Hadith 26-34: Rights and Virtues

The next section of Al-Nawawi's collection addresses the obligations that define a Muslim's relationship with others and with Allah, alongside the virtues that the prophetic tradition associates with everyday acts of goodness.

Hadith 26, from Abu Hurairah in Muslim, is one of the most expansive statements in the collection: 'Every joint of a person must perform a charity every day the sun rises: to judge justly between two people is a charity. To help a man with his mount, lifting him onto it or hoisting up his belongings onto it, is a charity. A good word is a charity. Every step you walk toward the prayer is a charity. Removing something harmful from the road is a charity.' This hadith dismantles any notion that charity is exclusively a financial act and establishes that kindness, justice, helpfulness, and even removing an obstacle from a path are all forms of worship when done with good intention.

Hadith 27, from an-Nawwas ibn Sam'an in Muslim, defines righteousness (birr) and sin (ithm) through their internal markers: righteousness is what gives the soul comfort and settles peacefully in the heart; sin is what unsettles the soul and causes discomfort in the chest, even if others give you fatwa permitting it. This extraordinary statement validates the Muslim conscience as a moral compass and has been the subject of extensive commentary on the relationship between legal permissibility and spiritual sensitivity.

Hadith 28, from Abu Najih al-Irbad ibn Sariyah in Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmidhi, records the Prophet's farewell address-style advice to his Companions: to fear Allah, to hear and obey even if a slave is put in authority, to follow the Sunnah and the way of the rightly guided caliphs, to hold on to it firmly, and to beware of newly invented matters in religion. This hadith is particularly significant for Islamic legal theory, as it is often cited as the basis for the authority of the scholarly consensus and the danger of innovation.

Hadiths 29 through 31 address core points of aqeedah and practice. Hadith 29, from Mu'adh ibn Jabal in al-Bukhari and Muslim, records the Prophet's teaching that whoever whose last words are 'There is no god but Allah' will enter paradise — the importance of the shahada at the moment of death. Hadith 30, from Abu Tha'labah al-Khushani, reinforces the prohibition of transgressing Allah's limits. Hadith 31, from Abu Abdullah az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam in Al-Tirmidhi, addresses sincerity in seeking the truth.

Hadiths 32 through 34 address the obligation not to harm others, the duty to act on what one knows, and the virtue of moderation in worship. Hadith 33, from Ibn Abbas in Al-Tirmidhi, records the famous instruction: 'If you ask, ask from Allah; if you seek help, seek it from Allah.' This hadith, which directly follows the discussion of charity and rights, grounds all hope and dependency in Allah alone. Hadith 34, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri in Muslim, establishes that 'there is no harming and no reciprocating of harm' — a brief statement on which classical Islamic jurists built a substantial body of legal doctrine about preventing harm, removing harm, and the obligations this creates between neighbors, business partners, and family members.