Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Eternal Guardian of the heavens and the earths, Disposer of all created beings, Despatcher of Messengers (May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon them all) who were sent to those they have been entrusted to guide and to reveal the religious laws to, with positive signs and clear-cut proofe. I praise Him for His favours and ask Him to increase His grace and generosity.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, He having no associate, the One, the Subduer, the Generous, the Pardoner, and I bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger, His dear one and His beloved, the best of created beings, who was honoured with the precious Qur\u2019an, the enduring miracle through the passing of the years, and with the sunnahs that enlighten spiritual guides; our Master Muhammad, singled out for pithiness of speech and tolerance in religion may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, upon the rest of the Prophets and Messengers, and upon all their families and upon the rest of godly persons.
To proceed: It has has been transmitted to us on the authority of \u201cAIi ibn Abi Talib, Abdullah ibn Mas\u2019ud, Mu\u2019adh ibn Jabal, Abu \u2018d-Darda\u2019, Ibn \u2018Umar, Ibn \u2018Abbas, Anas ibn Malik, Abu Huraira and Abu Sa\u2019id al-Khudri, (may Allah be pleased with them), through many chains of authorities and in various versions, that the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: \u201cWhosoever memorises and preserves for my People forty Hadith relating to their religion, Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Judgment in the company of jurists and religious scholars\u201d. In another version it reads: \u201cAllah will resurrect him as a jurist and religious scholar\u201d. In the version of Abu \u2018d-Darda\u2019 it reads: \u201cOn the Day of Judgment I shall be an intercessor and a witness for him\u201d. In the version of Ibn Mas\u2019ud it reads: \u201cIt will be said to him: Enter by whichever of the doors of Paradise you wish\u201d. In the version of Ibn \u2018Umar it reads: \u201cHe will be written down in the company of the religious scholars and will be resurrected in the company ofthe martyrs\u201d. Scholars of Hadith are agreed that it is a weak Hadith despite its many lines of transmission.
The religious scholars (may Allah be pleased with them) have composed innumerable works in this field. The first one I knew of who did so was \u2018Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, followed by Ibn Aslam at-Tusi, the godly scholar, then al-Hasan ibn Sufyan an-Nasai, Abu Bakr al-Ajurri, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Asfihani, ad-Daraqutni, al-Hakim, Abu Nu\u2019aim,Abu Abd ar-Rahman as-Sulami, Abu Said al-Malini, Abu \u2018Uthman as-Sabuni, Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Ansari, Abu Bakr al-Baihaqi, and countless others, both ancient and modem.
I have asked Allah Almighty for guidance in bringing together forty Hadith in emulation of those eminent religious leaders and guardians of Islam. Religious scholars are agreed it is permissible to put into practice a weak Hadith if virtuous deeds are concerned; despite this, 1 do not rely on this Hadith but on his having said (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) the [following] sound Hadith: \u201cLet him who was a witness among you inform him who was absent\u201d, and on his having said (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him); \u201cMay Allah make radiant [the face of] someone who has heard what I have said, has learnt it by heart and has transmitted it as he heard it\u201d. Furthermore, there were some religious scholars who brought together forty Hadith on the basic rules of religion, on subsidiary matters, or on jihad, while others did so on asceticism, on rules of conduct or on sermons. All these are godly aims-may Allah be pleased with those who pursued them. I, however, considered it best to bring together forty Hadith more important than all of these, being forty Hadith which would incorporate all of these, each Hadith being one of the great precepts of religion, described by religious scholars as being \u2018the axis of Islam\u2019 or \u2018the half of Islam\u2019 or \u2018the third of it\u2019, or the like, and to make it a rule that these forty Hadith be [classified as] sound and that the majority of them be in the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim. I give them without the chains of authorities so as to make it easier to memorise them and to make them of wider benefit, if Allah Almighty wills, and I append to them a section explaining abstruse expressions.
Every person wishing to attain the Hereafter should know these Hadith because of the important matters they contain and the directions they give in respect of all forms of obedience, this being obvious to anyone who has reflected upon it. On Allah do I rely and depend, and to Him do I entrust myself; to Him be praise and grace, and with Him is success and immunity [to error].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IMAM AN-NAWAWI<\/p>\n\n\n\n