What are the most important hadiths that can guide our daily life?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Actually, every hadith guides our lives.  In this regard, we should benefit from relevant hadiths and verses in every issue (which is) related with our life.

We want to share a recommendation of Abu Dawud, which is one of the Kutub as- Sittah books, since we cannot quote all of the important hadiths that guide our lives.

Ibn al-Arabi stated the following about Abu Dawud's book named "Sunan":

“If a person knows the Qur'an and Abu Dawud's Sunan, it means that the person has obtained the beginning of the religious issues.” (1)

Abu Dawud, who became distinguished with his knowledge, personality and his book called “Sunan” in the period when he lived, states the following in an evaluation attributed to him (2):

Among all of these hadiths, only four of them are sufficient for a wise person;

1. "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions." Sahih al-Bukhari (3)

2. "Part of a person’s goodness in Islam is his leaving alone that which does not concern him" (4)

3. "None of you will have faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself." (5)

4. "Both legal and illegal things are evident but in between them there are doubtful things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these doubtful things saves his religion and his honor.  And whoever indulges in these doubtful things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart." (6)

Shah Waliullah Dehlawi states the following about these four hadiths;

"...In order to perform prayers properly, the first hadith is sufficient.
- In order to prevent the precious life from being wasted, the second hadith is sufficient.
- To protect the rights of relatives, friends and neighbours is mentioned in the third hadith.
- The hesitations and doubts that can occur due to differences of evidences or disagreements of scholars are settled by the fourth hadith.

Thus, these four hadiths become like a master and a teacher in the eye of a wise person." (7)

These four hadiths, which Abu Dawud determined as "the essence of Islam" according to us, surround almost all fields of a Muslim's life.

The hadith "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions" narrated by 'Umar bin Al-Khattab is the first hadith of Bukhari’'s book called 'Sahih', which is regarded as one of the soundest hadith resources. It should not be a coincidence that this hadith is mentioned right at the beginning of the book by Bukhari. Probably, Bukhari is giving a serious message to reader with the very first hadith:

"Have a sound intention in this deed of reading, which you have just started, and in all of the other actions and deeds in your life!" A few centuries later, Imam Nawawi also joined this message in his precious work called "Riyadhus-Salihin" and he included the hadith on 'intention' as the first hadith in his work.

In fact, the second hadith indicates gradualism together with the first hadith: The first step before deed- action is the soundness of the intention while the second step is the quality of the deed.

A Muslim person should observe quality in his deeds-actions based on this second step. He should give importance to content and quality in his preferences, and he should act in compliance with the principle of “being useful-being significant” according to the hadith.

The third hadith prevents “egoism” namely “selfishness”, which is perhaps one of the most important character problems of today. Surely, the reflections of this character problem on the social life are not pleasant.

The society which consist of people who say 'always to me', and who live with the philosophy 'the snake which does not touch me', who do not want things for each other, and who cannot share each other’s pain by heart are probably the clearest examples of these reflections.

Although there are different opinions and views related to the content of the hadith, the fourth hadith determines the attitude of Muslims in the face of problems by indicating the ease of practicing Islam clearly.

The formula of practicing Islam is given in the hadith clearly as keeping away from the issues about which there is no clear information and views.

It is also stated in the hadith that a person who keeps a way from this unclear field protects his religion and honor and it is stated that a person who enters this field is  likened to a shepherd who grazes his sheep around this forbidden land.

There is no doubt that every hadith that is known to come from our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in a sound way is very important for us. These hadiths include different topics, and each of them addresses one aspect of our lives.

In addition to this, as Abu Dawud points out, some hadiths contain more practical and concise prophetic wisdoms about understanding Islam and telling people about Islam. From this point of view, these four hadiths fulfill a very important duty of determining a Muslims' life philosophy individually and socially.

In order to attain a result, it is a very important step for the Islamic community to listen to and act in accordance with these four hadiths in order to reach the point that is desired or aimed.

Footnotes:

1) Shah Waliyullah Dahlawi, Bustunul-Muhaddithin, translated by Koçkuzu, A. Osman, 195.
2) Ibnul-Athir, al-Jazari, Jamiul-Usul fi Ahadithir-Rasul, I, 190; Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Jamiul-Ulum wall-Hikam, I, 10; Dahlawi, ibid, 194.
3) Bukhari, Badul-Wahy, 1; Muslim, Imarah, 155; Abu Dawud, Talaq, 11.
4) Ibn Majah, Fitan, 12; Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 11.
5) Bukhari, Iman, 7; Muslim, Iman, 71.
6) Bukhari, Iman 39, Buyu 2; Muslim, Musaqat 107; Abu Davud, Buyu 3.
7) Dahlawi, ibid, 194.

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