Al-Arba’īn an-Nawawīyah Ḥadīth [29]

عَنْ مُعَاذِ بْنِ جَبَلٍ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَخْبِرْنِي بِعَمَلٍ يُدْخِلُنِي الْجَنَّةَ وَيُبَاعِدْنِي مِنَ النَّارِ، قَالَ: لَقَدْ سَأَلْتَ عَنْ عَظِيمٍ، وَإِنَّهُ لَيَسِيرٌ عَلَى مَنْ يَسَّرَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ: تَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ لَا تُشْرِكُ بِهِ شَيْئًا، وَتُقِيمُ الصَّلَاةَ، وَتُؤْتِي الزَّكَاةَ، وَتَصُومُ رَمَضَانَ، وَتَحُجُّ الْبَيْتَ، ثُمَّ قَالَ: أَلَا أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى أَبْوَابِ الْخَيْرِ؟ الصَّوْمُ جُنَّةٌ، وَالصَّدَقَةُ تُطْفِئُ الْخَطِيئَةَ كَمَا يُطْفِئُ الْمَاءُ النَّارَ، وَصَلَاةُ الرَّجُلِ فِي جَوْفِ اللَّيْلِ، ثُمَّ تَلَا: ﴿تَتَجَافَىٰ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ  فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ﴾ ثُمَّ قَالَ: أَلَا أُخْبِرُكَ بِرَأْسِ الْأَمْرِ وَعَمُودِهِ وَذِرْوَةِ سَنَامِهِ؟، قُلْتُ: بَلَى يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، قَالَ: رَأْسُ الْأَمْرِ الْإِسْلَامُ، وَعَمُودُهُ الصَّلَاةُ، وَذِرْوَةُ سَنَامِهِ الْجِهَادُ، ثُمَّ قَالَ: أَلَا أُخْبِرُكَ بِمِلَاكِ ذَلِكَ كُلِّهِ؟، فقُلْتُ: بَلَى يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، فَأَخَذَ بِلِسَانِهِ، وَقَالَ: كُفَّ عَلَيْكَ هَذَا، قُلْتُ: يَا نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ وَإِنَّا لَمُؤَاخَذُونَ بِمَا نَتَكَلَّمُ بِهِ؟ فَقَالَ: ثَكِلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ، وَهَلْ يَكُبُّ النَّاسَ فِي النَّارِ عَلَى وُجُوهِهِمْ – أَوْ قَالَ: عَلَى مَنَاخِرِهِمْ – إِلَّا حَصَائِدُ أَلْسِنَتِهِمْ؟. رَوَاهُ التِّرْمِذِيُّ وَقَالَ: حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ

29 – It is reported on the authority of Mu’ādh bin Jabal (may Allāh be pleased with him) who said:

I said: ‘O Messenger of Allāh, tell me of an act which will take me into Paradise and will keep me away from the Hellfire.’ He said: “You have asked me about a great matter, yet it is easy for him for whom Allāh makes it easy: Worship Allāh, without associating any partners with Him; establish the prayer; pay the zakāh; fast in Ramaḍān; and make the pilgrimage to the House.” Then he said: “Shall I not guide you towards the means of goodness? Fasting is a shield; charity wipes away sin as water extinguishes fire; and the praying of a man in the depths of the night.” Then he recited: [Those] who forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (charity in Allāh’s cause) out of what We have bestowed on them. No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do.^[1] Then he said: “Shall I not inform you of the head of the matter, its pillar and its peak?” I said: ‘Yes, O Messenger of Allāh.’ He said: “The head of the matter is Islām, its pillar is the prayer, and its peak is jihād.” Then he said: “Shall I not tell you of the foundation of all of that?” I said: ‘Yes, O Messenger of Allāh.’ So, he took hold of his tongue and said: “Restrain this.” I said: ‘O Prophet of Allāh, will we be taken to account for what we say with it?’ He said: “May your mother be bereaved of you, O Mu’ādh! Is there anything that throws people into the Hellfire upon their faces – or he said: On their noses – except the harvests of their tongues?” [It was reported by Tirmidhī, who said it is a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth]