Da‘wah and Hisbah

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The best number of companions is four; the best detachment is (that made up of) four hundred; and the best army is (that made up of) four thousand; and twelve thousand men will never be defeated because of their small numbers."

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is obligatory upon you to listen and obey (the ruler) in times of your ease and of your difficulty, whether you feel energetically stimulated or you feel compelled, and even when someone else is given undue preference over you."

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Whenever we gave the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pledge of allegiance to listen and obey, he would say to us: "To the best of your ability."

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A Muslim person must listen and obey concerning what he likes and hates, unless he is ordered to commit a sin. If he is ordered to commit a sin, then he should neither listen nor obey.”

Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever insults the ruler, Allah will insult him.”

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Listen and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave, whose head is like a raisin, was appointed a ruler over you.”

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah, and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah; and whoever obeys the leader has obeyed me, and whoever disobeys the leader has disobeyed me."

‘Awf ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The best of your leaders are those whom you love and who love you, and who invoke Allah's blessings upon you and you invoke His blessings upon them. And the worst of your leaders are those whom you hate and they hate you, and whom you curse and they curse you." He was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, shouldn't we overthrow them?" He said: "No, as long as they establish prayer amongst you. No, as long as they establish prayer amongst you."

Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr reported that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) once passed by some young men of the Quraysh who had tied a bird and made it a target at which they were shooting arrows. Every arrow that they missed became the possession of the owner of the bird. When they saw Ibn ‘Umar, they dispersed. Thereupon, Ibn ‘Umar said: "Who has done this? May Allah curse whoever has done this. Verily, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) invoked curse upon whoever makes any living creature a target (of his marksmanship, archery, etc.)"

Jābir ibn ‘Abdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade killing an animal by tying it up and taking aim at it.

Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: "A people who make a woman their leader will never succeed."

Abu Maryam al-Azdi reported: When I went to see Mu‘āwiyah, he said: "How good your visit is to us, O father of so-and-so." (This is an idiom used by the Arabs on such occasions). I said: "I will tell you a Hadīth that I heard. I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'If Allah, the Exalted, puts someone in the position of authority over the affairs of Muslims and he secludes himself, not meeting their needs, deficiencies, and poverty, Allah will keep Himself away from him, not fulfilling his needs, deficiencies, and poverty.'" He said: “He appointed a man to meet people’s needs.”

‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) sent out a detachment and appointed a man from the Ansār as their leader, instructing them to obey him. He became angry and said: Did not the Prophet (ﷺ) command you to obey me? They replied: Yes. He said: Then gather some firewood for me. So they gathered it. He then said: Light a fire, and they did. Then he said: Enter it. They were about to do so, but some held back the others, saying: We fled to the Prophet (ﷺ) to escape from the Fire. They remained like that until the fire went out and his anger subsided. When the Prophet (ﷺ) was informed of this, he said: "Had they entered it, they would never have come out of it until the Day of Judgment. Obedience is only in what is right."

Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There will be rulers who tell lies and oppress; whoever believes their lies and assists them in their oppression does not belong to me, and I do not belong to him, and he will not come to the Hawd (Basin). But whoever does not believe their lies and does not assist them in their oppression belongs to me, and I belong to him, and he will come to the Hawd."

Abu Sa‘īd al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Let not the fear of people prevent any man among you from speaking the truth when he sees it or knows it."

‘Uthmān ash-Shahhām reported: I and Farqad as-Sabakhi went to Muslim ibn Abi Bakrah while he was in his land. We entered upon him and said: Did you hear your father narrating any Hadīth about the trials? He said: Yes, I heard Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrating, saying: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, there will be trials. There will come a trial in which the one sitting in it will be better than the one walking towards it, and the one walking towards it will be better than the one rushing to it. If it happens or occurs, whoever has camels, let him catch up with his camels, whoever has sheep, let him catch up with his sheep, and whoever has land, let him go to his land." He said: A man said: O Messenger of Allah, what about the one who has neither camels, nor sheep, nor land? He said: "Let him take his sword and strike its edge with a stone, and then escape if he could escape. O Allah, have I conveyed? O Allah, have I conveyed? O Allah, have I conveyed?" He said: A man said: O Messenger of Allah, what if I am compelled and taken to one of the two sides, or one of the two groups, and a man strikes me with his sword, or an arrow comes and kills me? He said: "He will bear his sin and your sin, and he will be among the dwellers of Hellfire."

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) forbade using (live) animals as targets.

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) saw a donkey that had been branded on the face. He disapproved of it. Thereupon, Al-‘Abbās said: "By Allah, I shall not brand (the animal) but on the part most distant from the face." Al-‘Abbās then commanded that his donkey should be branded on its hips. He was the first to brand an animal on the hips.

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that a donkey that had been branded on the face passed by the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) so he said: “May Allah curse the one who branded it.” Another narration by Imām Muslim reads: "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade striking the face and branding on the face."

Humayd ibn ‘Abdur-Rahmān reported that he heard Mu‘āwiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) in the year he made pilgrimage — having taken a lock of hair that was in the hand of a guard — say on the pulpit: "O people of Madīnah, where are your scholars? I heard the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbidding the like of this and saying: 'The children of Israel were ruined when their women started using this.’"