The Imam, the scholar, the Ḥāfiẓ, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Maqdisī reported to us, [the text] being recited to him while I was listening. He said: Abū Rawḥ ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī ʾl-Faḍl al-Harawī informed us in Herat: [A separate chain of transmission.] Shaykh Abū ʾl-Barakāt al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Hibat Allāh al-Shāfiʿī informed us: My uncle, Ḥāfiẓ Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Dimashqī informed us: They said: Abū ʾl-Qāsim Zāhir ibn Ṭāhir ibn Muḥammad al-Shaḥḥāmī al-Mustamlī informed us: The teacher, Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Hawāzin al-Qushayrī informed us:
Praise belongs to Allah, the Supporter of His religion, the Clarifier of the Truth through His argument and proofs, He who sent His Messenger with guidance and enjoined obedience to him upon all of creation. May Allah’s blessings be upon him and upon his family, his progeny, his companions, and his cohort. To proceed:
Indeed, [when] Allah, the Glorified, made His Prophet Muhammad – may Allah’s blessings be upon him – the seal of His Prophets, He protected His community through His rightly-guided successors. He made them His heirs in protecting the sanctum of the religion and defending its domain with clear elucidation.
Indeed, the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said, as reported to us by al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ – may Allah have mercy on him – who said: Abū ʾl-Qāsim Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb al-Sūsī narrated to me: Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Isḥāق ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥanẓalī narrated to us: Abū ʿUmayr al-Naḥḥās narrated to us: Ḍumra narrated to us, on the authority of Ibn Shawdhab, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abū Naḍra, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī who said: “The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – addressed us and did not omit a thing before the Hour except that he informed us of it. Whoever retained it, retained it, and whoever forgot it, forgot it. Then he said, ‘May Allah gladden a servant who has heard my sayings and understood them. For many a carrier of knowledge (fiqh) is not a jurist (faqīh), and it may be that a carrier of knowledge [transmits it] to one who is more astute than him.’”
He charged them with preserving what he said and transmitting it to others. He – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – also said as reported to us by al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ [who said]: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣaghānī informed us in Merv: Abū Rajāʾ ibn Ḥamdawayh narrated to us: al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Muslama narrated to us: Ismāʿīl ibn Yaḥyā al-Taymī narrated to us on the authority of Sufyān al-Thawrī, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever conveys a single Hadith to my nation, by which he establishes a Sunnah and repels an innovation, will have the Garden.”
Al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Isḥāq al-Baghawī informed us in Baghdad: Aḥmad ibn al-Haytham al-Sāmirī narrated to us: Saʿīd ibn Dāwūd al-Zanbarī narrated to us: Mālik ibn Anas narrated to us, he said: Kathīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī wrote to me, narrating on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of Bilāl ibn al-Ḥārith that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – say: “Whoever revives something of my Sunnah which had died out after me shall have the reward of whoever acts according to it, without diminishing their rewards in the least. Whoever innovates something that Allah and His Messenger are not pleased with shall have the sin of whoever acts according to it from among the people, without diminishing the sins of the people in the slightest.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Karīzī al-ʿAdl – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Quraysh narrated to us: Al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān narrated to us: Aḥmad ibn Zanjawayh narrated to us: Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Naṣīr narrated to us: Ḥafṣ ibn Jumayʿ narrated to us on the authority of Abān, from Anas who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “Whoever preserves for my community forty hadiths regarding indispensable matters, Allah shall record him as a learned jurist.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Karīzī informed us: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Quraysh informed us: Al-Ḥusayn ibn Sufyān narrated to us: ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar narrated to us: Isḥāq ibn Najīḥ narrated to us on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority Ibn ʿAbbās who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever preserves forty hadiths from the Sunnah for my community, I shall be an intercessor for him on the Day of Judgement.”
