From Anas, radiyallahu ‘anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, say:

“Allah the Almighty has said: ‘O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me, and hope in Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds in the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I shall forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with an earth full of sins and were you then to face Me, without having associated anything with Me, I shall grant you an earth full of pardon.'”

[Recorded by Al-Tirmidhi, who said that it is a good and sound hadith]

Background

The main message of this hadith is calling upon Muslims to repent sincerely to Allah and to seek His forgiveness.

lessons

There are three means or ways which enable a Muslim to be forgiven by Allah.

1. The first one is al-du’a which means to supplicate Allah. Allah says in Surah Ghafir Ayah 60:
   

   And your Lord said: Call upon me, I will respond to you.

   The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said: “Supplication is the essence of worship” [Al-Tirmidhi]. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, also said: “Supplicate to Allah as if you are certain about His response.” Supplication is guaranteed that Allah will attend to or respond to it when certain conditions are fulfilled. At the same time there are other things that a Muslim should avoid doing in order for his supplication to be answered. The conditions of supplication have been discussed in previous hadiths. The most important thing is the full concentration and attention of the heart and to have full hope that Allah will respond to that du’a and not to rush it.
   Muslims have to practice supplication frequently because it is a continuous process. Among the things that a Muslim asks Allah in his supplication are to forgive his sins, to be saved from the Hell-Fire and to be among those who enter Paradise. Muslims have to make du’a with full hope that there is a response. Allah says in a Hadith Qudsi: “I am as My servant expects of Me.” [Muslim]. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, says in another hadith: “No Muslim who supplicates a supplication, that does not contain any sin or cutting of relations, Allah will grant him one of three things: either Allah will immediately respond to his supplication, or He may keep or store the answer for the Hereafter, or He will turn away from him an equivalent amount of evil or harm.” The Companions asked what if they keep requesting Allah. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, replied: “Then Allah shall give you even both.” [Imam Ahmad].

2. The second means that leads us to receive Allah’s forgiveness is istighfar (seeking forgiveness), even if someone has committed many sins. What is meant by seeking forgiveness is the istighfar that is linked to repentance which in turn also necessitates that the Muslim gives up committing sins and does not persist on doing them. Istighfar is a form of worship. The Muslim has to do and perform a lot of istighfar every day. Allah commanded us to make istighfar and praised those who perform istighfar. Allah says in Surah al-Zumar Ayah 53:
   

   O My servants, who have transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. Verily, Allah forgives all sins. Truly He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

   There are many forms of istighfar. There is what the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, taught his Companions to say. It is also narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, used to seek forgiveness from Allah more than seventy times a day, and in some narration more than one hundred times a day. Consequently, Muslims are recommended and required to do istighfar and seek the forgiveness of Allah at least one hundred times a day. The best statement of forgiveness is the statement that is narrated by the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, when he said: “O Allah: You are my Lord. There is no God but You. You created me and I am Your servant. I am following Your covenant and promise to the best of my ability. I seek refuge in You from the evils that I have done. I profess to You Your bounties upon me and I confess my sins. Forgive me for no one forgives sins except You.” The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, says: “Whoever says this statement with certainty concerning it in the daytime and dies that day before the evening, he is one of the inhabitants of Paradise; and whoever says this statement with certainty concerning it during the night and dies that night before the morning, he is one of the inhabitants of Paradise.” [Al-Bukhari]
   Istighfar is recommended to be practiced by true and close servants of Allah and every Muslim. They are recommended to do so in the morning, preferably after the Fajr prayers, and in the evening until the sunset. This should be part of the supplications that they perform day and night. Allah says in Surah al-Nisa’ Ayah 110:

   And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah’s Forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

3. The third cause or means of seeking Allah’s forgiveness is Taw hid. Taw hid means that a Muslim should worship Allah alone. Allah should be worshiped without associating or ascribing any partners with Him. Allah says in Surah al-Nisa’ Ayah 116:
   

   Verily! Allah forgives not the setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He wills sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah has indeed strayed far away.

