Forty Nawawi , part - 4 , Hadith 2. Fundamentals of Islam Part A

Also on the authority of `Umar (radi Allaahu ‘anhu), who said:

“One day while we were sitting with the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) there appeared before us a man whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black; no signs of journey were to be seen on him and none of us knew him. He walked up and sat down in front of the Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam), with his knees touching against the Prophet’s (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs he said: “O Muhammad, tell me about Islaam.”The Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “Islaam is to testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allaah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, to perform prayers, to give zakaah, to fast in Ramadaan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so.”He said: “You have spoken rightly”; and we were amazed at him asking him and saying that he had spoken rightly.He (the man) said: “Tell me about Eemaan.”He (the Prophet, sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “It is to believe in Allaah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny (qadr), both the good and the evil of it.”He said: “You have spoken rightly.”He (the man) said: “Then tell me about Ihsaan.”He (the Prophet, sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “It is to worship Allaah as though you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then (knowing that) truly He sees you.”He said: “Then tell me about the Hour.”He said: “The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner.”He said: “Then tell me about its signs.”He said: “That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress, and that you will see barefooted, naked destitute shepherds competing in constructing lofty buildings.”Then he (the man) left, and I stayed for a time. The he (the Prophet, sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “O `Umar, do you know who the questioner was?”I said: “Allaah and His Messenger know best.”He said: “It was Jibreel, who came to teach you your religion.”It was related by Muslim

Brief Commentary

• This Hadith is called أم السنة  (the mother of the Sunnah), just like Surah Al-Fatiha is called أم  الكتاب (the mother of the book)
• Some scholars say the first hadith (hadith 1. Intentions) is like “بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم” and this hadith is like Surah Al-Fatiha
• The prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) ended the hadith by saying Jibreel came to teach us our religion. By this he means our religion in all aspects
• This incident (hadith) took place towards the end of the prophet’s (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) life, hence it may be said that Jibreel was sent to summarise the message via this hadith
• As Jibreel came to teach us our religion in all aspects, this also includes teaching us about the etiquettes of seeking knowledge and this was done by the manner Jibreel was conducting himself with the prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam)
• Knowledge is worship hence it needs the three I’s discussed previously:
  • Iman: We need to have the fear of Allah when studying or teaching Islamic knowledge
  • Ikhlas: We need to be seeking knowledge solely for the sake of Allah
  • Ittiba’: We need to study the knowledge that is based upon the teachings of the prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam)
• Scholars used to learn manners as they would learn Islamic knowledge
• The actual meaning of Islam is submission, not peace
• Iman comprises of three components:
  • Belief in the heart
  • Statement of the tongue
  • Actions of the limbs
• Ibn Taymiyyah said “There is nothing more beloved to a pure and sound heart other than Allah”
• Iman increases and decreases as in Surah Al-Anfal, [8:2]

Benefits and action points:

• Manners of seeking knowledge:
  • Dress in the best of clothes
  • Sit quietly
  • Come close enough to pay attention and understand everything from the teacher
  • Ask questions in a good manner; concise, simple, relevant questions
  • Memorise well
  • Apply what is learnt
  • Only teach what you are sure and certain of
• Etiquettes of a seeker of knowledge:
  • Leave pride and arrogance
  • Beware of falling into the doubtful/unclear issues
  • Adorn yourself with manners and honour
  • Avoid the gatherings of vain speech
  • Avoid haste. Do not come to conclusions quickly
  • Perfect the foundations before expanding further in your studies
• Etiquettes with your teacher:
  • Do not precede him in speech or actions
  • Avoid extensive/persistent questioning
  • Do not call him by his name
  • Do not allow small mistakes to degrade your teacher in your eyes
  • Write what it taught and pay attention to it
• Manners with the knowledge:
  • Revise, memorise and act upon it
  • Seek what is beneficial and leave what is not
  • Make du’aa to Allah for He is the owner of all knowledge
  • Do not hesitate to say ‘I don’t know’. If half of knowledge is ‘I don’t know’ then half of ignorance is answering what you are unsure of
  • Be precise and accurate
  • Take some time to relax. Constantly seeking knowledge will make you bored and inattentive
  • Live between the Qur’an and the Sunnah
  • Be complete in what you learn and do not steal from the knowledge (studying certain parts whilst leaving out others)
• Signs of beneficial knowledge:
  • Humility
  • Concern with what benefits
  • Fear of Allah
  • Concise speech
  • Thinking oneself to be less than others
  • No desire to overcome or lead, to appear better, or to be famous

The commentary on the pillars of Islam will be done on the 3rd hadith inshaAllah, hence were not included here.

