Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 8 of Nawawi
Hadith number 8 of the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi, in faithful English translation.
Contents
Updated on 07 October 2026 at 4:51 AM
📖 20 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.
Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "I was commanded to fight the people only until they establish the prayer, pay the zakat and testify that there is no god but Allah alone, without associate, and that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger. When they do that, they have preserved from me their blood and their wealth, save by its right, and their reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." Ibn Majah reported it in abridged form. A similar report comes also from the hadith of Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him). But the well-known version of the narration of Abu Hourayra mentions neither the establishment of the prayer nor the payment of the zakat.
In the two Sahihs, from Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "I was commanded to fight the people until they say: there is no god but Allah. Whoever says: there is no god but Allah, has preserved from me his wealth and his person, save by its right, and his reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." In a version of Mouslim: "until they testify that there is no god but Allah and believe in me and in what I have brought." Mouslim reported it also from the hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), with the wording of the first hadith of Abu Hourayra, and added at the end, then he recited: "Remind: you are only a reminder, you have no authority over them."
And he reports also from the hadith of Abu Malik al-'Achja'i, from his father: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Whoever says: there is no god but Allah, and disbelieves in what is worshipped apart from Allah: his wealth, his blood and his reckoning are inviolable, owed to Allah (the Mighty and Majestic)."
It is reported from Soufyan ibn 'Ouyayna that he said: "That was at the beginning of Islam, before the prescription of the prayer, the fast, the zakat and the emigration." And that is very weak, and its authentication through Soufyan is disputed; for the reporters of these hadiths accompanied the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) only at Medina, and some embraced Islam late.
His words then, "they have preserved from me their blood and their wealth," indicate that at the time of this saying it was commanded to fight, and to kill whoever refused Islam. And all of that was after his emigration to Medina.
It is known by necessity that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) accepted from every comer wishing to enter Islam the two testimonies alone, and thereby preserved his blood and made him Muslim: he blamed 'Osama ibn Zayd for killing the one who said, there is no god but Allah, when he had raised the sword over him, and his disavowal was keen; and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not require of whoever came to him wanting Islam that he commit to the prayer and the zakat; it is even reported that he accepted Islam from people on condition that they pay no zakat. In the Mousnad of Imam Ahmad, from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him): Thaqif stipulated to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that no alms nor jihad be imposed on them, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "They will give alms and they will fight."
And in the same collection, from Nasr ibn 'Asim al-Laythi, from a man among them, that he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and embraced Islam on condition of praying only two prayers, and he accepted it of him. Ahmad took support from these hadiths and said: Islam is valid upon the corrupt condition, then he is held to all the laws of Islam. He argued also from the fact that Hakim ibn Hizam said, "I swore allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never to touch but standing." Ahmad said: the meaning is that he prostrates without bowing.
Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi reports, with a very weak chain, from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would not accept from whoever answered the call of Islam without the establishment of the prayer and the payment of the zakat, these being obligations upon whoever attested Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Islam, according to the words of Allah the Most High: "Then, since they did not, and Allah turned to them in forgiveness: establish the prayer and give the zakat."
This is not established; and supposing its establishment, it signifies that he accepted no one entering Islam upon the abandonment of the prayer and the zakat, and that is just: for he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded Mu'adh, when he sent him to the Yemen, to call them first to the two testimonies and said, "If they obey in that, inform them of the prayer, then of the zakat." He means that whoever becomes Muslim upon entering Islam is then commanded to establish the prayer, then to pay the zakat.
And whoever asked him about Islam was told, with the two testimonies, the rest of the pillars of Islam, as he said to Jibril (peace be upon him) when he asked him about Islam, and as he said to the bedouin who came to him with unkempt hair asking him about Islam.
By what we have established appears the reconciliation of the wordings of the hadiths of this chapter, and it becomes clear that all are true: the two words of the testimonies alone preserve whoever brings them, and he becomes thereby a Muslim; when he enters Islam, if he establishes the prayer and pays the zakat and acts according to the laws of Islam, he has what the Muslims have, and upon him is what is upon them; and if he fails in something of these pillars, if they are a group having strength, they are fought.
Some thought that the meaning of the hadith is that the disbeliever is fought until he brings the two testimonies, establishes the prayer and pays the zakat, and they made it a proof of addressing the disbelievers over the branches. Herein is a consideration, and the sira of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in fighting the disbelievers indicates the contrary.
In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called 'Ali on the day of Khaybar, gave him the banner and said, "March and turn not back until Allah grants you victory." 'Ali marched a little (without turning back), then stopped and cried: O Messenger of Allah! Upon what am I to fight the people? He said, "Fight them until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; when they do that, they have preserved from you their blood and their wealth, save by its right, and their reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." He therefore made the mere answering with the two testimonies a preserver of persons and wealth, save by their right, and of their right: the refusal of the prayer and the zakat after entering Islam, as the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) understood it.
