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# The Sunna in Daily Life
- URL: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/sunna-in-daily-life/
- Published: 2026-09-30T21:36:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T23:52:47.000Z
- Description: How the Prophet greeted people, ate, slept, dressed and spoke, habit by habit, with every report linked and graded, and the famous sayings that turn out to have no reliable chain.
- Author: Mohammad Siddiqui
- Tags: Deen

New to the Qur'an? Start with [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/), then read [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/). All articles: [Deen: Start Here](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/deen/).

Deen · Practice · Hadith

Most of what Muslims call "the Sunna" in ordinary conversation is not law at all. It is how the Prophet ﷺ greeted people, ate, slept, dressed and spoke, as his Companions remembered it. Some of those memories are among the best-attested reports in the whole hadith literature. Others are sayings that everyone has heard and nobody can trace. This article sorts the two, habit by habit, with a link to every report so that you can check it yourself.

I have kept to the ordinary moments of a day: meeting someone, sitting down to eat, going to bed, washing, getting dressed, dealing with the people next door and the people who raised you, talking, and the short supplications that go with leaving the house or seeing rain. For each one I give the report, where it is, and how strong the scholars of hadith judged it. Near the end there is a filterable list of every practice in the article, tagged by strength of evidence.

The short version

1. A great deal of everyday Sunna rests on reports in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: saying God's name and eating with the right hand, the greeting of peace, the six rights one Muslim has over another, kindness to neighbours, the supplications before sleep.[1](#src-1)[2](#src-2)[3](#src-3)
2. Two classic handbooks gather this material: al-Nawawī's *Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn* and al-Bukhārī's *al-Adab al-mufrad*. Neither is a guarantee of authenticity for every report in it; *al-Adab al-mufrad* in particular was sifted by al-Albānī into sound and weak halves.[4](#src-4)[5](#src-5)
3. Some practices many people take as Sunna rest on weak reports, such as washing the hands "for the blessing of food" or the supplication for entering the house.[6](#src-6)[7](#src-7) Scholars differ on whether weak reports may be acted on in matters of virtue, and under what conditions.[8](#src-8)
4. A handful of famous "hadiths" have no reliable chain at all, among them "seek knowledge even in China", "love of the homeland is part of faith" and "cleanliness is part of faith" in that wording. Each has a sound near-relative that people could quote instead.[9](#src-9)[10](#src-10)[11](#src-11)
5. The Jaʿfarī (Twelver Shia) tradition transmits its own reports on manners through the Imams, graded by its own scholars; on most daily habits it agrees with the Sunni material, and in a few, such as beginning a meal with salt, it adds its own.[12](#src-12)

Contents

1. [What "Sunna" means here](#what-sunna-means)
2. [How strong is the evidence?](#grades)
3. [Greetings](#greetings)
4. [Eating and drinking](#eating)
5. [Sleeping](#sleeping)
6. [Cleanliness](#cleanliness)
7. [Dress](#dress)
8. [Neighbours](#neighbours)
9. [Parents](#parents)
10. [Speech](#speech)
11. [Supplications for daily moments](#supplications)
12. [Popular but weak](#popular-weak)
13. [The list: every practice by strength](#list)
14. [Glossary](#glossary)

## 1\. What "Sunna" means here

*Sunna* literally means a trodden path, a customary way. Britannica's short definition is "the body of traditional social and legal custom and practice of the Islamic community", and it notes that al-Shāfiʿī gave the Sunna of the Prophet ﷺ, as preserved in the hadith, a normative and legal status second only to the Qur'an.[13](#src-13) The Qur'an itself puts the idea in one line: "in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day."[14](#src-14)

The word carries two meanings that are worth keeping apart. For a jurist, "sunna" is also a legal grade: an act that is recommended, rewarded if done, not sinful if left. For most Muslims in daily speech, "it's Sunna" simply means "the Prophet did it this way". The two overlap but are not the same. Much of what is described below is recommended in all the schools. Some of it, like the prohibition of silk and gold for men, is more than a recommendation. Some of it is simply how he happened to do things, and the scholars have argued for centuries over which of his habits were meant to be copied and which were the customs of seventh-century Arabia. The Mālikī jurist al-Qarāfī (d. 1285) sorted the Prophet's ﷺ acts by the capacity in which he acted, as messenger, as judge or as head of the community, and held that only the first kind binds every Muslim everywhere.[80](#src-80) Many devout Muslims, and Salafi teachers in particular, prefer to copy as much of his outward practice as they can, as the questions of the garment and the beard below show; modern reformists such as Fazlur Rahman spoke instead of a "living Sunna" and looked for the principle behind a practice rather than its outward form.[81](#src-81) Academic historians, from Ignaz Goldziher onwards, have asked a different question, how much of the hadith goes back to him at all. Their answers run from deep scepticism to Harald Motzki's case, built on early legal collections, that a good deal of the material can be traced to the first Islamic century.[82](#src-82)[83](#src-83) I do not try to settle any of that here. My question is narrower and, I think, prior to it: did he actually say or do this, as far as the hadith scholars can tell?

A *hadith* (*ḥadīth*) is a report of what the Prophet said, did or approved. Each has a chain of narrators (*isnād*) and a text (*matn*). The hadith posts on this site explain how the chains are judged. Here I use the verdicts, not the method.

### The two handbooks

If you grew up in a Muslim household, the book on the shelf was probably *Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn*, "The Gardens of the Righteous", compiled by the Syrian Shāfiʿī scholar Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī (d. 676/1277). sunnah.com describes it as a selection of about 1,900 hadith on ethics, manners, worship and knowledge, drawn from the Six Books and arranged in twenty books.[4](#src-4) Its chapters on eating, dress, greetings, visiting the sick and travel are the backbone of what follows. Most of its reports come from al-Bukhārī and Muslim, but not all, and the reports it takes from other collections carry the grades of those collections.

The other is al-Bukhārī's *al-Adab al-mufrad*, "Manners, on its own". It is a different book from his *Ṣaḥīḥ*, and that difference matters. In the *Ṣaḥīḥ* al-Bukhārī applied his strictest conditions. In *al-Adab al-mufrad* he did not, and the book mixes sayings of the Prophet with sayings of Companions and later figures. sunnah.com lays it out in 57 chapters, from parents and kinship to neighbours, greetings, gatherings and anger.[5](#src-5) In the twentieth century Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī split it into *Ṣaḥīḥ al-Adab al-mufrad* and *Ḍaʿīf al-Adab al-mufrad*. So "it's in al-Bukhārī" can mean two very different things, and when someone quotes *al-Adab al-mufrad* it is fair to ask which half.

## 2\. How strong is the evidence?

I tag every practice in this article with one of six labels, and the list at the end uses the same ones.

- **Qur'an.** The instruction is in the Qur'an itself.
- **Ṣaḥīḥayn.** The report is in the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī or of Muslim. Sunni scholarship accepts these as authentic, and sunnah.com gives them no separate grade.
- **Ṣaḥīḥ.** Sound: graded authentic by a named scholar, usually al-Albānī or the Darussalam editors whose grades sunnah.com displays.
- **Ḥasan.** Good: acceptable as evidence, a step below ṣaḥīḥ.
- **Ḍaʿīf.** Weak: a problem in the chain, such as an unreliable or unknown narrator, or a break.
- **No reliable basis.** Graded fabricated (*mawḍūʿ*) or "without basis" (*lā aṣla lahu*), or not the Prophet's words at all.

A grade is a scholar's judgement, not a fact of nature. Al-Albānī was stricter than some and more lenient than others, and the Darussalam editors do not always agree with him. Where sunnah.com shows a grade I say whose it is. Where it shows none, I use the gradings gathered in al-Durar al-Saniyya's hadith encyclopaedia and name the scholar.

### Can you act on a weak hadith?

This is an old disagreement, and it matters for daily practice because so many small recommended acts rest on weak reports. One view, associated with Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal among others, allows weak reports to be narrated and acted on in matters of virtue (*faḍāʾil al-aʿmāl*) though not in law. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī set three conditions for this: the report must not be very weak; it must fall under a good deed that already has a basis in the Sharīʿa; and the person acting on it should not believe it to be firmly established. Others, including Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī and in modern times al-Albānī, rejected acting on weak hadith altogether. Ibn Taymiyya's middle position was that none of the imams made anything obligatory or recommended on the strength of a weak hadith alone.[8](#src-8) The Shāfiʿī scholar Amjad Rasheed, writing for SeekersGuidance, defends the permissive view, stressing that the report must not be fabricated and must fit established principles.[15](#src-15)

Where a practice below rests on a weak report, then, the honest thing is to say so and leave the reader to follow their scholars. The fabricated reports in section 12 are a different matter: no school allows those to be attributed to the Prophet.