Forty Nawawi Part - 3 , Hadith 1. Intentions COMPLETE

Hadith 1. Intentions

On the authority of Ameer ul-Mu’mineen (the Commander of the Faithful), Abu Hafs `Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam say:

“Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have only that which he intended. Thus he whose migration (Hijrah to Madeenah from Makkah) was for Allah and His Messenger, his migration was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated.

Reported in Bukhari and Muslim

Brief commentary: 

• Many scholars started their books with this hadith
• Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali said this is one of the ahadith that the religion revolves around
• It is equivalent to a third of knowledge because we are rewarded for three things: what the heart contains, what the tongue says and what our limbs do, and this hadith is pinnacle in dealing with matters of the heart
• The word إنما  is used for exclusivity i.e. Actions are exclusively done by intentions
• Some scholars said there is an ellipses (implied meaning) in the first statement, in that it is talking about correctness of actions, as we are only judged in the hereafter for actions which we intended to do and are not judged for accidental actions (which had no intention behind it), i.e. the first statement is saying “Actions which you will be judged upon on the day of judgement are the ones you intended to do”
• In the Arabic, it may seem that the second statement وإنما لكل امرئ ما نوى  is a repeat of the first one, but the meaning of both is that the first statement is saying: for every correct action you do (action that you are held accountable for), there is an intention behind it, and the second statement is saying: the reward for the doer for his deed is according to his pious intention
• Doing sins could prevent you from doing righteous actions
• The first 3 people to be dragged into hellfire are people who done good actions with insincere intentions
• The opposite of sincerity is riyaa’, which means: showing off
• Riyaa’ is considered as a minor form of shirk, and can disqualify a person’s good deeds
• Riyaa’ in Islam is when we do an act of worship for other than the sake of Allah alone
• Riyaa’ is of many levels, many of which are hidden. Some examples of riyaa’ are:
  • You do an action solely for the sake of the people
  • You do an action for the sake of Allah, but when you do it in front of others, you find it easier to do e.g. praying qiyam-ul-layl
  • You do it for the sake of Allah and it is not made easier by others looking at you, but you feel happy when others know you did this action, and you try hard to let them know you’ve done it e.g. pray in front of them or mention that you’ve just did this act of worship
  • You do it for the sake of Allah and it is not made easier by others looking at you, but you feel happy when others know you did this action, however, you do not directly try to make it visible that you have done this action, but you try to make it known indirectly e.g. swollen eyes or dry lips to let others know you’ve been crying or fasting
  • You do it for the sake of Allah and do not let others know you’ve done it, but you expect to be respected by others because you do such and such acts of worship
• This hadith mentioned two things, dunya and women, as they distract us the most from the hereafter
• The main theme of this hadith is about sincerity and purifying our intentions
• We need the three I’s for our deeds to be accepted:
  • Iman (Being a Muslim)
  • Ikhlas (sincerity)
  • Ittibaa’ ( following the way of the prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam))
• Without any of the three above, our deeds will not be accepted, hence it is vital that we be sincere with Allah in our acts of worship
• Some definitions of sincerity:
  • You do the action solely for the sake of Allah
  • You do not want a witness for your action other than Allah, and you do not seek reward for it from other than Allah
  • Purifying the action from any defects
  • When your inner is the same as your outer
• Some of the salaf have said that if you see sincerity in your sincerity, then your sincerity requires more sincerity, for the level of deficiency you see in your sincerity is in fact the level of sincerity you have!
• Ibn Al-Qayyim said about the pious intention: “Forgetting to look at others, by constantly looking at Allah” i.e. not caring what others think by always worrying what Allah sees
• We need to have a sincere intention for everything we do so that we may be rewarded for it e.g. intend to go to sleep to be able to be stronger to worship Allah, intend to eat to be able to be stronger to worship Allah, etc
• The scholars have said “ The worship of the heedless is a habit, and the habits of the righteous are worship” i.e. the heedless ones are not concentrating in their worship as it is just a habit, but the righteous turn even their habits into worship e.g. eating, sleeping etc
• The intention is the driving force in your heart that pushes you to do this action. It is not something that you merely say with your tongue so for you to have a sincere pious intention, you must have this intention (e.g. playing football to be healthy or to meet with brothers and increase in brotherhood) before carrying out the action, and it must be the reason that pushes you towards this action, so if it is not there, you would not do the action

