ar- Raqâ’iq - The Heart Softening Narrations

“Remembrance of Allah is to the heart what water is to fish. What happens to a fish when it is taken out of water?”

- Ibn Taymiyyah

“Some people make their goals, the stars. They may live and die, but never reach the stars. But in the darkness of the night, because they looked to the stars, they were there to provide direction.”

[Muhammed AlShareef - “Under the Shade of the Scrolls”]

Ayoob As-Sakhtiyaanee, as well as 'Abdullaah Ibn Mubaarak, may Allaah have mercy on them, used to say to their companions,

"You people are in need of learning a little bit of manners more than you need to learn a lot of knowledge."

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah said:

"The Five Heart Corrupters are : Excessive socializing, wishful thinking, attachment to others besides Allaah, eating to one’s fill, and sleep. These five factors are the greatest corrupters of the heart."

[Madaarij as-Saalikeen, vol. 1, pp. 443]

Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:

"A person may hope for some matter of trade or position of authority, until he is close to attaining it, then Allaah looks at him and says to His angels: ‘Divert it from him, for if he attains it I will send him to Hell.’
So Allaah diverts it from him and he keeps regarding that as something bad, saying ‘So and so beat me to it, So and so outwitted me,’ when in fact it is a blessing from Allaah."

[Quoted by Ibn Rajab in Jaami’ al-‘Uloom wa’l-Hukam (2/470)]

Sahl ibn Sa’d (may Allaah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was brought a cup and he drank from it. There was a boy, the youngest of all the people, on his right and some elders on his left.

He said, “O young boy, will you allow me to give this to these elders?” The boy said, “I will not give away my share of your blessings to anyone, O Messenger of Allah,” so he gave the cup to him.

[Reported by al-Bukhaari, 2180]

al-Haafith ath-Thahabi, rahimahullah, says:

“Is seeking knowledge better than voluntary prayers, recitation of the Quraan and rememberance of Allah?”

“Whoever is sincere to Allah in his search for knowledge, and his mind is astute, then knowledge is better for him, with some aspects of prayer and worship, for if you see him serious in knowledge yet has no share in (acts) that bring one closer to Allah, then this (one) is lazy, careless, and is not truthful in his intention.

As for the ones who seek hadeeth, fiqh, due to personal whim and selfishness, than worship for this person is better, and this is a general categorisation, for few, by Allah, are those that I have seen sincere in their search for knowledge.”

[Siyar A’laam an-Nubalaa`, 7/167]

The saying of Imaam Malik:

“Everyone’s speech can be accepted or rejected, except the speech of he who occupies that grave [Reffering to the Messenger of Allaah ].”

[Reported by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr and Ibn Hazm. Also in Al-Yawaqeet wa Al-Jawahir 2:96]

The statement of Imam Malik:

"Ahl al-Sunnah do not have a title by which they are known by: not Jahmi nor Qadari nor Rafidi"

[Ibn 'Abd al-Barr in al-Intiqa' p.35 and Qadi 'Iyad in Tartib 1:176, as quoted from another book]

Abu Bakr (ra):

“There is no good in speech whereby the Face of Allaah is not intended
Nor in wealth from which is not spent in the Way of Allaah
Nor in a person whose ignorance overcomes his forbearance
Nor in a person who in the way of Allaah, fears the blame of the blamers.”

Ash-Shaafi'ee (rh):

“No-one knows Riyaa except the sincere ones.”

(as they try hard to recognise it and avoid it)

Regarding Jannah, the Messenger said:

"It is sparkling light, aromatic plants, a lofty palace, a flowing river, ripe fruit, a beautiful wife and abundant clothing, in an eternal abode of radiant joy, in beautiful soundly-constructed high houses".

