Arba'un 34 — whoever sees an evil let him change it
الأربعون 34 — من رأى منكم منكراً فليغيره
The hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that he heard the Messenger of God say 'whoever of you sees an evil let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith' — the thirty-fourth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary, transmitted by Muslim (49) through Qays ibn Muslim from Tariq ibn Shihab from Abu Sa'id and through Isma'il ibn Raja' from his father from Abu Sa'id; Tariq's route reports its occasion — Marwan began the Eid sermon before the prayer, a man stood to him saying 'the prayer before the sermon', and when he answered 'what is there has been left', Abu Sa'id said 'as for him, he has fulfilled what was upon him' and narrated this hadith; the meaning also comes in Ibn Masud's report in Muslim: 'there was no prophet God sent in a community before me without his having disciples and companions who took to his sunna and followed his command, then after them successors come who say what they do not do and do what they are not commanded — whoever struggles against them with his hand is a believer, whoever with his tongue is a believer, whoever with his heart is a believer, and beyond that there is not a mustard-seed of faith' — so hand, tongue and heart are the grades of changing evil by ability, ending at the heart, which is the weakest of faith (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 698–709).
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من رأى منكم منكراً فليغيره بيده، فإن لم يستطع فبلسانه، فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه، وذلك أضعف الإيمان
Text: Tanzil Project,tanzil.net · verbatim and unchanged
Connections
- Mentions
- Abu Said al-Khudri
- Basis for
- Command, prohibition and capacity· Iman (faith)
People and things also explored
Prophetic adab (proper conduct)· Vain desire (hawa)· Love for one's brother· Ihsan (excellence in worship)· Islam (the religion and the term)· Istiqama (steadfast uprightness)· Hypocrisy (nifaq)· Trust in God (tawakkul)
Sources
- Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Arba'un 34 — whoever sees an evil let him change it”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/passage/arbaun-34/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-13.