Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 7 of Nawawi
Hadith number 7 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
📖 18 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.
At-Tousi said: "it is one of the four quarters of the religion."
At-Tabarani reports from the hadith of Houdayfa ibn al-Yaman, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever cares not for the affairs of the Muslims is not one of them; and whoever passes neither morning nor evening as a sincere counsellor for Allah, His messenger, His Book, his imam and the mass of the Muslims is not one of them." Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Abu 'Umama, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: what My servant worships Me with, most beloved to Me: sincere counsel (nasiha) for Me."
Sincere counsel to the Muslims has come in many hadiths; in some, counsel to those who hold their affairs; in others, the counsel of those who hold affairs to their subjects. As for the first, counsel to the Muslims in general, in the two Sahihs, from Jarir ibn 'Abdallah: "I swore allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to establish the prayer, to pay the zakat, and to counsel sincerely every Muslim." In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The right of the believer over the believer is six," among which he mentioned, "and when he asks you for counsel, counsel him." And this hadith is reported by other channels from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). In the Mousnad, from Hakim ibn Abi Yazid, from his father, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "When one of you asks counsel of his brother, let him counsel him."
As for the second, counsel to those who hold affairs, and their counsel to their subjects, in the Sahih of Mouslim, from Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Allah is pleased for you with three things: that you worship Him without associating anything with Him; that you all hold to the rope of Allah together without dividing; and that you counsel those Allah has invested with authority over you." In the Mousnad and elsewhere, from Jubayr ibn Mou'tim (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said in his sermon at al-Khayf of Mina: "Three things upon which the heart of a Muslim never deceives: the sincerity of the deed for Allah, counsel to those who hold affairs, and attachment to the community of the Muslims." And this sermon is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by a group, among them Abu Sa'id al-Khudri.
The hadith of Abu Sa'id is also reported with another wording which ad-Daraqoutni cites in the Ghara'ib with a good chain: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Three things upon which the heart of a Muslim never deceives: sincere counsel for Allah, His messenger, His Book and the mass of the Muslims." In the two Sahihs, from Mouqil ibn Yasar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "No servant whom Allah makes a shepherd of a people, who does not acquit himself of it with sincerity, will enter Paradise."
Allah mentions in His Book that the prophets (peace be upon them) counselled their nations sincerely, as He informs of it concerning Nouh (peace be upon him) and Salih (peace be upon him).
The Most High says: "No grievance upon the weak, nor upon the sick, nor upon those who find nothing to spend, if they counsel sincerely Allah and His messenger", meaning that whoever stays behind from jihad with excuse has no grievance, on condition of being a sincere counsellor for Allah and His messenger in his abstention; for the hypocrites showed lying excuses and stayed behind from jihad without sincere counsel for Allah and His messenger.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) informed that the religion is sincere counsel: this indicates that counsel embraces the traits of Islam, of faith and of excellence mentioned in the hadith of Jibril (peace be upon him); and he named all of that religion. For sincere counsel for Allah demands performing His obligations in the most complete manner, and that is the station of excellence (ihsan), and counsel for Allah is not completed without it; and that is not obtained without the perfection of obligatory and recommended love; and that demands striving to draw near to Him through the supererogatory obediences in that manner, and leaving the forbidden and the disliked in that same manner.
In the mursal reports of al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "What do you think, were one of you to have two servants, the one obedient when he commands, faithful when he entrusts, counselling him when he is absent; and the other disobedient when he commands, betraying him when he entrusts, cheating him when he is absent: would they be equal?" They said: no. He said, "Such is your case with Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." Reported by Ibn Abi ad-Dunya. Imam Ahmad reports its meaning from the hadith of Abu al-'Ahwass, from his father, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Al-Foudayl ibn Iyad said: "Love is better than fear; do you not see: if you have two servants, the one loving you, the other fearing you: the one who loves you counsels you, present or absent, out of his love for you; and the one who fears you perhaps counsels when you are present, before what he fears, and cheats you when you are absent, without counselling you." 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Rouwayf said: the disciples said to 'Issa (peace and salvation upon him): which is the purest of deeds? He said: that of which you do not love that people praise you. They said: and what is counsel for Allah? He said: beginning with the right of Allah before the right of people; and if two matters present themselves to you, one for Allah the Most High and the other for this world, begin with the right of Allah the Most High.
In al-Khattabi: sincere counsel is the word by which a whole is expressed: willing the good for the one counselled. He says: the origin of nasiha in the language is purification; one says: I counselled (nasahtou) the honey when I purified it of the wax. Counsel for Allah the Sublime: the correctness of belief in His oneness, and the sincerity of intention in His worship. Counsel for His Book: believing in it, acting according to what it contains. Counsel for His messenger: attesting his prophethood, offering obedience in what he commands and forbids. Counsel for the mass of the Muslims: guiding them towards their interests. End of his words.
