many people misunderstand the ḥadith without it. Thus, when you instruct them in what the wise Law has enjoined—such as letting the beard grow, refraining from imitating the unbelievers, and other legal obligations—they reply that the decisive factor is what lies in the heart, and they cite this ḥadith as their proof, unaware of this sound addition which shows that Allah, blessed and exalted, also looks at their deeds: if the deeds are righteous He accepts them, otherwise He rejects them. Numerous texts indicate the same, such as his ﷺ saying, “Whoever introduces into this matter of ours anything that does not belong to it, it is rejected.” (1)

In reality, the soundness of the hearts cannot be conceived without the soundness of the deeds, nor the soundness of the deeds without the soundness of the hearts. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ explained this most eloquently in the ḥadith of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr: “…Verily, in the body there is a morsel of flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt—indeed, it is the heart.” (Hadith 593). In another narration he said, “You will straighten your rows, or Allah will cause your faces—that is, your hearts—to differ.” (Hadith 1096) (2). Likewise, he ﷺ said, “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty,” which concerns lawful, physical beauty, contrary to what many suppose; see Hadith 617.

Once this is understood, one of the most glaring errors I have noticed in this book, Riyad al-Salihin, in every manuscript and printed copy I have consulted, is that the author—may Allah have mercy on him—did record this additional wording under Hadith 1578, but either his own pen or that of a copyist misplaced it in a way that ruins the meaning. It now reads: “...nor to your forms and your deeds; rather, He looks...” and this has slipped past every typesetter, proof-reader, and commentator; I do not exempt even the proof-readers of