Taw hid, as the scholars say, melts away sins. Through fulfilling all the obligations of Taw hid, Muslims are going to be forgiven and rewarded. In a previous hadith in this collection of Imam Nawawi’s Forty Hadith, we discussed the importance of the realization of of the idea of Taw hid where Muslims have to love, fear, and glorify Allah the most. By Taw hid, Muslims seek refuge only in Allah and ask support and help from only Him. All of these great actions of Taw hid, which means that the heart becomes fully devoted to Allah, enable the Muslims to be true believers and Muwahideen. Only then Muslims will become enlightened, inspired, and their iman or faith will be strengthened and their sins will be forgiven. By realizing the idea of Taw hid, the Muslim also minimizes the chances of committing sins because his heart is fully devoted to Allah.

Taw hid is the greatest essence of the Message of every Prophet. All the Prophets, peace be upon them, were sent with the Message of Taw hid – that is Allah is the only One Who deserves to be worshipped and to be totally obeyed. Unfortunately, many Muslims today do not observe the realization of Taw hid. Many Muslims violate Taw hid, for example, there are some groups of Muslims that supplicate and slaughter for dead Muslims. By doing these acts of shirk (associating someone with Allah), they are violating the most important messages of Islam and that is the realization of Taw hid.
If we want to be good Muslims to Allah, we should follow the way that awliya’ Allah (closer servants of Allah) followed. We should follow their ways and practices as mentioned in Hadith 38. They had good morals, they loved Allah, feared Him, had total belief or faith in Allah and his Messengers, and they were obedient to Allah and followed His instructions – this included performing good deeds. This obedience was based on fear of Allah, repenting to Allah and submission to His will. Moreover, they were characterized with devotion, honesty, and sincerity.
If we want to do it in the right way we should adhere to what is mentioned above and act as the awliya’ Allah acted when they were alive. Allah tells us in the Qur’an that this was what led the people of Noah to shirk when they started glorifying and giving their righteous dead people a higher status than they deserved. This led them to worshipping these dead people later on to the extent that some of them made idols of these famous figures. This eventually led to their destruction by Allah.
Because of misconceptions or the misunderstanding of the essence of the Message of Taw hid, many Muslims today carry out bad or prohibited acts. Some of them may be excused because of one reason or another, but these are terrible acts that displease Allah and lead to shirk. This is very risky because many Muslims who fall into such categories must rethink about what they do. They should repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness because He is the One who we must seek forgiveness from. He is the one who we should supplicate to and He is the one who we should obey and count on.

The realization of Taw hid is very important for all Muslims. This is the last portion of the hadith. Moreover, it is the last hadith in Imam Nawawi collection. This is very significant for us as Muslims since this last portion summarizes the most important thing in Islam and that is Taw hid. It is a message from Allah to all Muslims to make sure that their Taw hid is sincere and pure. It is important to realize that they should not ascribe any partners with Allah. By doing so, they are assured that they will receive the forgiveness of Allah even if they have committed other sins.

To realize Taw hid Muslims should fulfill all obligations towards Allah by fully submitting to His will, worshiping Him, obeying Him and following His guidance and revelation and to avoid the following:

• Avoiding all forms of shirk, whether sayings or actions apparent or hidden.
• They should also avoid disobedience or committing sins because sins weaken Taw hid.
• Avoiding riya’ (doing things for self-interest and to please others and not for the sake of Allah).
• Muslims should also avoid bid’ah or heresy because this will lead to the weakening of Taw hid.
• Avoiding all forms of hypocrisy specially in repeated actions which are considered as traits of the Munafiqun such as: failing to keep a promise, failing to be entrusted, lying, transgression in quarrels and disputes. In general, Muslims should avoid all illegal acts that will lead to dishonesty, insincerity, and transgression.

conclusion

This hadith mentions three ways which lead to Allah’s forgiveness. It should be noted that these are not the only ways. Muslim scholars mention other means and ways of receiving forgiveness, as we have seen in previous hadiths, such as running into hardships, being put on trial, sickness, patience, the torture in the grave, avoiding the major sins, the horrible situations on the Day of Judgement, following the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, to perform the pillars of Islam, fasting specific days such as the day of Ashura’ and the day of Arafah, and the intercession (shafa’ah) of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, and the intercession of the believers (which is conditional to Allah’s permission and He being pleased with the person).

