The religion is naseeha
Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The religion is naseeha (good advice)”.
On the authority of Abi Ruqayyah Tamim ibn Aws ad-Dariyy (ra) that verily the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The religion is naseeha (good advice)”. The people said: “To whom?” The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: “To Allah and to His book and to His Messenger and to the leaders of the Muslims and to the common folk of Muslims.
[Reported by Muslim]
Brief Commentary:
Scholars say this hadith is comprehensive and encompasses the whole religion, just like the hadith of Jibreel (Hadith 2).
Some scholars say that if we lost all the rulings of Islam, this hadith would suffice us for a quarter of them due to the many rulings that can be derived from it
Ibn Al-Atheer said, “Naseeha is a word which is used to describe a sentence, and that sentence is, ‘Wanting good for the thing you are giving naseeha to’, so it is impossible to explain naseeha in one word”
The linguistic meaning of Naseeha is:
To purify
To gather that which is dispersed
We can summarise Naseeha to mean “Wanting good for someone with a sincere heart which is free from any defects/deficiencies and wanting all good for that particular person.
Naseeha is one of the great and noble qualities of the prophets (peace be upon them)
The companions asked “To whom?” which shows their eagerness to implement the knowledge they learn
Naseeha to Allah involves:
Purifying our hearts for Allah, which is done by fulfilling His rights to the best way possible, and with ihsan
Striving hard in worship, and doing more Sunnah actions
Cleaning our minds and thoughts from deviant ideologies
Being sincere in our worship. We love for His sake and hate for His sake
Glorifying Allah and His laws and recognising His blessings over us
Naseeha to His book involves:
Believing in the entire Qur’an and acting upon it
Having great love and glorification for it
Striving hard to understand it, contemplate over its meanings, and adorn ourselves with the manners it teaches us
Be pure when holding it
Ensure we read our daily portion of the Qur’an
Naseeha to His Messenger (peace be upon him) involves:
Believing in him and putting his statement above any other human
Having eagerness to know more about him, and study his seerah like we study the Qur’an (This is what the previous generations used to do)
Follow his Sunnah
Trying to learn more about his manners and emulating them
Loving what he loves and hating what he hates
Naseeha to the leaders of the Muslims involves:
Wanting good for them and for Allah to guide them to the truth
Making du’aa for them and wanting the ummah to be united under them
Advising them personally and not publicly, and remembering the statement of the scholars, “However you are is however your rulers will be”
Showing love and respect for the scholars and not searching for their mistakes and having trust in them. (The scholars are also incorporated in the category “leaders of the Muslims)
Naseeha to the common folk of the Muslims involves:
Loving for them what we love for ourselves and hating for them what we hate for ourselves
Respecting their elders and showing mercy to their youngsters
Being happy when they are happy and sad when they are sad
Carrying no envy for them in our hearts and wishing good for them
Benefits and action points to take from the hadith:
We need to be eager to seek more knowledge and implement what we learn, just as the sahabah were
Giving/Having naseeha is an integral part of Islam
Study more about Allah
Never look down upon or belittle a ruling that has been decided by Allah
Never abandon the Qur’an. In the tafsir of [Al-Furqan:30], ibn Kathir said abandoning the Qur’an can be by:
- Not listening to it
- Not reading it
- Not acting upon it
- Not believing in ALL of its rulings
- Not contemplating upon its meanings
Never look down upon or belittle a ruling that has been decided by Allah
Study the seerah of the prophet (peace be upon him)
Send salutations on the prophet (peace be upon him) whenever he is mentioned
Improve on our attitude towards our scholars
Abu Bakr didn’t supersede everyone by his actions, but because of his love for Allah, and his naseeha to His creation
Implement all of what the naseeha to Allah, His book, His Messenger (peace be upon him), the leaders of the Muslims and the common folk of Muslims involves.
