Righteousness (birr)

In the twenty-seventh hadith of the Forty, birr (righteousness) and ithm (sin) are known through an inner sense of people's conduct. In the hadith of al-Nawwas ibn Sam'an in Muslim (2553), "righteousness is good character, and sin is what frets within you and you dislike people seeing it." Righteousness is thus pure character, and sin is an inner unease with the dislike of others seeing it. In the hadith of Wabisa ibn Ma'bad in Ahmad and al-Darimi, the command is "consult your heart," and he tapped his three fingers on his chest: righteousness is what the heart is at rest with and the soul is at ease with; sin is what frets in the heart and wavers in the breast, even if people give you a fatwa and pronounce it lawful. Thus the settling of the soul and the expansion of the breast are the sign of righteousness, and their unrest is the sign of sin, even when jurists give their rulings. It is supported by the route of Abu Umama, "if something frets in your breast, leave it," and the route of Abu Tha'laba al-Khushani, "righteousness is what the soul is at peace with and the heart is at rest with... even if the jurists give you their verdict." Ibn Rajab considers both chains sound. ¹

What is not recorded here needs a further source.