In light of these reports, we have set down – in this brief work – forty chapters on rectifying the servant’s conduct in matters of spiritual discipline and cultivation of good character. In each chapter we have related a report with its chain of transmission. In some chapters more than one report may be mentioned. We ask Allah Most High to guide those who hear them to implement them, to protect us from error and frivolity in [our] speech and action, and to bring [our lives] to a close with goodness, for verily He is the Guardian and the Patron.
When the servant embarks on the path of servanthood (ʿubūdiyya), the first duty incumbent upon him is to seek the amount of knowledge necessary to correct his belief in the Oneness [of Allah].
Hadith 1: Abū Muḥammad Janāḥ ibn Nadhīr ibn Janāḥ informed us in Kūfa: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Duḥaym al-Shaybānī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated to us: [Al-Qushayrī relates a separate chain]. Abū Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf al-Aṣbahānī informed us: Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī informed us: Jaʿfar ibn ʿĀmir al-ʿAskarī narrated to us: Both said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya narrated to us: Abū ʿĀtika narrated to us on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Seek knowledge, even as far as China. Indeed, seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim.”
Hadith 2: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ayyūb ibn Salmawayh informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Sulamī narrated to us: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik narrated to us on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha that she heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – say: “Indeed, Allah has revealed to me that whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, a path to Paradise shall be made easy for him. And whoever is deprived of his eyesight, He shall grant him Paradise in their stead. Excellence in knowledge is better than excellence in worship and the cornerstone of religion is scrupulousness.”
Once the servant has rectified his conviction in the Oneness [of Allah] and has made his intention exclusively for Allah, the first station of his spiritual journey is repentance.
Hadith 3: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī – may Allah have mercy on him – has reported to us, he said: Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Bālawayh narrated to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Sulamī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us: Maʿmar narrated to us on the authority of Hammām ibn Munabbih, who said: This is what Abū Hurayra narrated to us, he said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said, “Would one of you be delighted if his mount were to break loose from him and then he found it?” They said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “By the One in Whose Hand my soul lies, Allah is more delighted with the repentance of His servant when he repents than one of you would be upon finding his lost mount.”
The Shaykh, the teacher, Imam Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Qushayrī – may Allah have mercy on him – said: “Delight, as an attribute of Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, is to be understood as His beneficence and generosity towards His servant.”
Hadith 4: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī, – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: al-Ṣawmaʿī narrated to us: Ḥajjāj ibn Minhāl and ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣيم narrated to us, they said: Ḥammād ibn Salama narrated to us on the authority of Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmra, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant him peace – who said, speaking on behalf of his Lord: “A servant committed a sin so he said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin.’ Then the servant returned and committed another sin and said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin.’ Then he returned and committed another sin and said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin. Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.’”
Hadith 6: Abū Muḥammad Janāḥ ibn Nadhīr ibn Janāḥ ibn Isḥāq al-Muḥāribī informed us in Kufa: my uncle Aḥmad ibn Janāḥ ibn Isḥāq narrated to us: Abū ʾl-Ḥarīsh Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Makhlad al-Kilābī narrated to us: Isḥāq ibn Wahb al-Ṭahramasī narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to me on the authority of Mālik, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – that he said, “Returning a dāniq’s worth of unlawful wealth is equivalent to seventy accepted pilgrimages in the sight of Allah.”
Hadith 7: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī, – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: Shuʿayb ibn ʿAmr al-Dimashqī narrated to us: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna narrated to us on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār who heard Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr al-Ḥasanī report from Abū Shurayḥ al-Khuzāʿī that the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should behave kindly towards his neighbor. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be generous to his guest. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak what is good or remain silent.”
Hadith 8: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥasani – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʾl-Aḥraz Muḥammad ibn Jamīl al-Azdī narrated to us: Abū Bakr ibn Abī ʾl-ʿAwwām narrated to us: Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir narrated to us: Shubayl ibn ʿAzra narrated to us on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “The example of a righteous companion is that of a perfume vendor. If you don’t receive any of his perfume, you are still struck by his fragrance. The example of an evil companion is that of a blacksmith. If he does not burn your clothes, you are still struck by his [foul] odor.”