### The Jaʿfarī reports

Twelver Shia Muslims have their own hadith corpus, transmitted mostly through the Imams of the Prophet's family. The largest early collection is *al-Kāfī* of al-Kulaynī (d. 329/941), with more than 16,000 traditions in eight volumes. Etan Kohlberg, in the *Encyclopaedia Iranica*, calls Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī's *Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl* its most useful commentary; al-Majlisī graded each tradition as sound (*ṣaḥīḥ*), good (*ḥasan*), reliable (*muwaththaq*), weak (*ḍaʿīf*) and so on.[16](#src-16) The Thaqalayn website shows his grade, and that of the modern scholar Muḥammad Bāqir al-Behbūdī, beside each report. Being in *al-Kāfī* no more guarantees soundness to a Shia scholar than being in *al-Adab al-mufrad* does to a Sunni one. I include Jaʿfarī reports where they add to or differ from the Sunni material.

## 3\. Greetings

The greeting of peace is where the Sunna of daily life begins, and the evidence for it is as strong as it gets. In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ, Abū Hurayra reports the Prophet ﷺ saying: "you will not believe as long as you do not love one another. Should I not direct you to a thing which, if you do, will foster love amongst you:" and the answer is to spread the salām, *as-salāmu ʿalaykum*, among yourselves.[17](#src-17) The Qur'an sets the standard for the reply: "when you are greeted, respond with a better greeting or at least similarly."[18](#src-18) So "wa ʿalaykum as-salām" is the minimum, and adding "wa raḥmatullāh" is better. That last point has its own report, in Abū Dāwūd, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī: ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn reports three men greeting the Prophet ﷺ in turn, the first with "Peace be upon you", the second adding "and Allah's mercy", the third adding "and blessings", and after each the Prophet said "Ten", "Twenty" and "Thirty".[90](#src-90)

Who greets first is also specified. In al-Bukhārī: "The riding one should greet the walking one, and the walking one should greet the sitting one, and the small number of persons should greet the large number of persons."[19](#src-19) In a car park that translates easily enough. And the greeting is not only for friends. Asked what is best in Islam, the Prophet answered, in al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ, to feed people and to greet "those whom you know and those whom you do not know".[20](#src-20)

### The six rights

Muslim 2162 is one of the most quoted hadith on manners, and the one most people mean when they talk about "the rights of a Muslim". In the fuller version Abū Hurayra reports: "Six are the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim." When you meet him, greet him; when he invites you, accept; when he asks your advice, give it; when he sneezes and praises God, say *yarḥamuka Allāh*, "may God have mercy on you"; when he is ill, visit him; and when he dies, follow his funeral.[2](#src-2) The shorter version in the same chapter lists five, leaving out the advice. The list is striking for how practical it is. None of it is hard. All of it takes time.

The sneeze has its own report in al-Bukhārī: the one who sneezes says *al-ḥamdu lillāh*, and his companion answers *yarḥamuka Allāh*.[21](#src-21) Handshaking rests on a report in Abū Dāwūd, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī: "Two Muslims will not meet and shake hands having their sins forgiven them before they separate."[22](#src-22)

Two smaller habits belong here. Asking permission before entering someone's space: in al-Bukhārī, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī asks permission at ʿUmar's door three times, receives no answer, and leaves, because that is what the Prophet taught.[23](#src-23) Three knocks and go home is still good manners. And the face you greet with. Abū Dharr reports in Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ: "Don't consider anything insignificant out of good things even if it is that you meet your brother with a cheerful countenance."[24](#src-24)

## 4\. Eating and drinking

The central report on eating is short and was said to a child. ʿUmar ibn Abī Salama, who grew up in the Prophet's ﷺ household, remembered: "my hand used to go around the dish while I was eating. So Allah's Messenger said to me, 'O boy! Mention the Name of Allah and eat with your right hand, and eat of the dish what is nearer to you.'" He adds that he kept to it all his life.[1](#src-1) Three habits in one sentence, and all in al-Bukhārī. Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ adds the reason given for the right hand: eat and drink with it, "for the Satan eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand."[1](#src-1)

If you forget to say *bismillāh* at the start, a report in Abū Dāwūd, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, gives the remedy: say "In the name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it" (*bismillāhi awwalahu wa ākhirahu*).[25](#src-25)

### At the table

The Prophet never complained about food. Abū Hurayra, in al-Bukhārī: he "never criticized any food but he used to eat if he liked the food, and leave it if he disliked it."[26](#src-26) Anyone who has cooked for a family will see the point. Licking the fingers and cleaning the dish is in Muslim, with the reason: "You do not know in what portion the blessing lies."[27](#src-27) Eating together has a report in Abū Dāwūd, graded ḥasan by al-Albānī: some Companions complained that they ate and were never satisfied; he asked whether they ate separately, and told them to gather for food and mention God's name, "you will be blessed in it."[28](#src-28)

On quantity, the best-known saying is in al-Tirmidhī, graded ṣaḥīḥ by Darussalam: "The human does not fill any container that is worse than his stomach," and if a person must eat more than a few morsels, "a third for food, a third for drink, and third for his breath."[29](#src-29) The Qur'an's own rule is shorter: "Eat and drink, but do not waste."[30](#src-30)

Praise at the end. Al-Bukhārī records the words he said when his meal was cleared away, beginning *al-ḥamdu lillāhi kathīran ṭayyiban mubārakan fīh*, "praise be to God, much, good and blessed praise".[31](#src-31) And in Muslim, a simpler version open to anyone: "Allah is pleased with His servant who says: Al-Hamdu lillah while taking a morsel of food and while drinking."[31](#src-31)

### Drinking

He drank in three breaths, pausing between them, according to Anas in Muslim.[32](#src-32) He told people not to breathe into the vessel itself, in al-Bukhārī.[32](#src-32)

Drinking standing is a nice example of how the hadith have to be read together. Anas reports in Muslim that the Prophet "disapproved the drinking of water while standing."[33](#src-33) Yet Ibn ʿAbbās reports in al-Bukhārī: "I gave Zamzam water to Allah's Messenger and he drank it while standing."[33](#src-33) Both are in the Ṣaḥīḥayn. Most scholars, al-Nawawī and Ibn Ḥajar among them, have reconciled them by treating sitting as better and standing as permitted,[84](#src-84) but you will meet people who treat drinking standing as nearly forbidden, and people who have never heard of the first report. Both are working from sound texts.

### What is weaker than people think

Washing the hands before a meal is plainly good hygiene, and nothing I say here argues against it. But the report usually quoted for it as Sunna, "The blessing of food consists in ablution before it and ablution after it", is in Abū Dāwūd with al-Albānī's grade of weak, and Abū Dāwūd himself flagged its weakness.[6](#src-6) The same collection has "Do not eat meat with a knife, for it is a foreign practice"; al-Albānī graded it weak and Abū Dāwūd said "This tradition is not strong."[34](#src-34) And the saying "We are a people who do not eat until we are hungry, and when we eat we do not eat our fill", often attributed to the Prophet, is not found with any reliable chain; al-Albānī said it has no basis, and Ibn Bāz that its chain has weakness.[35](#src-35) The idea is sound; the attribution is not. The Tirmidhī report on the thirds says much the same thing and is well graded.

### A Jaʿfarī addition: salt

The Shia reports on eating overlap heavily with the Sunni ones, but a few habits are distinctive. The best known is beginning and ending a meal with a little salt. *Al-Kāfī* has a whole chapter on it. A report from Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq says that whoever begins his food with salt and ends with it is kept safe from many afflictions; al-Majlisī graded it ḥasan, and the first report in the chapter he graded muwaththaq ka-l-ṣaḥīḥ, "reliable, like sound". Several others in the same chapter he graded weak or unknown.[12](#src-12) On picking up and eating crumbs that fall at the table, the Jaʿfarī reports converge with Muslim's: a report from Imam al-Riḍā, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Majlisī, tells the one who eats at home to pick up what falls.[36](#src-36)

## 5\. Sleeping

The bedtime Sunna is unusually well documented, perhaps because so many people in the Prophet's ﷺ household saw it. Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib reports in al-Bukhārī the fullest instruction: "Whenever you go to bed perform ablution like that for the prayer, lie on your right side", and then a supplication that begins *Allāhumma aslamtu wajhī ilayk*, "O God, I have submitted myself to You", with the promise that whoever dies that night dies in a state of faith. When al-Barāʾ repeated it back and said "and Your Messenger", he was corrected to "and Your Prophet whom You sent".[3](#src-3) The hadith scholars like to cite that correction as an example of how carefully some wordings were kept.

Abū Hurayra adds, again in al-Bukhārī, shaking out the bed before lying on it, "for he does not know what has come on to it after him", and the supplication *Bismika Rabbī waḍaʿtu janbī*, "In Your name, my Lord, I lay down my side".[37](#src-37) It is sensible advice in a country with spiders.

