Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

Someone reported to Hasan Basri that a certain man was in his death throes. He commented: "He was in his death throes since his appearance on earth. He will now be released."
 
‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar – Allah be pleased with them both – said:

Every bid’ah (religious innovation) is misguidance, even if people think it is good.

Al-Lālakā’ī in Sharh Usūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah wa Al-Jamā’ah Vol 1. P134, no.111; and Ibn Battah in Al-Ibānah Al-Kubraa Vol.1 p219, no. 213

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‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar – Allah be pleased with them both – said:

Every bid’ah (religious innovation) is misguidance, even if people think it is good.

Al-Lālakā’ī in Sharh Usūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah wa Al-Jamā’ah Vol 1. P134, no.111; and Ibn Battah in Al-Ibānah Al-Kubraa Vol.1 p219, no. 213
 
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Only du’aa (supplication) can change Qadar (Destiny).” Du’aa can change the destiny of what would have been if the du’aa had not been made.
 
Anas b. Mālik – Allah be pleased with him – said:

You people do things today that you regard as less significant than a strand of hair, whereas we, during the time of the Prophet – peace and blessings be upon him – used to consider them destructive sins.

Al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ, Chapter on sins that are seen as insignificant but which should be kept away from.
 
‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allah be pleased with him – said:

Shall I not tell you who the real faqīh is? He is one who does not make people despair of Allah’s mercy, yet he does not give them concessions to disobey Allah. He does not make them feel safe from Allah’s plan and he does not leave the Quran.

There is no good in worship that involves no efforts to gain fiqh, and there is no good in seeking fiqh without seeking a thorough understanding. And there is no good in reading without contemplating.

Al-Ājurrī in Akhlāq Al-‘Ulamā’ no. 45, Al-Khaṭīb in Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqih Vol. 2 pp338-339.
 
Do not detest the misfortunes that befall you, for what you detest may be the cause of your salvation and what you like may be the cause of your ruin"

Al-Hasan Al-Basree
 
Imaam Maalik said, when he was asked about how Allaah rose over the Throne: “We know that He rose over it, but we do not know how. Believing in it is obligatory and asking about it is bid'ah."
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī said:

Son of Ādam, you will never find the reality of īmān as long as you fault people for doing what you yourself are guilty of, until you clear yourself of that fault and correct it. Then, you will not correct a fault in yourself except that you will notice another, so your occupation will become correcting yourself, and this is the most beloved thing to Allāh, when you are like this.

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baġdādī, Al-Muntakhab min Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqāʾiq, article 41.
 
Aṭāʾ b. Yasār reports:

A man once came to Ibn ʿAbbās and said, “I proposed to a woman and she refused to marry me, then someone else proposed to her and she wanted to marry him; so I became jealous and killed her. Can I repent from this?” [Ibn ʿAbbās] asked, “Is your mother alive?” He replied, “No.” So he said, “Repent (tawbah) to Allāh the mighty and majestic, and worship him as much as you can.”

ʿAṭāʾ said, “So I went and asked Ibn ʿAbbās, ‘Why did you ask him if his mother was alive?’ He replied, ‘I do not know of any action that brings one closer to Allāh than dutifulness to the mother.'”

Al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab Al-Mufrad ḥadīth 4. Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Al-Albānī. See Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, Chapter on Dutifulness to the Mother; Al-Ṣaḥīḥah 6:711 ḥadīth 2799.
 
Ibraaheem ibn Faatik said: I heard Aboo Ya`qoob say:

"This world is an ocean, and the Hereafter is that distant shore, the boat to be traveled within is fear of Allaah, and the people are travelers within it."

(Siyaar A`laam an-Nubala, vol.15, p.282)
 
It is reported that:

ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn – Allāh have mercy on him – would sometimes ride to Makkah and return without entering it (meeting anyone there), and he used to sit with Aslam the freedman of ʿUmar (himself a scholar), so it was said to him, “You leave Quraysh, and instead sit with the slave of Banī ʿAdī!” So he replied, “A man [should] sit where he benefits.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:388.
 
We are a nation whom Allah has honored with Islam, and whenever we seek honor in something else, Allah will humiliate us."[Umar ibn Al-Khattab (r.a)]
 
It is reported that Muʿāwiyah b. Qurrah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Do not sit with the foolish using your knowledge, and do not sit with the knowledgeable (scholars) using your foolishness.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 5:154.
 
I Would Rather Sing a Song

It is reported that a man once came to Al-Shaʿbī – Allāh have mercy on him – and asked him about something, so he replied:

“Ibn Masʿūd used to say such-and-such [about this issue].” The man asked, “But tell me your opinion.” He replied, “Are you not all astonished by this man? I inform him of what Ibn Masʿūd [said] and he asks me my opinion. My religion is more important to me than that. By Allāh, I would rather sing a song than inform you of my opinion.”

Al-Dārimī, Al-Sunan ḥadīth 108.
 
Is-haaq ibn Abi Israaeel said: I heard Sufyaan ibn `Uyainah (rahimahullah) saying:

“There is no blessing, which Allaah bestowed upon His slaves, better than what He taught them about “Laa ilaaha illAllaah” (There is no deity worthy of being worshiped except Allaah). For verily “Laa ilaaha illAllaah” for them in the Hereafter will be like how water is for the people of the Dunyaa.”

[Tahdheeb Al-Kamaal by Al-Mizzee (11/191)]
 
Al-Hasan Al-Basree:


“To endure short-lived difficulties that are followed by long lasting ease, is better than hurrying for a short-lived ease that is followed by ever-lasting hardship.”
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever is happy (satisfied) with what Allāh has apportioned for him, it will suffice him and Allāh will bless it for him, but whoever is not satisfied, then [what is apportioned for him] will not suffice him and it will not be blessed.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Riḍā ʿan Allāh bi Qaḍāʾihi article 95.
 
It was said to Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him):

‘May Allah reward you for the good you have (done) for Islam.’

He said:

‘RATHER, ALLAH HAS (DONE) GOOD FOR ME THROUGH ISLAM. WHO AM I, AND WHAT AM I?’”

- Quoted by Imam Dhahabi in As-siyar a'lam an-nubala (11/225)
 
Jafar Al-Sadiq on Abu Bakr and Umar

It is reported from Sālim b. Abī Ḥafṣah:

I asked Abū Jaʿfar and his son Jaʿfar (Al-Ṣādiq) about Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, so he replied, “O Sālim, love and ally yourself with them, and dissociate yourself from their enemy, for they were imāms of guidance.” Then he said, “O Sālim, would a man revile his own grandfather? Abū Bakr is a grandfather of mine. May the intercession of Muḥammad ﷺ not reach me on the Day of Resurrection if I do not love and ally myself with them and disassociate from their enemy.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 6:258.
 
It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Do not expose yourself to what does not concern you, stay away from your enemy, beware of [taking as] your friend anyone except the trustworthy amongst people – and there is no one who is trustworthy except one who fears Allāh; and do not accompany the sinner in case you learn his sinfulness, and do not let him know your secrets, and consult those who fear Allāh for your affairs.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf 34476.
 

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