One of the finest manners of the aspirant, by which his journey along the path of seeking is made complete, is his leaving aside what does not concern him.
Hadith 9: Abū ʾl-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad informed us: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn Sulaymān al-Zāhid narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Qutayba informed me: Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭāhir al-Khurāsānī narrated to us: Yaḥyā ibn al-ʿAyzār narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī narrated to us on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ajlaḥ, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Burayda, on the authority of Abī ʾl-Aswad al-Duʾalī, on the authority of Abī Dharr who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “From the beauty of a man’s Islam is his leaving aside what does not concern him.”
Hadith 10: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl ibn Laṭīf al-Miṣrī informed us in Mecca: Abū Ṭāhir Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Miṣrī narrated to us in Egypt: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn Sahl ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Jawnī al-ʿAbdī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ghiyāث narrated to us: Qazaʿa ibn Suwayd al-Sadūsī narrated to us: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar narrated to us on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of his father who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “From the beauty of a man’s Islam is his leaving aside what does not concern him.”
بَابُ تَرْكِ مَا يَشْغَلُ عَنِ ٱللَّهِ تَعَالَى
8. Forsaking What Distracts One from Allah Most High
Among their etiquettes is abandoning what distracts one from Allah, The Most High; they forsake what brings greed close to the heart and distracts one from proximity to the Lord.
Hadith 11: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Khaffāf – may Allah have mercy on him – reported to us, he said: Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Isḥāق al-Sarrāj narrated to us: Abū Yaḥyā narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rajāʾnarrated to us: Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā ibn Salama informed us on the authority of Abī l-Ḥusām: Muslim ibn Abī Maryam narrated to me on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sarjis that the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – was praying one day while wearing a striped cloak (namira). He then said to a man from among his companions: “Give me your cloak and take my cloak.” So the man said, “O Messenger of Allah, your cloak is better than my cloak.” He responded, “Yes indeed, but it has red stripes on it. I was afraid that I would look at it and it would distract me from my prayer.”
Among their etiquettes is refraining from asking others to the best of their ability, while earning from lawful sources as much as suffices their needs.
Hadith 12: Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ismāʿīlī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam al-Miṣrī narrated to us: Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ informed us on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Zubayr who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “It is better for one of you to take his rope, set out, and carry a bundle of wood on his back—thereby preserving his honor — than to ask people for their things, regardless of whether they give to him or refuse him.”
Hadith 13: Al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq ibn Ayyūb al-Faqīh narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Baghdādī informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī narrated to us on the authority of his father Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Ḥayda who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – and asked, “What suffices me from this world?” He said: “Whatever covers your nakedness and satisfies your hunger. If you have a house, then good, and if a donkey, then excellent! A piece of bread and a jug of water [is enough], and you are held accountable for what is above the izār.”
بَابُ بِرِّ ٱلْوَالِدَيْنِ
11. Being Dutiful to Parents
Chapter 12 of 41
وَمِنْ كَمَالِ ٱلدِّينِ بِرُّ ٱلْوَالِدَيْنِ.
It is from the perfection of religion to be dutiful to [one’s] parents.
Hadith 14: Imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us:ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar informed us: Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us: Shuʿba narrated to us on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, on the authority of Abī ʾl-Dardāʾ who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – say: “The father is the middle door of Paradise. If you wish, preserve the door, and if you wish, squander [it].”
The Shaykh, the teacher, the Imam – may Allah have mercy on him – said: “His saying, ‘the middle door of Paradise’ means the best of its doors. It is said: ‘So-and-so is from the middle (awsaṭ) of his people.’ That is, from their best.”
