The hadith about kindness (rifq) and mercy, each in Arabic with a plain English rendering, the narrator, the collection and number, and the grading. They cover kindness to family, to strangers and to animals.
يَا عَائِشَةُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ رَفِيقٌ يُحِبُّ الرِّفْقَ وَيُعْطِي عَلَى الرِّفْقِ مَا لاَ يُعْطِي عَلَى الْعُنْفِ وَمَا لاَ يُعْطِي عَلَى مَا سِوَاهُ
O Aishah, Allah is Kind and loves kindness. He gives for kindness what He does not give for harshness, nor for anything else.
Narrated by Aishah · Sahih Muslim 2593; Sahih al-Bukhari 6927 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
إِنَّ الرِّفْقَ لاَ يَكُونُ فِي شَىْءٍ إِلاَّ زَانَهُ وَلاَ يُنْزَعُ مِنْ شَىْءٍ إِلاَّ شَانَهُ
Kindness is not found in anything except that it beautifies it, and it is not taken out of anything except that it spoils it.
Narrated by Aishah · Sahih Muslim 2594 · Sahih
مَنْ يُحْرَمِ الرِّفْقَ يُحْرَمِ الْخَيْرَ
Whoever is deprived of kindness is deprived of all good.
Narrated by Jarir ibn Abdullah · Sahih Muslim 2592 · Sahih
الرَّاحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَنُ ارْحَمُوا أَهْلَ الأَرْضِ يَرْحَمْكُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ
The merciful are shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth, and the One above the heavens will be merciful to you.
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr · Sunan Abi Dawud 4941; Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1924 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
مَنْ لاَ يَرْحَمُ لاَ يُرْحَمُ
(The Prophet ﷺ kissed his grandson al-Hasan. Al-Aqra ibn Habis said: I have ten children and have never kissed one of them. The Prophet ﷺ looked at him and said:) Whoever does not show mercy will not be shown mercy.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 5997; Sahih Muslim 2318 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
لَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ لَمْ يَرْحَمْ صَغِيرَنَا وَيُوَقِّرْ كَبِيرَنَا
He is not one of us who does not show mercy to our young and respect to our elders.
Narrated by Anas ibn Malik · Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1919 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
لاَ تَحْقِرَنَّ مِنَ الْمَعْرُوفِ شَيْئًا وَلَوْ أَنْ تَلْقَى أَخَاكَ بِوَجْهٍ طَلْقٍ
Do not think little of any good deed, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face.
Narrated by Abu Dharr · Sahih Muslim 2626 · Sahih
يَسِّرُوا وَلاَ تُعَسِّرُوا، وَبَشِّرُوا وَلاَ تُنَفِّرُوا
Make things easy and do not make them hard. Give good news and do not drive people away.
Narrated by Anas ibn Malik · Sahih al-Bukhari 69; Sahih Muslim 1734 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ كَمَثَلِ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكَى عُضْوًا تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ جَسَدِهِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى
You see the believers, in their mercy, love and kindness to one another, like one body: when one part of it hurts, the rest of the body joins it in sleeplessness and fever.
Narrated by an-Nu'man ibn Bashir · Sahih al-Bukhari 6011; Sahih Muslim 2586 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
بَيْنَا رَجُلٌ بِطَرِيقٍ، اشْتَدَّ عَلَيْهِ الْعَطَشُ فَوَجَدَ بِئْرًا فَنَزَلَ فِيهَا فَشَرِبَ، ثُمَّ خَرَجَ، فَإِذَا كَلْبٌ يَلْهَثُ يَأْكُلُ الثَّرَى مِنَ الْعَطَشِ، فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ لَقَدْ بَلَغَ هَذَا الْكَلْبَ مِنَ الْعَطَشِ مِثْلُ الَّذِي كَانَ بَلَغَ مِنِّي، فَنَزَلَ الْبِئْرَ، فَمَلأَ خُفَّهُ مَاءً، فَسَقَى الْكَلْبَ، فَشَكَرَ اللَّهُ لَهُ، فَغَفَرَ لَهُ ... فِي كُلِّ ذَاتِ كَبِدٍ رَطْبَةٍ أَجْرٌ
A man was walking along a road when he became very thirsty. He found a well, went down into it and drank, then came out. There was a dog panting and eating mud out of thirst. The man said: This dog has become as thirsty as I was. He went down into the well, filled his leather sock with water and gave the dog a drink. Allah thanked him for it and forgave him. (They asked: Is there a reward for us in animals? He said:) There is a reward for kindness to every living thing.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 2466; Sahih Muslim 2244 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
عُذِّبَتِ امْرَأَةٌ فِي هِرَّةٍ سَجَنَتْهَا حَتَّى مَاتَتْ، فَدَخَلَتْ فِيهَا النَّارَ، لاَ هِيَ أَطْعَمَتْهَا وَلاَ سَقَتْهَا إِذْ حَبَسَتْهَا، وَلاَ هِيَ تَرَكَتْهَا تَأْكُلُ مِنْ خَشَاشِ الأَرْضِ
A woman was punished because of a cat she locked up until it died, and she entered the Fire because of it. She did not feed it or give it water while she kept it locked up, and she did not let it go to eat the creatures of the earth.
