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

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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
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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.

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Related

Prophetic adab (proper conduct)

The body of proper conduct the believer is commanded in his words, deeds and relations with God and His servants; from the formula 'whoever believes in God and the Last Day' in Abu Hurayra's hadith Ibn Rajab derives that these traits are of the traits of iman and that deeds enter into iman, dividing the hadith's three commands into what belongs to God's rights — speaking good or keeping silent — and what belongs to His servants' rights — honouring the neighbour, withholding harm from him and honouring the guest; he transmits Aswad ibn Asram's report of the Prophet's counsel 'do not say with your tongue except what is good and do not extend your hand except to good', and that the tongue's uprightness is of the traits of iman; Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, the Maliki imam of his time, that the conduct of goodness and all its reins branch from four hadiths: speaking good or keeping silent, leaving what does not concern one, 'do not become angry', and loving for one's brother what one loves for oneself.