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Al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah

عَنْ أَبِي مَالِكٍ الْأَشْعَرِيِّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «الطُّهُورُ شَطْرُ الْإِيمَانِ، وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ تَمْلَأُ الْمِيزَانَ، وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ تَمْلَآنِ ـ أَوْ تَمْلَأُ ـ مَا بَيْنَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ نُورٌ، وَالصَّدَقَةُ بُرْهَانٌ، وَالصَّبْرُ ضِيَاءٌ، وَالْقُرْآنُ حُجَّةٌ لَكَ أَوْ عَلَيْكَ، كُلُّ النَّاسِ يَغْدُو فَبَائِعٌ نَفْسَهُ فَمُعْتِقُهَا أَوْ مُوبِقُهَا».

Translation

Abū Mālik al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Purification is half of faith. ‘All praise belongs to Allah’ fills the Scale, and ‘Glory be to Allah’ and ‘All praise belongs to Allah’ fill—or fills—what is between the heavens and the earth. Prayer is light, charity is proof, and patience is radiance. The Qurʾān is evidence for you or against you. Everyone sets out in the morning, selling his own soul: either setting it free or bringing it to ruin.”

Narrated by Muslim.[1]

For part 1

Charity Is Proof

«وَالصَّدَقَةُ بُرْهَانٌ»

“Charity is proof.”

Burhān is clear and convincing evidence. Charity gives practical evidence of faith because wealth has a powerful hold over the human heart. A person may speak readily of trusting Allah, but giving something valuable for His sake tests whether that trust reaches beyond words.

Ibn Rajab explains that people naturally love wealth and hesitate to part with it. When a person willingly gives it for Allah, that willingness indicates faith in Him and in His promise. Al-Haytamī likewise treats sincere giving as evidence supporting the giver’s claim to faith.[2]

This includes fulfilling the obligation of zakāh and extending generosity through voluntary charity. Allah says:

خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِمْ بِهَا

“Take charity from their wealth, by which you purify them and help them grow in purity.” (Al-Tawbah 9:103)

The giving benefits the recipient and reforms the giver. It discharges the rights attached to wealth and loosens the grip of greed upon the heart. The believer learns to regard possessions as a trust for which he will answer, with responsibilities towards those whom Allah has placed within his reach.

A remarkable example of charity as proof of sincere faith is found in the life of Abū Ṭalḥah al-Anṣārī رضي الله عنه. He was among the wealthiest of the Anṣār in Madinah, particularly in his ownership of date-palm gardens. His most beloved possession was a garden called Bayruḥāʾ, situated opposite the Prophet's Mosque. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would occasionally enter the garden and drink from its pleasant water.

When Allah revealed:

لَنْ تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنْفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ

“You will never attain righteousness until you spend from that which you love.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:92)

Abū Ṭalḥah immediately approached the Prophet ﷺ and declared that Bayruḥāʾ was his most cherished property and that he wished to give it in charity for Allah's sake, hoping for its reward in the Hereafter. He then said:

“So dispose of it, O Messenger of Allah, as Allah guides you.”

The Prophet ﷺ praised his generosity, saying:

“Excellent! That is profitable wealth! That is profitable wealth!”

He then advised Abū Ṭalḥah to distribute the garden among his relatives, which he willingly did.[3]

This incident beautifully illustrates why the Prophet ﷺ described charity as burhān, a clear proof of faith. Abū Ṭalḥah did not merely give away what he could easily spare; he parted with what he loved most. His generosity demonstrated that his love for Allah and desire for His reward were greater than his attachment to worldly possessions.

The proof, however, depends upon sincerity. A donation made to purchase admiration may reveal attachment to reputation rather than freedom from worldly attachment. The Qurʾān warns against spoiling charity through reminders of generosity, injury and showing off (al-Baqarah 2:264). Among those promised Allah’s shade is the person who gives so discreetly that his left hand does not know what his right hand spends.[4]

This does not make all public giving blameworthy: the Qurʾān itself recognises its goodness while commending concealed charity to the poor (al-Baqarah 2:271). The question is what the giver seeks. Sincere charity honours the recipient’s dignity and hopes for Allah’s acceptance, whether anyone else learns of it or not.

Patience Is Radiance

«وَالصَّبْرُ ضِيَاءٌ»

“Patience is radiance.”

Ṣabr means restraining and holding oneself firm. In religious life, it is the strength to remain within Allah’s commands when desires, difficulties or disappointments pull in another direction.

