Riyad as-Salihin رِيَاض الصَّالِحِين

Overview

Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn (Arabic: رِيَاض الصَّالِحِين; "Gardens of the Righteous") is the most-read anthology of authentic hadith in the Sunni world. It was compiled by Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf an-Nawawī (631–676 AH / 1234–1277 CE), the foremost Shāfiʿī jurist and ḥadīth master of his age. The collection contains approximately 1,896 hadith arranged across 372 chapters.

An-Nawawī designed the work specifically as kitāb akhlāq — a book of ethics and character — selecting hadith that, in his words, "if memorised by a sincere believer, would suffice him for the betterment of his religion and worldly life." Almost every hadith is from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, or one of the four Sunan; the very few weaker narrations are flagged.

Structure

• Opens with the Kitāb al-Muqaddimāt — chapters on sincerity, repentance, patience, truthfulness, watchfulness, taqwā, and reliance on Allah.
• Continues through worship, supplication, etiquette of meals, attire, family, neighbourhood, charity, jihad, knowledge, and a vast section on protected speech.
• Closes with the Kitāb al-Adhkār — the remembrance formulae for every occasion of life.

Famous opening hadith

"Actions are by intentions, and every person will have only what they intended." — Hadith 1 of Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn (an-Nawawī chose to open the book with this hadith for its foundational status)

Significance

Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn is the most widely-taught book in mosques after the Quran. Almost every Friday khuṭbah circulating on character or ethics draws from it. Authentic English translations by Darussalam are widely available; Salah ad-Dīn Yusuf's annotated edition is standard.

See also

• Hadith
• Sahih al-Bukhari
• Sahih Muslim
• Bulugh al-Maram
• Al-Adab al-Mufrad

References

1. an-Nawawī, Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn, ed. Shuʿayb al-Arna'ut (Muʾassasat ar-Risālah).
2. Faiṣal al-Mubārakfūrī, Tuḥfat al-Akhyār Sharḥ Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn.
3. Trans. Salah ad-Dīn Yūsuf, Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn (Darussalam).