Hadith 15: Janāḥ ibn Nadhīr ibn Janāḥ al-Qāḍī informed us in Kufa: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Duḥaym narrated to us: Abū ʿAmr Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim ibn Abī ʿAzra narrated to us: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā informed us: Shaybān informed us on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – that he said: “Be upright, and you will never encompass [all acts of good], and perform good deeds. Know that the best of your deeds is prayer and that none but a believer maintains ablution.”
Hadith 16: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥarrānī narrated to us: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sufyān narrated to us: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa narrated to us, he said: I heard my father reporting from Sufyān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Thaqafī who said: I said, “O Messenger of Allah, tell me something about Islam such that I will not need to inquire about it henceforth.” He said, “Say, ‘I believe in Allah,’ then remain upright.”
Hadith 17: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: Abū ʿAlī al-Zaʿfarānī narrated to us: Shaybān narrated to us: al-Layth ibn Saʿd narrated to us on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, on the authority of ʿIrāk ibn Mālik, on the authority of Abū Hurayra who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family – said, “Indeed, the most evil of mankind is the two-faced one who comes to these with a face and to those with [another] face.”
Hadith 18: My maternal uncle Abū ʿAqīl ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Sulamī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Maʿqilī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Ḥayyān narrated to us: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna narrated to us on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Hammām, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family – say: “A talebearer (qattāt) will not enter Paradise.”
Hadith 19: Imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak – may Allah have mercy on him – reported to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar informed us: Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us: Abū ʾl-Ṣabbāḥ al-Shāmī narrated to us on the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Shāmī, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abī Ayyūb, that the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family – said: “O Abā Ayyūb! Shall I not direct you to a charity with which Allah and His Messenger are pleased?” He replied, “Certainly!” He said, “Reconcile between people when their relations have soured, and bring them together when they have grown apart.”
بَابُ ذَمِّ مَنْ لَا يَصْدُقُ فِي إِخَائِهِ
15. Censure of Those Who Are Not Sincere in Brotherhood
Hadith 20: Al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us, he said: Abū Aḥmad Ḥamza ibn al-ʿAbbās al-ʿUqbī informed us in Baghdad: ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn al-Haytham narrated to us: Abū ʾl-Yamān narrated to us: Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam narrated to us on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn ʿUbayd, on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – that he said: “In the end times, there will be people who are brothers outwardly but enemies inwardly.” It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, how can that be?” He replied, “Because of their [worldly] desire for one another and their fear of one another.”
Hadith 21: Abū ʾl-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-ʿAdl informed us: Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Baghdādī narrated to me: Abū ʾl-Ḥusayn al-Saqaṭī said: Khalaf ibn Sālim narrated to us on the authority of ʿUqba ibn Khālid, on the authority of Ḥanash ibn Fuḍāla, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Indeed, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has servants who preserved knowledge but neglected to act upon it. They show love with their tongues but harbor hate at heart. They are the ones whom Allah has cursed and rendered deaf and blind.”
Hadith 22: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥasan ibn Shujāʿ ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā al-Bazzār informed us in Baghdād: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Haytham al-Anbārī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Abī ʾl-ʿAwwām narrated to us: Wahb ibn Jarīr narrated to us: Hishām ibn Ḥassān narrated to us on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of ʿImرān ibn al-Ḥuṣayn who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Seventy thousand people from my nation will enter Paradise without reckoning.” It was said: “O Messenger of Allah, who are they?” He said: “They are those who do not cauterize, nor seek incantations (ruqya), nor seek omens, but rely [solely] upon their Lord.” ʿUkkāsha ibn Miḥṣan al-Asadī said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, call upon Allah to make me among them.’ He said, “You are among them.” Then another man stood up and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, call upon Allah to make me among them.’ So he said, “ʿUkkāsha has preceded you to it.”
Hadith 23: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sulamī informed us: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Maṭar informed us: Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḥulwānī narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ghifārī narrated to us on the authority of al-Munkadir ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Jābir who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family – said: “Contentment is an inexhaustible treasure.”
