Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

It is reported that Abū Bakr Al-Maṭū’ī said:

I sat in the circle of Abū ‘Abdillāh Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal for twelve years while he read the Musnad to his children, and I never wrote a single ḥadīth, I only looked at his behavior, character and etiquette.

Ibn Al-Jawzī,-Manāqib Aḥmad, article 210.
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

One who acts without knowledge is like one who travels off the path; and the one who acts without knowledge corrupts more than he rectifies. So seek knowledge in a way that does not harm your worship, and seek to worship [Allāh] in a way that does not harm [your seeking of] knowledge. For verily, there were people (the Khawārij extremists) who sought to worship [Allāh] but abandoned knowledge until they attacked the Ummah of Muḥammad – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – with their swords. But if they had sought knowledge, it would not have directed them to do what they did.

Quoted by Ibn ‘Abd Al-Barr,-Jāmi’ Bayān Al-‘Ilm wa Faḍlihi-article 905.
 
It is reported that the son of Al-Fuḍayl b. ‘Ayyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said to his father:

Father! How sweet (beautiful) the speech of the Companions is! [Al-Fuḍayl] said, “Son, do you know why it was so sweet?” He replied, “No father, I do not.” He said, “Because they sought Allāh the Exalted when they spoke.”

Al-Bayhaqī,-Shu’ab Al-īmān-2:299
 
It is reported that Imām Muḥammad b. Sīrīn – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

There were people who abandoned knowledge and sitting with the scholars, and [instead] took to their chambers and prayed until their skin dried [from exertion in worship]. Thereafter they began to contradict the Sunnah and thus were destroyed. By Allāh, never does a person act without knowledge, except that he spoils and corrupts more than he fixes and rectifies.

Al-Aṣbahānī,-Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb-3:98
 
It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ‘Ayyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The believer speaks little and does alot, whereas the hypocrite (munāfiq) speaks a lot and does little. When the believer speaks, it is with wisdom, when he is silent, it is in deep thought, when he sees, he takes lessons, and when he acts, it is a cure. If this is the way you are, then you are in the constant worship [of your Lord.]

Abū Nu’aym,-Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā`-8:98.
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The believer does the best deeds yet is most fearful [that his deeds will not be accepted]. If he were to spend a mountain of wealth [in charity], he would not feel sure [of the reward] until he sees it. The more righteous and pious he becomes, the more he fears. But the hypocrite (munāfiq) says, ‘There are so many people, I will be forgiven, no problem.’ So he does wrong and evil deeds, yet holds foolish wishes about Allāh.

Al-Dhahabī,-Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`4:586.
 
Umar b. Al-Khattāb-– Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Verily, the followers of opinion are the enemies of the Sunan (the teachings of Allāh’s Messenger as passed down in hadith): they were unable to preserve them and their meanings escaped them, and when asked [questions] they were too embarrassed to say ‘We don’t know,’ so they opposed the Sunan with their opinions.

Ibn Abī Zamanīn,-Uṣūl Al-Sunnah-article 8; Al-Lālakā`ī,-Sharḥ-Uṣūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah-article 201 et al.
 
It is reported that Imām Al-Shāfi’ī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

If you fear becoming deluded and impressed by your deeds then remember whose pleasure you are seeking, and the joy (Paradise) in which you want to be, and what punishment you fear. Whoever thinks about these things will diminish his deeds.

Al-Dhahabī,-Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`10:42.
 
eesa the kiwi said:
It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ‘Ayyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The believer speaks little and does alot, whereas the hypocrite (munāfiq) speaks a lot and does little. When the believer speaks, it is with wisdom, when he is silent, it is in deep thought, when he sees, he takes lessons, and when he acts, it is a cure. If this is the way you are, then you are in the constant worship [of your Lord.]

Abū Nu’aym,-Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā`-8:98.
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Allah Hu Akbar. Too many blessings Alhamdulilah yet we are so ungrateful!!
 
Salmān Al-Fārsī – Allāh be pleased with him – once visited a sick friend. When he entered upon him he said:

Have glad tidings, for verily Allāh makes the illness of a believer an expiation [for his sins] and a cause of being pleased, whereas the illness of a sinner is like a camel that has been tied by its owners, then released by them: it knows not why it was tied up nor why it was released
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The intelligent person’s tongue is behind his heart: when he wants to speak, he first thinks. If [his words] will be in his favor, he says them, and if they will be against him, he does not speak. And the ignorant person’s heart is behind his tongue: when he merely thinks of saying something, he says it, whether it is for or against him.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī,-Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm-article 2049.
 
It is reported that ‘Awn b. ‘Abdillāh – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Those before you used to give to their worldly affairs what was left over from their pursuit of the hereafter. But today, you give to the matters of the hereafter the left-overs from your pursuit of worldly affairs.

Abū Nu’aym,-Ḥilyat Al-Awliyā`-10:242.
 
It is reported that Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

There are two days and two nights the likes of which no one has ever heard of before: the Day on which you will receive the news about Allāh the Exalted: whether you will receive His punishment or His mercy, the Day you will be given your book (of deeds): either in your right hand or your left, that [first] night you will spend alone in your grave, a night like no other you have spent, and that night on the morning of which will be the Day of Resurrection, after which there will be no more night.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī,-Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article-19.
 
It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ‘Ayyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The souls [of people] are in groups gathered together: those of them that identify with each other come together, and those that are different diverge. It is not possible for an adherent of the Sunnah to incline towards an adherent of Bid’ah except out of hypocrisy (nifāq).

Ibid.-article 429.
 
It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

The house in which the Qur’ān is not recited is like a derelict house that has no one to maintain it.

It is also reported that he said:

Verily the emptiest of houses are those that are empty of the Book of Allāh.
 
Abdullāh b. Shaqīq Al-‘Uqaylī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allah’s praise and peace be upon him – did not consider the leaving of any action to be kufr (unbelief), except the prayer (ṣalāh).

Al-Tirmidhī,-Al-Sunan-ḥadīth 2622. Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Al-Albānī in his edition of-Sunan Al-Tirmidhī.
 
It is reported that Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say about the house in which the Qur’ān is recited:

It becomes spacious for its inhabitants, the good of it becomes plentiful, the angels come to it and the devils leave it. And the house in which the Qur’ān is not recited becomes cramped for its inhabitants, has little good in it, and the devils come to it.

Ibn Abī Shaybah,-Al-Muṣannaf-articles 30645, 30647 and 30650.
 
It is reported that Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say:

Whoever does not think that his speech is part of his deeds and that his character is part of his religion will be destroyed without even realizing.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā-Dham Al-Kadhib wa Ahlī-article 94.
 
It is reported that Mujāhid – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Those who strive and exert themselves (al-mujtahid) amongst you today are like those who used to play around amongst those before you.

Wakī’ b. Al-Jarrāh,-Al-Zuhd-article 221.
 
It is reported that some people asked ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him –- to describe this worldly life (the dunyā). He said:

Do you want a long description or a brief one? They replied, “a brief one.” He said, “Its permissible things (ḥalāl) [lead to] accounts being taken from you, and its forbidden things (ḥarām) [lead to the] Fire.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā,-Dham Al-Dunyā-article 17.
 

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