Al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyyah — Nawawi's Forty Hadith
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Al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyyah (الأربعون النووية), 'Nawawi's Forty Hadith,' is the most famous collection of forty hadith in Islamic scholarship — a genre (arba'iniyyat) with a long tradition among hadith scholars. Compiled by Imam al-Nawawi (d. 676 AH), it contains 42 hadiths (the title is conventional, reflecting the genre tradition) that the author describes as 'the foundations and pillars of Islam.' These forty-two hadith are among the most important in all of Islamic teaching: each one encapsulates a fundamental principle of belief, practice, or ethics. The Prophet said: 'Whoever memorizes forty hadith of my Sunnah, Allah will resurrect him among the scholars' — a tradition that inspired the widespread genre of arba'in compilations, of which al-Nawawi's is the definitive example.
The Genre of Arba'iniyyat
The practice of compiling 'forty hadith' collections predates al-Nawawi by centuries. Imam Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, Imam al-Bayhaqi, al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, and many others compiled their own collections. Al-Nawawi himself compiled an earlier collection. His final Arba'in, however, became the canonical collection because of its selection: he chose the hadith most comprehensive in meaning, most foundational in Islamic principle, and most widely applicable across all areas of the religion. Each hadith in the collection is what scholars call a 'universal principle' (qa'idah kulliyyah) that organizes multiple areas of Islamic teaching.
Key Hadith in the Collection
Several hadith in al-Arba'in are foundational to all of Islamic thought:
- Hadith 1 — Intentions: 'Actions are by intentions, and every person shall have only what he intended...' (Bukhari, Muslim) — the foundational principle of Islamic ethics and worship.
- Hadith 2 — Islam, Iman, and Ihsan: The Hadith of Jibril, defining Islam, Iman, and Ihsan — three ascending levels of the religion. This is one of the most comprehensive single hadith in all the Sunnah.
- Hadith 5 — Forbidding Innovation: 'Whoever introduces into this matter of ours something that is not part of it, it is rejected' — the foundational principle against bid'ah.
- Hadith 6 — Halal is Clear: 'The halal is clear and the haram is clear, and between them are doubtful matters...' — the foundational principle of Islamic legal reasoning.
- Hadith 29 — No Harm: 'There is to be no harming and no reciprocating of harm' — perhaps the single most applied principle in contemporary Islamic law.
- Hadith 42 — The Complete Muslim: 'Part of someone's perfection of his Islam is his leaving alone that which does not concern him' — a principle of Islamic character and social wisdom.
Commentaries and Educational Use
Al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyyah has attracted a large commentary literature. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali's Jami al-Ulum wal-Hikam is the most celebrated — a masterwork that expands al-Nawawi's forty-two hadiths to fifty with Ibn Rajab's own additions, providing extensive legal, linguistic, and ethical commentary. Ibn Daqiq al-Id wrote a brief but precise commentary. In the modern era, Imam al-Nawawi's text with Ibn Rajab's commentary is among the most commonly taught texts in Islamic seminaries globally, assigned to students who have completed introductory fiqh and are ready for a principled engagement with the Sunnah. Memorizing the forty-two hadith of al-Nawawi is a standard milestone in Islamic education.