ʿĀʾisha describes his nightly practice with the last three sūras: he would cup his hands, recite al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and al-Nās into them, and wipe over as much of his body as he could reach, starting with his head and face, three times.[38](#src-38) And ʿAlī tells the story, in al-Bukhārī, of Fāṭima asking her father for a servant to spare her the hand mill. He came to them at night and taught them instead to say *Allāhu akbar* thirty-four times, *subḥān Allāh* thirty-three times and *al-ḥamdu lillāh* thirty-three times at bedtime: "that is better for you both than a servant."[39](#src-39)

On sleeping and waking, Ḥudhayfa reports the short pair of phrases: at night *Bismika amūtu wa aḥyā*, "In Your name I die and live", and on waking "Praise be to God who gave us life after He had caused us to die, and to Him is the return."[40](#src-40)

Lying on the stomach is widely said to be disliked, on the basis of a report in Abū Dāwūd in which the Prophet finds a man lying face down and says "This is a method of lying which Allah hates." sunnah.com shows al-Albānī's grade for this chain as weak.[41](#src-41) Scholars who dislike the posture have other arguments and other routes, and I am not in a position to weigh them all, but the report most people cite is not strong on its own.

## 6\. Cleanliness

"Cleanliness is half of faith." That line is authentic, and it is in Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ, reported by Abū Mālik al-Ashʿarī, as the opening of a longer hadith that goes on to praise, prayer, charity and patience.[11](#src-11) The Arabic word is *al-ṭuhūr*, ritual purity, which the scholars read as wuḍūʾ and ghusl first of all, and bodily cleanliness by extension.

The toothstick (*siwāk*, *miswāk*) comes with a hadith that tells you something about how the Prophet ﷺ thought about obligation. In al-Bukhārī: "If I had not found it hard for my followers or the people, I would have ordered them to clean their teeth with Siwak for every prayer."[42](#src-42) He wanted it done and deliberately did not make it compulsory. A toothbrush serves the same purpose for many scholars; that is a question of fiqh I leave to them.

The *fiṭra*, the natural disposition, is defined in al-Bukhārī as five practices: circumcision, removing pubic hair, plucking the armpit hair, clipping the nails and trimming the moustache. The English translation on sunnah.com drops the armpits, but the Arabic has all five.[43](#src-43)

The beard belongs with these. In al-Bukhārī, Ibn ʿUmar reports: "Do the opposite of what the pagans do. Keep the beards and cut the moustaches short."[86](#src-86) How binding that is divides the schools more than most people realise. Most jurists of the other schools held that keeping it is obligatory and shaving it forbidden; the relied-upon Shāfiʿī position, set by al-Rāfiʿī and al-Nawawī, and some Mālikīs such as al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, call shaving it disliked but not sinful, and Egypt's Dār al-Iftāʾ adopted that view in 2013.[87](#src-87)[88](#src-88) In Sayyid al-Sīstānī's rulings shaving the beard is forbidden as an obligatory precaution, though a short, trimmed beard is enough.[89](#src-89)

On entering the toilet he would say *Allāhumma innī aʿūdhu bika min al-khubuthi wa-l-khabāʾith*, "O God, I seek refuge with You from all evil and evil things", according to Anas in al-Bukhārī.[44](#src-44)

Two famous sayings do not stand up. The first is the one about siwāk making a prayer seventy times better than one without it. The hadith scholars collected in al-Durar al-Saniyya are close to unanimous in finding its chain weak: al-Bayhaqī called it "not strong", Ibn ʿAdī "not preserved", and the problem is traced to one narrator, Muʿāwiya ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣadafī.[45](#src-45) The second is *al-naẓāfa min al-īmān*, "cleanliness is part of faith". It is quoted on posters in mosque bathrooms from Lahore to Lakemba. Al-Albānī graded the versions he examined fabricated or very weak, and al-ʿIrāqī called its chain very weak; Ibn ʿUthaymīn said it is not a hadith, though its meaning is sound.[46](#src-46) The sound saying in Muslim says something very similar in a stronger way. The poster could simply quote that instead.

## 7\. Dress

The Prophet ﷺ began with the right. ʿĀʾisha, in al-Bukhārī: he "used to like to start from the right side on wearing shoes, combing his hair and cleaning or washing himself and on doing anything else."[47](#src-47) For shoes it is spelled out: right shoe first on, left shoe first off, "Let the right shoe be the first to be put on and the last to be taken off."[47](#src-47)

The most important hadith on clothing is actually about pride. In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ, Ibn Masʿūd reports: "He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise." A man asked about someone who likes his clothes and shoes to be fine. The answer: "Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth and contempt for the people."[48](#src-48) Dressing well is not the problem. Contempt is.

The same reading governs the hadith on the length of garments. In al-Bukhārī, Ibn ʿUmar reports that God will not look on the Day of Resurrection at the one who drags his garment "out of conceit". Abū Bakr said that one side of his waist-wrap slipped down unless he watched it, and was told: "You are not one of those who do that out of conceit."[49](#src-49) Whether wearing the garment below the ankle is forbidden in itself or only when done from pride is one of the better-known modern arguments between Salafi scholars and most of the traditional schools. Both sides cite this hadith. The classical majority, as IslamQA (which itself takes the stricter view) acknowledges, held that a garment below the ankle worn without pride is disliked, not forbidden: al-Nawawī says so for the Shāfiʿīs and Ibn Qudāma for the Ḥanbalīs, and Abū Ḥanīfa is reported to have worn a trailing cloak. Ibn Bāz, Ibn ʿUthaymīn and the Saudi Standing Committee held it forbidden in itself.[85](#src-85)

White clothes are recommended in a report in Abū Dāwūd, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī: "Wear your white garments, for they are among your best garments, and shroud your dead in them."[50](#src-50) Silk and gold for men are more than a matter of taste: ʿAlī reports, in Abū Dāwūd with al-Albānī's grade of ṣaḥīḥ, that the Prophet held silk in one hand and gold in the other and said "both of these are prohibited to the males of my community."[51](#src-51) And putting on a new garment has its own supplication, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī in Abū Dāwūd, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī: praising God who provided it, and asking for its good and the good it was made for.[52](#src-52)

## 8\. Neighbours

The Qur'an lists "near and distant neighbours" among those to whom kindness is owed, alongside parents, relatives and orphans.[53](#src-53) The hadith go further than most people expect. ʿĀʾisha reports in al-Bukhārī, and Ibn ʿUmar in Muslim, that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Gabriel continued to recommend me about treating the neighbors kindly and politely so much so that I thought he would order me to make them as my heirs."[54](#src-54)

And there is the hadith of the triple oath, in al-Bukhārī from Abū Shurayḥ: "By Allah, he does not believe! By Allah, he does not believe! By Allah, he does not believe!" Asked who, he said: "That person whose neighbor does not feel safe from his evil."[55](#src-55) Abū Hurayra's version joins the neighbour, the guest and the tongue in one sentence: whoever believes in God and the Last Day should not harm his neighbour, should honour his guest, and should "talk what is good or keep quiet."[56](#src-56)

The small courtesies count. Abū Hurayra again, in al-Bukhārī: "None of you should look down upon the gift sent by her female neighbor even if it were the trotters of the sheep."[57](#src-57) A plate of something passed over the fence is Sunna, and so is accepting it graciously.

### How far does "neighbour" go?

"Forty houses in every direction" is one of the most repeated sayings on this subject, and the way it is attested is a good lesson in reading sources. In *al-Adab al-mufrad* the words are there, but the chain ends with al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī: "The term 'neighbour' includes the forty houses in front a person, the forty houses behind him, the forty houses on his right and the forty houses on his left."[58](#src-58) That is the opinion of a great early scholar, not a saying of the Prophet. In the Jaʿfarī collection it is different. *Al-Kāfī* has a short chapter on the boundaries of the neighbourhood with two reports giving the same forty houses: one attributed to the Prophet, which al-Majlisī graded "unknown" and al-Behbūdī "sound", and one from Imam al-Bāqir, which al-Majlisī graded ḥasan.[59](#src-59) The same rule, then, reaches Sunnis as a scholar's opinion and Twelvers as a graded report.