Satisfaction with what Allah has ordered the servant to be satisfied with constitutes the totality of faith. Through it, the order of religion is achieved.
Hadith 24: Imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak informed us: Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad Ḥirzād al-Ahwāzī informed us of it: Aḥmad ibn Sahl ibn Ayyūb narrated to us: Khālid, meaning Ibn Yazīd, narrated to us: Sufyān al-Thawrī, Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh, and Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna narrated to us on the authority of Sulaymān, on the authority of Khaythama, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – that he said: “Never seek to please anyone through [that which incurs] the anger of Allah, nor praise anyone for [what is] the bounty of Allah, nor cast blame upon anyone for what Allah has not given you. Indeed, the provision of Allah is not driven by the avarice of a greedy one, nor repelled from you by the antipathy of a hater. Indeed, Allah the Most High, from His justice and equity, has placed relief and deliverance in satisfaction and certainty. And He has placed anxiety and sorrow in doubt and anger.”
Hadith 25: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Khaffāf – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās al-Sarrāj informed us: Abū Maʿmar Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Maʿmar informed us: al-Darāwardī, also known as ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad, informed us on the authority of Yazīd ibn al-Hād, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd, on the authority of al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said, “The one who is pleased with Allah as a Lord, with Islam as a religion, and with Muḥammad as a Messenger will have tasted the sweetness of faith.”
The aspirant must remember Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, constantly with his heart and never forget Him. Nor should he, to the best of his ability, grow weary of remembering Him with his tongue.
Hadith 26: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishrān informed us in Baghdad, he said: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṣafwān al-Bardhaʿī narrated to us, he said: Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī ʾl-Dunyā narrated to us, he said: Hārūn ibn Maʿrūf Abū ʿAlī al-Ḍarīr narrated to us: Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd ibn Abī Hind narrated to us on the authority of Ziyād ibn Abī Ziyād, the Mawlā of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Abū Baḥīra, on the authority of Abī ʾl-Dardāʾ who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “Shall I not inform you of the best of your actions, the purest of them before your Sovereign, the best of them in elevating your degrees, and better than giving gold and silver, and meeting your enemy, you striking their necks and them striking yours?” They said, “What would that be, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Remembrance of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted.”
Hadith 27: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣāʾigh narrated to us: ʿAffān ibn Muslim narrated to us: Ḥammād ibn Salama narrated to us on the authority of Thābit, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik who said: The Messenger of Allah said, “The Hour will not commence until ‘Allāh’ is no longer said on the Earth.”
Hadith 28: Imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar informed us: Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bahrām narrated to us on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Shaddād ibn Aws who said: I heard the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family – say: “Whoever prays to show off has associated partners with Allah. Whoever fasts to show off has associated partners with Allah. Whoever gives in charity to show off has associated partners with Allah.” ʿAwf ibn Mālik said: “Wouldn’t Allah simply attend to what was intended for Him of that [deed] and accept it, and disregard what was besides that?” Shaddād responded: I heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family – say: “Allah, the Blessed and Exalted said: ‘I am the best partner or associate. Whoever associates with Me, then his action, be it little or much, is for My ‘partner’ and I am free from him.’”
Hadith 29: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Ahwāzī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayد al-Baṣrī informed us: ʿUbayd ibn Sharīk narrated to us: Ibn Abī Maryam narrated to us: Ibn Abī Ziyād narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr narrated to me on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda, on the authority of Maḥmūd ibn Labīd that the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “Indeed, what I fear most for you is the lesser polytheism.” It was said: “And what is the lesser polytheism?” He responded: “Ostentation. Indeed, Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, will say on the Day He requites his servants for their actions: ‘Go to those for whom you acted ostentatiously in the world. Then look! Do you find with them any rewards or any [modicum] of good?’”