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar · Sahih al-Bukhari 3482; Sahih Muslim 2242 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ فَإِذَا قَتَلْتُمْ فَأَحْسِنُوا الْقِتْلَةَ وَإِذَا ذَبَحْتُمْ فَأَحْسِنُوا الذَّبْحَ وَلْيُحِدَّ أَحَدُكُمْ شَفْرَتَهُ فَلْيُرِحْ ذَبِيحَتَهُ
Allah has prescribed excellence in everything. So when you kill, kill well, and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each of you sharpen his blade and spare his animal suffering.
Narrated by Shaddad ibn Aws · Sahih Muslim 1955 · Sahih
These are often posted as hadith, but the hadith critics did not accept them as the Prophet's ﷺ words, or they are not found in the hadith books at all. Do not pass them on as hadith.
"All creatures are Allah's dependants, and the most beloved of them to Allah is the one who is most beneficial to His dependants."
Where: Abu Ya'la, at-Tabarani and al-Bayhaqi. Grade: weak; its narrators include one who was abandoned by the critics. A different hadith, "the most beloved of people to Allah are those most beneficial to people" (at-Tabarani), was graded hasan by al-Albani.
Arabic: the standard wording from the fawazahmed0 hadith-api dataset of the six books and the Muwatta, cut to the Prophet's ﷺ words. English: our own plain rendering. Words in brackets are the setting, not the hadith. Muslim numbers follow Abd al-Baqi, as on sunnah.com. Pending review by the scholars on our team.
Guide
Short answer: the best known hadith about kindness is "Allah is Kind and loves kindness, and He gives for kindness what He does not give for harshness" (Sahih Muslim 2593, Sahih al-Bukhari 6927). Others say that kindness beautifies everything it touches (Sahih Muslim 2594), that whoever is deprived of kindness is deprived of all good (Sahih Muslim 2592), and that "the merciful are shown mercy by the Most Merciful" (Sunan Abi Dawud 4941, Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1924).
Two Arabic words run through these hadith. Rifq is gentleness: dealing with people softly, without harshness, even when you must correct them. The Prophet ﷺ said it to Aishah when she answered some people rudely. Rahmah is mercy: feeling for others and acting on it, as he did when he kissed his grandson and when he taught that the believers are like one body.
For the Quran's verses on Allah's mercy, see Quran verses about mercy. Kindness to neighbours has its own page: hadith about neighbours.
salah (prayer), charity (sadaqah), seeking knowledge, lying and truthfulness, tahajjud (the night prayer), patience (sabr), cleanliness and purity, intention (niyyah), marriage (nikah), parents and mothers, neighbours. Or see all hadith topics.
Questions
"O Aishah, Allah is Kind and loves kindness, and He gives for kindness what He does not give for harshness" (Sahih Muslim 2593; Sahih al-Bukhari 6927 has a shorter form).
The man forgiven for giving water to a thirsty dog (Sahih al-Bukhari 2466, Sahih Muslim 2244), the woman punished for starving a cat (Sahih al-Bukhari 3482), and the command to slaughter with a sharp blade and spare the animal pain (Sahih Muslim 1955).
Yes. It is in Sunan Abi Dawud 4941 and Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1924, graded sahih by al-Albani. It is known as the first hadith that teachers pass on to their students.
When a man said he had never kissed any of his ten children, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever does not show mercy will not be shown mercy" (Sahih al-Bukhari 5997). He also said: "He is not one of us who does not show mercy to our young" (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1919).