On the authority of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan bin Ali bin Abi Taib, the grandson of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ëalayhi wasallam, and who is dearest to him, radiyallahu ëanhuma, who said: ìI committed to memory from the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ëalayhi wasallam, (the following words):

I leave that about which you are in doubt

for that about which you are in no doubt.î

[Al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasaíi related it, and al-Tirmidhi said: It is a good and genuine Hadith]

Background

This hadith goes in line with Hadith 6. In this hadith the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, has set a criterion by which Muslims can decide whether something is permissible or not. There is another version of this hadith where the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, elaborated further by saying: “Verily, truth is tranquillity and falsehood is doubt.” This means that the truth will lead to tranquillity and falsehood will lead to doubt.

Thus the criterion set by the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, allows us to judge what is false or wrong (i.e. something which causes us to be doubtful) and what is the truth (i.e. something which we are sure of and confident that it is correct because we feel happy and at peace with it). This hadith lays down a principle that can be applied in all aspects of one’s life. It also shows the way to truth and righteousness. Thus, this hadith is of extreme importance.

lessons

This hadith indicates that one should only perform an act or deed (which is permissible and proper) if he is positive or certain of it. Performing this act will lead to some kind of tranquillity or happiness in this life and in the Hereafter – this is one of the benefits of applying the hadith.

In the other version of this hadith mentioned above, falsehood leads to doubt and never to tranquillity. So if a believer finds his heart being disturbed by something (i.e. he feels uncertain or doubtful), then he should stay away from it. The heart of the true believer is tranquil at the sight of truth and righteousness. And the heart becomes unsure and shaky at the sight of falsehood and wrong.

We can conclude that this criterion applies only to the guided righteous Muslim who is enlightened by wahi, i.e. the Qur’an and Sunnah, and is adhering to this guidance. If a Muslim is indulging in forbidden acts, this criterion will not work for him because his heart will not be sensitive to what it faces.

The criterion of the hadith is activated by certain conditions or pre-requisites: knowledge, iman, adhering to the enlightenment of the wahi, etc. In other words, this criterion can only exist if the person is adhering to the commands of Allah subhana wa ta’ala, the commands of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, following the wahi, etc. Only then can a person reach such a status or level. But for those who indulge in muharramat (prohibitions), do not observe wajibat (obligations) , etc., this criterion will not be activated. Even if it does exist, it will not be reliable.

Sometimes there are people who try to avoid doubtful matters while they are indulging in muharram. For example, the people who killed al-Hussain (the brother of the narrator of this hadith). After having killed him, they start discussing about the ruling on the killing of mosquitoes, whether it is permissible or not.

There are many matters or issues relating to the shariah where the scholars have conflicting views or opinions. For example, some scholars say that it is a wajib to recite Surat al-Fatihah in the congregational prayer while other scholars say it is not. Or the paying of zakat for Muslim women’s jewellery – whether a woman has to pay zakat for jewellery that she wears/uses and not just for those that she keeps for investment – an issue which has never been resolved. In these situations, can the Muslim apply the criterion of this hadith? According to some scholars, it is permissible to do so – this is known as the ‘cautious approach’. This became a very well-known approach for some scholars who used it whenever there were conflicting views.

So for the issue of reciting Surat al-Fatihah, to those who insist that without reciting it the prayer is invalid, these scholars following the cautious approach say that they should recite it. And in the case of the zakat for jewellery, the cautious approach is that it is better to pay the zakat for all jewellery, whether it is worn/used or not, so that the woman will be ‘saved’ either way.