Ibn Rajab explains ḍiyāʾ here as light accompanied by a kind of heat, drawing upon the Qurʾānic description:

هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا

“He is the One who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light.” (Yūnus 10:5)

The point is a spiritual comparison: patience illuminates the way while requiring struggle. It involves restraining the self from what it wants and keeping it firm upon what Allah requires. Ibn Rajab writes:

“Since patience is difficult for the soul, requiring struggle against it, restraining it and holding it back from what it desires, it is radiance.”[5]

This comparison reveals a profound truth about human character. Patience is not simply waiting for difficulties to disappear. It involves an inner struggle, sometimes accompanied by the burning discomfort of resisting one's desires, controlling anger, enduring disappointment or continuing to fulfil responsibilities despite exhaustion. Just as the sun gives light together with heat while burning from within, patience illuminates the believer's path through the very struggle that makes it difficult.

A strong person is not necessarily someone who has never experienced pain, fear, frustration, or failure. Rather, true strength lies in the ability to face these experiences without surrendering to despair or abandoning what is right. Such strength is developed through repeated acts of self-restraint, perseverance and trust in Allah. Difficulties may test a person's resolve, but responding with patience can develop maturity, discipline, and resilience.

Indeed, one of the remarkable purposes of Islamic worship is to train the human soul in this very discipline. The five daily prayers teach consistency and commitment, even when a person is tired or occupied. Fasting teaches the believer to resist immediate desires and willingly endure hunger and thirst for a higher purpose. Charity trains the soul to overcome attachment to wealth, while avoiding prohibited actions requires constant self-control. These acts of worship gradually cultivate a disciplined soul capable of resisting temptation, persevering through hardship and remaining steadfast in obedience to Allah.

Al-Haytamī adds that patience supports the other deeds themselves: without it, prayer and the remaining acts of obedience could not be maintained.[6]

The scholars commonly distinguish three forms of patience. The first is patience in obedience to Allah: performing duties regularly, giving them their due and persisting when enthusiasm fades. Rising for prayer, fulfilling responsibilities and learning what one needs of the religion all require this steadiness. Sincerity also requires patience, since the heart must resist its desire to be noticed.

The second is patience in avoiding disobedience. A person may have the opportunity to gain through dishonesty, answer an insult with cruelty or indulge a forbidden desire without being seen. Ṣabr restrains him because Allah sees. Ibn Rajab records from early scholars that patience in obedience and in resisting sins is superior to merely enduring painful circumstances, highlighting the deliberate moral struggle these forms involve.[7]

The third is patience with painful circumstances and Allah’s decree. Illness, bereavement, loss and uncertainty may come without our choosing. The believer is responsible for the response: maintaining faith, avoiding prohibited speech and conduct, and continuing to seek Allah’s help.

Patience does not require the absence of tears, nor does it forbid explaining one’s distress or seeking lawful relief. Al-Haytamī points to Ayyūb عليه السلام, whom Allah praised as patient although he had called upon his Lord about the harm that afflicted him (Ṣād 38:44; al-Anbiyāʾ 21:83). A person can acknowledge pain while preserving reverence towards Allah. Taking appropriate steps to remove hardship can itself be part of faithful conduct.[8]

While most narrations of the hadith read “patience is radiance”, some read “fasting is radiance”. Fasting brings these forms of patience together. The fasting person obeys Allah, restrains desires and endures hunger and thirst. Ibn Rajab accordingly presents it as an especially significant expression of ṣabr. [9]

The capacity for patience can grow. The Prophet ﷺ said:

«وَمَنْ يَتَصَبَّرْ يُصَبِّرْهُ اللَّهُ، وَمَا أُعْطِيَ أَحَدٌ عَطَاءً خَيْرًا وَأَوْسَعَ مِنَ الصَّبْرِ».

“Whoever strives to be patient, Allah will grant him patience. No one has been given a gift better or more ample than patience.”[10]

The effort comes from the servant, and the enabling grace comes from Allah. A person need not wait to become naturally untroubled before practising ṣabr. It begins with the next faithful response, made while the difficulty is still felt.

The Qurʾān Is Evidence for You or Against You

«وَالْقُرْآنُ حُجَّةٌ لَكَ أَوْ عَلَيْكَ»

“The Qurʾān is evidence for you or against you.”

After describing the lights of worship, the Prophet ﷺ directs us to the revelation by which our beliefs and conduct are judged. The Qurʾān is Allah’s guidance, and receiving that guidance brings responsibility.

