What is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Simplicity is part of faith”?

The questioner : Our Shaykh, how do we understand the hadith in a way that does not contradict the saying of Allah the Exalted , and also in a way that does not contradict the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ?

The Shaykh : Yes. There is no contradiction, because the intended meaning is that the Muslim does not habituate himself to a specific life of luxury. “Simplicity is part of faith” means that you do not find it objectionable to be simple, if that is the right expression, at times. So you wear what is available to you; sometimes beautiful clothes and sometimes worn-out clothes, so that the Muslim is able to adapt his life to a state of hardship and a state of abundance. That is, if you add the following qualifier to your interpretation of the hadith you asked about, , you will understand the reconciliation of the texts: “Simplicity is part of faith at times.” This is the reconciliation. And this hadith is then supported by another hadith, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is very clear that this hadith, on the surface, is in greater contradiction with the verse with which the question began, , and the hadith . It says: . So we also understand this hadith, , in two meanings: “Beware of excessive enjoyment” and “constant enjoyment.” We always interpret it in light of the hadith “Simplicity is part of faith.” The second interpretation is excessive enjoyment, because this excess is not commanded; rather, enjoyment in general is commanded, but the excess in it is not. In summary, the hadith is not the first hadith that appears to contradict some other texts, because this falls under the category of the contradiction between the qualified and the absolute, the specific and the general, and the like. When the texts are combined, we derive from the totality of the texts this meaning, which alone cannot be understood from a text isolated from the other texts. And this is, by the will of Allah, very common in the Book and the Sunnah. The closest example is what we mentioned in a recent session: . If we took this text alone, we would forbid what is lawful by the consensus of the scholars of Islam, which is the dead of fish and locusts. But if we include in this Qur’anic text the hadith or hadiths that explicitly state the permissibility of eating dead fish, we derive the specification of the saying of Allah the Exalted: , except for the dead of fish and locusts. And so, , at times. This is the answer, and Allah knows best.