Muslim 2553 — Piety is good character; sin is what stirs in your chest

Summary

A report of al-Nawwas ibn Sam'an al-Ansari in the chapter on righteousness and sin in the Book of Righteousness of Sahih Muslim. It defines righteousness as good character and sin as what troubles the heart and one dislikes others seeing. It is one of the most comprehensive definitions of the Prophet ﷺ. ¹

Place in the museum

Source: Sahih Muslim. Mentions Muhammad, al-Nawwas ibn Sam'an and righteousness.

Arba'un 27 — righteousness is good character / consult your heart

Two hadiths that al-Nawawi gathers under the twenty-seventh number: the first, from al-Nawwas ibn Sam'an, that the Prophet said 'righteousness is good character, and sin is what wavers in your soul and you dislike for people to see it' — transmitted by Muslim (2553) through Mu'awiya ibn Salih from Abd al-Rahman ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr from his father from al-Nawwas, a chain Muslim alone of the two Shaykhs carried, also found in Ahmad, al-Darimi, al-Bukhari's Adab al-Mufrad, al-Tirmidhi (2389) and others; the second, from Wabisa ibn Ma'bad, that he came to the Messenger of God resolved to leave nothing of righteousness and sin unasked, and was answered 'you came to ask about righteousness and sin?' — 'yes' — and in Ahmad's fuller route he drew so near that his knee touched the Prophet's knee, who then joined his three fingers and poked him in the chest saying 'O Wabisa, consult your own soul: righteousness is what the heart and soul are at peace with, and sin is what wavers in the heart and hesitates in the breast, even if people give you verdict upon verdict'; al-Nawawi calls it a hasan hadith in the Musnads of Ahmad and al-Darimi, while Ibn Rajab notes two defects each sufficient to weaken Wabisa's chain — a gap between al-Zubayr ibn Abd al-Salam and Ayyub ibn Abdullah ibn Makraz, since he related it from people he never heard, and al-Zubayr's own weakness: al-Daraqutni reports he narrated rejected hadiths, and Ibn Hibban weakened him while misnaming him; a second Wabisa route in Ahmad through Mu'awiya ibn Salih from Abu Abdullah al-Sulami carries the short wording 'righteousness is what your breast opens to and sin is what wavers in your breast even if people give you verdicts', and this Sulami is 'unknown' to Ali ibn al-Madini — some routes suggesting he was Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Maslub, the notorious fabricator crucified by al-Mansur for zandaqa, though, as Abd al-Ghani ibn Sa'id noted, he never reached Wabisa; yet the hadith has sound paths, among them Abu Umama's in Ahmad and Ibn Hibban through Yahya ibn Abi Kathir from Zayd ibn Salam from his grandfather — 'if something wavers in your breast, leave it', a chain sound on Muslim's condition — and Abu Tha'laba al-Khushani's in Ahmad through Muslim ibn Mishkam, 'righteousness is what the soul rests in and the heart is at peace with, and sin is what the soul does not rest in even if the muftis give you verdicts', likewise a good chain (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 566–580).

Muslim 2553 — Piety is good character; sin is what stirs in your chest

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Arba'un 27 — righteousness is good character / consult your heart