It becomes evidence in a person’s favour through belief, recitation, reflection and obedience. Al-Haytamī explains this in terms of following its commands, taking guidance from its light and adorning oneself with the noble character it teaches. It becomes evidence against a person when its rights are neglected and its guidance knowingly opposed.[11]

The Prophet ﷺ said:

«اقْرَءُوا الْقُرْآنَ فَإِنَّهُ يَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ شَفِيعًا لِأَصْحَابِهِ».

“Recite the Qurʾān, for it will come on the Day of Resurrection as an intercessor for its companions.”[12]

Another narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim describes the people brought with the Qurʾān as:

«الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ بِهِ».

“Those who used to act upon it.”[13]

That description helps us understand the companionship intended. Recitation is an honoured act of worship; its guidance is also meant to shape the life of the reciter.

Ibn Rajab quotes Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه:

«إن هذا القرآن كائن لكم أجرًا، وكائن عليكم وزرًا، فاتبعوا القرآن ولا يتبعكم القرآن».

“This Qurʾān will bring you reward, or it will become a burden against you. So follow the Qurʾān, and do not let the Qurʾān pursue you.”[14]

The image is arresting. Following the Qurʾān means allowing it to lead. Being pursued by it means facing the evidence of commands one knew but disregarded. Ibn Rajab also cites statements attributed to Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه describing the Qurʾān as leading its follower towards Paradise or bearing witness against the one who turns away from it.[15]

A person may recite verses about truthfulness and then examine what he writes and forwards. Verses concerning justice call him to fairness even when his own interests are involved. Passages about the Hereafter invite him to reconsider what he pursues and what he neglects. This is how recitation reaches daily life.

The warning should awaken responsibility without producing despair. A believer who recognises a contradiction between the Qurʾān and his conduct can repent, seek understanding and begin to correct it. The proper response to falling short is to return to the Book with greater honesty. We need its recitation and its guidance precisely because our hearts require continual correction.

Every Morning We Sell Our Souls

«كُلُّ النَّاسِ يَغْدُو فَبَائِعٌ نَفْسَهُ فَمُعْتِقُهَا أَوْ مُوبِقُهَا»

“Everyone sets out in the morning, selling his own soul: either setting it free or bringing it to ruin.”

These final words bring the entire narration into the ordinary beginning of a day. People leave their homes to work, study, trade, care for others and pursue their concerns. Behind these visible activities, their choices are also shaping their standing before Allah.

Bayʿ al-nafs, selling oneself, describes committing one’s life and effort to a course of action. Iʿtāq is setting free; ībāq is bringing to destruction. Ibn Rajab explains that the person who strives in obedience sells himself to Allah and seeks freedom from His punishment, while the person who strives in disobedience exposes his soul to humiliation and ruin.[16]

Allah says:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَىٰ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ

“Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in return for Paradise.” (Al-Tawbah 9:111)

The verse expresses the believer’s surrender to Allah and the generosity of His promise. The One who created the servant and provided his wealth promises Paradise in return for their faithful dedication to Him. The believer’s effort is therefore joined to gratitude and hope, never to a claim of independence from Allah’s mercy.

Al-Haytamī explains freeing the soul as release from the bondage of sins and disobedience, and from Allah’s displeasure and punishment. This gives freedom a deeper meaning. A person may follow every immediate desire while becoming increasingly unable to resist it. Obedience trains the soul to answer to its Lord rather than remain captive to appetite, anger or public approval.[17]

The sale takes place through ordinary decisions. An honest transaction, a prayer protected from neglect, a temptation resisted, a debt repaid and a wrong acknowledged all belong to the day’s moral work. So do the opposite choices. The final sentence asks each reader to consider where his activity is taking him, beyond the visible results it produces.

Ibn Rajab records a saying of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī رحمه الله:

«المؤمن في الدنيا كالأسير يسعى في فكاك رقبته، لا يأمن شيئًا حتى يلقى الله عز وجل».

“The believer in this world is like a captive striving to secure his release; he does not feel secure until he meets Allah, Mighty and Majestic.”[18]

This is vigilance joined to purposeful effort. The practices mentioned earlier in the ḥadīth are among the means of that release: purification, remembrance, prayer, charity, patience and obedience to the Qurʾān. Repentance gives the person who has gone wrong a way to turn back. Yesterday’s failure should lead to a more truthful response today, rather than another day surrendered to the same mistake.

Living the Hadith Each Day

The narration offers a coherent way of living. Begin the day with the purification and prayer Allah requires. Let remembrance accompany the moments between duties, and let its meaning correct the heart’s complaints and forgetfulness. Make room for giving, according to one’s means and responsibilities. When difficulty or temptation arrives, recognise it as an occasion to practise the patience one has been asking Allah to grant.

