Adhere to the sunnah

Arabic

فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِسُنَّتِي وَسُنَّةِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ الْمَهْدِيِّينَ، تَمَسَّكُوا بِهَا وَعَضُّوا عَلَيْهَا بِالنَّوَاجِذِ، وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَمُحْدَثَاتِ الْأُمُورِ، فَإِنَّ كُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ.

Translation

Hold fast to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly guided successors — hold onto it with your molars. Beware of newly invented matters, for every innovation is misguidance.

Narrator

al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah

Source

Abū Dāwud 4607 · Tirmidhī 2676

Commentary

Nawawī pairs the Prophet's ﷺ sunnah with that of the first four caliphs — the living tradition in action. 'With your molars' is a Bedouin image for gripping something so hard it cannot be pulled loose.