Among what indicates the fighting of the group refusing to establish the prayer and pay the zakat, from the Quran: His words, "If they repent, establish the prayer and give the zakat, leave their way free"; His words, "If they repent, establish the prayer and give the zakat: they are your brothers in religion"; His words, "And fight them until there is no more sedition and the religion be wholly for Allah," together with His words, "They were commanded only to worship Allah, making the religion sincere to Him, in true monotheistic faith, to establish the prayer and give the zakat: that is the religion of uprightness." And it is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when he attacked a people, did not attack them at dawn before the day rose: if he heard the adhan, he abstained, otherwise he attacked, with the possibility that they had already entered Islam.
And he recommended to his columns: "If you hear a muezzin or see a mosque, kill no one." And he sent 'Ouayna ibn Houssayn towards people of the tribe of Banou al-'Anbar: he attacked them and heard no adhan; they claimed to have Islamised before that. And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wrote to the people of 'Omman a letter in which he said, "From Muhammad the Prophet to the people of 'Omman: peace upon you. Then: testify the testimony that there is no god but Allah, pay the zakat, build the mosques, otherwise I attack you." Reported by al-Bazzar, at-Tabarani and others. All of that indicates that he considered the state of those entering Islam: if they established the prayer and paid the zakat, he abstained from fighting them, otherwise not.
Herein occurred the debate of Abu Bakr and 'Omar (may Allah be pleased with both of them), as in the two Sahihs, from Abu Hourayra (may Allah be pleased with him): "At the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the investiture of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq after him, when Arabs disbelieved, 'Omar said to Abu Bakr: how to fight the people, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: I was commanded to fight the people until they say: there is no god but Allah; whoever says: there is no god but Allah, his wealth and his person are preserved from me, save by its right, and his reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, I will fight whoever separated the prayer and the zakat, for the zakat is the right of wealth; by Allah, were they to withhold from me a kid goat they used to give to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), I would fight their refusal. 'Omar said: By Allah, it was only on seeing that Allah had opened the breast of Abu Bakr to fighting that I knew it was the truth."
Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) took their fighting from his words, "save by its right," indicating the lawfulness of fighting the one who brings the two testimonies, and whose right is the payment of the obligatory right of wealth. And 'Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) held that the mere bringing of the two testimonies preserves the blood in this world, clinging to the generality of the beginning of the hadith, just as some people held that whoever brings the two testimonies is prevented from entering the Fire in the Hereafter, clinging to the generality of wordings that came. The matter is not thus. Then 'Omar returned to the agreement with Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).
An-Nasa'i reports the story of the debate of Abu Bakr and 'Omar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) with an addition: Abu Bakr said to 'Omar: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "I was commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah, and that they establish the prayer and pay the zakat." And Ibn Khouzayma reports it in his Sahih; but this version is an error: 'Imran al-Qattan erred in it, in the chain and the text, as the imams of memory said, among them 'Ali ibn al-Madini, Abu Zur'a, Abu Hatim, at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i. And this hadith was not upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with this wording with Abu Bakr nor 'Omar.
Rather Abu Bakr said, "By Allah, I will fight whoever separated the prayer and the zakat, for the zakat is the right of wealth," and that is what he took, and Allah knows best, from his words in the hadith, "save by its right," and in a version, "save by the right of Islam," making the right of Islam the establishment of the prayer and the payment of the zakat, just as part of its right is not committing the penal acts. And he took all of that from what he excepted by his words: save by its right.
His words, "I will fight whoever separated the prayer and the zakat; the zakat is the right of wealth," indicate that whoever abandons the prayer is fought, for it is the right of the body; likewise whoever abandons the zakat, which is the right of wealth.
Herein is an allusion that the fighting of whoever abandons the prayer is a matter of consensus, for he made it an origin measured upon it, and it is not mentioned in the hadith by which 'Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) argued; he took it from his words, "save by its right," and likewise the zakat, for it is part of its right. And all of that is of the rights of Islam.
Fighting over the abandonment of the prayer is also argued from what is in the Sahih of Mouslim, from 'Oumm Salama, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Rulers will be appointed over you: you will approve and disapprove. Whoever disapproves is quit; whoever hates is safe; but whoever approves and follows." They said, "O Messenger of Allah, shall we not fight them?" He said, "No, so long as they pray."
[Fighting over the abandonment of the other pillars of Islam]: the judgement of whoever abandons the other pillars of Islam: that they be fought as one fights over the abandonment of the prayer and the zakat. Ibn Chihab reports from Hanzala ibn 'Ali ibn al-'Asqa' that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) sent Khalid ibn al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) and ordered him to fight the people over five: whoever abandons one of the five, fight him, as one fights over the five: the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, the establishment of the prayer, the payment of the zakat and the fast of Ramadan. And Sa'id ibn Joubayr said, from 'Omar ibn al-Khattab: "Were the people to abandon the pilgrimage, we would fight over that as we fight over the prayer and the zakat." It is therefore a matter of fighting the part refusing something of these obligations.
