Hadith 1-5: The Foundations

The first five hadiths of Al-Nawawi's collection establish the foundational principles of Islamic religious practice and belief with a comprehensiveness that is remarkable given their brevity.

The first hadith is among the most frequently cited in all of Islamic literature: 'Actions are by intentions, and for every person is what he intended.' Transmitted by Umar ibn al-Khattab in both al-Bukhari and Muslim with an impeccable chain, this statement establishes the principle that the religious value of any act depends on the intention behind it. Al-Nawawi chose to open with this hadith deliberately — it is the lens through which all subsequent hadiths should be read. Every prayer, fast, act of charity, or legal transaction acquires its religious character from the intention of the one performing it. The hadith has generated an entire sub-discipline of Islamic legal and ethical theory concerned with questions of intention, sincerity, and the relationship between inward states and outward actions.

The second hadith is the Jibril hadith — one of the most theologically comprehensive narrations in the entire hadith corpus. In it, the angel Jibril (Gabriel) comes to the Prophet in the form of a man and asks him three questions: What is Islam? What is iman (faith)? What is ihsan (excellence or spiritual perfection)? The Prophet's answers define the three dimensions of the religion: Islam as the five pillars (testimony of faith, prayer, zakah, fasting, and hajj); iman as belief in Allah, His angels, His scriptures, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree; and ihsan as worshipping Allah as though you see Him, for if you do not see Him, He sees you. This single narration, transmitted by Umar in Muslim, has structured the entire Islamic curriculum of knowledge for over a millennium — theology (covering iman), jurisprudence (covering Islam), and spirituality (covering ihsan) all derive their foundational definitions from it.

The third hadith, also from Umar in Muslim, enumerates the five pillars of Islam directly. It is paired with the second because together they provide the complete framework: the Jibril hadith defines Islam conceptually, and the third hadith states the pillars explicitly. Al-Nawawi's sequencing is careful and deliberate.

The fourth hadith comes from an-Nu'man ibn Bashir and is transmitted in both al-Bukhari and Muslim. It introduces the crucial epistemological categories of halal (the lawful) and haram (the prohibited), noting that both are clearly defined, and that between them are matters that are doubtful (mutashabihat) that most people do not know the ruling on. The Prophet's guidance: whoever avoids the doubtful has protected his religion and his honor; whoever falls into the doubtful falls into the haram, as a shepherd grazing near a protected boundary risks his flock straying into it.

The fifth hadith — 'Innovations in this matter of ours (the religion) that are not of it are rejected' — transmitted by Aisha in both al-Bukhari and Muslim, completes the opening quintet. Having defined what Islam is, what faith is, what the pillars are, and how to navigate uncertainty, the Prophet draws the boundary: the religion is what has been established by revelation and prophetic example; what is added to it from outside that framework has no standing. This hadith is foundational for the Islamic principle of bid'ah (religious innovation) and the importance of grounding all religious practice in the Quran and authentic Sunnah.