Arba'un 12 — leaving what does not concern one

الأربعون 12 — من حسن إسلام المرء تركه ما لا يعنيه

Abu Hurayra's hadith, the twelfth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary; transmitted by al-Tirmidhi (2317), Ibn Majah (3976), Ibn Hibban, al-Tabarani and others through al-Awza'i from Qurra ibn Abd al-Rahman from al-Zuhri from Abu Salama from Abu Hurayra — al-Tirmidhi calling it gharib and al-Nawawi grading it hasan since its men are reliable; Qurra ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Haywil was trusted by some including al-Awza'i but weakened by Ahmad, Yahya ibn Ma'in, Abu Zur'a and Abu Hatim; Ibn Abd al-Barr held the hadith preserved from al-Zuhri through reliable transmitters in this chain, supporting al-Nawawi's grading, while most imams — Ahmad, Ibn Ma'in, al-Bukhari and al-Daraqutni — held it sound only as a mursal report from al-Zuhri from Ali ibn al-Husayn, the version in Malik's Muwatta, Ibrahim ibn Sa'd's wording running 'part of a man's faith is leaving what does not concern him'; Ibn Rajab calls it a great foundation of the foundations of proper conduct and cites Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reporting from Ibn Abi Zayd that the conduct of goodness branches from four hadiths, this among them, explaining that leaving what does not concern one follows the ruling of the sharia not the prompting of desire, and covers the forbidden, the doubtful, the disliked and the superfluous among the permissible, connecting to the station of ihsan and modesty before God (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 268–281).