Benefits and Action points:

• Whenever you feel a difference whether people look at your act of worship or not, then know you have an element of riyaa’ in you which you must seek to dispel
• Avoid all forms of riyaa’ mentioned in the commentary above
• To avoid riyaa’ we must know what causes it. It is caused by 3 main principles. Below are the causes of riyaa’ and how to dispel them:
  • Desiring to be praised
    • Remind yourself of the pleasures you get in Jannah, and compare if you want to swap them for the minute pleasure of being praised in the dunya
  • Hating to be criticised
    • Remind yourself of your imminent stand before Allah and compare which criticism is more important, the criticism of the people or the criticism of Allah
    • Know that if Allah is pleased with you, then He will make the people pleased with you too
  • Desiring what is in the hands of the people
    • Remind yourself that what is with Allah is far greater
    • Remind yourself that what is in the hands of the people ultimately belongs to Allah, and only He decides if you get something or not
• Being Sincere in your worship of Allah brings many benefits. These include:
  • It is a reason to be saved on the day of judgement
  • It is a great source of good deeds
  • It can magnify the reward of a small action
  • It can change your habits into acts of worship
  • It is a reason for your sins to be forgiven
  • It is a reason for calamities to be removed
  • It is a reason to be raised in rank
  • It saves a person from trials and tribulations
• In order to achieve sincerity, we need to :
  • See the good actions we do as a blessing from Allah over us for giving us the ability to do them
  • Not ask for any rewards for it as we know we are slaves of Allah and slaves do not ask for rewards for what they do
  • Not be pleased with what we do and look for its defects and try to improve next time (while never feeling that we have reached perfection in what we do)
  • Know what Allah deserves and that we will never be able to worship Him as He deserves
  • Try our utmost to perfect the action, but be shy from Allah as it is not perfect
  • Try out utmost to not let anyone see or know about the action
  • Understand that we only did this action because Allah has written for us to do it so all the credit goes to Him

Forty Nawawi part -2 , Hadith 1. Intentions Part B

On the authority of Ameer ul-Mu’mineen (the Commander of the Faithful), Abu Hafs `Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam say:

“Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have only that which he intended. Thus he whose migration (Hijrah to Madeenah from Makkah) was for Allah and His Messenger, his migration was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated.

Reported in Bukhari and Muslim

Brief commentary: 

• The main theme of this hadith is about sincerity and purifying our intentions
• We need the three I’s for our deeds to be accepted:
  • Iman (Being a Muslim)
  • Ikhlas (sincerity)
  • Ittibaa’ ( following the way of the prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam))
• Without any of the three above, our deeds will not be accepted, hence it is vital that we be sincere with Allah in our acts of worship
• Some definitions of sincerity:
  • You do the action solely for the sake of Allah
  • You do not want a witness for your action other than Allah, and you do not seek reward for it from other than Allah
  • Purifying the action from any defects
  • When your inner is the same as your outer
• Some of the salaf have said that if you see sincerity in your sincerity, then your sincerity requires more sincerity, for the level of deficiency you see in your sincerity is in fact the level of sincerity you have!
• Ibn Al-Qayyim said about the pious intention: “Forgetting to look at others, by constantly looking at Allah” i.e. not caring what others think by always worrying what Allah sees
• We need to have a sincere intention for everything we do so that we may be rewarded for it e.g. intend to go to sleep to be able to be stronger to worship Allah, intend to eat to be able to be stronger to worship Allah, etc
• The scholars have said “ The worship of the heedless is a habit, and the habits of the righteous are worship” i.e. the heedless ones are not concentrating in their worship as it is just a habit, but the righteous turn even their habits into worship e.g. eating, sleeping etc
• The intention is the driving force in your heart that pushes you to do this action. It is not something that you merely say with your tongue so for you to have a sincere pious intention, you must have this intention (e.g. playing football to be healthy or to meet with brothers and increase in brotherhood) before carrying out the action, and it must be the reason that pushes you towards this action, so if it is not there, you would not do the action

Benefits and Action points:

