Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

It is reported that ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him – said, “The servant [of Allāh] should not fear except his sins, and should not hope except in his Lord. The ignorant should not be ashamed to ask, and the knowledgeable should not be ashamed to say – if he does not know something – ‘Allāh knows best.’ Patience (al-ṣabr) to faith (Al-Īmān) is like the head to the rest of the body: if the head is cut off, the body will rot. And one who has no patience, has no faith.”

Al-Baihaqī, Shu’ab Al-Īmān, Vol.12 p195.
 
It is reported that Ibn ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with him – said, “We were the beginning [the heads] of this Ummah, and perhaps a man from the best of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – and the most righteous amongst them could maintain only one chapter of the Qur`ān or thereabouts. For the Qur`ān was weighty upon them, and they were given knowledge of it or action based on it. But the last of this Ummah will find the Qur`ān light [and easy] – the child and the non-Arab will recite it, without possessing any knowledge about it.”

Al-Harawī, Dhamm Al-Kalām wa AhlihīVol. 5 p144.
 
It is reported that Shurayḥ – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “If I am afflicted with a calamity, I praise Allāh for it four times: I praise Him because it wasn’t worse than it was, I praise Him when He gives me the patience to bear it, I praise Him for enabling me to say al-istirjā’ (‘To Allāh we belong and to him we will return’; see Al-Baqarah: 154-156 ) in hope of a great reward, and I praise Him for not making it a calamity in my religion.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, in his biography of Shurayḥ Al-Qāḍī.
 
It is reported that the last sermon ʿUmar b. ʿAbd Al-‘Aziz – Allāh have mercy on him – delivered was as follows:

He praised Allāh and said, “You were not created in vain, nor will you be left without purpose. Verily, you have an appointed time in which Allāh – the Most High – will come down to judge you. Wretched and ruined will he be who leaves the mercy of Allāh and is denied a Garden whose width is that of the heavens and Earth. Know you not that no one will be safe tomorrow save one who is wary of today and fears it; and sells the transitory for what will remain, and the little for the plenty, and fear in exchange for security [in the hereafter]? See you not that you are in the loins of the dead, to be taken by those who remain after you, until all matters return to the Best of Inheritors? Every day, [in the funerals] you accompany those returning to Allāh the Mighty and Sublime, having spent their time, until you hide them in a crevice in the ground, in the belly of a bare and unfurnished hole, having parted from their loved ones, stroking the dirt and facing their accounts. Now, they are dependent on their deeds, free of what they left behind, in need of [the deeds] they put before them. So fear Allāh before the time He appointed is up and death descends upon you. This is what I have to say.” He then lifted the edge of his garment over his face and wept profusely, and made everyone around him weep.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm Vol. 3 p343.
 
It is reported that Imām Layth b. Sa’d – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Even if I saw a heretic (follower of bid’ah) walk on water, I would not accept him.” This was reported to Imām Al-Shāfi’ī – Allāh have mercy on him, to which he replied, “He didn’t go far enough. Rather, if I saw one walk in the air, I would not accept him.”

Al-Lālakā`ī, Sharh Usūl ‘I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah Vol.1 p228; Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā Vol2. P175; Ibn Al-Jawzī, Talbīs Iblīs p14 – with slightly variant wordings
 
It is reported on the authority of Ibrāhīm b. Al-Ash’ath that he said, “I asked Al-Fudayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – about patience (al-sabr) in the face of adversity and he said, ‘It is to not broadcast it.’ I asked him about asceticism (al-zuhd) and he said, ‘Al-zuhd is to be content with what you have, and that is what it means to be rich.’ I asked him about prudence (al-wara’) and he said, ‘It is to stay away from what is forbidden.’ And I asked him about humbleness (al-tawādu’) and he said, ‘It is when you submit to the truth and comply no matter who you hear it from; even if it was from the most ignorant of people, you would be required to accept it from him.’”

Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmi’ Bayān Al-‘Ilm wa Fadlihi Vol. 1 p498.
 
It is reported that Al-Fudayl b. ʿAyyāḍ said, “When backbiting appears, brotherhood for Allāh will disappear; and at that time you will be like things plated with gold and silver: wooden on the inside, [merely] looking good on the outside.”

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyā`, Vol. 3 p395.
 
It is reported that Muhammad Al-Bāqir – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Never does any pride enter the heart of a man except that his intelligence decreases by the same amount.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, in his biography of Muhammad Al-Bāqir.
 
It is reported that Al-Fudayl b. ʿAyyāḍ said, “When backbiting appears, brotherhood for Allāh will disappear; and at that time you will be like things plated with gold and silver: wooden on the inside, [merely] looking good on the outside.”

