Arba'un 20 — if you feel no shame, do as you wish

الأربعون 20 — إذا لم تستح فاصنع ما شئت

Abu Masud al-Badri (may God be pleased with him)'s hadith, the twentieth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary; transmitted by al-Bukhari (3483, 6120) through Mansur ibn al-Mu'tamir from Rib'i ibn Hirash from Abu Masud, Muslim omitting it, and its chain was disputed — some said Rib'i from Hudhayfa — but most of the memorising critics, among them al-Bukhari, Abu Zur'a and al-Daraqutni, ruled for those who said from Abu Masud, corroborated by Masruq's route from him, al-Tabarani also carrying it mursal from Abu al-Tufayl; for Ibn Rajab 'the speech of the first prophethood' means it was handed down from the earlier prophets, transmitted among people generation after generation until it reached the first of this community; 'if you feel no shame, do as you wish' has two readings — not a command but censure: either as threat and warning, like 'do as you wish, for He sees what you do', the choice of a group including Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab, or a command in form whose meaning is a statement — whoever has no shame will do whatever he wishes, shame being the restraint from ugly deeds — the choice of Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, Ibn Qutayba and Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi, Abu Dawud reporting from Ahmad what points the same way (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 464–470).

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«إن مما أدرك الناس من كلام النبوة الأولى: إذا لم تستح فاصنع ما شئت»

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

Summary

Hadith of Abu Mas'ud al-Badri: "Among what people have from the words of the first prophethood is: if you have no shame, do what you will". Ibn Rajab discusses two readings of the phrase: as a threat, or as a statement that one without shame does as he pleases. 1

Place in the museum

Source: the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi. Mentions Abu Mas'ud al-Badri. Built on in the chapters on shame and modesty.

Connections

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Basis for
Haya (modesty)
Mentions
Abu Masud al-Badri

People and things also explored

Muslim 1893 — Whoever points to good earns the doer's reward· Muwatta 1· Muwatta 436· Muwatta 457· Muwatta 1918· Muwatta 2634· Muwatta 2635· Haya (modesty)

Sources

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

islam.museum contributors. “Arba'un 20 — if you feel no shame, do as you wish”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/passage/arbaun-20/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Muslim 1893 — Whoever points to good earns the doer's reward