Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa'l-Ḥikam 2: The Ḥadīth of Jibrīl on Islam, Īmān and Iḥsān

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 29 March 2026Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

This is the second ḥadīth of al-Arbaʿūn al-Nawawiyyah by Imam al-Nawawī, may Allah have mercy on him, in the series “Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa'l-Ḥikam”: the ḥadīth of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him), known as the ḥadīth of Jibrīl, peace be upon him.^[1]

Why Do the Narrations Vary?

We begin with the narrators who relate the ḥadīths of the Prophet ﷺ. You see them varying according to the kind of narration we have in hand; some have a personality suited to narrating precisely this ḥadīth. And I do not say that any of them was haughty toward a kind of ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ and so did not narrate it because it did not suit his personality, and we seek refuge in Allah from saying that. But each selects what he wants or loves, and what accords with his nature and personality clings to his mind, so this selection suits his particular interests. That is why you see many ḥadīths with multiple narrations; so where did the other narration come from, which differs by a word or two or a sentence? It came from the fact that the way in which the ḥadīth was narrated, in this context and this arrangement, suited the mind of this narrator and agreed with him, so he narrated it as he heard it, may Allah be pleased with the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ. And how I have truly wished that a serious scholarly dissertation would be held that takes up a “ḥadīth-psychological” study that identifies the psychologies and personalities of the Companions through collecting the ḥadīths they narrated. But this is not our subject today.

The Scene of the Arrival

We move on to the ḥadīth of Jibrīl. Jibrīl, peace be upon him, came in a situation astonishing to the Companions. The narrator describes the man as «شديد بياض الثياب، شديد سواد الشعر» (“intensely white of clothes, intensely black of hair”). Had he said «بثياب بيضاء وشعر أسود» (“in white clothes and black hair”) we would have said he was describing the man in terms of appearance, but here he is describing the man’s state. And the man came, and his coming was not unprecedented in the reality in which they lived; it was nothing new for them that delegations, not merely individuals, came to the Prophet ﷺ and sat with him, or that someone came and asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; this was not strange to his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. But this time we have a very special case: a man of the utmost elegance, like a friend of mine whom, whenever I see him in the morning, I embrace and say to him: What is this beauty! We ask Allah to give you a share of what you have adorned yourself with, and to make us all beautiful before Him on the day we meet Him.

So it caught the attention of the Companions of the Prophet, and ʿUmar in particular, because he is a man of keen observation of those around him, able to assess men by what he sees of their states; he looks at the man and fathoms his depths and perceives the dimensions of his soul. So he saw a distinguished man, intensely white of clothes, intensely black of hair, with no trace of travel seen on him, so where did he come from? And that is the surprise. So there is something that will become apparent to us after a while from the scout who does not lie to his people ﷺ; he will tell us a truth whose dimensions none of us can grasp well except through our one and only source, which is revelation on the tongue of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

He (may Allah be pleased with him) said: «إذ طلع علينا» (“when there appeared before us”). And there is a difference between «طلع علينا» and «جاء» (“came”); coming indicates successive steps that they watch, aware that someone is approaching, so they take notice of him, whereas «طلع علينا» is as though he surprised them in their gathering. Imagine that a man were to appear to us now from the door of the mosque, and we say: Allahu akbar, so-and-so! And we saw him in just a few steps whose approach we had not seen from afar. Unlike when we are waiting for someone and say to him: Come in, enter from such-and-such door, we are here.

The Resting of the Knees

«فجلس إلى النبي ﷺ فأسند ركبتيه إلى ركبتيه» (“So he sat before the Prophet ﷺ and rested his knees against his knees”). Perhaps I may say, and forgive me if I err in my reasoning, that this suggests to us the level at which the relationship between the questioner and the one questioned should be, or between the learner and the teacher, between the student and the professor, between the source and the receiver. This relationship, if gaps occur in it, disappears completely. So Jibrīl sits resting his knees against the knees of the Prophet ﷺ, then asks him: «يا محمد، أخبرني عن الإسلام» (“O Muhammad, tell me about Islam”).

And it would be natural, for one who came without their knowing, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ask him: Who are you? But the Prophet ﷺ knows that he is Jibrīl while the people do not know. So why did he not make it clear to them before he spoke, so that they would not be seized by astonishment at the sudden presence of a new person and be distracted from what they would receive from the Messenger of Allah? Because the scene is not merely dazzling but delightful, so admiration was joined with surprise, and the excitement was greater for what they would receive from this beautiful model: what will he ask, I wonder? Let us see. So not asking about his name was more apt to excite the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and more helpful for them to learn from the scene than if he had been asked.

The Scholar Sets No Condition for Answering the Questioner

So he said: «أخبرني عن الإسلام» (“Tell me about Islam”), and he answered him directly. And here is a point: that the scholar sets no condition for answering the questioner, but answers the question directly, without restriction or condition, as long as he knows. He said: «أن تشهد…» (“That you testify…”) and so on, and Jibrīl did not ask him: Where is the evidence? Rather he accepted the answer from him because he had come to him confident. And I comment on this detail because many people, or some of them, come and ask about a matter, and you say to him: The answer is such-and-such, and he says to you: Fine, and what is the evidence? And what concern is the evidence of yours? One of two things, my dear: either you enter the circle of those who strove, derived rulings and learned, or you are among those who follow. You ask me “where is the evidence” while we are in a hall of knowledge! And some ask merely for reassurance, and this has its justification, but there is something called good manners in asking. Some ask as though casting doubt on your abilities when you answer them with something, especially if they are asking about a strange matter or one on which the opinions of the scholars differed. I will not take you into that story.

