بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hadīth:
From Tamīm al-Dārī (رضي الله عنه) that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
الدِّينُ النَّصِيحَةُ …لِلَّهِ وَلِكِتَابِهِ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلأَئِمَّةِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَعَامَّتِهِمْ
“The Religion is al-nasīhah for Allāh, for His Book, for His Messenger, for the leaders [aʾimmah] of the Muslims and for their common people.”
(Sahīh Muslim #55, Sahīh al-Bukhārī as Mu’allaq (suspended) Chapter 42, authenticated by al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh as mentioned by Ibn Hajr in al-Fath 1/211)
Explanation of the hadīth:
The meaning of al-Nasīhah
Abū Zayd said: I advised him [nasahtuhu]: I spoke truly to him, and a sincere repentance [tawbah nasūhan], meaning: true.
Al-Zajjāj said regarding the saying of The Most-High:
تَوْبَةً نَصُوحًا
“a repentance nasūhan” [Sūrat al-Tahrīm:8]
that is: reaching the utmost in al-nash; and it is taken from al-nush, which is sewing – as if disobedience tears and repentance mends/patches.”
Ibn ʿArafah said: “nasūhan” means pure [khālisah].
It is said: “nasaha al-shayʾ” when it has become pure, and “nasaha lahu” means he was sincere to him [akhlasa lahu] in speech.
It is said: “nasahtu al-ʿasal” when you have purified it [i.e. the honey] of the wax.
They likened the purifying of speech from deceit to the purifying of honey from admixture.
Al-Khattābī said: Al-nasīhah is a comprehensive word, its meaning being securing the good [lit. gathering the share] for the one advised.
And it is said: it is among the most concise of nouns and the most abridged of speech, and there is not in the speech of the Arabs a single word by which the expression of this word’s meaning is fully rendered.
His (ﷺ) saying: (The Religion is al-nasīhah) – its meaning is: the pillar of religion and its foundation is al-nasīhah, like his saying “Hajj is ʿArafah”, that is, its pillar and greater part.
And his saying: (for Allāh and His Book) – so al-nasīhah for Allāh: its meaning turns to having belief in Him; sincerity of action for Him in what He commanded or forbade; befriending/showing loyalty to whoever obeys Him and showing enmity to whoever disobeys Him, acknowledging His favours and giving thanks for them.
The reality of this attribution returns to the servant: in advising [i.e. being sincere and correcting] his own self for Allāh, and in calling others of creation to these qualities, for Allāh is free of need from the advice of every advisor.
And as for al-nasīhah for His Book: its meaning is belief in it, and that it is the speech of Allāh, His revelation and His sending down; then establishing its letters in recitation; defending it against the interpretation of the distorters and the slander of the slanderers against it; affirming its promise and its threat; taking lesson from its admonitions; reflecting upon its wonders; acting upon its obligations, its sunan and its etiquettes; acting upon its muhkam [clear-cut verses]; submitting to its mutashābih [ambiguous verses]; and gaining deep understanding of its sciences.
And as for al-nasīhah for His Messenger (ﷺ): it is simply believing in him, accepting what he brought, and calling to it, and obeying him in what he legislated and clarified of the matters of religion; magnifying his right; revering him; reviving his sunan; and removing suspicion from him regarding what he said, for he is as [Allāh] said:
وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى
“Nor does he speak from [his own] desire.” [Sūrat al-Najm: 3]
As for al-nasīhah for the leaders [aʾimmah] of the believers: they are the rightly-guided caliphs and those after them who take charge of the affair of the Ummah and undertake it. Among their al-nasīhah is: giving obedience to them in what is right, praying behind them; fighting (in jihād) the disbelievers alongside them; paying the sadaqāt to them; abandoning rising up against them with the sword when injustice or bad conduct appears from them; alerting them at times of heedlessness; and that supplication be made for their righteousness.
And it is said: the leaders of the believers include the scholars of religion, and among al-nasīhah to them is: accepting what they narrated when they are alone in it; following them; thinking well of them; and following them in what they held when they gathered and agreed.
As for the al-nasīhah of the common people [ʿāmmah] of the Muslims, its sum is: teaching them what they are ignorant of regarding the matter of religion; guiding them to their interests; commanding them to the right and forbidding them from the wrong, compassion for them; respecting their elder; being merciful toward their young; and tending to them with good exhortation like what Allāh guided to in His saying:
ادْعُ إِلَى سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُم بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ
“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good exhortation, and argue with them in the way that is best” [Sūrat al-Nahl: 125]
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