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عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْأَنْصَارِيِّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا: أَنَّ رَجُلًا سَأَلَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَقَالَ: «أَرَأَيْتَ إِذَا صَلَّيْتُ الْمَكْتُوبَاتِ، وَصُمْتُ رَمَضَانَ، وَأَحْلَلْتُ الْحَلَالَ، وَحَرَّمْتُ الْحَرَامَ، وَلَمْ أَزِدْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ شَيْئًا، أَأَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ؟» قَالَ: «نَعَمْ».

Translation

Abū ʿAbdillāh Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh al-Anṣārī رضي الله عنهما reported that a man asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “If I perform the obligatory prayers, fast Ramaḍān, treat as lawful what is lawful, treat as forbidden what is forbidden, and add nothing beyond that, will I enter Paradise?” He ﷺ replied: “Yes.”

Narrated by Muslim.[1]

About the Narrator

Abū ʿAbdillāh Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām al-Anṣārī al-Khazrajī al-Salamī رضي الله عنهما was a distinguished Companion of the Prophet ﷺ and a prolific transmitter of his Sunnah. His best-known kunyah is Abū ʿAbdillāh, although Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān is also reported. He belonged to Banū Salimah of the Khazraj, one of the major Anṣārī tribes of Madinah. Ibn al-Athīr and Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr mention that his mother was Nusaybah bint ʿUqbah, also from the Anṣār.[2]

Jābir grew up in a household closely connected with the earliest history of Islam in Madinah. His father, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām رضي الله عنه, was a distinguished Companion who attended the pledge of al-ʿAqabah, was one of the twelve representatives (nuqabāʾ) appointed over the Anṣār, fought at Badr, and was martyred at Uḥud. Jābir himself attended the Second Pledge of al-ʿAqabah with his father while still young. Ibn Saʿd describes him as the youngest among those present.[3]

Although some early reports associate Jābir with Badr, his own statement preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim is explicit:

“I took part in nineteen campaigns with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I did not attend Badr or Uḥud because my father prevented me. When ʿAbdullāh was killed on the day of Uḥud, I never thereafter remained behind from a campaign of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”[4]

His father had kept him behind partly because Jābir bore responsibility for his sisters. After his father’s martyrdom, this responsibility fell heavily upon the young Companion. The Prophet ﷺ showed Jābir particular affection and concern during this period. Jābir later recalled:

اسْتَغْفَرَ لِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ لَيْلَةَ الْبَعِيرِ خَمْسًا وَعِشْرِينَ مَرَّةً“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sought forgiveness for me twenty-five times on the night of the camel.”[5]

The “camel incident” (Laylat al-Baʿīr) refers to a journey in which Jābir رضي الله عنه was travelling with the Prophet ﷺ on a weak, exhausted camel that could hardly keep pace with the army. The Prophet ﷺ came to him, prayed for the camel, and struck or prodded it lightly; after that, it became remarkably energetic and began moving ahead of the others.

During the journey, the Prophet ﷺ spoke warmly with Jābir about his family and circumstances, and offered to buy the camel from him while allowing him to continue riding it until they reached Madinah. When they arrived, the Prophet ﷺ paid Jābir the agreed price and then returned the camel to him as a gift.

Jābir later participated in major events including the Battle of the Trench and the Pledge of al-Riḍwān at al-Ḥudaybiyyah. More enduring, however, was his contribution to preserving and teaching the Sunnah. Al-Dhahabī describes him as an “imām, great scholar, mujtahid, ḥāfiẓ and jurist”. His long life allowed several generations of students to receive the Prophet’s ﷺ teachings through him.

Jābir is accordingly counted among the Companions who narrated a large number of ḥadīths. Al-Dhahabī states that his Musnad comprised 1,540 narrations; al-Bukhārī and Muslim jointly transmitted fifty-eight of them, while al-Bukhārī transmitted twenty-six independently and Muslim one hundred and twenty-six.[6]

He lived to an advanced age and lost his eyesight towards the end of his life. Sources differ on the precise year of his death: 74, 77, or 78 AH.

A Short Answer to a Great Question

The unnamed questioner in Imām al-Nawawī’s version of this ḥadīth is identified in another narration as al-Nuʿmān ibn Qawqal رضي الله عنه. He is also referred to as al-Nuʿmān ibn Thaʿlabah. He was an Anṣārī Companion who participated in the Battle of Badr and was later martyred at Uḥud.

On the day of Uḥud, al-Nuʿmān, who had a limp, supplicated:

“O Allah, I ask You that the sun not set before I tread, with this lameness of mine, upon the greenery of Paradise.”

