Tayyib (purity and lawfulness)

الطِّيب

The attribute of deeds, wealth, words and beliefs that God accepts — tayyib, the pure — as opposed to khabith, the foul; in his commentary on Abu Hurayra's hadith 'God is pure and accepts only what is pure' Ibn Rajab explains tayyib as the pure, God being exalted above all defect, and transmits two readings of 'He accepts only what is pure': a specific reading confining it to alms — only lawfully gained charity being accepted, as in the hadith 'no one gives charity of pure earnings but God accepts only the pure' — and a broader reading making purity a condition of deeds through freedom from corrupting motives such as showing off and conceit, and of wealth through lawfulness, since deeds, words and beliefs are all described as pure or foul; hence the Quran's contrast between the good word like a good tree and the foul word like a foul tree, and the Prophet's description as one who permits the pure things and forbids the foul.