Imam Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi cites in his Book of the Greatness of the Prayer, from certain people of knowledge, an explanation of this hadith that could not be bettered, which we cite here with its wording, Allah the Most High willing. Muhammad ibn Nasr said: certain people of knowledge said: "The whole of the interpretation of sincere counsel: the concern of the heart for the one counselled, whoever he be, in two ways: one obligatory, the other supererogatory." The obligatory counsel: the counsel prescribed for Allah is the intensity of the counsellor's concern in following the love of Allah, performing what is prescribed and avoiding what is forbidden. The supererogatory counsel: preferring His love to the love of one's own self: should two matters present themselves, one for oneself and one for one's Lord, to begin with that of the Lord and defer that of oneself. Such is the whole of the interpretation of counsel for Allah, prescribed and supererogatory. And we shall cite part of its interpretation so that whoever has not understood the whole may understand.
The prescribed: avoiding His prohibition and establishing His obligation, with every limb capable of it; if he is incapable of establishing it, through a malady that has come upon him, sickness, prison or other, then to resolve to accomplish what is prescribed for him as soon as the cause preventing him is lifted. Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: "No grievance upon the weak, nor upon the sick, nor upon those who find nothing to spend, if they counsel sincerely Allah and His messenger; no way of blame upon the beneficent." He named them beneficent for their sincere counsel to Allah by their hearts, when the jihad of their persons was forbidden them.
All the deeds may be lifted from the servant in certain states, but counsel for Allah is never lifted from him: if he is sick to the point of being able to act with no limb, neither tongue nor other, while his reason remains, counsel for Allah by his heart is not lifted from him: regretting his sins, resolving, if it becomes possible, to accomplish what Allah has prescribed for him and avoid what He has forbidden; otherwise he is not a sincere counsellor for Allah by his heart. Likewise counsel for Allah and His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in what He has imposed upon the people of the order of his Lord.
And of the obligatory counsel for Allah: not approving the disobedience of the disobedient, and loving the obedience of the one who obeys Allah and His messenger.
As for the supererogatory counsel, not prescribed: offering the effort in preferring Allah the Most High to every beloved of the heart and the rest of the limbs; until there be in the counsellor no superiority over another; for the counsellor, when he strives, prefers not his own soul to others, and holds to everything whose accomplishment is joy and love for him. Such is the counsellor for his Lord. And whoever does the supererogatory for Allah without effort is a counsellor to the measure of his deed, not worthy of complete counsel.
Counsel for the Book of Allah: the intensity of his love for it, the magnification of its rank, for it is the word of the Creator; the intensity of the desire to understand it, the intensity of care in its contemplation, pausing at its recitation in quest of the meanings of what its Master loves to have understood of it, and acting for Him after understanding. [And thus the counsellor of the servants understands the testament of the one he counsels, and should a book come to him from him, he enriches himself with its understanding] so as to act according to that by which he wrote to him. Such is the counsellor for the Book of his Lord: understanding it in order to act for Allah according to what it commands, as He loves and approves; then spreading what he has understood among the servants, and persevering in its study with love for it, and adorning himself with its characters and educating himself by its rules.
Counsel for the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) during his life: offering the effort in his obedience and his support, his aid, offering wealth if he wills it, hastening towards his love. After his death: the care of seeking his sunna, seeking his characters and his rules, magnifying his affair, holding to it, intense anger, turning away from whoever makes for himself a religion against his sunna, anger at whoever neglects it out of preference for a good of this world, even a religious one by means of it; and loving whoever was of him by kinship, alliance, emigration, support or companionship of an hour of night or day for Islam; and resembling him in his habit and his clothing.
Counsel to the imams of the Muslims: loving their good and their guidance, their justice; loving the union of the community upon them; detesting the division of the community against them; making a religion of their obedience in the obedience of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic; detesting whoever looks to rebellion against them; loving their honour in the obedience of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.
Counsel for the Muslims: loving for them what he loves for himself, detesting for them what he detests for himself, having compassion for them, being merciful to their young and respectful to their old, grieving at their sadness, rejoicing at their joy, even if it harms him in his world, such as the rise of their prices, or the loss of profit on what he sells of his trade, and the like of all that harms them in general; loving their good, their union and the permanence of blessings upon them, their victory over their enemy, and the rejection of every wrong and blameworthy thing from them.
Abu 'Amr ibn as-Salah said: sincere counsel is an encompassing word: that the counsellor hold himself for the counselled to the ways of good, in will and in deed. Counsel for Allah the Most High: His unification, His description with the attributes of perfection and majesty, His purification of what contradicts them, avoiding disobediences to Him, acting in His obedience and His love through sincerity, love in Him, hatred in Him, the jihad against whoever disbelieves in Him, and the like, the call to that, the exhortation. Counsel for His Book: believing in it, magnifying it and purifying it, reciting it as it should be recited, pausing at His commands and prohibitions, understanding His sciences and His examples, contemplating His verses, calling to it, repelling the distortion of the exaggerators and the assault of the heretics.