• Being Sincere in your worship of Allah brings many benefits. These include:
  • It is a reason to be saved on the day of judgement
  • It is a great source of good deeds
  • It can magnify the reward of a small action
  • It can change your habits into acts of worship
  • It is a reason for your sins to be forgiven
  • It is a reason for calamities to be removed
  • It is a reason to be raised in rank
  • It saves a person from trials and tribulations
• In order to achieve sincerity, we need to :
  • See the good actions we do as a blessing from Allah over us for giving us the ability to do them
  • Not ask for any rewards for it as we know we are slaves of Allah and slaves do not ask for rewards for what they do
  • Not be pleased with what we do and look for its defects and try to improve next time (while never feeling that we have reached perfection in what we do)
  • Know what Allah deserves and that we will never be able to worship Him as He deserves
  • Try our utmost to perfect the action, but be shy from Allah as it is not perfect
  • Try out utmost to not let anyone see or know about the action
  • Understand that we only did this action because Allah has written for us to do it so all the credit goes to Him

Forty Nawawi Part -1 , Hadith 1. Intentions Part A

On the authority of Ameer ul-Mu’mineen (the Commander of the Faithful), Abu Hafs `Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam say:

“Actions are but by intentions and every man shall have only that which he intended. Thus he whose migration (Hijrah to Madeenah from Makkah) was for Allah and His Messenger, his migration was for Allah and His Messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated.

Reported in Bukhari and Muslim

Brief commentary:

• Many scholars started their books with this hadith
• Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali said this is one of the ahadith that the religion revolves around
• It is equivalent to a third of knowledge because we are rewarded for three things: what the heart contains, what the tongue says and what our limbs do, and this hadith is pinnacle in dealing with matters of the heart
• The word إنما  is used for exclusivity i.e. Actions are exclusively done by intentions
• Some scholars said there is an ellipses (implied meaning) in the first statement, in that it is talking about correctness of actions, as we are only judged in the hereafter for actions which we intended to do and are not judged for accidental actions (which had no intention behind it), i.e. the first statement is saying “Actions which you will be judged upon on the day of judgement are the ones you intended to do”
• In the Arabic, it may seem that the second statement وإنما لكل امرئ ما نوى  is a repeat of the first one, but the meaning of both is that the first statement is saying: for every correct action you do (action that you are held accountable for), there is an intention behind it, and the second statement is saying: the reward for the doer for his deed is according to his pious intention
• Doing sins could prevent you from doing righteous actions
• The first 3 people to be dragged into hellfire are people who done good actions with insincere intentions
• The opposite of sincerity is riyaa’, which means: showing off
• Riyaa’ is considered as a minor form of shirk, and can disqualify a person’s good deeds
• Riyaa’ in Islam is when we do an act of worship for other than the sake of Allah alone
• Riyaa’ is of many levels, many of which are hidden. Some examples of riyaa’ are:
  • You do an action solely for the sake of the people
  • You do an action for the sake of Allah, but when you do it in front of others, you find it easier to do e.g. praying qiyam-ul-layl
  • You do it for the sake of Allah and it is not made easier by others looking at you, but you feel happy when others know you did this action, and you try hard to let them know you’ve done it e.g. pray in front of them or mention that you’ve just did this act of worship
  • You do it for the sake of Allah and it is not made easier by others looking at you, but you feel happy when others know you did this action, however, you do not directly try to make it visible that you have done this action, but you try to make it known indirectly e.g. swollen eyes or dry lips to let others know you’ve been crying or fasting
  • You do it for the sake of Allah and do not let others know you’ve done it, but you expect to be respected by others because you do such and such acts of worship
• This hadith mentioned two things, dunya and women, as they distract us the most from the hereafter

Benefits and Action points:

• Whenever you feel a difference whether people look at your act of worship or not, then know you have an element of riyaa’ in you which you must seek to dispel
• Avoid all forms of riyaa’ mentioned in the commentary above
• To avoid riyaa’ we must know what causes it. It is caused by 3 main principles. Below are the causes of riyaa’ and how to dispel them:
  • Desiring to be praised
    • Remind yourself of the pleasures you get in Jannah, and compare if you want to swap them for the minute pleasure of being praised in the dunya
  • Hating to be criticised
    • Remind yourself of your imminent stand before Allah and compare which criticism is more important, the criticism of the people or the criticism of Allah
    • Know that if Allah is pleased with you, then He will make the people pleased with you too
  • Desiring what is in the hands of the people
    • Remind yourself that what is with Allah is far greater
    • Remind yourself that what is in the hands of the people ultimately belongs to Allah, and only He decides if you get something or not