[Ibn Majah, as-Sunan, Kitab az-Zuhd, Bab Sifat al-Jannah, 2/1448, no. 4332. Ibn Hibban narrated it in his sahîh]

al-Hasan al-Basri said, "Whoever competes with you in your Deen, then compete with him, but whoever competes with you in your Dunya, then throw it to him"

It was said to Naafi'. "What did Ibn 'Umar used to do in his house?" He said, "Wudhu for every salaah and the Mus-haf for what was between them both"

Narrated from Wakee' who said: "al-A'mash was almost 70 years old and the first takbeer had never passed him. I was with him for more than 60 years and I never saw him perform qadhaa for a single raka'ah"

Bishr ibn al-Hasan, the strong Muhaddith (ended up being) called 'Saffi' because he had adhered to the first row (saff) in the Masjid of Basra for fifty years.

Katheer ibn 'Ubayd al-Himsi was asked about his lack of Sujood as-Sahw in any (of his) salaah and he had led the people of Hims for sixty complete years! He said, "I have never entered through the door of the masjid whilst my soul was occupied with other than Allaah."

"Whoever worships Allaah with Love only is indeed a Zindeeq (a heretic) and whoever worships Him with Hope only is indeed a Murji' (one who believes sins impart no harm to a persons faith) and whoever worships Him with Fear only is indeed a Harooree (one of those believe that sins take a person out of Islaam) but whoever worships Him with Love, Fear and Hope is indeed a believing Muwahhid (one who performs the Tawheed of Allaah)."

[Quoted by ibn Rajab in at-Takhweef minan-Naar as the saying of one of the Salaf]

Anas - radiAllaahu 'anhu - reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam entered upon a young boy who was dying.

The Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam asked: "How are you?" The boy replied: "O Messenger of Allah, I am in-between hoping in Allah and fearing for my sins." The Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam said: "The like of these two qualities do not unite in the heart of a servant except that Allah gives him what he hopes for and protects him from what he feared."

[Hasan - Collected by at-Tirmidhee & Ibn Maajah. Authenticated by al-Albaanee in Ahkaamul-Janaa'iz (no. 2)]

According to al-Mirwadhi, Ahmad said:

‘Celibacy has nothing to do with Islam. Whoever calls you not to get married is calling you to something other than Islam.’

Ibn ‘Abdil-Barr said,

“The Qur’aan is the foundation of knowledge, so whoever memorised it before his coming of age (i.e. puberty), then he went along to study whatever would aid his understanding of it from language, then that would be a great help for him in attaining his objective from it (i.e. knowledge).”

[Saheeh Jaami bayaan al-’ilm wa fadhlihi (454)]

Muraaqaba

Narrated from Naafi' also: "If Ibn 'Umar had missed a congregational prayer, he would fast a day, spend a night in prayer and free a slave."

It is narrated from Usaama: "Whoever saw Sufyaan ath-Thawri would see him as if he was on a ship about to sink due to the number of times he would say "Ya Rabb, save me, save me."

In 'Shadhrat adh-Dhahab it is narrated that 'Imaad al-Hanbali used to say, "By Allaah, I have never said a word, nor performed any action except that I have prepared an answer for it in front of Allaah."

Truthfulness in intentions (صدق النية)

One day, 'Abdullaah ibn 'Umar, 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr and 'Abdul-Malik ibn Marwaan gathered in the courtyard of the Ka'bah and Mus'ab said to them "Wish for something". They said 'you begin'

So he said, "To take governship over 'Iraaq, to marry Sukainah bint al-Husayn and 'Aisha bint Talha ibn 'Ubayd'Allaah." And so he achieved that and each one of them (the wives) was given five hundred thousand dirhams in mahr and the like in provision.

'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr wished for Fiqh and that hadeeth be taken from him - and he achieved that.

'Abdul-Malik wished for Khilaafah - and he achieved that.

And 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar wished for Paradise...

['Uluww al-Himmah]

Sufyan al-Thawri said:

"I have not tried to cure from myself anything harder than my intention, for it keeps changing on me."

"As for al-Firqatun-Naajiyah (the Saved Sect) it is Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah, and there is no name for Ahlus Sunnah except one - and that is Ashaab al-Hadeeth (the People of the Hadith)"

-Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (ra)