After his martyrdom, the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said:

“He had a good expectation of Allah, and found Allah as he expected. I saw him treading the greenery of Paradise with no lameness.”[7]

This gives particular meaning to his question in the present ḥadīth. He had asked the Prophet ﷺ whether faithfully observing the obligations and avoiding what Allah had forbidden would admit him to Paradise. At Uḥud, that hope in Paradise remained with him until martyrdom.

The question itself reveals what occupied the minds of the Ṣaḥābah. Al-Nuʿmān was seeking to know the way to Paradise. He wanted to understand what Allah required of him and whether steadfast obedience to those requirements would bring him safely to his destination.

The Prophet’s ﷺ reply contains only one word: “Yes.” Yet the question he answered captures the essentials of a believer’s practical life. Prayer and fasting are named. The lawful and the unlawful then extend the answer into everything else: belief and worship, dealings with people, wealth, family responsibilities and personal conduct.

Ibn Rajab رحمه الله draws out the governing meaning of the hadith: whoever fulfils the obligations and refrains from what Allah has forbidden has a path to Paradise. He places this narration beside other authentic reports in which people ask the Prophet ﷺ about the duties required for salvation.[8]

In one such report, a man asks about the prescribed prayers, fasting and zakāh. When told what is obligatory and what is voluntary, he declares that he will neither add to nor diminish the prescribed duties. The Prophet ﷺ says:

«أَفْلَحَ إِنْ صَدَقَ»

“He will succeed if he is truthful.”[9]

The condition matters. The promise concerns a person who actually carries out what he has undertaken, sincerely and consistently. It is easy to announce that one will keep to the obligations; living within Allah’s limits every day is the real test.

The Obligatory Prayers and the Fast of Ramaḍān

The man begins with the prescribed prayers: «صَلَّيْتُ الْمَكْتُوبَاتِ». The five daily prayers give the believer’s day its rhythm. They call a person back to Allah amid work, family concerns, tiredness and distraction. Performing them means giving these duties their due, rather than treating them as items to be hurried through whenever a gap appears in the day.

He then says: «وَصُمْتُ رَمَضَانَ» — “and I fast Ramaḍān.” The annual fast requires a believer to leave permissible food and drink for Allah’s sake during its appointed hours. That discipline should strengthen the resolve to leave what remains prohibited throughout the year.

Another narration clarifies the relationship between worship and restraint. The Prophet ﷺ said:

«الصَّلَوَاتُ الْخَمْسُ وَالْجُمُعَةُ إِلَى الْجُمُعَةِ وَرَمَضَانُ إِلَى رَمَضَانَ مُكَفِّرَاتٌ مَا بَيْنَهُنَّ إِذَا اجْتَنَبَ الْكَبَائِرَ»

“The five daily prayers, one Friday prayer to the next, and one Ramaḍān to the next are expiations for what occurs between them, provided the major sins are avoided.”[10]

This qualification prevents a comfortable misunderstanding. Prayer and fasting are immense acts of worship, but a person cannot knowingly persist in serious wrongdoing while assuming that performing these acts makes the wrongdoing inconsequential. The questioner himself joins prayer and fasting to a commitment concerning the lawful and the unlawful.

What Does It Mean to Make the Lawful Lawful

The phrase «أَحْلَلْتُ الْحَلَالَ» means a person acknowledges what Allah has made lawful and lives within it.

Al-Nawawī explains the expression as doing what is lawful while believing it to be lawful. Ibn Rajab mentions more than one way of understanding it. It may refer to recognising that Allah has permitted something. It may also mean acting within the range of what is permitted, without crossing into what is forbidden. In this broader sense, the lawful includes obligatory, recommended and permissible actions. The explanations illuminate different sides of the same commitment: accepting Allah’s ruling and allowing that ruling to guide conduct.[11]

The Qurʾān also warns believers against claiming that Allah has forbidden wholesome things which He has made lawful:

{يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُحَرِّمُوا طَيِّبَاتِ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ}

“O believers, do not forbid the good things Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Allah does not love those who transgress.” (Al-Māʾidah 5:87)

Ibn Rajab connects this verse to people who abstained from certain permitted things out of excessive austerity. A person may choose a simple life or leave a permissible pleasure for a sound personal reason. That personal choice does not give him authority to declare Allah’s permission forbidden for himself or for others.

This is part of the hadith's balance. Faithfulness to Allah’s limits includes gratitude for what He permits. A lawful meal, honest livelihood, marriage and family life can all be lived within obedience to Him. A believer need not distrust a blessing merely because it is enjoyable.

What Does It Mean to Make the Unlawful Unlawful

The corresponding phrase is «وَحَرَّمْتُ الْحَرَامَ». Ibn Rajab explains that acknowledging a prohibition must be joined to avoiding what is prohibited. Calling an action sinful while willingly persisting in it does not fulfil the questioner’s undertaking.