Hadith 30: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Ahwāzī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayد al-Baṣrī informed us: Abū Ghālib al-Azdī reported to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us: al-Muʿāfā narrated to us on the authority of Khālid ibn Ilyās al-Madanī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥāṭib, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī who said: I testify that I heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – say: “No man looks upon a flaw of his brother and conceals it for him except that he enters Paradise because of it.”
بَابٌ فِي حُسْنِ ٱلظَّنِّ بِٱللَّهِ ﷿
22. Thinking Well of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime
Hadith 31: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Ahwāzī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayد al-Ṣaffār informed us: Hishām ibn ʿAlī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Ṣanʿānī narrated to us: Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated to us on the authority of Jarīر ibn Ḥāzim on the authority of al-Aʿmash on the authority of Abī Sufyān on the authority of Jābir who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “None of you should die except while having a good opinion of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime.”
Hadith 32: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAffān al-ʿĀmirī narrated to us: Ibn Numayr narrated to us: al-Aʿmash narrated to us on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever relieves a believer of a hardship from the hardships of this world, Allah will relieve a hardship from him from the hardships of the Hereafter. Whoever is lenient on one in dire straits, Allah will be lenient on him in this world and the Hereafter. Allah aids His servant so long as the servant aids his brother. Whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, Allah will facilitate for him a path to Paradise. No people gather in a mosque from among the mosques of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, and studying it among themselves, except that tranquility descends upon them, mercy envelops them, the angels surround them, and Allah mentions them among those in His presence. And the one who is held back by his deeds will not be advanced by his lineage.”
Hadith 33: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl ibn Laṭīf al-Miṣrī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us in Mecca: al-Ḥasan ibn al-Khiḍr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Suyūṭī narrated to us: Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Yūnus informed us: ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shayba narrated to us: ʿAbda narrated to us on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr al-Awdī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Shall I not inform you of the one who is forbidden to the Fire and for whom the Fire is forbidden? For every mild, soft, amiable, and easy-going [person].”
Hadith 34: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Sahl ibn ʿAbdūs al-Ḥīrī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū Sahl Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ziyād al-Naḥwī informed us in Baghdad: Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zibriqān informed us: ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd al-Ghaffār informed us: al-Aʿmash narrated to us on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “Whoever grants respite to one in difficult circumstances, Allah will grant him shade on the day there is no shade but His shade.”
Hadith 35: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishrān in Baghdad informed us: Abū Sahl Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ziyād informed us: Isḥāq ibn Khālawayh al-Wāsiṭī narrated to us: ʿAlī ibn Baḥr narrated to us: Hishām ibn Yūsuf narrated to us: Maʿmar informed us on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn Ḍamra, on the authority of the Commander of the Believers ʿAlī – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever would be pleased that Allah extend his lifespan, expand his provision, and ward off from him an evil death, let him fear Allah and uphold his family ties.”
Hadith 36: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf al-Aṣbahānī narrated to us: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn ʿUqba al-Shaybānī informed us: al-Khiḍr ibn Abān al-Hāshimī narrated to us: Abū Hudba Ibrāhīm ibn Hudba narrated to us: Anas ibn Mālik – may Allah be pleased with him – narrated to us, he said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “Indeed, on the Day of Judgement, the womb will cling to the Throne saying, ‘O Lord, sever the one who has severed me, and join the one who joined me.’”
بَابُ ٱلرَّحْمَةِ عَلَى خَلْقِ ٱللَّهِ ﷿
26. Mercy towards the Creation of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime
From the perfection and completion of the religion, and from the beauty and orderliness of Islam, is showing mercy to the creation of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted.
Hadith 37: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAffān narrated to us: Ibn Numayr narrated to us: al-Aʿmash narrated to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Wahb, on the authority of Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said, “Whoever is not merciful to people, Allah will not be merciful to him.”
