Arba'un 34 — whoever sees an evil let him change it

الأربعون 34 — من رأى منكم منكراً فليغيره

The hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that he heard the Messenger of God ﷺ say 'whoever of you sees an evil let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith' — the thirty-fourth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary, transmitted by Muslim (49) through Qays ibn Muslim from Tariq ibn Shihab from Abu Sa'id and through Isma'il ibn Raja' from his father from Abu Sa'id; Tariq's route reports its occasion — Marwan began the Eid sermon before the prayer, a man stood to him saying 'the prayer before the sermon', and when he answered 'what is there has been left', Abu Sa'id said 'as for him, he has fulfilled what was upon him' and narrated this hadith; the meaning also comes in Ibn Masud's report in Muslim: 'there was no prophet God sent in a community before me without his having disciples and companions who took to his sunna and followed his command, then after them successors come who say what they do not do and do what they are not commanded — whoever struggles against them with his hand is a believer, whoever with his tongue is a believer, whoever with his heart is a believer, and beyond that there is not a mustard-seed of faith' — so hand, tongue and heart are the grades of changing evil by ability, ending at the heart, which is the weakest of faith (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 698–709).

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«من رأى منكم منكراً فليغيره بيده، فإن لم يستطع فبلسانه، فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه، وذلك أضعف الإيمان»

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

Summary

Hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: "Whoever sees an evil among you, let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, with his tongue; if he cannot, with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith". Ibn Rajab explains the stages of changing wrong according to ability, and the link to the report about the sermon on the Eid. 1

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Mentions
Abu Said al-Khudri
Basis for
Command, prohibition and capacity· Iman (faith)

People and things also explored

Muslim 49 — Whoever sees an evil must change it with his hand· Prophetic adab (proper conduct)· Vain desire (hawa)· Love for one's brother· Ihsan (excellence in worship)· Islam (the religion and the term)· Istiqama (steadfast uprightness)· Hypocrisy (nifaq)

Sources

  1. Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
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islam.museum contributors. “Arba'un 34 — whoever sees an evil let him change it”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/passage/arbaun-34/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Muslim 49 — Whoever sees an evil must change it with his hand