Four Hadiths of Ishaq ibn Rahawayh

Ishaq ibn Rahwayh said. “Four hadith are among the foundations of the deen: the hadith of Umar, ‘Actions are only by intentions’, and the hadith, ‘The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear’, and the hadith, ‘The creation of any one of you is gathered in the belly of his mother for forty days’ and the hadith, ‘Whoever makes anything in our affair which is not of it, then it is rejected’.”

[Jami al-Ulum Wal-Hikam]

1. "Verily, deeds are only with intentions. Verily, every person will have only what they intended. Whoever emigrated to Allah and his messenger, his emigration is for Allah and his messenger. Whoever emigrated to get something in the world or to marry a woman, his emigration is for that to which he emigrated"

[Sahih al-Bukhari: 54]

2. “Verily, the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not know. Thus, he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, and he who falls into doubtful matters will fall into the unlawful as the shepherd who pastures near a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Verily, every king has a sanctum and the sanctum of Allah is his prohibitions. Verily, in the body is a piece of flesh which, if sound, the entire body is sound, and if corrupt, the entire body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart.”

[Sahih al-Bukhari: 52, Sahih Muslim: 1599]

3. "Verily the creation of each one of you is brought together in his mother's womb for forty days in the form of a drop, then he becomes a clot of blood for a like period, then a morsel of flesh for a like period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the breath of life into him and who is commanded with four matters: to write down his sustenance, his life span, his actions, and whether he will be happy or unhappy (whether or not he will enter Paradise).

By Allah, other than Whom there is no deity, verily one of you performs the actions of the people of Paradise until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written overtakes him, and so he acts with the actions of the people of the Hellfire and thus enters it; and verily one of you performs the actions of the people of the Hellfire, until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written overtakes him and so he acts with the actions of the people of Paradise and thus he enters it."

[Bukhari: 7016]

4. "Whoever innovates into this matter of ours that which does not belong to it, it will be rejected."

[Bukhari: 2550]