Islam: Signing the Contract

He ﷺ said: «أن تشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدًا رسول الله» (“That you testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”). And when I translate this speech I say: this is the signing of the contract of Islam. Consider a company that wants to hire people: it puts out its advertisements, then the one with whom it holds an interview comes, and it agrees to take him, and the step after that is signing the contract. And after signing the contract you hand him the uniform, and you hand him the keys with which he opens the doors. Did he start work just by signing? No, he has not yet started work, but you have handed him these things, then he begins to appear in his working life. Likewise I want to enter Islam, so how do I sign the contract between me and the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, the Most High? I sign the contract of servanthood before Allah with the words “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

And it is narrated that the Prophet ﷺ used to be asked about some of his Companions, young men in whom youth blazes so that they depart a little from uprightness, and someone would come to tell him that so-and-so prays the five prayers behind him (imagine, that someone prays behind the Prophet ﷺ five times every day) but when he leaves the mosque he does such-and-such of sins. Is it conceivable, young men, that someone prays behind the Prophet five times and then, when he leaves, commits sins and evil deeds? The Prophet’s ﷺ answer was, in meaning, that his prayer will forbid him from immorality and wrongdoing, so there is no need to worry about him; because he has a signed contract.^[3] So it is as though the one who has signed the contract of servanthood with Allah, blessed and exalted, even if he strays away for a while, will return. So place hope in people for good, by permission of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, the Most High.

The Pillars Are the Manifestations of Islam

Then: that you establish the prayer, give the zakat, fast Ramadan, and perform pilgrimage to the House. Each one of these needs a long story of speech, and the sum of the matter is that these are the manifestations by which a person appears before those around him, proclaiming his Islam after signing the contract with Allah.

Īmān

We cross to the matter of īmān, which needs a few moments in which we understand the significance of the word īmān. Īmān is a conviction of the mind in the idea, and a feeling of attraction to it; a rational conviction in the idea and an attraction to it that you cannot hold yourself back from. That is why, if you were given a choice between your īmān and all the treasures of the world, you would not leave it.

And the astonishing thing is that our scholars say there is what is called “practical hypocrisy,” that is, that you practice hypocrisy without intending it. And I do not want to say shirk, I do not want to bring you to this point; so let us remain at hypocrisy. The example is that you see a person standing before you, and you say to him: Take this bag, in it is a great deal of money, and bear witness that there is another god with Allah, and he says to you: Impossible. Yet at the same time he cheats people and steals from them. So you say to him: If you knew that Allah, mighty and majestic, there is no god but He, and you bore witness to Him of this oneness, you would not cheat people at all. Even so, the return is near.

So īmān is a rational conviction in the principle to which you belong, and an attraction of the heart that drives the body to move in this direction. That is why you see the believer (and it is mentioned in the ḥadīth: «ورجلٌ قلبُه معلَّقٌ في المساجد» (“and a man whose heart is attached to the mosques”)^[2]) you imagine him having gone to his house with his heart behind him there in the mosque, unable to part from this feeling; psychologically he feels as though he were created for these houses of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Most High. And īmān is a matter a person deals with between himself and his own self; I prove to myself my belonging to Allah, blessed and exalted, through what I practice inwardly.

Iḥsān

And with it we conclude, because we have gone on very long today. Iḥsān is the stage of ascending above the levels of people, and even above the level of attending to the self; I deal with the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, the Most High, directly: «أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه، فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراك» (“That you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then indeed He sees you”).

And the difference is very great, my brothers. Sometimes you are driving on the road, and the navigation device says to you: Be careful, there is police in two miles, or in one mile. So you calm down a little, you drive normally, until when we get close you actually see that there is a policeman. But if you reach the stage of seeing him, what do you do? Do you play around? Do you get into the stories of violations and insurance and the whirlpool? No, no, rather you say: I want to be in safety and calm. But when does the certain calming occur? When certainty occurs through seeing. So complete discipline occurs only after the stage of certainty, and the stage of certainty is not realized except by sheer seeing. And since visual seeing is negated in this world, exalted and sanctified is our Lord, mighty and majestic, the seeing of the heart is realized. How does that happen? That īmān reaches the level of certainty that my Lord is with me wherever I am, watching me, following my deeds, His angels having counted against me while they are around me, I do not go out of the frame of His dominion and His power, glory be to Him, exalted on high.

We ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to teach us and to grant us insight.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth of Jibrīl was reported by Muslim from the ḥadīth of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him), and its origin is in al-Bukhārī from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). The names of the two Companions were mentioned in the transcription without elaboration. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited the ḥadīth by meaning («قلبه معلق في المسجد»), and its wording in the ḥadīth of the seven whom Allah will shade in His shade, in al-Bukhārī, is: «ورجلٌ قلبُه معلَّقٌ في المساجد», and in Muslim: «معلَّقٌ بالمسجد». ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited the story by meaning without attribution. Similar to it is what was reported by Aḥmad and others from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man said: So-and-so prays at night and when morning comes he steals, and he ﷺ said: «سينهاه ما تقول» (“What you say will restrain him”). What is set down in the body text is a transmission by meaning of what the speaker said, not a narration of a prophetic wording.