his family and all people." The believer is thus not a believer unless he gives the love of the Messenger precedence over the love of all creation; and the love of the Messenger follows the love of the One who sent him (Glorified and Exalted is He). True love requires following and agreement: loving the beloved things and detesting the detested things. The Most High says:
"Say: if your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth you have acquired, commerce whose decline you fear, and dwellings you love are dearer to you than Allah, His Messenger and striving in His cause, then wait until Allah comes with His command."
At-Tawba, 24
And He says:
"Say: if you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins."
Al Imran, 31
Al-Hasan said: the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to the Prophet: "O Messenger of Allah, we love our Lord with an intense love." Allah wished to make a banner for His love, and Allah revealed this verse.
In the two Sahihs, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Three things: whoever has them finds the sweetness of faith: that Allah and His Messenger be dearer to him than all else; that he love a man and love him only for Allah; and that he detest returning to disbelief after Allah saved him from it, as he detests being cast into the Fire."
Whoever loves Allah and His Messenger with a sincere love of the heart, this obliges him to love in his heart what Allah and His Messenger love, to detest what they detest, to be pleased with what they are pleased with, to disapprove of what they disapprove of, and to act with his limbs in accordance with this love and aversion. If he acts with a limb in what contradicts that, committing some of what they detest or leaving some of what they love, though it be obligatory and within his capacity, that indicates a deficiency in the obligatory love: he must repent of it and return to perfecting the obligatory love.
Abu Ya'qub al-Nahrajuri said: "Whoever claims to love Allah the Most High without following His command, his claim is false; and every lover who does not fear Allah is deceived." Yahya ibn Mu'adh said: "He is not truthful, the one who claims to love Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) yet does not keep His limits."
Ruwaym was asked about love and said: "Agreement in every situation." And he recited:
And if you told me: die, I would die, hearing and obeying...
And to death's call I would say: welcome and salutation!!
And an early one said:
You disobey Allah, yet claim to love Him...
By my life, in all logic that is hideous!
Had your love been sincere, you would have obeyed Him...
For the lover, toward the beloved, is obedient!
All disobediences arise from giving the soul's desire precedence over the love of Allah and His Messenger. Allah described the polytheists as following their desires in several places of His Book. He says:
"If they do not respond to you, know that they follow their desires; and who is more astray than one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah?"
Al-Qasas, 50
Likewise innovations arise from giving desire precedence over the Law: hence their adherents are called "people of desires". And likewise, disobediences occur only from giving desire precedence over the love of Allah and His Messenger and what He loves.
Likewise the love of persons: what is incumbent is that it follow what the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came with. It is incumbent upon the believer to love Allah, and to love those whom Allah loves: the angels, the messengers, the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous in general. Hence, among the signs of the presence of the sweetness of faith is that one loves a person and loves him only for Allah; and it is forbidden to have allegiance to the enemies of Allah and those whom Allah detests in general, mentioned elsewhere already. Thereby the entire religion is for Allah. Whoever loves for Allah, hates for Allah, gives for Allah and withholds for Allah has perfected faith.
Whoever's love, hatred, giving and withholding follow his soul's desire: that is a deficiency in his obligatory faith; repentance is incumbent upon him, and returning to following what the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came with: giving the love of Allah and His Messenger, and what earns their pleasure, precedence over the soul's desire and all its wishes.
Uwayb ibn al-Ward said: "It has reached us, and Allah knows best, that Musa (peace be upon him) said: O my Lord, counsel me. He said: I counsel you of Myself. He said it three times, until at the end: I counsel you of Myself: let no affair present itself to you without you preferring My love therein over all else. Whoever does not do that, I do not purify him and I have no mercy on him."
What is known in the usage of hawa in absolute terms: the inclination toward the contrary of truth, as in the word of the Most High:
"And do not follow desire, lest it lead you astray from the path of Allah."
Sad, 26
And He says:
"But as for he who feared the station of his Lord and restrained his soul from desire: indeed, Paradise is the refuge."
An-Naziat, 40-41
At times hawa is used in the sense of love and inclination in absolute terms, encompassing inclination toward truth and otherwise; and sometimes it is used in the sense of loving truth specifically and yielding to it.
Safwan ibn Assal was asked: did you hear the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mention desire (hawa)? He said: a Bedouin asked him about the man who loves a people but has not joined them; he said: "A man is with those he loves." When the word of the Most High descended: "You may put aside whom you will of them and retain with you whom you will", Aisha said to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "I see your Lord hastening toward your desire." And Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), regarding the story of consultation over the captives of Badr: "the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) inclined, and Abu Bakr said nothing and did not incline to what I had said."
This hadith is among those in which hawa is used in the sense of praiseworthy love. The like of that occurs often in the Israelite traditions; and the sayings and allusions of the community's elders, in verse and prose, abound with this usage.
And among what suits the meaning of this hadith is this saying of someone:
Your desire that dwells in my heart...
Has made me a hearer, obedient;
You took my heart and closed my eye...
You robbed me of sleep and rest;
Leave my heart and take my slumber...
He said: rather, the two together.