Nawawi Pair 37 & 38: Deeds and Divine Nearness

Part One: How Allah Records Every Intention and Deed

Brothers,

Today’s khutbah covers two hadiths from Imam Nawawi’s collection, the 37th and the 38th, and both belong to a special category called Hadith Qudsi. Before we hear either one, let us understand what that term means, because it shapes how we should receive these words.

A Hadith Qudsi is a narration in which the Prophet ﷺ tells us what Allah Himself said, in the Prophet’s own words and language, but the meaning comes directly from Allah. It is not Qur’an. We do not recite it in salah, and it carries none of the Qur’an’s inimitable wording or its status as a miracle. But it is not ordinary hadith either, where the Prophet ﷺ speaks or acts from his own noble character. In a Hadith Qudsi, Allah is the speaker. The Prophet ﷺ is the one relating it to us, the way a trusted messenger relates the exact message of the one who sent him. Both hadiths in this khutbah carry that weight. When you hear “Allah has said” inside them, that is not a figure of speech. It is Allah speaking about how He treats His servants.

These two hadiths together reveal a mercy so complete it can be hard to absorb in one sitting. The first shows you how Allah records what is in your heart and what your limbs actually do. The second shows you where that road leads if you keep walking it: to a nearness with Allah that changes everything about you.

Hadith 37

On the authority of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), who related this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who in turn related it from his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, a Hadith Qudsi: Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad deeds, then explained it: whoever intends to do a good deed but does not do it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. But if he intends it and does it, Allah writes it down as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred times, or many times over. And whoever intends to do a bad deed but does not do it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. But if he intends it and does it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed. (Bukhari & Muslim)

Ibn ’Abbas, one of the great scholars among the companions, preserved this narration for us, and both Bukhari and Muslim placed it in their most trusted collections. Read it again slowly. Four cases. Four different outcomes. And in every single case, the scale tips toward mercy.

Part 1: A Ledger Built on Generosity

Look at what this hadith actually says. A good deed merely intended, not yet carried out, is written as a full good deed. A good deed carried out is multiplied ten times, up to seven hundred times, or beyond that at Allah’s discretion. A bad deed merely intended, never carried out, costs the servant nothing at all. And a bad deed actually carried out is written down once, exactly as it was, never multiplied, never inflated.

Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times its worth, and whoever comes with an evil deed will only be repaid with its equivalent, and none will be wronged. (Al-An'aam, 6:160)

No human system of accounting works this way. No employer pays ten times the wage for the work performed. No court multiplies a reward for good conduct sevenfold. This asymmetry, generosity toward good, restraint toward evil, is a feature Allah has built into the ledger itself, out of pure mercy, not because He owes it to anyone.

Leaving an action for the sake of people is showing off, and doing an action for the sake of people is associating partners with Allah. Sincerity is when Allah frees you from both. (Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad)

Part 2: When the Hand Is Restrained but the Heart Is Not

Now think carefully about what this means for a man whose circumstances limit what his hands and feet can actually do. Maybe you wanted to give sadaqah but you have nothing to give. Maybe you wanted to check on a struggling brother but the doors between you are locked. Maybe you wanted to stand and pray at length but your body or your schedule will not allow it.

This hadith was not written for men with unlimited freedom and resources. It was written for every believer, in every circumstance, including yours. If your intention was sincere, if you genuinely meant to do that good and were only stopped by something outside your control, Allah has already written it as a complete good deed. Not a partial one. Not a lesser one. Complete.

This should change how you carry the weight of confinement. The good you cannot physically reach is not lost to you if your heart reached for it honestly. Allah is not measuring you only by what your hands managed to touch. He is measuring the sincerity behind the reach.

Part 3: Guarding the Intention Itself

If intention alone can be rewarded like this, then intention itself becomes something worth guarding and protecting, not something you let drift carelessly through your mind.

This cuts both ways. A sincere good intention, even unperformed, is a treasure. And notice something remarkable on the other side: a bad intention that never becomes action costs you nothing, it is simply erased, and if you actively turned away from it for Allah’s sake, some scholars note it can even be written as good, because turning away from temptation is itself a kind of worship. But once a bad intention becomes a bad deed, it is recorded, one entry, honest and exact.

So the real work of faith is not only in your visible actions. It happens first in the quiet space where an intention is born, nurtured, or dismissed. Guard that space. Fill it with good intentions even when your hands are tied. Starve the bad ones before they ever reach your limbs.

Part Two: How Allah Draws Near to Those Who Seek Him

Brothers,

The first hadith showed us how Allah records what is in the heart and what the limbs perform. This second hadith, also a Hadith Qudsi, shows us where a sincere heart can end up if it keeps walking toward Allah.

Hadith 38

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, relating from his Lord, a Hadith Qudsi: Allah has said: Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I have declared war upon him. My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him. My servant continues to draw near to Me with voluntary acts (nawafil) until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks of Me, I surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I surely protect him. (Bukhari)

Abu Hurayrah narrated this from the Prophet ﷺ, and Imam Bukhari placed it in his Sahih. This is one of the richest hadiths in the entire collection, describing exactly how a servant travels from ordinary obedience into something Allah calls love.

