The 40 Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi

Known in Arabic simply as the Arba’in, “The Forty,” this is without question the most widely-known and widely-read small compilation of Prophetic hadith. Across the world, from the east to the west, Imam al-Nawawi’s collection is often the first, and sometimes the only Hadith text many Muslims study in their lives.

Each hadith in this collection and serves as a foundational proof text in at least one area of the Islamic sciences. Being of such importance, these Hadith are also incredibly dense in meaning; one of Allah’s gifts to His Prophet ﷺ was the ability to convey volumes in only a few words, and the Hadith of the Arba’in are among the best examples of this.