with a clear, decisive command that we can convey to those we have left behind and by which we may enter Paradise.’ They also asked him about drinks.

He commanded them to observe four things and forbade them four things. He commanded them to believe in Allah alone, saying, ‘Do you know what believing in Allah alone means?’ They replied, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘To testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish prayer, to give zakah, to fast Ramadan, and to give one-fifth of the spoils of war.’ He forbade them four kinds of vessels: green jars, gourds, hollowed-out wooden vessels, and pitch-coated vessels—or he may have said: tar-coated vessels (1)—and said, ‘Remember these instructions and convey them to those you have left behind.’” (2)

In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Faith has sixty-odd branches, and modesty