Hadith #15

IslamWiki Explanation — IslamWiki Scholarly Team

The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Do not disdain a good deed, no matter how small it may seem, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face.' This hadith is among the most motivating in Islamic teaching because it validates the smallest acts of goodness. Ibn Uthaymin explains that 'smiling at your brother' was used as the smallest possible example — yet the Prophet ﷺ called it a good deed worth doing and not scorning. The Arabic word translated as 'disdain' (tahqir) implies treating something as beneath one's dignity. This attitude — dismissing small good deeds as too insignificant to bother with — is itself a spiritual problem the hadith is correcting. Ibn Allan comments that this connects to the principle that sins accumulate, and so do good deeds; dismissing small goods is how people end up with empty scales of deeds on the Day of Judgment. Ibn Hajar notes the specific mention of a cheerful face suggests that emotional generosity — making others feel welcome and valued — is an independently rewarded act.