Hadith 35-42: Final Wisdom and Ibn Rajab's Addition

The concluding hadiths of Al-Nawawi's collection bring together themes of competition in good deeds, brotherhood, accountability, and the ultimate purpose of human existence. Al-Nawawi included forty-two hadiths despite the 'forty' in his title — a convention he acknowledged, noting that scholars who compiled 'forty hadith' collections typically included slightly more without strict adherence to the exact number. Later, the Hanbali scholar Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (d. 795 AH) added two more hadiths to produce a supplementary set, and the combined work of fifty hadiths (forty-two from Al-Nawawi plus eight from Ibn Rajab) is sometimes taught as a unit.

Hadith 35, from Abu Hurairah in Muslim, establishes an obligation of mutual support among Muslims: 'Do not be envious of one another, do not artificially inflate prices against one another, do not hate one another, do not turn your backs on one another, and do not undercut one another in trade. Be servants of Allah, brothers.' The hadith ends with a definition of who is wronged — not only physically but in social standing and dignity — and establishes that the believer's heart must be free from the social diseases of envy, manipulation, hatred, and contempt.

Hadith 36, from Abu Hurairah in Muslim, records the Prophet's response to a man asking which form of Islam is best: giving food and greeting those you know and those you do not know. This hadith grounds Islamic community life in the two acts of generosity and universal greeting — available to anyone regardless of wealth or position.

Hadiths 37 through 40 address accountability and good deeds. Hadith 37, from Ibn Abbas in al-Bukhari and Muslim, contains the famous hadith qudsi recording Allah's mercy in multiplying good deeds: whoever intends a good deed and does not do it, Allah records a complete good deed; whoever does a good deed, Allah records it as ten to seven hundred or more. Whoever intends an evil but does not do it, Allah records a complete good deed. This narration, among the most beloved in Islamic spiritual literature, grounds the Muslim's hope in the absolute generosity of Allah even toward imperfect human effort.

Hadiths 41 and 42 close Al-Nawawi's original collection with statements on self-accountability and modesty in worship. Hadith 41, from Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Amr in al-Bukhari and Muslim, records the Prophet's desire that his follower does not overburden himself in worship beyond what he can sustain: 'The most beloved deeds to Allah are those done most consistently, even if they are small.' Hadith 42, also from Anas ibn Malik in al-Bukhari and Muslim, records the Prophet's statement: 'None of you truly believes until his desires are in accordance with what I have brought.'

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali's two additions, treated in some editions as an extension of the collection, focus on the fear of Allah and the importance of beneficial knowledge. His commentary on the entire collection, Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam (A Compendium of Sciences and Wisdoms), is regarded as the most scholarly and comprehensive commentary on the forty hadiths ever written, running to two large volumes and providing hadith criticism, legal analysis, and spiritual reflection for each narration. Together Al-Nawawi's collection and Ibn Rajab's commentary have functioned as a complete Islamic curriculum — from the definition of faith to the ethics of daily life — transmitted across generations as a foundational text of Islamic learning.