One of the Prophet’s companions wanted the Prophet to give him a comprehensive statement that sums up what is required of a Muslim. The Prophet told him that he needed to believe and to steadfastly remain a believer.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us that every human being will be questioned about four matters: their life, knowledge, wealth and body. Everyone needs to be ready with answers to these questions, by using these in ways with which God is pleased.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) clearly states that lawful and unlawful things are made plain for people. However, some matters may appear doubtful to most people who do not have sufficient scholarly knowledge. A person who avoids such doubtful matters maintains the purity of his religion. Those who slip into them run the risk of committing what is unlawful. The Prophet also makes clear that the well-being of a person depends on keeping one’s heart sound and well.
The hadith encourages disregard of the luxuries of this present life and recommends conducting one’s life in the same way as a stranger who takes only what he needs on his journey. ꜤAbdullāh ibn ꜤUmar used to admonish people along these lines. He encouraged them not to hope for much in this life and not to give it much importance. He recommended that a person should do good deeds when he is in good health, and before he is overtaken by illness or death.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) encouraged people to acquire Islamic knowledge and to study the Islamic faith. He mentions that when God wants to grant goodness to a person, He will give him an insight into the religion. He then adds that he himself distributes whatever God gives him in accordance with God’s will. He says this so that the Muslim community does not exaggerate his status, giving him a rank above that of a messenger of God. He concludes by giving his community the good news that this religion of Islam shall continue to flourish for the rest of time.
God, Mighty and Exalted, will facilitate the way to Heaven for every person who pursues Islamic knowledge. The angels will honour such a person, and creatures in Heaven, on earth and sea will pray to God to grant him forgiveness of his sins. Such people are like the moon while others look like other planets. They are the heirs of prophets as they inherit from them their most valuable possession, religious knowledge.
In this hadith, the Prophet compares people’s different attitudes to the guidance God provided them with through His Messenger (peace be upon him). Some of them grasped it with good understanding and implemented it. Thus they benefited by it and helped others to so benefit. Others learnt it, imparting it to others who might have a better understanding of it. Others still neglected it. They neither acquired its benefit, nor benefited others.
The Prophet urged his community to spread the knowledge of his message, and he permitted them to relate the stories of the Children of Israel. He forbade attributing to him what he had not said, stating that whoever deliberately did so was certain to be in Hell.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) encourages Muslims to memorize hadiths and narrate them to people. He prays for whoever does this, because the Muslim community is always in need of knowing what God makes lawful or unlawful. It may be that a person who listens to a hadith but does not understand its purport will report it to someone who will understand its meaning and what it entails, thereafter teaching it to people.
This hadith states that a person who is returning a ruling, including a ruler, judge, mufti, etc. will be rewarded for exerting his best effort to arrive at the right ruling. If his ruling is correct, he is rewarded for being correct as well as for his effort, which means that he has a double reward. If he is mistaken, having exerted his best effort, he will be given the reward for so doing.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) gave his companions a strong emotional admonition. He then urged them to remain God-fearing and obey those in power, adhere to the Sunnah and beware of following any deviant creeds.
In this hadith, the Prophet makes clear that the main principle for the evaluation and acceptance of people’s actions is the intention behind any action. Essentially, intention distinguishes what is done by habit from what is done as an act of worship. It distinguishes good from evil. A legitimate action may be done by two different people, but only one of them intends his action as an act of obedience to God and earns a reward for it. The other entertains no such intention, and therefore earns no reward. A person who migrates for God’s sake, following the Prophet’s Sunnah, will earn God’s reward, but the one who migrates for some other purpose will only get what he intends.
Remembrance and glorification of God keep hearts and souls alive. A person who always remembers God and praises Him is alive and happy at heart. A home in which God is frequently mentioned is happy, visited by angels. A home and a heart that do not remember God is dead and deserted. Nothing good comes from these.
A man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) complaining that the recommended and voluntary acts of worship were too numerous for him. He wanted the Prophet to tell him of something easy that he could do so that his reward would increase. The Prophet pointed out to him that nothing is better than remembrance of God.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells his community this formula of seeking God’s forgiveness. It guarantees that a person who says it and dies believing in it shall be admitted into Heaven.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us in this hadith that the best of people is a person who learns the Qur’an, memorizing it, learns its recitation and interpretation, etc. then teaches it to other people.
The hadith makes clear that answering the Prophet’s call is obligatory even if a person is in the middle of a prayer. It also tells us that the opening surah, al-Fātiḥah, is the greatest surah in the Qur’an.
The hadith makes clear that the Verse of the Throne is the greatest verse of the Qur’an.
The Prophet states that Surah 112, which starts with ‘Say: He is God, the One and only God’ is equal to one-third of the Qur’an. This because it focuses on making God’s oneness absolutely clear. Therefore, when a person recites it, it is as if he recited one-third of the Qur’an.
The Prophet mentions that the last two surahs of the Qur’an, The Daybreak and Mankind, are unique. Nothing is like them either in the scriptures given to earlier prophets or in what people use to expel evil spirits.