Hadith 38: Imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar informed us: Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us: Hammām narrated to us on the authority of Qatāda who heard Anas say: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “None of you [truly] believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”
Hadith 39: al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us: Abū Aḥmad Bakر ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣayrafī informed us in Merv: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn al-Faḍl al-Balkhī narrated to us: Ibrāhīm ibn Sulaymān narrated to us: Baḥr al-Saqqāʾ narrated to us on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Do not boycott each other, do not turn your backs on one another, do not hate each other, and do not envy one another. Rather, be servants of Allah—brothers. It is not permissible for a man to abandon his brother for more than three days.” Al-Ḥākim said, “[This hadith is] preserved and authentic from al-Zuhrī but strange from Baḥr al-Saqqāʾ from him [al-Zuhrī]. We have not written it with an elevated chain except through this route.
Good character is the most noble character trait of the believer. It is for this that the Real, Glorified and Exalted, praised His Messenger – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – in the text of His book saying: “And assuredly you possess a magnificent nature.”
Hadith 40: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qudsī informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Rāzī informed us: Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Marzūق narrated to us: Shuʿba narrated to us on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Umm al-Dardāʾ, on the authority of Abū ʾl-Dardāʾ – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Nothing placed on the scale will be more virtuous than good character.”
Hadith 41: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Ṭāhir al-Daqqāق informed us in Baghdad: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Zubayr al-Qurashī al-Kūfī informed us: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAffān narrated to us: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubāb narrated to us on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr ibn Mālik al-Ḥاḍramī, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān al-Anṣārī – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – was asked about righteousness and sin so he said: “Righteousness is good character and sin is what troubles your soul and what you would dislike for people to know about.”
Hadith 42: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Khaffāf – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Isḥāق al-Sarrāj informed us: Qutayba ibn Saʿīd narrated to us: Mālik ibn Anas narrated to us on the authority of ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Sulaym al-Zuraqī, on the authority of Abū Qatāda al-Sulamī – may Allah be pleased with him – that the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – would pray while he was carrying Umāma. When he prostrated, he would put her down and when he stood up he would lift her up.
Hadith 43: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Bālawayh informed us: Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Sulamī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us: Maʿmar narrated to us on the authority of Hammām ibn Munabbih, on the authority of Abī Hurayra – may Allah be pleased with him – on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – who said: “If the worker comes to you with food, having spared you its heat and smoke, invite him to eat with you. Otherwise, place a morsel in his hand or let him place it in his hand.”
Hadith 44: Imam Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak informed us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar informed us: Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us: Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us: Shuʿba narrated to us on the authority of Abī Balj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, on the authority of Abī Hurayra – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever would be pleased to find the taste of faith, let him love a servant solely for the sake of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime.”
Hadith 45: The Shaykh, the Imam, Abū ʾl-Ṭayyib Sahl ibn Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Ṣaʿlūkī narrated to me: Abū ʿAlī Ḥāmid ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Harawī informed us: ʿAlī ibn Mishkān al-Sāwī narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rawwād narrated to us on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān on the authority of Abī ʾl-Zubayr on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “On the Day of Judgment, those who loved each other for the sake of Allah Most High will be upon podiums of light, envied by the martyrs and the righteous.”
Hadith 46: Zayd ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Sharīf informed us in Kufa: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Duḥaym al-Shaybānī reported to us, he said: Abū Isḥāق Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī ʾl-Khaybarī informed us: Wakīʿ informed us on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “The believers are like one man. If his head complains, the rest of the body responds with fever and sleeplessness.”
Hadith 47: Abū Nuʿaym al-Isfarāyinī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna informed us: Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Sulamī, al-Ṣaghānī and ʿAmmār, among others, narrated to us, they said: Abū Nuʿaym reported to us, he said: Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida narrated to us, he said: I heard ʿĀmir say: I heard al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr say: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “The similitude of the believers in their mercy, love, and compassion for one another is like a body. When a part of it complains, the rest of the body responds with fever and sleeplessness.”