Counsel for His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), close to that: believing in him and in what he brought, respecting him and venerating him, holding to obedience to him, reviving his sunna, summoning his sciences and spreading them, being the enemy of his enemy and loving his beloved, adorning oneself with his characters, educating oneself by his rules, loving his family and his companions and the like.
Counsel to the imams of the Muslims: aiding them in the truth, obeying them in that, reminding them, warning them with gentleness and benevolence, refraining from assailing them, praying for their success, and urging others to that.
Counsel for the mass of the Muslims: guiding them towards their interests, teaching them their affairs of religion and world, covering their defects, filling their needs, supporting them against their enemies, defending them, refraining from cheating them and envying them, loving for them what one loves for oneself, detesting for them what one detests for oneself, and the like. End of his mention.
And among the kinds of their counsel: repelling from them wrong and blameworthy things, preferring their poor, teaching their ignorant, bringing back whoever of them has strayed from the truth in word or deed, with gentleness in their return to the truth, and gentleness in enjoining the good upon them and forbidding them the blameworthy, loving to remove their corruption from them, even at harm to one's own world, as an Ancient said: "I would wish that this creation obeyed Allah and that my flesh be cut by saws." And 'Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz used to say: "Would that Allah let me act among you by the Book of Allah and you act by it; each time I acted among you by a sunna, a limb of mine fell off, until the last of it be the departure of my soul."
Among the kinds of counsel for Allah the Most High, His Book and His messenger, and this is what the scholars specify: answering the misleading passions by the Book and the Sunna at their source, and showing their indication upon whatever contradicts the passions; likewise answering the weak sayings of the slips of the scholars, and showing the indication of the Book and the Sunna to repel them; and among that: showing what is authentic of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and what is not, explaining the state of its narrators, who accepts their narrations and who does not; and showing the error of whoever erred among their reliable ones whose narrations are accepted.
Among the greatest types of counsel: counselling whoever consults you in his affair, as he said (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "When one of you asks counsel of his brother, let him counsel him." And in certain hadiths: "It is of the right of the Muslim over the Muslim to counsel him in his absence." The meaning: if he is mentioned in his absence for ill, to support him and repel it; and if he sees one wanting to harm him in his absence, to hold him back from it; for counsel in absence proves the sincerity of the counsellor: counsel in presence can be shown by flattery, while cheating in his absence!
Al-Hasan said: "You will not attain the right of your counsel to your brother until you command him what you are incapable of." And al-Hasan said: certain of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, and by Him in whose hand is my soul, were you willing I would swear to you by Allah: "The servants of Allah most beloved to Allah are those who love Allah to His servants, make the servants of Allah beloved to Allah, and strive in the earth by counsel."
And Farqad as-Sabakhi said: I read in certain books: "The lover of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is a commander over the commanders; his group is the first group on the Day of Resurrection, and his session the nearest of sessions, there; and love is the term of nearness and of striving; and the lovers never weary of long striving for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: they love Him, love His remembrance, and love in His creation: they walk among His servants by counsels, fearing for them their deeds on the day the turpitudes are shown; those are the allies of Allah, His beloved and His elect: no rest for them without meeting Him."
Ibn 'Ouyayna said, in the words of Abu Bakr al-Mazni: by what did Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) surpass the companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), neither by fasting nor by prayer, but by a thing that was in his heart. The thing that was in his heart: love for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and sincere counsel for His creation. Al-Foudayl ibn Iyad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The attainment we know today is not by the abundance of prayer and fasting; but it is attained by the generosity of souls, the purity of breasts and counsel for the community." Ibn al-Moubarak was asked: which are the best deeds? He said, "Sincere counsel for Allah." Ma'mar said: "It was said: we counsel the people for you: the one who fears Allah concerning you."
And the Ancients, when they wanted to counsel someone, exhorted him in secret, to the point that some said: "Whoever exhorts his brother between him and himself: that is counsel; whoever exhorts him before the people does nothing but reproach him." Al-Foudayl ibn Iyad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The believer covers and counsels; the libertine exposes and reproaches." 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Abi Rawwad said: "Those before you: when a man saw in his brother something, he commanded him with gentleness; he was rewarded in his commanding and his forbidding; and one of those people pierced his companion, angering his brother, tearing his veil." Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) was asked about commanding the sultan to the good and forbidding him the blameworthy; he said: "If you are able, and it cannot be avoided, between you and him." Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the Muslim owes no counsel to the dhimmi; to him belongs the counsel of the Muslim. And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "And counsel for every Muslim, and counselling the community of the Muslims and their mass."