Nawawi Pair 9 & 10: Submission and Purity

Part One: Two Commands, One Obedience

Brothers,

Today’s khutbah covers two hadiths from Imam Nawawi’s 40 Hadith, the 9th and the 10th. They are not two separate lessons. They are one lesson in two parts. The first teaches us how to obey Allah’s commands. The second teaches us that the purity of our provision, what we eat, what we earn, what we wear, is part of that same obedience. A man cannot claim to submit to Allah while feeding himself from what Allah has forbidden. Submission in action and purity in provision are two halves of a single coin.

Let us begin with Hadith 9:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'What I have forbidden for you, avoid. What I have ordered you [to do], do as much of it as you can. For verily, it was only the excessive questioning and their disagreeing with their Prophets that destroyed those who came before you.' (Bukhari & Muslim)

Abu Hurayrah narrated more hadith than any other companion, and this narration is agreed upon by both Bukhari and Muslim, the two most trusted collections in Islam. The Prophet ﷺ is not offering a suggestion here. He is handing us the operating manual for how a believer relates to divine law.

Part 1: Avoid Completely, Obey to Your Capacity

Look closely at the two halves of this hadith. With prohibitions, the Prophet ﷺ said “avoid.” Not “avoid mostly.” Not “avoid when it’s convenient.” Avoid, in full. There is no partial obedience with haram. You do not sip a little of what Allah forbids and call it faith. You leave it, completely, the moment you know it is forbidden.

With obligations, the wording changes. “Do as much of it as you can.” Here Allah’s mercy shows itself. He does not demand perfection from limited creatures. He demands effort, sincerity, and the honest use of whatever ability you have.

So be mindful of Allah to the best of your ability, hear and obey, and spend in charity, that will be best for you. And whoever is saved from the selfishness of their own souls, it is they who are ˹truly˺ successful. (At-Taghaabun, 64:16)

Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear. For it is whatever ˹good˺ it has earned, and against it whatever ˹evil˺ it has committed. Our Lord! Do not punish us if we forget or make a mistake. Our Lord! Do not place a burden on us like the one you placed on those before us. Our Lord! Do not burden us with what we cannot bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us. You are our ˹only˺ Guardian. So grant us victory over the disbelieving people. (Al-Baqara, 2:286)

If you cannot pray standing, pray sitting. If you cannot fast today, make it up when you are able. If you cannot give a large sadaqah, give a small one with a sincere heart. None of this is an excuse to do nothing. It is permission to start where you are and keep moving.

Part 2: The Trap of Excessive Questions

The Prophet ﷺ then names what destroyed the nations before us: excessive questioning and disagreement with their prophets. This is not a warning against learning. Learning is praised throughout our religion. This is a warning against a specific disease, the habit of turning a simple command into an argument.

The most sinful person among the Muslims is the one who asks about something that was not forbidden, and it becomes forbidden because of his asking. (Bukhari & Muslim)

Think about what this means. Sometimes our own endless questioning is what turns an easy matter into a hard one. Allah gave the Children of Israel a simple command to sacrifice a cow. Instead of obeying, they asked what kind, what age, what color, what it had been used for. Each question made the command harder until they nearly could not fulfill it at all, and even then they obeyed “hesitantly,” their hearts never fully surrendered.

We do the same thing when we are told something is haram and we respond with “but is it really haram” or “what if my situation is different” or “can you prove it to me one more time.” A sincere question seeks to obey better. An argumentative question seeks a way out of obeying at all. Know the difference in your own heart before you open your mouth.

Part 3: Mercy Balanced with Justice

Notice the balance in this hadith. Allah is just, so the prohibitions are firm and non-negotiable. Allah is merciful, so the obligations bend to your actual capacity. This balance protects us from two opposite dangers: the danger of treating sin lightly, and the danger of despairing over worship we cannot yet perfect.

The believer does not look for excuses to disobey. He looks for every door to obey. (Ibn Rajab)

Hold both truths at once. Be strict with yourself about what is forbidden. Be gentle with yourself about the pace of your growth in what is commanded. That is the balance the Prophet ﷺ taught us in a single sentence.

Part Two: The Purity That Obedience Produces

Brothers,

We now turn to Hadith 10, which takes this same obedience and applies it to something we rarely think about: the purity of what enters our bodies and our lives.

Allah the Almighty is Pure and accepts only that which is pure. Allah has commanded the believers to do that which He has commanded the Messengers, for He has said: 'O Messengers, eat of the good things, and do good deeds.' And He has said: 'O you who believe, eat of the good things that We have provided you.' Then he mentioned [the case of] a man who, having journeyed far, is disheveled and dusty, and who spreads out his hands to the sky saying 'O Lord, O Lord,' while his food is haram, his drink is haram, his clothing is haram, and he has been nourished with haram, so how can he be answered? (Muslim)

This hadith connects directly to the one before it. Hadith 9 told us to obey commands and avoid prohibitions. Hadith 10 shows us that this obedience is not only about actions we perform in prayer. It reaches into our kitchen, our wallet, our income, our clothing.