The Jaʿfarī chapter on the rights of neighbours is also worth reading for its range. Of its sixteen reports, al-Majlisī grades most as weak or of unknown narrators and only a few as good or better. The one both al-Majlisī and al-Behbūdī grade ṣaḥīḥ, from Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, says that good neighbourliness "develops the country and extends one's lifespan".[60](#src-60)

## 9\. Parents

The Qur'an does most of the work here, and it is specific. "Honour your parents. If one or both of them reach old age in your care, never say to them ˹even˺ 'ugh,' nor yell at them. Rather, address them respectfully. And be humble with them out of mercy, and pray, 'My Lord! Be merciful to them as they raised me when I was young.'"[61](#src-61)

The best-known hadith is the one about the mother. A man asked the Prophet ﷺ who most deserved his good company. "Your mother." Then who? "Your mother." Then who? "Your mother." Then who? "Your father." It is in al-Bukhārī, from Abū Hurayra.[62](#src-62) In the same collection, cursing one's parents is counted among the greatest sins, and the Prophet explained how anyone could do such a thing: by insulting another man's father, so that he insults yours back.[62](#src-62)

### "Paradise under the feet of mothers"

Here is a case where a sound hadith and a popular saying sit side by side. The popular form, "Paradise lies at the feet of mothers" (*al-janna taḥta aqdām al-ummahāt*), does not hold up for most hadith critics: al-Albānī graded the version from Ibn ʿAbbās fabricated and the version from Anas weak, and earlier critics called the Ibn ʿAbbās version *munkar*, a rejected report. A few later compilers of popular sayings, such as al-Zarqānī, did accept the version from Anas.[63](#src-63) But a similar statement is in al-Nasāʾī with a good grade. Muʿāwiya ibn Jāhima's father came to ask about going on campaign; the Prophet asked whether he had a mother, and told him: "Then stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet." Darussalam grades it ṣaḥīḥ.[64](#src-64) The sense survives; the slogan version does not.

"The Lord's pleasure is in the parent's pleasure, and the Lord's anger is in the parent's anger" is in al-Tirmidhī and shown as ḥasan on sunnah.com. Al-Tirmidhī himself adds a note that is worth knowing: most transmitters report it as the words of the Companion ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, and only one, Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith, whom he calls reliable, raises it to the Prophet. He judged the Companion's version the more correct, so the safer way to quote it is as ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr's words.[65](#src-65)

## 10\. Speech

"Talk what is good or keep quiet" is part of the hadith of Abū Hurayra already quoted for neighbours.[56](#src-56) It is hard to improve on as a rule. In another report in al-Bukhārī, a list of everyday charities that each joint of the body owes every day, the Prophet ﷺ counts "a good word" among them.[66](#src-66) And in al-Tirmidhī, graded ḥasan by Darussalam: "Your smiling in the face of your brother is charity," along with giving directions to someone lost and moving a thorn from the road.[67](#src-67)

Backbiting (*ghība*) is the Qur'an's own example of ugly speech: "do not spy, nor backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of their dead brother?"[68](#src-68) Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ records the definition. Asked what backbiting is, the Prophet said: "your talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like." And if what I say is true? "If (that failing) is actually found (in him) what you assert, you in fact backbited him, and if that is not in him it is a slander."[69](#src-69) Truth is no defence, which is what makes the hadith uncomfortable.

Truthfulness, in al-Bukhārī from Ibn Masʿūd: "Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise," while a man may keep lying "till he is written before Allah, a liar."[70](#src-70) Anger has the shortest hadith of all. A man asked for advice; the Prophet said "Do not become angry", and repeated it each time the man asked again.[71](#src-71)

Behind all of this is one sentence that is well attested but is not in the Ṣaḥīḥayn: "I was sent to perfect good character." It is in *al-Adab al-mufrad* and in Aḥmad's Musnad, and al-Albānī graded it ṣaḥīḥ in *Ṣaḥīḥ al-Adab al-mufrad*.[72](#src-72) In al-Bukhārī's own Ṣaḥīḥ the image is the body: the believers in their mercy and love are like one body, so that when one part is unwell the whole body shares its sleeplessness and fever.[73](#src-73)

## 11\. Supplications for daily moments

A short supplication (*duʿāʾ*) attaches to many ordinary moments. These are the ones people ask about most, with the grade of each.

**Leaving the house.** "In the name of Allah, I trust in Allah; there is no might and no power but in Allah" (*bismillāh, tawakkaltu ʿalā Allāh, lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh*). It is in Abū Dāwūd, from Anas, and al-Albānī graded it ṣaḥīḥ; the report says the one who says it is told "You are guided, defended and protected."[74](#src-74)

**Entering the house.** The supplication usually taught, "O Allah! I ask Thee for good both when entering and going out; in the name of Allah we have entered, and in the name of Allah we have gone out", followed by greeting the family, is also in Abū Dāwūd, but al-Albānī graded it weak.[7](#src-7) Greeting the people of the house with salām when you come in has a basis in the general command to spread the greeting; the particular wording is what is weak.

**Entering and leaving the mosque.** In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ, from Abū Usayd: on entering, "O Allah! open for me the doors of Thy mercy" (*Allāhumma iftaḥ lī abwāba raḥmatik*), and on leaving, "O Allah! I beg of Thee Thy Grace" (*Allāhumma innī asʾaluka min faḍlik*).[75](#src-75)

**Setting out on a journey.** Ibn ʿUmar reports in Muslim that when the Prophet ﷺ mounted his camel to travel he said *Allāhu akbar* three times, then "Hallowed is He Who subdued for us this (ride) and we were not ourselves powerful enough to use It as a ride, and we are going to return to our Lord", followed by a longer prayer for piety and an easy journey.[76](#src-76) Many Muslims say it when they start the car.

**When it rains.** ʿĀʾisha, in al-Bukhārī: on seeing rain he said *Allāhumma ṣayyiban nāfiʿan*, "O Allah! Let it be a strong fruitful rain."[77](#src-77) In a country that swings between drought and flood it is a very Australian prayer.

Eating, sleeping, waking, dressing and the toilet each have their supplications in the sections above.

## 12\. Popular but weak

Every community has sayings it believes are hadith. Most are harmless in content; the problem is the attribution. Putting words into the Prophet's ﷺ mouth is a serious matter in every Muslim tradition, which is why the hadith critics bothered to track these down. Here are four more that did not survive the check, alongside those already met above (the hand-washing, the knife, the seventy-fold siwāk, "cleanliness is part of faith", "we are a people who do not eat" and the mothers' feet).

**"Seek knowledge even if it is in China."** Ibn Ḥibbān called it "false, it has no basis", Ibn al-Jawzī said it is not sound, and al-Albānī graded it *bāṭil*, false, in his series of weak and fabricated hadith.[9](#src-9) The first half of the idea has a better footing. "Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim" is in Ibn Mājah. Its chain there is very weak, as the Darussalam note on sunnah.com says, but the same note says the first sentence is authentic through other routes, while the addition that follows it is not.[78](#src-78) So "seeking knowledge is a duty" may be quoted as a hadith; China may not.

**"Love of the homeland is part of faith."** Al-Sakhāwī, who spent a career tracking popular sayings, said he had never come across it; al-Ṣaghānī counted it fabricated, and so did al-Albānī.[10](#src-10) Loving the place you live is not the issue. Calling it faith, in the Prophet's name, is.

**"The difference of opinion in my community is a mercy."** This one is often quoted to calm down arguments between the schools. Al-Albānī said it has no basis, others that no chain for it is known, and Ibn Bāz identified it as a saying of the Successor al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, not of the Prophet.[79](#src-79) The schools have good reasons for tolerating each other's positions, some of which are explained in the madhhab posts on this site. This saying is not one of them.

**"Forty houses in each direction are your neighbours."** As shown in section 8, in the Sunni collections this is al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī's opinion. Quoting it as al-Ḥasan's is fine.[58](#src-58)

A general rule of thumb follows from all of this. If a saying is famous, short and quotable, and nobody who shares it can tell you the collection and number, it is worth checking before you pass it on. sunnah.com shows grades for most collections, and the Arabic hadith encyclopaedia at al-Durar al-Saniyya collects the verdicts of many critics on popular sayings.

## 13\. The list: every practice by strength

Every practice discussed above, in one list. Filter by strength of evidence, choose a part of the day, or search for a word. Each entry links to the report. Without JavaScript the full list simply shows below.

