Arba'un 13 — loving for one's brother

الأربعون 13 — لا يؤمن أحدكم حتى يحب لأخيه ما يحب لنفسه

Anas ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him)'s hadith, the thirteenth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary; transmitted by al-Bukhari (13) and Muslim (45) through Qatada from Anas, Muslim's wording running 'until he loves for his neighbour or his brother' with a narrator's doubt, with many further routes in Ahmad, Ibn Majah, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, Ibn Hibban and others; Ibn Hibban's version 'no servant reaches the reality of iman until he loves for people what he loves for himself of good' shows, in Ibn Rajab's reading, that the negation of iman here means negation of attaining its reality and perfection — iman being often negated for the absence of some of its pillars and duties, as in 'the adulterer is not a believer while he commits adultery'; Ibn Rajab records the scholars' dispute over the grave-sinner — 'believer of deficient faith' or 'Muslim but not believer', both reported from Ahmad — while the name iman is never fully stripped for lesser sins, noting that 'believer of deficient faith' is reported from Jabir ibn Abdullah (may God be pleased with him) and is the position of Ibn al-Mubarak, Ishaq and Abu Ubayd, the alternative being reported from Muhammad ibn Ali and described by some as the choice of ahl al-sunna (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 282–290).

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«لا يؤمن أحدكم حتى يحب لأخيه ما يحب لنفسه»

A verbatim excerpt of the text, forty words at most; the full text is in the edition cited under sources

Summary

Hadith of Anas ibn Malik: "None of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself". Ibn Rajab explains that denying faith means denying that a person has reached its full reality. He notes the scholars' disagreement on whether one who commits major sins is called a believer with imperfect faith. 1

Place in the museum

Source: the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi. Mentions Anas ibn Malik. Built on in the chapters on loving for one's brother and faith.

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Basis for
Love for one's brother· Iman (faith)
Mentions
Anas ibn Malik

People and things also explored

Muslim 43 — Three qualities; whoever has them tastes faith's sweetness· Muslim 44 — None of you believes until I am dearer to him· Muslim 45 — None of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself· Love for one's brother· Iman (faith)· Prophetic adab (proper conduct)· Vain desire (hawa)· Ihsan (excellence in worship)

Sources

  1. Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Arba'un 13 — loving for one's brother”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/passage/arbaun-13/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Muslim 43 — Three qualities; whoever has them tastes faith's sweetness