Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Book 14, Hadith 295
حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ الْمُنْذِرِ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا مَعْنٌ، عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ نَوَّاسِ بْنِ سَمْعَانَ الأَنْصَارِيِّ، أَنَّهُ سَأَلَ رَسُولَ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنِ الْبِرِّ وَالإِثْمِ؟ قَالَ: الْبِرُّ حُسْنُ الْخُلُقِ، وَالإِثْمُ مَا حَكَّ فِي نَفْسِكَ وَكَرِهْتَ أَنْ يَطَّلِعَ عَلَيْهِ النَّاسُ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us: Ma‘n narrated to us, from Mu‘awiya, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Jubayr, from his father, from Nawwas ibn Sam‘an al-Ansari, who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about righteousness and sin. He said: ‘Righteousness is good character. Sin is what troubles your heart and what you would dislike for people to find out about.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The verb حَكَّ evokes something that rubs or troubles within oneself; the second clause says one dislikes people becoming aware of it.