Hadith 48: Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Adīb – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Ḥājib ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭūsī informed us: Aḥmad ibn Naṣr ibn Sulaymān ibn Salama al-Ḥimṣī informed us: Yūsuf ibn al-Safar narrated to us, on the authority of al-Awzāʿī, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha – may Allah be pleased with her and her father – that the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said, “A friend of Allah is naturally inclined to generosity and good character.”
Hadith 49: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyīnī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: Yazīd ibn Sinān narrated to us: ʿUthmān ibn ʿUmar narrated to us: Abū ʿĀmir al-Khazzār narrated to us, on the authority of Abī ʿImرān al-Jawnī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit, on the authority of Abī Dharr – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said to me: “Never disparage an act of goodness, even if it is [as simple as] meeting your brother with a cheerful face. And when you cook a broth, increase its water and give some of it to your neighbor.”
Hadith 50: Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Adīb informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Umawī narrated to us: Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī narrated to us: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn narrated to us on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Every act of good is charity, the one who guides to good is like the one who does it, and Allah loves the aiding of the distressed.”
Humility is the servant deeming himself insignificant, his readiness to accept the truth, and his refusal to see himself as having any superiority over others.
Hadith 51: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed us: Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Baṣrī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Shādhān narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Ḥakkām narrated to us: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, on the authority of Jābir, who said: I came to the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – regarding a debt owed by my father. I knocked on the door and he said, “Who is this?” He [Jābir] said: I replied, “Me.” He said, “Me? me?” as if he disliked that.
Hadith 52: Abū Nuʿaym al-Isfarāyinī informed us: Abū ʿAwāna informed us: ʿAlī ibn Ḥarb, Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Rāshid, and ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Abī Farwah al-Tuṣaybī narrated to us, they said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of Ziyād ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAlāqa, who heard Jarīr say: “I pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – to be sincere toward every Muslim. And I am a sincere advisor to you all.”
Hadith 53: Al-Ḥākim Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Isḥāq al-Khurāsānī al-ʿAdl narrated to us in Baghdad: Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Nāṣiḥ informed us: Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us: Sufyān al-Thawrī narrated to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Waththāb, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – that he said: “The believer who mingles with people and endures their harm is greater in reward than the believer who does not mingle with them or endure their harm.”
Hadith 54: Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Muʾadhdhin informed us: Abū Aḥmad ibn Makkī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamdān narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Yūnus al-Kudaymī narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Bāhilī narrated to us: Abū Ḥabīb al-ʿAnazī narrated to us: Bahz ibn Ḥakīm narrated to us on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – say: “Three [types of] eyes are forbidden to the Fire: An eye that wept out of fear of Allah Most High, an eye that remained vigilant in the way of Allah Most High, and an eye that averted its gaze from the prohibitions of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime.”
Hadith 55: Imam Abū Bakr ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Fūrak informed us: Abū Isḥāق Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Dībalī informed us in Mecca: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī narrated to us: Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr narrated to us: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us on the authority of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, on the authority of ʿAlī – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “By [his] forbearance, a man attains the rank of the one who fasts and stands in prayer. Indeed, a man is recorded as a tyrant, while ruling over nothing but the people of his household.”
Hadith 56: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdūs al-Ḥīrī narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Isḥāq ibn Iبرāhīm al-Baghawī informed us: al-Faḍl ibn Muḥammad al-Rūmī narrated to us: Ismāʿيl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Tarjumān narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Jamīʿ narrated to us on the authority of Sufyān al-Thawrī, on the authority of Muḥārib ibn Dithār, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī – may Allah be pleased with him – who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever acquires lawful wealth with which he preserves his honor, maintains his family ties, settles his debts, and supports his neighbor, shall meet Allah on the Day of Judgement with his face like the moon on the night of the full moon. Whoever acquires forbidden wealth in order to increase, boast, and show off, shall meet Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, while He is angry with him.”
This marks the end of the forty chapters. Praise be to Allah alone, and may His blessings and everlasting peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.