As for the killing of the individual refusing: most of the scholars hold that whoever refuses the prayer is killed, the opinion of Malik, ash-Chafi'i, Ahmad, Abu 'Obayd and others. It is indicated by what is in the two Sahihs, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: Khalid ibn al-Walid asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) permission to kill a man; he said, "No: perhaps he prays?" Khalid said: how many praying men say with their tongues what is not in their heart! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "I was not commanded to search the hearts of people nor to open their bellies." In the Mousnad of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), from 'Obaydillah ibn 'Adi ibn al-Khiyar: a man of the Ansar told him that he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and asked him permission to kill a hypocrite.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Does he not testify that there is no god but Allah?" He said: yes. And he has no testimony. [He said, "Does he not testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah?" He said: yes.] He said, "Does he not pray?" He said: yes, but no prayer for him! He said, "Those are the ones Allah has forbidden to kill."
As for the killing of whoever refuses to pay the zakat, two views, for the one who says the refuser of the prayer is killed. The first: he is killed as well, and it is the well-known position of Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), arguing by this hadith of Ibn 'Omar. The second: he is not killed, the opinion of Malik, of ash-Chafi'i, and of Ahmad in a narration.
As for the fast: Malik and Ahmad, in a narration of him, say one is killed for its abandonment. Ash-Chafi'i and Ahmad, in a narration, say one is not killed for it. Argument: the hadith of Ibn 'Omar and others in its sense; for none of them mentions the fast. That is why Ahmad said in the narration of Abu Talib: of the fast, nothing has come.
I say: it is reported from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them), in raised and suspended form: whoever abandons the two testimonies, or the prayer, or the fast, is a disbeliever whose blood is lawful, unlike the zakat and the pilgrimage.
Its explanation has already come in the hadith, "Islam is built upon five."
As for the pilgrimage: from Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), two narrations on the killing for its abandonment. Some of our companions heard the narration of its killing upon the one who delays it resolved to abandon it entirely; or delays it and death dominates his opinion within his year. As for the one who delays it believing in the facility, as many scholars say: no killing for that.
His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "save by its right," and in a version, "save by the right of Islam": Abu Bakr already made to enter into this right the doing of the prayer and the zakat, and among the scholars are those who make to enter into it also the fast and the pilgrimage. And part of its right is the commission of what makes lawful the blood of the Muslim of the prohibitions. Its interpretation in this sense has come: at-Tabarani and Ibn Jarir at-Tabari report it from the hadith of Anas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "I was commanded to fight the people until they say: there is no god but Allah. When they say it, they preserve from me their blood and their wealth, save by its right, and their reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. It is said: and what is its right? He said: adultery after marriage, disbelief after faith, and the killing of a person for whom one is killed." And the end of it is perhaps of the words of Anas. And it has been said: the just view is to stop the whole hadith at that.
Bearing witness to it is what is in the two Sahihs, from Ibn Mas'oud (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Not lawful is the blood of a Muslim man testifying that there is no god but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah, except in one of three cases: the married adulterer, life for life, and the one who leaves his religion breaking with the community." The discussion of this hadith will come complete at its mention, in its place in this book, Allah the Most High willing.
His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "and their reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic," mean that the two testimonies, with the establishment of the prayer and the payment of the zakat, preserve the blood of their speaker and his wealth in this world, unless there comes what makes his blood lawful. As for the Hereafter, his reckoning reverts to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: if he is sincere, Allah introduces him into Paradise; if he is lying, he is of the party of the hypocrites in the lowest pit of the Fire. It has already come that in certain versions of the Sahih of Mouslim: "then he recited: Remind: you are only a reminder, you have no authority over them, except the one who turns away and disbelieves, Allah punishes him with the greatest punishment; to Us is their return, and then it is We who make their reckoning." The meaning: yours only to remind them of Allah and call them towards Him; you are neither invested with introducing faith into their hearts by force, nor charged with that.
Then the Most High informed that the return of the servants, all of them, is towards Him, and their reckoning upon Him. In the Mousnad of al-Bazzar, from 'Iyad al-'Ansari, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "There is no god but Allah: a precious word to Allah, it has with Allah a place; it is a word which whoever says it sincerely, Allah introduces him into Paradise; and whoever says it falsely, his wealth and his blood are preserved, and he will meet Allah tomorrow who will make his reckoning."
By this argues the one who sees the acceptance of the zindiq, who is the hypocrite, when he manifests the return to Islam, and does not see his killing for the mere fact of the manifestation of his hypocrisy, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) treated the hypocrites and made them run under the judgements of the Muslims in appearance, with his knowledge of the hypocrisy of some of them in the interior. It is the opinion of ash-Chafi'i and of Ahmad in a narration of him. And al-Khattabi cites it from most of the scholars, and Allah knows best.