There is another approach of the scholars which holds that it is not a matter of conflicting views, it is a matter of the authenticity and soundness of the proofs. If there is a sound dalil (evidence), the scholars will follow it. This approach is also practiced by those who strictly follow a madhab because the madhab follows a dalil.

There are also many situations which consist of both good and bad. The cautious approach will suggest that we avoid an act if it involves both good and bad aspects. The approach which follows the dalil applies the concept of weighing between benefits and harms. This involves applying principles derived from the Qur’an and Hadith. These principles state that it is permissible to give up a minor benefit in order to avoid a major harm. Or tolerate a minor harm in order to avoid a major one or to gain a major benefit.

Looking back on Islamic history, we can see that some scholars were for one approach while other scholars were for the other. Thus it is not crucial for us to determine which one is the better approach.

In the situation of conflicting views where something is known for certain and something which is just a mere conjecture, what is known for sure will take precedence, i.e. will be the prevailing view. This is one of the principles of Fiqh. For example, if we know that a piece of clothing has some impurity on it but we are not sure exactly where, it is better that we wash the entire clothing. Another example is if a person is doubtful about how many rakaats he has already prayed, whether it is one or two, he should continue his prayer with what he is certain of – he is sure he has prayed one rakaat so he should continue with the second one.

Another principle is that it is not allowed to make ijtihad if something is clearly and definitively stated in the Qur’an or authentic Hadith. If there is text which clearly states the hukum (ruling), then the ijtihad is not needed.

There is no righteousness or piety in avoiding something that is clearly and unquestionably permissible, i.e. something that is lawful and clearly permitted by shariah. For example, in the area of food, one shouldn’t say he will refrain from eating meat as a matter of righteousness. He will not be rewarded for this.

There is the hadith that tells the story of the three men, where one vowed not to sleep so he can pray all night, one vowed to fast everyday and one vowed not to marry, all for the sake of righteousness. These actions which these men vowed not to do (sleeping, eating and getting married) are lawful things which are not only permitted but also encouraged. (In fact, some scholars even say that there should be a minimum number of hours everyday which we allocate for sleep so that our bodies get enough rest.) When the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, heard of the three men’s vows, he was very disappointed. He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, called them and told them he was the most righteous and pious amongst them and yet he sleeps, eats and marries. Moreover the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, made a principal concerning this matter by saying: “This is my way, and whoever refrains from it is not part of me.”

Thus, if something is clearly permissible in shariah, there is no point in refraining from doing it with the intention that doing so is an ibadah. If it is for other good reasons, e.g. to avoid meat because of one’s health, then it is okay.

One of the tricks of shaitan is that he will take something which is forbidden and present it in a way to make it look like a permissible act. One should be careful not to be deceived by shaitan. If something is muharram, then no matter what, it is forbidden. We must not allow shaitan to influence us and change our perception into thinking that something which is forbidden may not be all that bad after all – that it is permissible to do it.

Shaykh Jamaluddin Zarabozo says in his commentaries on Imam Nawawi’s Forty Hadith that in these contemporary times there are many matters in business transactions where there might contain some implicit aspects of riba’. Thus there are many new situations or issues where people are confused as to whether something is acceptable or not. He says that it is better to avoid acts which we are not sure of or where there are no clear views from scholars.

Sometimes these issues are discussed by scholars but their views are not being promoted enough to the Muslims in general. Many of the renowned scholars today meet once a year to discuss contemporary issues and these issues are then published in a special magazine. Unfortunately, this magazine is not widely distributed and not many people, including educators, other scholars, etc., are aware of it. We should all try to keep ourselves informed with the latest views or opinions of the scholars, especially on matters related to our lifestyle today, e.g. banking, insurance, etc.

conclusion

This hadith equips Muslims with a practical criterion by which to judge doubtful acts and situations, and enables them to make the right decision concerning these matters. However, Muslims need to understand how to apply such a criterion correctly and not to be deceived by wrong perceptions or personal interest.