Arba'un 10 — God is pure and accepts only what is pure

الأربعون 10 — إن الله طيب لا يقبل إلا طيباً

Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him)'s hadith, the tenth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary; transmitted by Muslim (1015) through Fudayl ibn Marzuq from Adi ibn Thabit from Abu Hazim from Abu Hurayra, and by al-Tirmidhi (2989) who graded it hasan gharib, with further routes in Abd al-Razzaq, Ahmad, al-Darimi, al-Bayhaqi and al-Baghawi; Ibn Rajab explains that tayyib here means pure — God being exalted above all defects — and that 'He accepts only what is pure' occurs in the sadaqa hadith, though some read it more broadly: no deeds are accepted unless pure of corrupting motives such as showing off and conceit, and no wealth unless lawfully gained, since deeds, words and beliefs all divide into pure and foul, as the Quran divides speech into a good word like a good tree and a foul word like a foul tree (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 239–259).