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyā`, Vol. 3 p395.

character, love, sinsAl-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ
 
Al-Barbahārī (Sharḥ Al-Sunnah p113, 114) states, “If you see a man supplicating against the ruler, know that he is a heretic (ṣaḥib hawā), and if you see a man supplicating for the ruler, know that he is a Sunni – inshā Allāh.”

Al-Imām Al-Ājurrī (d360H) states (Al-Sharī’ah Vol.1 p371), “I have mentioned warnings against the ways of the Khawārij that convey the message for everyone who Allāh protects against the ways of the Khawārij, and who does not hold the views of the Khawārij, but is [instead] patient over the injustice of the rulers … and who prays for the wellbeing and righteousness of the rulers, and who does Hajj and Jihād behind the rulers against every enemy of the Muslims, and who prays the Jumu’ah and ‘Eid prayers behind the rulers. Whoever fits this description is upon the Straight Path – inshā Allāh.”

affairs of the Ummah, bidʿah, governance, Sunnah, ʿaqīdahAl-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ
 
"If a man seeks knowledge, it will appear in his face, hands an tongue and in his humility to Allah." - Hassan Al-Basri
 
It is reported that Bashr b. Al-Hārith said, “I was once with Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ in Makkah. He sat with us until midnight, then went and did ṭawāf until the morning. I said, ‘Abū ‘Alī! Won’t you sleep?’ He replied, ‘Woe to you! And is there anyone who hears a mention of the Fire and then feels like sleeping!?’”

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm, article 723.

fear, The Fire, worshipAl-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ
 
Abū Madīnah Al-Dārimī – Allāh be pleased with him – reports, “When two of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – would meet, they would not part until one would recite to the other “By time, verily man is in loss…” (Sūrah Al-‘Asr). Then, one of them would say salām to the other.”

Recorded by Al-Tabarānī in Al-Awsat, and others. Shaykh Al-Albānī graded its chain of transmission sahīh. See Al-Sahīhah, hadīth 2648.
 
Al-Sha’bī reports, “When the Companions of Muhammad – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – used to meet, they would shake hands; and when returning from travels, they would hug one another.”

Shaykh Al-Albānī states in Al-SahīhahVol. 1 p300, “[This is] recorded by Al-Bayhaqī Vol. 7 p100 with a sahīh chain of transmission from Al-Sha’bī.”

Abū Madīnah Al-Dārimī – Allāh be pleased with him – reports, “When two of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – would meet, they would not part until one would recite to the other “By time, verily man is in loss…” (Sūrah Al-‘Asr). Then, one of them would say salām to the other.”

Recorded by Al-Tabarānī in Al-Awsat, and others. Shaykh Al-Albānī graded its chain of transmission sahīh. See Al-Sahīhah, hadīth 2648.
 
It is reported that Sufyān b. ‘Uyainah – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The intelligent person is not one who merely knows what is good and what is bad. The intelligent person is one who, when he sees what is good, follows it, and when he sees evil, shuns it.”

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyā`, Vol. 4 p16.
 
True knowledge is not mentioned in relation to how much you memorise and then narrate, but rather, true knowledge is an expression of piety. - Ibn Mas'ud (radhiyallahu 'anhu)
 
It is reported that Al-Aswad [b. Yazīd Al-Nakha’ī] used to complete the recitation of the Quran in Ramadan every two nights; sleeping between al-maghrib and al-‘ishā. Outside of Ramaḍān, he used to complete a recitation every six nights.

Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` 1:250.

It is related from Al-Rabī’ b. Sulaymān, “Muḥammad b. Idrīs Al-Shāfi’ī used to complete reciting the Quran in the month of Ramadan sixty times, all in the prayer.”

Ibid. 4:107
 
It is reported form Abū Al-Dardā – Allāh be pleased with him – that he said, “Three make me laugh, and three make me cry.

Those that make me laugh are a person who puts his hopes in this worldly life while death pursues him, a person who is heedless [of his Lord] while [his Lord] is not heedless of him, and a person who always laughs while he does not know whether he has pleased Allāh or angered Him.

What makes me cry is being separated from my beloved: Muhammad and his party (the Companions), the horrors of the time of death, and standing in front of Allāh ‘azza wa jall on the Day when the secrets will be revealed and I do not know will I then go to Paradise or Hell?”

Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā`iqarticle 250.
 
It is reported that Ṭalq b. Ḥabīb – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The right of Allāh is too great and heavy for the creation to fulfill and the blessings of Allāh are too many to enumerate, but you should remain repentant, morning and evening.”

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Tawbah article 62.
 
The great ascetic Shaqīq Al-Balakhī – Allāh have mercy on him – was once asked, “What is the mark of [true] repentance?” He replied, “Continued crying over past sins, deep fear of falling into them again, staying away from bad company, and keeping the company of good people.”

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 2645.
 

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