عنْ [أبي عبدِ الرَّحمنِ عبدِ اللهِ بنِ مسعودٍ] رَضِي اللهُ عَنْهُ قالَ: (حدَّثنا رسولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وهو الصَّادِقُ المصْدُوقُ: "إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ يُجْمَعُ خَلْقُهُ فِي بَطْنِ أُمِّهِ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْمًا نُطْفَةً، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ عَلَقَةً مِثْلَ ذلِكَ، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ مُضْغَةً مِثْلَ ذلِكَ، ثمَّ يُرْسَلُ إلَيْهِ الْمَلَكُ فَيَنْفُخُ فيهِ الرُّوحَ، وَيُؤمَرُ بأرْبَعِ كَلِمَاتٍ: بِكَتْبِ رِزْقِهِ وَأَجَلِهِ وَعَمَلِهِ وَشَقِيٌّ أوْ سَعِيدٌ. فَوَاللهِ الَّذِي لاَ إِلَهَ غَيْرُهُ، إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ لَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ حَتَّى مَا يَكُونَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهَا إِلاَّ ذِرَاعٌ، فَيَسْبِقُ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ، فَيَعْمَلَ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ فيَدْخُلَهَا، وَإِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ لَيَعْمَلُ بِعَمَلِ أهْلِ النَّارِ حَتَّى مَا يَكُونَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَهَا إِلاَّ ذِرَاعٌ، فيَسْبِقُ عَلَيْهِ الْكِتَابُ، فَيَعْمَلَ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ فَيَدْخُلَهَا"). رواه البخاريُّ ومسلمٌ.
From Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ʿAbd Allāh bin Masʿūd (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) who said:
The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallallāhu alayhi wasallam) narrated to us, and he is the truthful, the believed, "Verily, the creation of one of you is brought together in his mother's womb over forty days as a nuṭfah, then he is an ʿalaqah for a like period. Then he is a muḍghah for a like period. Then an angel is sent to it and it breathes the spirit into it and is commanded with four words: the writing of its sustenance, its lifespan, its deeds, and whether happy or wretched (in the Hereafter). By Allāh besides whom there is none worthy of worship, one of you works the deeds of the people of Paradise until there does not remain between him and it but an arm's length and then (what is written in) the Book overtakes him and he does the deeds of the people of the Fire and thus enters it. And one of you works the deeds of the people of Hellfire until there does not remain between him and it but an arm's length and then (what is written in) the Book overtakes him and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise and thus enters it."
The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallallāhu alayhi wasallam) narrated to us, and he is the truthful, the believed, "Verily, the creation of one of you is brought together in his mother's womb over forty days as a nuṭfah, then he is an ʿalaqah for a like period. Then he is a muḍghah for a like period. Then an angel is sent to it and it breathes the spirit into it and is commanded with four words: the writing of its sustenance, its lifespan, its deeds, and whether happy or wretched (in the Hereafter). By Allāh besides whom there is none worthy of worship, one of you works the deeds of the people of Paradise until there does not remain between him and it but an arm's length and then (what is written in) the Book overtakes him and he does the deeds of the people of the Fire and thus enters it. And one of you works the deeds of the people of Hellfire until there does not remain between him and it but an arm's length and then (what is written in) the Book overtakes him and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise and thus enters it."
Related by al-Bukhārī, Muslim
Select any of the options below to read commentaries in Arabic on hadith 4 related by ʿAbd Allāh bin Masʿūd .
Shaykh Ṣaliḥ al-Fawzān
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Al-Minḥat al-Rabbāniyyah Fī Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah”.
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-ʿAbbād
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Fatḥ al-Qawiyy al-Matīn”.
Shaykh Muḥammad bin Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaymīn
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah”.
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn al-Nawawiyyah”.
Shaykh Ismaʿīl bin Muḥammad al-Anṣārī
Read the Shaykh's explanation from his book, “Al-Tuḥfah al-Rabbāniyyah Fī Sharḥ al-Arbaʿīn Hadīthan al-Nawawiyyah”.