عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ:«الإِيمَانُ بِضْعٌ وَسَبْعُونَ - أَوْ: بِضْعٌ وَسِتُّونَ - شُعْبَةً، فَأَفْضَلُهَا قَوْلُ: لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، وَأَدْنَاهَا إِمَاطَةُ الأَذَى عَنِ الطَّرِيقِ، وَالحَيَاءُ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الإِيمَانِ» متفق عليه
Abu Hurayrah narrated that God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said:
1. Faith is seventy-something, or sixty-something, branches. 2. The best of these is to say ‘there is no deity other than God’, 3. and the lowest in rank is to remove a harmful object from people’s way. 4. Modesty is a branch of faith.
In this hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us that faith comprises many parts which differ in merit and importance. The most important one is belief in God’s oneness and the lowest in importance is the removal of harmful objects from people’s way. The other parts, including modesty, fall in between these two.