All Qur'an Ṣaḥīḥayn Ṣaḥīḥ Ḥasan Weak No reliable basis 

Part of the day Everything Greetings Eating and drinking Sleeping Cleanliness Dress Neighbours Parents Speech and character Supplications Search 

- ṢaḥīḥaynSpread the greeting of peace  
Muslim 54: [sunnah.com/muslim:54a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:54a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Qur'anReturn a greeting with a better one, or at least the same  
Qur'an 4:86: [quran.com/4/86](https://quran.com/4/86?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥThe fuller greeting, "wa raḥmatullāh wa barakātuh", counts for more  
Abū Dāwūd 5195, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5195](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5195?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynThe six rights: greet, accept invitations, give advice, answer the sneeze, visit the sick, follow the funeral  
Muslim 2162: [sunnah.com/muslim:2162b](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2162b?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynRider greets walker, walker greets sitter, the few greet the many  
al-Bukhārī 6232: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6232](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6232?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynGreet those you know and those you do not know  
al-Bukhārī 12: [sunnah.com/bukhari:12](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:12?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynOn sneezing say al-ḥamdu lillāh; the reply is yarḥamuka Allāh  
al-Bukhārī 6224: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6224](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6224?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥShaking hands when two Muslims meet  
Abū Dāwūd 5212, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5212](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5212?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynAsk permission to enter three times, then leave  
al-Bukhārī 6245: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6245](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6245?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynMeet people with a cheerful face  
Muslim 2626: [sunnah.com/muslim:2626](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2626?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynSay bismillāh, eat with the right hand, eat from what is nearest  
al-Bukhārī 5376: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5376](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5376?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); Muslim 2020: [sunnah.com/muslim:2020a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2020a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥForgot bismillāh? Say "bismillāhi awwalahu wa ākhirahu"  
Abū Dāwūd 3767, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3767](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3767?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynNever criticise food: eat it or leave it  
al-Bukhārī 5409: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5409](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5409?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynLick the fingers and clean the dish  
Muslim 2033: [sunnah.com/muslim:2033a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2033a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ḤasanEat together rather than separately  
Abū Dāwūd 3764, ḥasan (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3764](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3764?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥA third for food, a third for drink, a third for breath  
al-Tirmidhī 2380, ṣaḥīḥ (Darussalam): [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2380](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2380?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynPraise God after eating and drinking  
al-Bukhārī 5458: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5458](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5458?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); Muslim 2734: [sunnah.com/muslim:2734a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2734a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynDrink in three breaths; do not breathe into the cup  
Muslim 2028: [sunnah.com/muslim:2028a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2028a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); al-Bukhārī 5630: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5630](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5630?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynDrink sitting; he also drank Zamzam standing  
Muslim 2024: [sunnah.com/muslim:2024a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2024a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); al-Bukhārī 1637: [sunnah.com/bukhari:1637](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1637?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Weak"The blessing of food is washing before and after it"  
Abū Dāwūd 3761, ḍaʿīf (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3761](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3761?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Weak"Do not cut meat with a knife"  
Abū Dāwūd 3778, ḍaʿīf (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3778](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3778?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- No reliable basis"We are a people who do not eat until we are hungry"  
No basis (al-Albānī): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [35](#src-35)
- ḤasanJaʿfarī: begin and end the meal with salt  
al-Kāfī 6/5/76/2, ḥasan (al-Majlisī): [thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/76/2](https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/76/2?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥJaʿfarī: pick up and eat crumbs that fall at home  
al-Kāfī 6/5/49/8, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Majlisī): [thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/49/8](https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/49/8?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynWuḍūʾ before bed, lie on the right side, "Allāhumma aslamtu wajhī ilayk"  
al-Bukhārī 247: [sunnah.com/bukhari:247](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:247?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynShake out the bed; "Bismika Rabbī waḍaʿtu janbī"  
al-Bukhārī 6320: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6320](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6320?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynRecite the last three sūras into the hands and wipe the body, three times  
al-Bukhārī 5017: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5017](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5017?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥayn34 Allāhu akbar, 33 subḥān Allāh, 33 al-ḥamdu lillāh at bedtime  
al-Bukhārī 3705: [sunnah.com/bukhari:3705](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3705?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥayn"Bismika amūtu wa aḥyā" at night, praise on waking  
al-Bukhārī 6312: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6312](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6312?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- WeakLying on the stomach is "a way of lying God hates"  
Abū Dāwūd 5040, ḍaʿīf (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5040](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5040?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥayn"Cleanliness (al-ṭuhūr) is half of faith"  
Muslim 223: [sunnah.com/muslim:223](https://sunnah.com/muslim:223?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynUse the siwāk (toothstick), especially before prayer  
al-Bukhārī 887: [sunnah.com/bukhari:887](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:887?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynThe five practices of the fiṭra  
al-Bukhārī 5889: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5889](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5889?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynKeep the beard, trim the moustache (the schools differ on how binding)  
al-Bukhārī 5892: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5892](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5892?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynSeek refuge with God on entering the toilet  
al-Bukhārī 142: [sunnah.com/bukhari:142](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:142?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- WeakA prayer with siwāk is seventy times better  
Weak chain (al-Bayhaqī, Ibn ʿAdī, al-Albānī): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [45](#src-45)
- No reliable basis"Cleanliness (al-naẓāfa) is part of faith"  
Fabricated or very weak (al-Albānī, al-ʿIrāqī): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [46](#src-46)
- ṢaḥīḥaynStart with the right: shoes on right first, off left first  
al-Bukhārī 168: [sunnah.com/bukhari:168](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:168?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); al-Bukhārī 5855: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5855](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5855?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥayn"God is beautiful and loves beauty"; pride is contempt for people  
Muslim 91: [sunnah.com/muslim:91a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:91a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynDo not drag the garment out of conceit  
al-Bukhārī 5784: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5784](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5784?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥWear white; shroud the dead in white  
Abū Dāwūd 4061, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:4061](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4061?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥSilk and gold are forbidden to men  
Abū Dāwūd 4057, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:4057](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4057?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥSupplication on putting on new clothes  
Abū Dāwūd 4020, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:4020](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4020?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Qur'anKindness to near and distant neighbours  
Qur'an 4:36: [quran.com/4/36](https://quran.com/4/36?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynGabriel kept urging kindness to the neighbour  
al-Bukhārī 6014: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6014](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6014?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); Muslim 2625: [sunnah.com/muslim:2625a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2625a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynNo believer whose neighbour is not safe from his harm  
al-Bukhārī 6016: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6016](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6016?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynDo not look down on a neighbour's gift, however small  
al-Bukhārī 2566: [sunnah.com/bukhari:2566](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2566?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- No reliable basis"Forty houses each way are neighbours" as the Prophet's words (Sunni sources)  
al-Adab al-mufrad 109, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī's own words: [sunnah.com/adab:109](https://sunnah.com/adab:109?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ḤasanJaʿfarī: the neighbourhood is forty houses each way  
al-Kāfī 2/4/25/2, ḥasan (al-Majlisī): [thaqalayn.net/chapter/2/4/25](https://thaqalayn.net/chapter/2/4/25?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥJaʿfarī: good neighbourliness develops the land and lengthens life  
al-Kāfī 2/4/24/10, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Majlisī): [thaqalayn.net/hadith/2/4/24/10](https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/2/4/24/10?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Qur'anNever say even "ugh" to parents; pray for them  
Qur'an 17:23–24: [quran.com/17/23-24](https://quran.com/17/23-24?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥayn"Your mother" three times, then "your father"  
al-Bukhārī 5971: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5971](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5971?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynCursing parents, even indirectly, is a great sin  
al-Bukhārī 5973: [sunnah.com/bukhari:5973](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5973?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥ"Stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet"  
al-Nasāʾī 3104, ṣaḥīḥ (Darussalam): [sunnah.com/nasai:3104](https://sunnah.com/nasai:3104?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- No reliable basis"Paradise lies at the feet of mothers" (this wording)  
Fabricated or weak (al-Albānī): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [63](#src-63)
- Ḥasan"The Lord's pleasure is in the parent's pleasure"  
al-Tirmidhī 1899, shown as ḥasan; al-Tirmidhī preferred the version that stops at the Companion: [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1899](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1899?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynSpeak good or keep quiet  
al-Bukhārī 6018: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6018](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6018?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynA good word is charity  
al-Bukhārī 2989: [sunnah.com/bukhari:2989](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2989?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ḤasanSmiling at your brother is charity  
al-Tirmidhī 1956, ḥasan (Darussalam): [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1956](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1956?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynBackbiting: saying what he would dislike, even if true  
Muslim 2589: [sunnah.com/muslim:2589](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2589?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); Qur'an 49:12: [quran.com/49/12](https://quran.com/49/12?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynTruthfulness leads to righteousness  
al-Bukhārī 6094: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6094](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6094?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥayn"Do not become angry"  
al-Bukhārī 6116: [sunnah.com/bukhari:6116](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6116?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- Ṣaḥīḥ"I was sent to perfect good character"  
al-Adab al-mufrad 273, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/adab/14](https://sunnah.com/adab/14?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- No reliable basis"Seek knowledge even in China"  
False (al-Albānī, Ibn Ḥibbān): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [9](#src-9)
- Ṣaḥīḥ"Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim" (first sentence only)  
Ibn Mājah 224; chain very weak, first sentence authentic through other routes (Darussalam): [sunnah.com/ibnmajah:224](https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:224?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- No reliable basis"Love of the homeland is part of faith"  
Fabricated (al-Albānī, al-Ṣaghānī): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [10](#src-10)
- No reliable basis"The difference of my community is a mercy"  
No basis (al-Albānī); al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad's words (Ibn Bāz): see al-Durar al-Saniyya, note [79](#src-79)
- ṢaḥīḥLeaving the house: "bismillāh, tawakkaltu ʿalā Allāh"  
Abū Dāwūd 5095, ṣaḥīḥ (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5095](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5095?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- WeakEntering the house: "Allāhumma innī asʾaluka khayr al-mawlij"  
Abū Dāwūd 5096, ḍaʿīf (al-Albānī): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5096](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5096?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynEntering the mosque: "Allāhumma iftaḥ lī abwāba raḥmatik"  
Muslim 713: [sunnah.com/muslim:713a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:713a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynSetting out on a journey: "Subḥān alladhī sakhkhara lanā hādhā"  
Muslim 1342: [sunnah.com/muslim:1342](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1342?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
- ṢaḥīḥaynWhen it rains: "Allāhumma ṣayyiban nāfiʿan"  
al-Bukhārī 1032: [sunnah.com/bukhari:1032](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1032?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)

Each entry's full reference and grade is in the sources below, under the note where it is first discussed in the article.

