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الحَمْدُ لِلهِ وَالصَّلاَةُ وَالسَّلاَمُ عَلَى رَسُوْلِ اللهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَمَنْ وَالَاهُ وَبَعْدُ
Hadith 7: The Religion is Sincerity الدين النصيحة
| English | Arabic |
| On the authority of Tameem ibn Aus ad-Daree (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The deen (religion) is naseehah (advice, sincerity).” We said, “To whom?” He (ﷺ) said, “To Allah, His Book, His Messenger, and to the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk.” [Muslim] | عَنْ أَبِي رُقَيَّةَ تَمِيمِ بْنِ أَوْسٍ الدَّارِيِّ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ: “الدِّينُ النَّصِيحَةُ.” قُلْنَا: لِمَنْ؟ قَالَ: “لِلَّهِ، وَلِكِتَابِهِ، وَلِرَسُولِهِ، وَلِأَئِمَّةِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَعَامَّتِهِمْ.” [رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ] |
Notes
- Nasihah to Allah ta’ala: Believing in Him, rejecting shirk and disbelief and ascribing anything imperfect to Him, learning aqida, obeying Him and avoiding disobedience, loving for His sake and hating for His sake, recognizing His blessings and being grateful, sincerity in every affair, and being civil and friendly with the people.
- Nasihah to His book, the Qur’an: Believing it is the Divinely revealed speech of Allah ta’ala and it is not in any way similar to the speech of people, that it is inimitable; revering it and giving it its right in recitation; beautifying the recitation, using proper tajwid, and being humbled (having khushu) when it is recited; defending it against distortions and affirming its rulings; understanding its stories, lessons, and parables; reflecting on its passages and wonders; acting upon its rulings and calling to it.
- Nasihah to the messenger ﷺ: Affirming belief in his message and believing in everything he came with, obeying him in his commands and prohibitions, assisting him in life and death, defending him against those who show hostility and befriending those who befriend him, revering and honoring him, giving living to his way and sunnah, transmitting his invitation and spreading his sunnah, rejecting falsehood and accusations against him, being gentle in teaching his message, restraining from speaking about him without knowledge, loving the people of his household and companions, adhering to his character and etiquette, avoiding innovation in his sunnah and the people of innovation.
- Nasihah to the leaders of the Muslims: Making du’a for them, helping them in truth and obedience to their commands within the limits of the Shari’a, advising them with gentleness and civility (rifq and lutf), informing them of what they are unaware of when there’s goodness in doing it and not harming others, avoiding disunity and rebellion, bringing the hearts of the people together in goodness and obedience, praying salah behind them, and inviting them to righteousness.
- Nasihah to the Muslim common folk: Guiding them to the best interests of their dunya and akhira, hiding their faults, fulfilling their needs and offering help, repelling harm from them and bringing benefit, commanding good and forbidding evil with kindness (rifq) and sincerity (ikhlas), showing sympathy and respect for the elders and mercy to the youth, giving goodly exhortations, abandoning cheating and jealously, loving for them what you love for yourself of goodness, disliking for them what you dislike for yourself of all makruhat (things Allah ta’ala dislikes), defending their property/wealth and honor, and urging them to be molded with all of these mentioned categories above.
Arabic Grammar
This famous hadith may beg the question: grammatically, how does the word “al-nasiha” (النصيحة) change by making it definite (معرفة)? Meaning why is the sentence “al-din al-nasihah” and not “al-din nasihatun?”
When the mubtada’ and khabar (subject and predicate) are both definite, it indicates that the mubtada’ is entirely contained in the khabar. This may also be figurative, and not literal.
Possible translations: “Religion is sincerity” or “religion is but sincerity” or “religion is but good faith.”
Such as when I advise you in good faith or serve a leader in good faith, etc.
Terms
In the language, nasihah means ikhlas: sincerity and purification. It is said in Arabic that نصحت العسل when honey is filtered.
والنصيحة في اللغة: الإخلاص, يقال: نصحت العسل إذا صفيته, وقيل غير ذلك.
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والله أعلم
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