683 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Faith comprises over seventy—or over sixty—branches. The most excellent of them is the statement ‘lā ilāha illā Allāh’ (there is no god but Allah), and the least of them is to remove something harmful from the road. Modesty, too, is a branch of faith.” Agreed upon.

The term biḍʿ, pronounced with a kasrah on the bāʼ—though a fatḥah is also permissible—denotes any number from three to ten. Shuʿbah means a part or trait. Imāṭah is the act of removing. Adhā (harm) refers to whatever causes annoyance, such as a stone, a thorn, mud, ashes, filth, and the like.

[Explanation]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—quoted, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Faith comprises over seventy or over sixty branches.” The transmitter was unsure whether the Prophet (peace be upon him) said “over seventy” or “over sixty.” The most excellent of these branches—or, in another wording, the highest—is the declaration “There is no god but Allah”; the least of them is removing something harmful from the road; and modesty is a branch of faith. This last point constitutes the evidence for this chapter: the Chapter on Modesty and Its Virtue. In this hadith the Messenger (peace be upon him) clarified that faith