Chapter 4
Riyadh as-Salihin of Imam Nawawi
Translated from the Arabic by Muhammad Zafrulla Khan
Gardens of Righteous
The salutation to the Holy Prophet in the words ‘upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah’ after his name, and the invocation ‘may Allah be pleased with him’ after the names of his companions are expressly set out in the manuscript but are omitted in print in order to accomodate the text to the modern reader. They should, nevertheless, be understood as repeated in each case.
In this translation the form ibn has been used in both initial and medial positions in the names of persons, in order to conform with current usage, although bin occurs medially in the originally text.
Allah, the Exalted, has said:
- O ye who believe, be mindful of your duty to Allah and keep company with the righteous (9.119)
- Men who are truthful and women who are truthful (33.36).
- Had they been true to their duty to Allah, it would have been the better for them (47.22).
Ahadith
- Abdullah ibn Mas’ud relates that the Holy Prophet said: Truth guides to virtue and virtue guides to Paradise. A person persists in telling the truth till in the sight of Allah he is named Truthful. Lying leads to vice and vice leads to the Fire; and a person goes on lying till in the sight of Allah he is named a liar (Bokhari and Muslim).
- Hasan ibn Ali relates that he learnt the following from the Holy Prophet: Leave alone that which involves thee in doubt and adhere to that which is free from doubt, for truth is comforting, falsehood is disturbing (Tirmidhi).
- Abu Sufyan relates as part of his statement about Hiraclius that the latter asked him what does he (i.e. the Holy Prophet) teach you and Abu Sufyan said: Worship Allah alone and do not associate anything with Him, and discard all that your ancestors said; and he commands us to observe Prayer, to tell the truth, to be chaste and to strengthen the ties of kinship (Bokhari and Muslim).
- Sahl ibn Hunaif relates that the Holy Prophet said: He who supplicates Allah sincerely for martyrdom is raised by Him to the station of a martyr even if he should die in his bed (Muslim).
- Abu Hurairah relates that the Holy Prophet said: One of the earlier Prophets went to war and proclaimed among his people that no one should accompany him who had made a contract of marriage with a woman whom he intends to bring home but yet brought her, nor anyone who has constructed the walls of a house but has not yet put a roof on them, nor anyone who has purchased ewes or she-camels carrying their young and is awaiting the season of lambing. Then he set out and approached the town that was his objective an hour or so before sunset and said to the sun: Thou art commissioned and I am also commissioned, and supplicated: Lord, hold it back for us; and it was held back till God gave him the victory. Then the spoils were collected to be burnt as an offering but the fire would not consume them. Then he announced: Someone among has embezzled a portion of the spoils, so now let one man from each tribe renew the covenant at my hands. In this process the hand of one man stuck to the hand of the Prophet and he announced: Some one of your tribe has been guilty of embezzlement; so now let each man of your tribe renew the covenant at my hands. In doing this the hands of two or three men stuck to the hand of the Prophet and he announced that one of them had been guilty of embezzlement. Upon this they produced a mass of gold like the head of a cow which was placed among the spoils and the fire consumed them. The Holy Prophet added: Spoils of war were not lawful for anyone before us. Allah made them lawful for us in view of our weakness and lack of means (Bokhari and Muslim).
- Hakim ibn Hizam relates that the Holy Prophet said: A sale agreement is revocable till the buyer and seller part company. If they tell the truth and disclose everything relevant to the transaction, it becomes full of blessings for both of them; but if they speak falsely and conceal that which should be disclosed, the blessing of the transaction is wiped out (Bokhari and Muslim).