The scope of this commitment reaches beyond a few conspicuous sins. It includes how a person earns and spends money, whether he tells the truth, how he treats those under his care, and whether he respects others' property and reputation. A religious life cannot be measured only by what happens in the prayer space; Allah’s limits also govern what happens at home and in the marketplace.

{إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا}

“If you avoid the major sins that you are forbidden, We will wipe away your lesser misdeeds and admit you to an honourable entrance.” (Al-Nisāʾ 4:31)

Ibn Rajab cites this verse to explain the relationship between obedience, avoiding major sins, and the promise of Paradise. Its promise should inspire both hope and vigilance: hope in Allah’s generosity, and vigilance about deeds a person might be tempted to excuse.

The two expressions also protect the believer from making personal preference the measure of religion. What Allah has permitted should be received as permitted; what He has forbidden should be recognised and avoided. Both require the humility to let revelation guide one’s choices.

Why Are Zakāh and Ḥajj Not Named

The question explicitly mentions prayer and fasting, but does not name zakāh or Ḥajj. Al-Haytamī observes that zakāh and Ḥajj are not mentioned explicitly in this narration because they had not yet become obligatory at the time of the question, or because the questioner was not personally subject to their obligation then.[12] The Prophet ﷺ explained the obligation of zakāh and Ḥajj, along with their conditions, in many ḥadīths. The Prophet ﷺ also described zakāh as a duty in the report of the man who asked about the foundations of Islam.

The words “making the lawful lawful” and “making the unlawful unlawful” are broad enough to include duties that become obligatory when their conditions are met. A person who owes zakāh cannot deliberately withhold it and still claim to have fulfilled all that Allah requires. The same applies to Ḥajj for someone upon whom it has become obligatory.

The narration answers a particular question concisely. The rest of the Qurʾān and Sunnah tell us what faithful obedience contains. Read together, the texts offer clarity: every obligation that applies to a person must be fulfilled, whether or not it is named in this short exchange.

I Shall Add Nothing and the Place of Voluntary Worship

When the man asked, “Will I enter Paradise?”, al-Haytamī says the intended meaning is: Will I enter it among those who are saved, without first being punished? Mere eventual entry into Paradise rests fundamentally upon tawḥīd and faith. A believer guilty of serious sins may still be punished or detained because of the rights of others before entering Paradise. This accords with the authentic report that, after the believers have crossed the Ṣirāṭ, they will be detained upon a bridge between Hell and Paradise until wrongs committed against one another in this world have been settled.[13]

The Prophet’s ﷺ simple answer, “Yes,” therefore establishes an important principle: Voluntary deeds are not themselves a condition for the basic promise of entry into Paradise, provided the obligatory duties are fulfilled, and the prohibitions genuinely avoided. A Muslim does not become sinful merely for leaving optional acts as such.

The Prophet ﷺ nevertheless did not burden this questioner with a long list of recommended acts. Al-Haytamī explains this as part of the Prophet’s ﷺ wisdom in teaching: he made the religion accessible. He did not overwhelm someone who might still be becoming firmly established in Islam. Once faith takes root in the heart, a believer naturally begins to desire what the Ṣaḥābah themselves desired—greater worship, greater nearness to Allah, and greater preparation for the Hereafter.

Al-Haytamī stresses that persistent neglect of the nawāfil deprives a person of immense spiritual benefit. Voluntary deeds repair deficiencies in obligatory worship and draw the servant progressively closer to Allah. This is expressed in the celebrated ḥadīth qudsī:

«وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ عَبْدِي بِشَيْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ، وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَيَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ»

“My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him. He continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts until I love him.”[14]

Thus, there is an important difference between saying that voluntary worship is not required for the basic promise of Paradise and treating it as unimportant. The believer who limits himself to the minimum may fulfil his obligation, but he voluntarily gives up a vast field of spiritual growth, additional reward, and closeness to Allah.

This meaning is reinforced by the well-known ḥadīth of the man who asked the Prophet ﷺ about Islam's obligations. When told that five prayers were obligatory, he asked:

هَلْ عَلَيَّ غَيْرُهَا؟ قَالَ: لَا، إِلَّا أَنْ تَطَوَّعَ

“Is anything else required of me?” He ﷺ replied: “No, unless you choose to perform something voluntarily.”

After hearing the other obligations, the man declared that he would neither add to them nor fall short. The Prophet ﷺ then said:

أَفْلَحَ إِنْ صَدَقَ

“He will succeed, if he is truthful.”

A Clear Road to Paradise

This hadith is not an isolated statement. Numerous authentic narrations convey the same essential message: sincere faith in Allah, fulfilment of the obligatory duties, and avoidance of what He has forbidden form the sure foundation of the road to Paradise. Ibn Rajab cites reports from Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, Ḍimām ibn Thaʿlabah and others in which the Prophet ﷺ gave remarkably similar answers to people who asked what would save them from the Fire and admit them into Paradise.

One of the most striking is the narration of Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه recorded in both Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. A Bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ and said:

يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، دُلَّنِي عَلَى عَمَلٍ إِذَا عَمِلْتُهُ دَخَلْتُ الْجَنَّةَ. قَالَ: «تَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ لَا تُشْرِكُ بِهِ شَيْئًا، وَتُقِيمُ الصَّلَاةَ الْمَكْتُوبَةَ، وَتُؤَدِّي الزَّكَاةَ الْمَفْرُوضَةَ، وَتَصُومُ رَمَضَانَ». قَالَ: وَالَّذِي بَعَثَكَ بِالْحَقِّ، لَا أَزِيدُ عَلَى هَذَا شَيْئًا أَبَدًا وَلَا أَنْقُصُ مِنْهُ. فَلَمَّا وَلَّى، قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ: «مَنْ سَرَّهُ أَنْ يَنْظُرَ إِلَى رَجُلٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ فَلْيَنْظُرْ إِلَى هَذَا»

“O Messenger of Allah, direct me to a deed which, if I perform it, will admit me to Paradise.” He ﷺ said: “Worship Allah without associating anything with Him, establish the prescribed prayer, pay the obligatory zakāh, and fast Ramaḍān.” The man said: “By Him Who sent you with the truth, I will never add anything to this nor fall short of it.” When he turned to leave, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever would like to look at a man from the people of Paradise, let him look at this man.”[15]

Another narration describes a man who asked about the prescribed prayers, fasting, and zakāh and promised not to add to or subtract from them: “He will succeed if he is truthful,” or, in another wording, “He will enter Paradise if he is truthful.” Ibn Rajab explains that such statements do not mean abandoning the rest of Islam. Rather, the speakers intended that they would not add voluntary acts beyond the obligations while remaining faithful to all that Allah had commanded and avoiding His prohibitions.

The repeated qualification— “if he is truthful”—is perhaps the key to understanding all these narrations. The promise is not attached merely to saying that one will perform the minimum. It belongs to the person who actually remains true to tawḥīd, guards the obligations, respects Allah’s limits and perseveres in that obedience throughout life.

The road to Paradise is not hidden or inaccessible. Allah has made its foundations clear. At the same time, the believer should not confuse the minimum required for salvation with the highest possibilities of faith. The obligations lay the foundation; the nawāfil build on it, repair its deficiencies, and draw the servant nearer to Allah. But for the person who asks, as al-Nuʿmān did, “Will I enter Paradise?”, the Prophet’s ﷺ answer remains wonderfully direct and full of hope:

نَعَمْ — “Yes.”

Read more related articles:

Istiqāmah: Remaining Firm on the Straight Path

If You Feel No Shame, Do Whatever You Wish

Guard Your Heart, Correct Your Deeds, Perfect Your Character

References:

[1]Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Īmān, no. 15c. See also Imām al-Nawawī, al-Arbaʿūn al-Nawawiyyah, ḥadīth no. 22. Muslim’s route naming al-Nuʿmān ibn Qawqal is no. 15a–b.

[2] Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb fī Maʿrifat al-Aṣḥāb, entry on Jābir ibn ʿAbdillāh; see also al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, 3:189–194.

[3] Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, 3:189–194

[4] Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar, no. 1813.

[5] Al-Tirmidhī, Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Kitāb al-Manāqib, no. 3852; al-Nasāʾī, al-Sunan al-Kubrā, no. 8191 (numbering varies by edition).

[6] Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, 3:194.

[7] Ibn al-Athīr, Usd al-Ghābah fī Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah, biography of al-Nuʿmān ibn Qawqal.

[8] Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa al-Ḥikam fī Sharḥ Khamsīna Ḥadīthan min Jawāmiʿ al-Kalim, ed. Shuʿayb al-Arnāʾūṭ and Ibrāhīm Bājis (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 7th ed., 1422 AH/2001), commentary on ḥadīth no. 22.

[9]Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Īmān, no. 46; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Īmān, no. 11.

[10]Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Ṭahārah, no. 233c.

[11] Al-Nawawī’s explanation is preserved with the text in Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn bi-Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn, ed. Aḥmad Jāsim Muḥammad al-Muḥammad, Quṣayy Muḥammad Nūris al-Ḥallāq, and Abū Ḥamzah Anwar ibn Abī Bakr al-Shaykhī al-Dāghistānī (Jeddah: Dār al-Minhāj, 1st ed., 1428 AH/2008), p. 389. Compare Ibn Rajab, Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa al-Ḥikam, commentary on ḥadīth no. 22.

[12] Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī, al-Fatḥ al-Mubīn, p. 390.

[13] Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Maẓālim, no. 2440.

[14]Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Riqāq, no. 6502.

[15] Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Zakāh, no. 1397; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Īmān, no. 14b.