Part 4: The Obligatory Foundation

Notice the order the hadith gives us. It does not begin with extra, optional acts. It begins with what Allah has made obligatory: the five daily prayers, fasting Ramadan, honesty, fulfilling trusts, avoiding what He has forbidden. “My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him.”

This is the floor beneath everything else in this hadith. A man who piles on extra night prayers while missing his five daily prayers has built decoration onto a house with no foundation. Secure the fard first. Everything that follows depends on it.

Part 5: Climbing Through Nawafil

Only after that foundation is secure does the hadith describe something else: “My servant continues to draw near to Me with voluntary acts until I love him.” Nawafil, extra prayer beyond the five, extra fasting beyond Ramadan, extra charity beyond zakah, extra dhikr beyond what is required.

Notice the word “continues.” This is not one dramatic act that flips a switch. It is patient, repeated, ordinary devotion, night after night, day after day, until something shifts in the relationship between the servant and his Lord. Allah does not say this path is fast. He says it is continuous.

Part 6: Becoming the Servant Allah Loves

Then comes the part of this hadith that stops every reader in their tracks: “when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks.”

The scholars are careful and precise here. This does not mean Allah becomes physically united with the servant. It means the servant’s senses and limbs become so aligned with what Allah loves that he only listens to what benefits him, only looks toward what is permitted, only reaches for and walks toward what pleases his Lord. His hearing, sight, hands, and feet are guided, protected, and purposeful, no longer wandering carelessly toward whatever catches his attention.

When Allah loves His servant, He guards his limbs from what displeases Him, so that he does not hear, see, take, or walk except toward what Allah loves. (Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Jami' al-'Ulum wal-Hikam)

Imagine that protection. A tongue that no longer reaches for cursing or backbiting. Eyes that turn from what is filthy. A hand that no longer reaches for what harms. This is not restriction. It is the fruit of love.

Part 7: Answered Du’a and Granted Refuge

The hadith closes this description with a promise: “If he asks of Me, I surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I surely protect him.” Nearness to Allah is not only an inward, private state. It bears fruit that a man can feel: du’a answered, fear calmed, refuge granted when nothing and no one else can provide it.

And when My servants ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about Me, then surely I am near. I respond to the call of the caller when he calls upon Me. (Al-Baqara, 2:186)

Part 8: A Season Made for Nawafil

Brothers, think honestly about your situation here. Your five obligatory prayers are fully within your reach, no excuse removes them, and this hadith tells you they are the single most beloved thing you can offer Allah. Secure them completely.

But now consider the second half of this hadith, the nawafil, and notice something that may surprise you. Outside these walls, a man’s day is consumed by work, traffic, screens, errands, and a thousand small demands that crowd out extra worship. In here, many of those distractions have been stripped away. The long hours you spend in your cell can become hours of dhikr on your bunk. The quiet at night can become a portion of tahajjud few men on the outside ever manage. The isolation you feel can become the very privacy in which the most sincere du’a is made. Memorizing Qur’an, a page at a time, fits naturally into a schedule with fewer interruptions than most free men will ever have. Voluntary fasting no longer competes with a demanding job or a family schedule.

This is not meant to minimize what confinement has taken from you. It has taken real things: freedom, family, choice over your own hours. But it has also, paradoxically, cleared space that many people spend their entire lives too busy to fill. Some of the men who have drawn nearest to Allah in history did so in far smaller cells than this one. Do not let this season pass without turning its stripped-down quiet into nawafil that outlasts every wall around you.

Part 9: Two Mercies, One Lord

Bring these two hadiths together now and see the complete picture they paint. The first hadith shows Allah’s mercy in how He keeps your record: rewarding sincere intention even without action, multiplying every good deed you manage to perform, and recording your sins with total fairness, never exaggerated. The second hadith shows Allah’s love drawing near to the servant who goes beyond the minimum, securing his obligations first, then adding nawafil patiently until his very senses and limbs are guided by that love.

Put together, these two hadiths describe a Lord who is generous in His accounting and near to those who seek Him with sincerity. He does not wait for perfection before He rewards you. He does not require freedom, wealth, or an easy life before He draws close to you. He asks only for a sincere heart, secured obligations, and a patient, continuing effort at the voluntary acts within your reach. That is a path open to every man in this room, exactly where you are sitting right now.

O Allah, write down our sincere intentions as complete good deeds, even in the moments we cannot act on them.

O Allah, multiply our good deeds beyond anything we could ever deserve, out of Your mercy alone.

O Allah, record our sins with justice, and erase them through our sincere repentance.

O Allah, help us secure our five daily prayers fully, without delay, without carelessness, regardless of where we are confined.

O Allah, grant us the patience to add nawafil, however small, and to continue them day after day until we meet You.

O Allah, guard our hearing, our sight, our hands, and our feet, so that they move only toward what You love.

O Allah, answer our du’a and grant us refuge whenever we call upon You, in this place and in every place.

O Allah, do not let these walls stand between us and nearness to You. Let this season become the season we drew closest to You in our entire lives.