nawawiDay.arabicText
nawawiDay.englishTranslation
— Abu Hurayrah (RA) (Tirmidhi)
nawawiDay.commentary
Tongue, ears, eyes, mind — every faculty has its 'concern' and its 'beyond concern'. Excellence is in the discipline to leave the latter.
nawawiDay.extendedExplanation
‘Mā lā ya‘nīhi’ — what does not concern him. Imam Mālik said this hadith and Hadith 13 (loving for your brother…) and Hadith 1 (intentions) together summarise the religion.
What does not concern us includes: prying into others' private lives, repeating gossip, watching content that does not benefit, scrolling endlessly, engaging in arguments that have no ending. The Salaf were so cautious of this that Imam ash-Shāfi‘ī said: ‘If you wish to do something useful with your time, occupy yourself with truth — for the soul, if you do not occupy it with truth, will occupy you with falsehood.’
The test the scholars derived: would this matter benefit me in my dīn or my dunyā in a halāl way? If not, leave it.
nawawiDay.fromScholars
"Three hadiths summarise the entire religion: ‘Actions are by intentions,’ ‘None of you believes until he loves for his brother…,’ and ‘Part of the excellence of a person's Islam is leaving what does not concern him.’"
"Whoever wishes Allah to perfect his Islam must leave whatever does not concern him — of speech, of looking, of listening, of striving, of all other movements of the limbs."
nawawiDay.fiqhRulings
- •Listening to gossip about others is forbidden even if you do not initiate it — leaving the gathering is required.
- •Curiosity about others' private affairs (income, marriage, family) without need is from what does not concern us.
- •Time wasted on what does not concern us will be asked about on the Day of Judgement — ‘about his lifetime, how he spent it’ (Tirmidhī).
- •‘Following the news’ for entertainment when one cannot act on it is a form of what does not concern us.
nawawiDay.quranCrossRefs
nawawiDay.keyVocab
excellence, beauty
his leaving (it)
concerns him
nawawiDay.todaysReflection
Today, when curious about another person's affairs, ask: 'Does this concern me?' If not, walk away.
nawawiDay.keyBenefits
- 1Curiosity about others is a major source of sin.
- 2Mastery of self begins with mastering what we engage with.
nawawiDay.warnings
- ⚠‘But it's not ḥarām to know’ — the hadith doesn't say ‘leave the ḥarām’; it says leave what does not concern you.
- ⚠Social media is the largest modern source of mā lā ya‘nīnā — apply the hadith to your scrolling habits.
nawawiDay.relatedHadiths
nawawiDay.memorisation