## Glossary

Sunna

The Prophet's way: what he said, did and approved. In law, also the grade of a recommended act.

Hadith (ḥadīth)

A report of the Prophet's words, acts or approval, with its chain of narrators.

Isnād, matn

The chain of narrators, and the text it carries.

Ṣaḥīḥayn

"The two Ṣaḥīḥs": the collections of al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870) and Muslim (d. 261/875).

Ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, ḍaʿīf

Sound, good and weak: the main grades of a hadith.

Mawḍūʿ, lā aṣla lahu, bāṭil, munkar

Fabricated; "it has no basis"; false; a rejected report that contradicts stronger ones.

Mawqūf

A report that stops at a Companion rather than reaching the Prophet.

Muwaththaq

In Shia grading, "reliable": a chain of trustworthy narrators not all of whom were Twelvers.

Faḍāʾil al-aʿmāl

The virtues of deeds: the area where some scholars allow weak hadith.

Adab

Good manners, etiquette; also the name of the genre of books on it.

Salām

The greeting *as-salāmu ʿalaykum*, "peace be upon you".

Duʿāʾ

Supplication, personal prayer in one's own or set words.

Fiṭra

The natural disposition; in the hadith, a set of grooming practices.

Siwāk, miswāk

A twig used to clean the teeth.

Ṭuhūr, naẓāfa

Ritual purity; ordinary cleanliness.

Ghība

Backbiting: saying about someone absent what they would dislike.

Wuḍūʾ

The washing before prayer.

**This is a research article, not a fatwa.** It reports what the hadith say and how hadith scholars have graded them, with links so you can check each one. Gradings are scholarly judgements and scholars sometimes differ on them, and whether a practice is recommended, disliked or obligatory in your school is a question for a qualified scholar you trust.

**Spotted a mistake, or know a better source?** I check and correct these pages when readers point things out. Please email [mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com](mailto:mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com?subject=Correction%3A%20The%20Sunna%20in%20Daily%20Life) with the passage, what you think is wrong, and your source (Qur'an reference, hadith with collection and number, or a book with page).

## Sources

These are the sources behind the numbered notes, in the order they are first cited. Qur'an references link to quran.com, and the English is Mustafa Khattab's *The Clear Quran* as shown there. Hadith references link to sunnah.com: reports in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim are accepted as authentic in Sunni scholarship and sunnah.com shows no separate grade for them; for other collections I give the grade sunnah.com shows and who gave it. Where sunnah.com shows no grade (al-Adab al-mufrad, and sayings not in its collections), I give the gradings collected in al-Durar al-Saniyya's hadith encyclopaedia. Jaʿfarī reports link to Thaqalayn, which shows al-Majlisī's and al-Behbūdī's gradings. Checked in September 2026.

1. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5376 (ʿUmar ibn Abī Salama: "Mention the Name of Allah and eat with your right hand, and eat of the dish what is nearer to you"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5376](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5376?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. Also Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2020a (Ibn ʿUmar: eat and drink with the right hand): [sunnah.com/muslim:2020a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2020a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
2. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2162b (Abū Hurayra: "Six are the rights of a Muslim over another Muslim"): [sunnah.com/muslim:2162b](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2162b?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
3. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 247 (al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: wuḍūʾ before bed, lying on the right side, and the supplication "Allāhumma aslamtu wajhī ilayk"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:247](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:247?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
4. al-Nawawī, *Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn*, collection page on sunnah.com (about 1,900 hadith on ethics, manners and worship, drawn from the Six Books, in 20 books): [sunnah.com/riyadussalihin](https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
5. al-Bukhārī, *al-Adab al-mufrad*, collection page on sunnah.com (57 chapters on parents, kinship, neighbours, greetings, gatherings and anger): [sunnah.com/adab](https://sunnah.com/adab?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Al-Albānī divided it into *Ṣaḥīḥ al-Adab al-mufrad* and *Ḍaʿīf al-Adab al-mufrad*.
6. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3761 (Salmān: "The blessing of food consists in ablution before it and ablution after it"; Abū Dāwūd himself calls it weak): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3761](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3761?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḍaʿīf (weak) by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
7. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 5096 (Abū Mālik al-Ashʿarī: the supplication on entering the house, then greeting one's family): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5096](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5096?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḍaʿīf (weak) by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
8. Islam Question & Answer, no. 44877, "Our attitude concerning daʿīf (weak) aḥādīth which speak of good deeds" (two views; Ibn Ḥajar's three conditions; Ibn Taymiyya: no imam made something obligatory or recommended on a weak hadith alone): [islamqa.info/en/answers/44877](https://islamqa.info/en/answers/44877?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
9. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for "uṭlubū al-ʿilm wa-law bi-l-Ṣīn": al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ḍaʿīfa* 416, bāṭil ([dorar.net/h/Yx6dE0Zf](https://dorar.net/h/Yx6dE0Zf?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Ibn Ḥibbān, *al-Majrūḥīn* 1/489, "bāṭil, it has no basis" ([dorar.net/h/Onb9Z6zG](https://dorar.net/h/Onb9Z6zG?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Ibn al-Jawzī, *al-Mawḍūʿāt* 1/347, not sound ([dorar.net/h/VaKJXlpw](https://dorar.net/h/VaKJXlpw?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)) (Arabic)
10. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for "ḥubb al-waṭan min al-īmān": al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ḍaʿīfa* 36, fabricated ([dorar.net/h/v9O0rvM9](https://dorar.net/h/v9O0rvM9?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-Sakhāwī, *al-Maqāṣid al-ḥasana* 218, "I have not come across it" ([dorar.net/h/RjEEgqS2](https://dorar.net/h/RjEEgqS2?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-Ṣaghānī, *al-Mawḍūʿāt* 53, fabricated ([dorar.net/h/zjdwxrhg](https://dorar.net/h/zjdwxrhg?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)) (Arabic)
11. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 223 (Abū Mālik al-Ashʿarī: "Cleanliness is half of faith" (al-ṭuhūr shaṭr al-īmān)): [sunnah.com/muslim:223](https://sunnah.com/muslim:223?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
12. al-Kulaynī, *al-Kāfī*, vol. 6, book 5, chapter 76 ("Excellence of salt"), hadith 2 (from Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq: beginning and ending food with salt; hadith 1 in the same chapter is graded muwaththaq ka-l-ṣaḥīḥ by al-Majlisī). Graded ḥasan by al-Majlisī, as shown on Thaqalayn: [thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/76/2](https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/76/2?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
13. Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Sunnah", *Encyclopaedia Britannica* (sunna as custom and practice; with the Qur'an and hadith a major source of Sharīʿa; al-Shāfiʿī on its status): [britannica.com/topic/Sunnah](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sunnah?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
14. Qur'an 33:21 ("in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/33/21](https://quran.com/33/21?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
15. Shaykh Amjad Rasheed, "Is acting on weak hadiths an innovation?", tr. Shazia Ahmad, SeekersGuidance, 12 November 2015 (permitted in virtuous deeds if not fabricated or very weak, if it fits established principles, and without believing it firmly established): [seekersguidance.org](https://seekersguidance.org/answers/general-counsel/is-acting-on-weak-hadiths-an-innovation/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
16. Etan Kohlberg, "Kolayni", *Encyclopaedia Iranica* (al-Kulaynī d. 329/941; al-Kāfī's more than 16,000 traditions in eight volumes; al-Majlisī's *Mirʾāt al-ʿuqūl* grading them ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, muwaththaq, ḍaʿīf): [iranicaonline.org/articles/kolayni](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kolayni?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
17. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 54a (Abū Hurayra: "you will not believe as long as you do not love one another", and spreading the salām): [sunnah.com/muslim:54a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:54a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
18. Qur'an 4:86 ("respond with a better greeting or at least similarly"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/4/86](https://quran.com/4/86?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
19. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6232 (the rider greets the walker, the walker the sitter, the few the many): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6232](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6232?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
20. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 12 (ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: to feed people and greet those you know and those you do not know): [sunnah.com/bukhari:12](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:12?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
21. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6224 (Abū Hurayra: saying al-ḥamdu lillāh on sneezing and the reply yarḥamuka Allāh): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6224](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6224?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
22. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 5212 (al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: two Muslims who meet and shake hands are forgiven before they part): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5212](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5212?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
23. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6245 (Abū Mūsā asks permission at ʿUmar's door three times and leaves): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6245](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6245?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
24. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2626 (Abū Dharr: "Don't consider anything insignificant out of good things even if it is that you meet your brother with a cheerful countenance"): [sunnah.com/muslim:2626](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2626?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
25. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3767 (ʿĀʾisha: if you forget the name at the start, say "In the name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3767](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3767?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
26. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5409 (Abū Hurayra: "The Prophet never criticized any food"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5409](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5409?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
27. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2033a (Jābir: licking the fingers and the dish, "You do not know in what portion the blessing lies"): [sunnah.com/muslim:2033a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2033a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
28. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3764 (Waḥshī ibn Ḥarb: "If you gather together at your food and mention Allah's name, you will be blessed in it"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3764](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3764?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
29. Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2380 (al-Miqdām ibn Maʿdīkarib: a third for food, a third for drink, a third for breath): [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2380](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2380?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com.
30. Qur'an 7:31 ("Dress properly whenever you are at worship. Eat and drink, but do not waste"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/7/31](https://quran.com/7/31?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
31. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5458 (Abū Umāma: the praise the Prophet said when his meal was cleared away): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5458](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5458?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. Also Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2734a (Anas: "Allah is pleased with His servant who says: Al-Hamdu lillah while taking a morsel of food and while drinking"): [sunnah.com/muslim:2734a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2734a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
32. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2028a (Anas: he breathed three times in the course of a drink): [sunnah.com/muslim:2028a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2028a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. Also Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5630 (Abū Qatāda: "do not breathe in the vessel"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5630](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5630?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
33. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2024a (Anas: he disapproved of drinking water while standing): [sunnah.com/muslim:2024a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2024a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ. Also Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1637 (Ibn ʿAbbās: he drank Zamzam water standing): [sunnah.com/bukhari:1637](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1637?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
34. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3778 (ʿĀʾisha: "Do not eat meat with a knife"; Abū Dāwūd: "This tradition is not strong"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:3778](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3778?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḍaʿīf (weak) by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
35. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for "naḥnu qawm lā naʾkul ḥattā najūʿ": al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ṣaḥīḥa* 7/1651, lā aṣla lahu, "it has no basis" ([dorar.net/h/VOi7R47p](https://dorar.net/h/VOi7R47p?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Ibn Bāz, *Majmūʿ fatāwā* 4/122, its chain contains weakness ([dorar.net/h/Myoy2mDe](https://dorar.net/h/Myoy2mDe?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)) (Arabic)
36. al-Kulaynī, *al-Kāfī*, vol. 6, book 5, chapter 49 ("Eating pieces of food that fall on the table-spread"), hadith 8 (from Imam ʿAlī al-Riḍā: picking up and eating what falls at home). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Majlisī; most other reports in the chapter are graded weak or unknown, as shown on Thaqalayn: [thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/49/8](https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/6/5/49/8?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
37. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6320 (Abū Hurayra: shaking out the bed and saying "Bismika Rabbī waḍaʿtu janbī"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6320](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6320?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
38. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5017 (ʿĀʾisha: reciting al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and al-Nās into cupped hands, three times): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5017](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5017?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
39. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3705 (ʿAlī: Fāṭima asks for a servant and is taught 34 takbīr, 33 tasbīḥ and 33 taḥmīd at bedtime): [sunnah.com/bukhari:3705](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3705?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
40. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6312 (Ḥudhayfa: "Bismika amūtu wa aḥyā" at night and the praise on waking): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6312](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6312?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
41. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 5040 (Yaʿīsh ibn Ṭikhfa: lying on the stomach, "a method of lying which Allah hates"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5040](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5040?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḍaʿīf (weak) by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
42. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 887 (Abū Hurayra: "If I had not found it hard for my followers ... I would have ordered them to clean their teeth with Siwak for every prayer"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:887](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:887?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
43. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5889 (Abū Hurayra: five practices of the fiṭra; the English on sunnah.com names four (circumcision, shaving the pubic region, clipping the nails, cutting the moustache); the Arabic also names plucking the armpit hair, *natf al-ibṭ*): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5889](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5889?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
44. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 142 (Anas: the words said on entering the toilet): [sunnah.com/bukhari:142](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:142?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
45. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for "tafḍul al-ṣalāt allatī yustāku lahā" (prayer with siwāk seventy times better): Ibn ʿAdī, *al-Kāmil fī al-ḍuʿafāʾ* 8/139, "not preserved" ([dorar.net/h/Gbwv0lqm](https://dorar.net/h/Gbwv0lqm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-Albānī, *Hidāyat al-ruwāt*, p. 373, a weak narrator in the chain ([dorar.net/h/xlCwsPoP](https://dorar.net/h/xlCwsPoP?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-Bayhaqī, *al-Sunan al-ṣughrā* 1/43, "not strong", and *al-Sunan al-kubrā* 1/38, tracing the problem to Muʿāwiya ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣadafī (Arabic)
46. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for sayings on cleanliness and faith: al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ḍaʿīfa* 3264, fabricated ("tanaẓẓafū bi-kulli mā istaṭaʿtum") ([dorar.net/h/aTh4XcLq](https://dorar.net/h/aTh4XcLq?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)), and 5277, fabricated, graded very weak in *Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb* 153 ("al-naẓāfa tadʿū ilā al-īmān") ([dorar.net/h/JXjItDxU](https://dorar.net/h/JXjItDxU?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-ʿIrāqī, *Takhrīj al-Iḥyāʾ* 1/173, a very weak chain ([dorar.net/h/V5n0SZhh](https://dorar.net/h/V5n0SZhh?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Ibn ʿUthaymīn, *Fatāwā nūr ʿalā al-darb* 2/536, "not a hadith, but its meaning is sound" ([dorar.net/h/nSjjabYW](https://dorar.net/h/nSjjabYW?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)) (Arabic)
47. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 168 (ʿĀʾisha: he liked to start from the right in shoes, combing, washing "and on doing anything else"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:168](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:168?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. Also Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5855 (Abū Hurayra: the right shoe first on, the left first off): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5855](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5855?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
48. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 91a (Ibn Masʿūd: "Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth ... and contempt for the people"): [sunnah.com/muslim:91a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:91a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
49. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5784 (Ibn ʿUmar: dragging the garment out of conceit, and Abū Bakr "You are not one of those who do that out of conceit"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5784](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5784?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
50. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4061 (Ibn ʿAbbās: "Wear your white garments, for they are among your best garments"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:4061](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4061?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
51. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4057 (ʿAlī: silk and gold "are prohibited to the males of my community"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:4057](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4057?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
52. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4020 (Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī: the supplication on putting on a new garment): [sunnah.com/abudawud:4020](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4020?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
53. Qur'an 4:36 ("near and distant neighbours"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/4/36](https://quran.com/4/36?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
54. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6014 (ʿĀʾisha: Gabriel kept recommending the neighbour until he thought he would make him an heir; also in Muslim 2625 from Ibn ʿUmar): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6014](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6014?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
55. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6016 (Abū Shurayḥ: "That person whose neighbor does not feel safe from his evil"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6016](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6016?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
56. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6018 (Abū Hurayra: not harming the neighbour, honouring the guest, "talk what is good or keep quiet"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6018](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6018?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
57. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2566 (Abū Hurayra: no woman should look down on her neighbour's gift "even if it were the trotters of the sheep"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:2566](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2566?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
58. al-Adab al-mufrad 109 (forty houses in each direction; the chain ends with al-Ḥasan (al-Baṣrī), not the Prophet): [sunnah.com/adab:109](https://sunnah.com/adab:109?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). The words are al-Ḥasan's own.
59. al-Kulaynī, *al-Kāfī*, vol. 2, book 4, chapter 25 ("Boundaries of neighbourhood"): hadith 1 (from the Prophet, graded majhūl by al-Majlisī and ṣaḥīḥ by al-Behbūdī) and hadith 2 (from Imam al-Bāqir, graded ḥasan by al-Majlisī and ṣaḥīḥ by al-Behbūdī), as shown on Thaqalayn: [thaqalayn.net/chapter/2/4/25](https://thaqalayn.net/chapter/2/4/25?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
60. al-Kulaynī, *al-Kāfī*, vol. 2, book 4, chapter 24 ("Rights of neighbours"), hadith 10 (Muʿāwiya ibn ʿAmmār from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, that is Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq: good neighbourliness "develops the country and extends one's lifespan"; most of the other fifteen reports in the chapter are graded weak or majhūl (unknown)). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Majlisī and al-Behbūdī, as shown on Thaqalayn: [thaqalayn.net/hadith/2/4/24/10](https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/2/4/24/10?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
61. Qur'an 17:23–24 ("never say to them ˹even˺ 'ugh'"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/17/23-24](https://quran.com/17/23-24?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
62. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5971 (Abū Hurayra: "Your mother" three times, then "Your father"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5971](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5971?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ. Also Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5973 (ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: cursing one's parents, including by insulting another man's parents, is among the greatest sins): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5973](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5973?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
63. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for "al-janna taḥta aqdām al-ummahāt": al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ḍaʿīfa* 593, the version from Ibn ʿAbbās fabricated ([dorar.net/h/vN9h5blm](https://dorar.net/h/vN9h5blm?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)), and *Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ* 2666, the version from Anas weak ([dorar.net/h/BCqoqLJV](https://dorar.net/h/BCqoqLJV?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-ʿUqaylī, cited by Ibn Ḥajar, munkar ([dorar.net/h/lOOtga5g](https://dorar.net/h/lOOtga5g?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Ibn al-Qaysarānī, *Dhakhīrat al-ḥuffāẓ*, munkar ([dorar.net/h/A09uZHIr](https://dorar.net/h/A09uZHIr?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); al-Zarqānī, *Mukhtaṣar al-Maqāṣid*, p. 348, accepts the version from Anas as ṣaḥīḥ ([dorar.net/h/HjmBFTX2](https://dorar.net/h/HjmBFTX2?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)) (Arabic)
64. Sunan al-Nasāʾī 3104 (Muʿāwiya ibn Jāhima: "Then stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet"): [sunnah.com/nasai:3104](https://sunnah.com/nasai:3104?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com.
65. Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1899 (ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: "The Lord's pleasure is in the parent's pleasure"; al-Tirmidhī notes most transmitters stop it at the Companion and only Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith raises it to the Prophet): [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1899](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1899?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Shown as ḥasan on sunnah.com.
66. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2989 (Abū Hurayra: charity due on every joint; "a good word is also Sadaqa"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:2989](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2989?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
67. Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1956 (Abū Dharr: "Your smiling in the face of your brother is charity"): [sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1956](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1956?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ḥasan by Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com.
68. Qur'an 49:12 ("do not spy, nor backbite one another"). Translation: Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, as shown on quran.com: [quran.com/49/12](https://quran.com/49/12?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
69. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2589 (Abū Hurayra: backbiting is "talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like"; if untrue, it is slander): [sunnah.com/muslim:2589](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2589?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
70. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6094 (ʿAbd Allāh (ibn Masʿūd): "Truthfulness leads to righteousness"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6094](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6094?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
71. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6116 (Abū Hurayra: "Do not become angry", repeated): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6116](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6116?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
72. al-Adab al-mufrad 273 (Abū Hurayra: "I was sent to perfect good character"), in chapter 14 on sunnah.com, which shows no grade for this collection: [sunnah.com/adab/14](https://sunnah.com/adab/14?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, *Ṣaḥīḥ al-Adab al-mufrad*, p. 207, as recorded in al-Durar al-Saniyya ([dorar.net/h/WHucbzc3](https://dorar.net/h/WHucbzc3?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); Arabic); also in Aḥmad's *Musnad* 8952.
73. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6011 (al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr: the believers are like one body): [sunnah.com/bukhari:6011](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6011?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
74. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 5095 (Anas: on leaving the house, "In the name of Allah, I trust in Allah; there is no might and no power but in Allah"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5095](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5095?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.
75. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 713a (Abū Usayd: "O Allah! open for me the doors of Thy mercy" on entering the mosque, and asking for His grace on leaving): [sunnah.com/muslim:713a](https://sunnah.com/muslim:713a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
76. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1342 (Ibn ʿUmar: three takbīrs and "Hallowed is He Who subdued for us this" on setting out on a journey): [sunnah.com/muslim:1342](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1342?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ.
77. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1032 (ʿĀʾisha: on seeing rain, "O Allah! Let it be a strong fruitful rain"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:1032](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1032?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
78. Sunan Ibn Mājah 224 (Anas: "Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim", with a second clause about swine): [sunnah.com/ibnmajah:224](https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:224?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Darussalam, as shown on sunnah.com: the chain is very weak, but the first sentence is authentic through other routes and the addition is not.
79. al-Durar al-Saniyya, *al-Mawsūʿa al-ḥadīthiyya* (hadith encyclopaedia), entries for "ikhtilāf ummatī raḥma": al-Albānī, *al-Silsila al-ḍaʿīfa* 57, "no basis" ([dorar.net/h/Rf4rusmc](https://dorar.net/h/Rf4rusmc?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī, *al-Asrār al-marfūʿa*, p. 108, no known chain ([dorar.net/h/LmIv7LSz](https://dorar.net/h/LmIv7LSz?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)); Ibn Bāz, *Majmūʿ fatāwā* 26/305, the words of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, not the Prophet ([dorar.net/h/kutyCwO8](https://dorar.net/h/kutyCwO8?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)) (Arabic)
80. Sherman A. Jackson, "From Prophetic Actions to Constitutional Theory: A Novel Chapter in Medieval Muslim Jurisprudence", *International Journal of Middle East Studies* 25.1 (1993), 71–90 (al-Qarāfī's classification of the Prophet's acts by capacity): [cambridge.org](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/from-prophetic-actions-to-constitutional-theory-a-novel-chapter-in-medieval-muslim-jurisprudence/BF6BD22645FA357C96EB948D5AC22DF1?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
81. Fazlur Rahman, *Islamic Methodology in History* (Karachi: Central Institute of Islamic Research, 1965), on the "living Sunnah": [Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/Islamic%5FMethodology%5Fin%5FHistory.html?id=9KAyHCDqBloC&ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com); discussed in a University of Cape Town thesis, "A critical reading of Fazlur Rahman's Islamic methodology in history: the case of the living Sunnah": [open.uct.ac.za](https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/8005?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
82. Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Hadith" (Ignaz Goldziher; Western views ranging from the radically sceptical to acceptance of the broad outlines of the Muslim account): [britannica.com/topic/Hadith](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hadith?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
83. Harald Motzki, *The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh before the Classical Schools* (Leiden: Brill, 2002); review in *Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques* 22: [ifao.egnet.net](https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bcai/22/22/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
84. Mufti of the Federal Territories (Malaysia), *Al-Kafi* #914, "The ruling of eating and drinking whilst standing", 23 November 2018 (al-Nawawī: makrūh tanzīhī; Ibn Ḥajar: the Prophet's own drinking standing shows it is not forbidden): [muftiwp.gov.my](https://www.muftiwp.gov.my/en/artikel/al-kafi-li-al-fatawi/2797-al-kafi-914-the-ruling-of-eating-and-drinking-whilst-standing?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
85. Islam Question & Answer, no. 102260, "The view of the majority with regard to letting garments hang below the ankle (isbaal)" (the majority of the four schools: not ḥarām without pride, citing al-Nawawī, Ibn Qudāma and a report of Abū Ḥanīfa; the stricter view of Ibn Bāz, Ibn ʿUthaymīn and the Standing Committee): [islamqa.info/en/answers/102260](https://islamqa.info/en/answers/102260?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
86. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5892 (Ibn ʿUmar: "Keep the beards and cut the moustaches short"): [sunnah.com/bukhari:5892](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5892?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). In al-Bukhārī's Ṣaḥīḥ.
87. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya, fatwa 5968, "The ruling of keeping the beard", 25 July 2013 (the majority held keeping it obligatory; the Shāfiʿī view, and al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ among the Mālikīs, that shaving is disliked; the fatwa adopts the Shāfiʿī view): [dar-alifta.org](https://www.dar-alifta.org/en/fatwa/details/5968/the-ruling-of-keeping-the-beard?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
88. Shaykh Amjad Rasheed, "What is the ruling of shaving and shortening the beard in the Shāfiʿī school?", SeekersGuidance, 25 November 2016 (makrūh in the relied-upon position of al-Rāfiʿī, al-Nawawī, Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī and the two Ramlīs): [seekersguidance.org](https://seekersguidance.org/answers/shafii-fiqh/ruling-shaving-shortening-beard-shafii-school/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
89. Office of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānī, Question & Answer, "Beard" (shaving the beard ḥarām on obligatory precaution; a short trimmed beard suffices): [sistani.org/english/qa/01136](https://www.sistani.org/english/qa/01136/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com)
90. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 5195 (ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn: three greetings, of increasing length, answered by the Prophet with "Ten", "Twenty" and "Thirty"): [sunnah.com/abudawud:5195](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:5195?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albānī, as shown on sunnah.com.

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