Part 4: Purity Is Not Optional, It Is a Condition

The hadith opens with a name of Allah rarely emphasized in this context: At-Tayyib, the Pure. He does not merely prefer purity. He accepts only what is pure. This is a condition for acceptance, not a bonus feature of a good deed.

O messengers! Eat from what is good and lawful, and do good work. Surely I am All-Knowing of what you do. (Al-Muminoon, 23:51)

O you who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if you ˹truly˺ worship Him ˹alone˺. (Al-Baqara, 2:172)

Notice that Allah addresses the messengers themselves with this command. If the prophets, who were protected from major sin, were still commanded to seek what is pure and lawful, how much more does it apply to the rest of us.

Part 5: What You Eat Reaches Your Du’a

The image the Prophet ﷺ paints is unforgettable. A man has traveled far. He is exhausted, dusty, desperate. He raises his hands to the sky and calls out “O Lord, O Lord” with every sign of sincerity a person could show. Every condition for an answered du’a appears to be present: travel, humility, raised hands, repetition of Allah’s name.

And yet the Prophet ﷺ says, how can he be answered? Because his food is haram, his drink is haram, his clothing is haram, his very body has been built from haram. The sincerity of the plea does not erase the impurity of the source.

This should shake us. Many of us assume that if we just cry hard enough in du’a, Allah must answer. This hadith teaches that what we consume and how we earn shapes whether our worship is even received, before we ever consider whether it is answered.

Part 6: Sincerity of Worship Requires Purity of Provision

A prayer prayed in a stolen shirt. A charity given from stolen money. A meal eaten to gain strength for worship, but paid for through fraud or theft. None of these reach Allah the way we hope. Purity of intention matters, but purity of intention alone does not purify a haram source.

This is why the scholars have always paired sincerity (ikhlas) with lawful earning (kasb halal) as two requirements for accepted worship, not one. You cannot build a house of worship on a foundation of theft, deception, or interest and expect it to stand.

Part 7: Purity Within Confinement

Brothers, some of you may hear this hadith and think, how does purity of provision even apply to me here. My meals come from the kitchen. My choices are limited. I did not choose what is on my tray or what is sold at commissary.

This is exactly where the lesson still reaches you. Purity here does not mean you control every ingredient. It means you make the lawful choice available to you, and you refuse what you know to be clearly forbidden even when refusing it is inconvenient. It means you do not trade, steal, or scheme to get extra food or goods through means you know are wrong, even if everyone around you does it. It means your patience with limited choices is itself a form of worship, because you are accepting what Allah has decreed for you while still choosing the halal path within it.

Obedience to just rules you dislike, and patience with restricted circumstances you did not choose, are both forms of the same submission Hadith 9 describes. You are doing as much as you can, within real limits, and Allah sees the effort even when the outcome is modest.

Part 8: One Obedience, Two Faces

Bring the two hadiths together now. Hadith 9 tells you to avoid what is forbidden completely and to obey what is commanded to the best of your ability. Hadith 10 tells you that this same standard applies to what you eat, what you wear, and how you earn. Obedience in action and purity in provision are not two different projects. They are one project: full submission to Allah in every part of your life, seen and unseen, spiritual and physical.

A man who avoids sin in his prayer but is careless about the source of his income has only completed half the lesson. A man who worries about halal food but does not restrain his tongue or his temper has also only completed half. The believer works on both, because Allah asks for both.

O Allah, purify our hearts, our provision, and our intentions, and make us among those who both hear and obey.

O Allah, grant us the strength to avoid completely what You have forbidden and to strive sincerely in what You have commanded, according to our ability.

O Allah, do not let us be from those who question in order to escape obedience. Make us from those who ask in order to obey more completely.

O Allah, You are Pure and You accept only what is pure. Purify our food, our earnings, our clothing, and our deeds, so that our worship reaches You accepted.

O Allah, if there is haram in our past earnings or our past choices, forgive us, and guide us to what is lawful from this day forward.

O Allah, grant us patience within the limits placed upon us, and let our patience be worship, not merely endurance.

O Allah, answer our du’a even in our weakness, and do not let our shortcomings stand between us and Your mercy.

O Allah, make us grateful for what You provide, however small it may seem, and content with Your decree.

O Allah, unite obedience in our actions with purity in our provision, so that our submission to You is complete.

O Allah, when we are released from every confinement, worldly and spiritual, let us leave it as better servants than when we entered.