Give the Qurʾān a regular place in the day, and carry something of its guidance into a decision. A passage read attentively may call for an apology, a more honest transaction, renewed hope or a change in how someone is treated. In this way, worship and ordinary responsibilities become connected parts of obedience.

At the end of the day, a brief and truthful examination helps preserve this connection: which choices served the soul’s release, and which need repentance and repair?

The Choice We Make Every Day

Tomorrow morning, we will set out again. There will be work to complete, people to meet, words to say and decisions whose consequences may not immediately appear. The Prophet ﷺ teaches us to recognise what is at stake within them: the soul we carry is either being helped towards freedom or exposed to ruin.

The ḥadīth begins with purification and ends with the destiny of the person. Between those two points, it teaches us how to seek a life that is clean in its worship, truthful in its remembrance and illuminated by obedience. Ibn Rajab connects its final words to Allah’s declaration:

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا ۝ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا

“Successful indeed is the one who purifies the soul, and failed indeed is the one who corrupts it.” (Al-Shams 91:9–10)

We are responsible for striving, but purification is a gift we must continue to seek from Allah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught us to pray:

«اللَّهُمَّ آتِ نَفْسِي تَقْوَاهَا، وَزَكِّهَا أَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا، أَنْتَ وَلِيُّهَا وَمَوْلَاهَا».

“O Allah, grant my soul its taqwā and purify it; You are the best to purify it. You are its Guardian and its Master.”[19]

With that prayer, the believer steps into another morning: seeking Allah’s help, guarding the choices within his reach and hoping that the life he spends will become, by Allah’s mercy, the means of his soul’s release.

Reference:

^[1] Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 261 AH), Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Ṭahārah, Bāb Faḍl al-Wuḍūʾ, no. 223. The opening follows Muslim’s identification “Abū Mālik al-Ashʿarī” without reproducing the full isnād. The alternative “tamlaʾāni aw tamlaʾu” is retained. English renderings in this article are translations prepared from the Arabic; Qurʾānic renderings convey the meanings, and excerpts are identified by sūrah and verse.

^[2] Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-ṣadaqatu burhān”; al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, commentary on the same phrase.

[3] Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Zakāh, Bāb al-Zakāh ʿalā al-Aqārib, no. 1461; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Zakāh, Bāb Faḍl al-Nafaqah wa al-Ṣadaqah ʿalā al-Aqrabīn, no. 998. Narrated by Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه.

^[4] Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Zakāh, no. 1423; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Zakāh, no. 1031, from Abū Hurayrah, in the narration concerning the seven shaded by Allah.

^[5] Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-ṣabru ḍiyāʾ”.

^[6] Al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, discussion beginning “fa-in qulta mā ḥikmatu jaʿli al-ṣalāti nūran wa-l-ṣabri ḍiyāʾan”.

^[7] Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-ṣabru ḍiyāʾ”, citing Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Maymūn ibn Mihrān.

^[8] Al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-ṣabru ḍiyāʾ”, especially “fa-lā yunāfīhi iẓhāru al-balāʾ”.

^[9] Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, opening transmission discussion and section on fasting; al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, under “wa-l-ṣabru ḍiyāʾ”.

^[10] Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Zakāh, no. 1469; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Zakāh, no. 1053, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī. The quoted wording is an excerpt from the longer narration.

^[11] Al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-Qurʾānu ḥujjatun laka aw ʿalayk”.

^[12] Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb Ṣalāt al-Musāfirīn wa-Qaṣrihā, Bāb Faḍl Qirāʾat al-Qurʾān wa-Sūrat al-Baqarah, no. 804, from Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī; excerpt.

^[13] Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb Ṣalāt al-Musāfirīn wa-Qaṣrihā, no. 805, from al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān. The phrase is “wa-ahlihi alladhīna kānū yaʿmalūna bihi”.

^[14] Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, as quoted by Ibn Rajab in Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-Qurʾānu ḥujjatun laka aw ʿalayk”.

^[15] Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “wa-l-Qurʾānu ḥujjatun laka aw ʿalayk”, reports from Ibn Masʿūd. Their meaning is summarised here; the independently authenticated Prophetic evidence for intercession is Muslim, nos. 804–805.

^[16] Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “kullu al-nāsi yaghdū”.

^[17] Al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, commentary on Ḥadīth 23, under “fa-muʿtiquhā aw mūbiquhā”.

^[18] Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, as quoted by Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam, concluding discussion of Ḥadīth 23.

^[19] Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Dhikr wa-l-Duʿāʾ wa-l-Tawbah wa-l-Istighfār, no. 2722, from Zayd ibn Arqam. The supplication quoted is an excerpt from the longer narration.

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