(48) “If you love me, then equip yourself for poverty as one girds himself for battle.” al-Ḍaʿīfah 1681. The Shaykh later ruled it authentic in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 2827 with the wording, “Prepare for destitution,” addressed to a man who said, “Indeed, I love you.” See also al-Ṣaḥīḥah 2828 and Kitāb al-Naṣīḥah, pp. 14–15.

(49) “The thigh is ʿawrah (part of the body that must be covered).” al-Thamar al-Mustatāb, p. 264. After analysing its defects, the Shaykh concluded on p. 272 that those who judged the chain broken were correct: the report is weak and unfit for legal proof. In Irwāʾ, vol. 1, pp. 297–302 (hadith 269), however, he cited several corroborating narrations from various Companions and observed that such support reassures the heart of the hadith’s authenticity. See also Tamām al-Minna, p. 160; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 4157, 4158, 4280; and Mishkāt 3112–3114.

(50) “He sprinkled water over the grave of his son Ibrāhīm.” Graded weak in Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 755 but authenticated in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 3045.

(51) “Whoever says ten times, ‘There is no god but Allah alone, without partner; His is the dominion and the praise; He gives life and causes death, and He has power over all things,’ will earn a reward equal to emancipating one soul.” Entered as weak in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ because of the extra phrase “He gives life and causes death.” The Shaykh noted that without this addition the text is sound, hence its inclusion in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 6436 and al-Ṣaḥīḥah 114. See also al-Ḍaʿīfah 3276 and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb, hadiths 476 and 477.

(52) “Allah has made these crescents markers of time: when you see it, begin the fast, and when you see it, break the fast; if it is hidden from you by clouds, then complete thirty days.” Graded weak in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 1595 and Irwāʾ 902, yet recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 3039. The Shaykh added that Ibn Khuzaymah’s version begins, “Indeed, Allah has made the crescents time-standards,” and al-Bayhaqī reports the same wording; on account of this strong support the hadith should be moved to the authentic category.

(53) “No believer consoles his brother in a calamity without Allah, exalted be He, clothing him in robes of honour on the Day of Resurrection.” Reported by Ibn Mājah; see Irwāʾ 764, al-Ḍaʿīfah 610, and al-Taʿlīqāt al-Raḍiyyah 1/481. The Shaykh authenticated it in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 195; cf. al-Targhīb 3508.

(54) “I have been given that which no prophet before me was given.” We asked, “What is it, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “I was aided with awe; I was granted the keys of the earth; I was named Ahmad; the soil was made a means of purification for me; and my nation was made the best of nations.” Irwāʾ, hadith 285, p. 317, witness 8—from the narration of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him. The Shaykh noted that al-Bayhaqī transmits it with a weak and confused chain, as Ibn Abī Ḥātim explained, yet he still judged the hadith authentic in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 3939.

(55) Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: “I have made five prayers obligatory for your community and taken a covenant upon Myself: whoever guards them at their appointed times I will admit him to Paradise, and whoever does not guard them has no covenant with Me.” Reported by Ibn Mājah; weak in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 4045, but authentic in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 4033. See also Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 415.

(56) “Whoever offers the funeral prayer in the mosque receives no reward.” al-Thamar al-Mustatāb, pp. 766–767; see al-Ṣaḥīḥah 2351.

(57) “I have remitted zakah on horses and slaves. As for silver, pay one dirham out of every forty; nothing is due on ninety, nor on one hundred and ninety; when it reaches two hundred, five dirhams are due, and whatever exceeds that is reckoned accordingly. In sheep, one ewe is due for every forty; if there are only thirty-nine, you owe nothing. In cattle, a tabiʿ (one-year-old calf) is due for every thirty and a musinnah (two-year-old) for every forty; working animals are exempt. For twenty-five camels five sheep are due; when they become twenty-six, an ibnat makhāḍ (one-year-old she-camel) is required, and if none is available, then a male ibn labūn (two-year-old camel) up to thirty-five. When they reach thirty-six, an ibnat labūn (two-year-old she-camel) is due up to forty-five. When they reach forty-six, a ḥiqqah (three-year-old, pregnant she-camel fit for breeding) is due up to sixty. When they reach seventy-one, two such ḥiqqah are due up to ninety. If the camels exceed that, then for every fifty a ḥiqqah is due. Do not split what is together nor combine what is separate in order to shirk sadaqah. Do not accept for zakah any decrepit animal, any with a defect, or any he-goat, unless the collector wishes. For crops watered by rivers or rainfall, one-tenth is due; for those irrigated by water-lifting devices, half of one-tenth.” Graded weak in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 4078; see Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 4375-1, Mishkāt = Hidāyat al-Ruāt 1740, and Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 1392.