EXPLANATION OF SHEIKH ABDULMUHSIN AL-ABBAAD ON THE 40 HADEETH OF IMAM NAWAWI
HADEETH 18
عن أبي ذر جُندب بن جُنادة وأبي عبد الرحمن معاذ بن جبل رضي الله تعالى عنهما، عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: “اتَّق الله حيثما كنت، وأتْبع السيِّئةَ الحسنةَ تَمحُها، وخالِق الناسَ بخُلُق حسن”رواه الترمذي، وقال: ” حديث حسن”، وفي بعض النسخ: “حسن صحيح”.
On the authority of Abi Dharr; Jundub ibn Junaada, and Abi Abdurrahmaan Mu’adh ibn Jabal , from the Messenger of Allah who said:
“Have taqwa of Allah wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good one; it will wipe it out, and behave well towards people.”
It is related by at-Tirmidhee who said it is Hasan. In some copies: It is Hasan Saheeeh.
: Explanation
1. This hadeeth by its three sentences comprises what is sought from the Muslim towards: his Lord, himself, and [what is sought from him] towards others.
2. His statement: “Have taqwa of Allaah wherever you are”, linguistically taqwa means: to keep a barrier between a person and what he fears, like wearing sandals to protect himself from the harmful things on the ground, and like taking houses and tents as barriers [protection] from the sun’s heat, and like that.
In the legislation taqwa is: a person making a barrier between himself and the anger of Allaah, and that is by carrying out the commands and staying away from the impermissible and believing the reports [in the sacred texts] and to worship Allaah in the manner conforming to the Legislation not through bid’ah [innovations].
And the taqwa of Allaah is sought all times, and all places, and all situations: so he fears Allaah openly and secretly, when he is with the people and when he is alone, as has come in the hadeeth: “Have taqwa of Allaah wherever you are.”
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3. His statement: “… and follow the bad deed with a good one”, when a person commits a sin; he repents. Repentance is from the good deeds; and it wipes out what preceded it of the minor and major sins, and this [wipe-out] can also be by doing good deeds; indeed they wipeout the minor sins, but the major sins are only wiped by repenting from them.
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4. His statement: “And deal with the people in good manners”, indeed it is sought from an individual that he deals with all the people in a good way; so he deals with them just as he would like them to deal with him, based on his statement: “None of you shall truly believe until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” And his statement: “Whoever wishes to be saved from the fire and to enter paradise; then let his death reach him while he believes in Allaah and the here-after, and let him deal with the people same as how he would like them to deal with him.” And Allaah described His prophet that he is upon exemplary manners, and it has been reported from Aisha that his manners was the Qur’an[1], meaning he practices what is mentioned in the Qur’an. And so many ahadeeth have come showing the excellence of good manners and encouraging conducting others with good etiquettes and warning from the bad manners.
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Benefits from the hadeeth:
1. The complete sincere advise of the Messenger to his Ummah; and part of that is what is in this hadeeth of the three important comprehensive advises.
2. The command of having taqwa in all situations, times, and places.
3. The encouragement of following the bad deeds with good ones.
4. That the good deeds wipeout the bad deeds.
5. Encouragement of dealing with people in a good manner.
[1] Muslim: 746
Source: Fat.hul Qawwiyul Mateen
A Benefit A Day Keeps Ignorance Away 
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