Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

It is reported that Bilāl b. Saʿd – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

If you see a man being obstinate, argumentative and impressed with his own opinion, then his loss is complete.

Abū Nuʿaym, ʿHilyatu Al-Awliyāʾ 5:228
 
It is reported that Ḥudhayfah b. Al-Yamān – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

True misguidance is that you approve now what you used to repudiate before (because it was wrong) and repudiate now what you used to approve before; and be aware of changing colours in the religion, for the religion of Allāh is one.

Ibn Baṭṭah, Al-Ibānatu Al-Kubrā ḥadīth 25, and others.
 
It is reported that ʿAdī b. Ḥātim – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

You will remain upon good as long as you do not start approving of what you used to repudiate and as long as you do not repudiate what you used to know (to be right), and as long as your scholar can speak amongst you without fear.
 
It is reported that Al-Nuʿmān b. Bashīr – Allāh be pleased with him – said during a sermon he was delivering in Homs:

Total destruction lies in doing bad deeds during a time of calamity and tribulation.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-ʿUqūbāt article 327.
 
The Beauty in the QuranWhenever ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbbās – Allāh be pleased with them – saw a muṣḥaf (copy of the Qurān) decorated with silver or gold he would say:


Do you tempt the thief, when its beauty is in its inside?


Abū ʿUbayd Al-Qāsim b. Sallām, Faḍāʾil Al-Qurān article 907.
 
It is reported that Ḥudhayfah b. Al-Yamān – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

True misguidance is that you approve now what you used to repudiate before (because it was wrong) and repudiate now what you used to approve before; and be aware of changing colours in the religion, for the religion of Allāh is one.

Ibn Baṭṭah, Al-Ibānatu Al-Kubrā ḥadīth 25, and others.
 
It is reported that ʿAdī b. Ḥātim – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

You will remain upon good as long as you do not start approving of what you used to repudiate and as long as you do not repudiate what you used to know (to be right), and as long as your scholar can speak amongst you without fear.

Op. cit. ḥadīth 26.
 
It is reported that Harim b. Ḥayyān – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

“Beware of the sinful scholar (al-ʿālim al-fāsiq).” This reached ʿUmar, so he wrote to him in fear, “Who is the sinful scholar?” He wrote back, “I did not intend but good; this is when there is an imām (leader, taken as an example) who speaks knowledge, but practices sins, confusing the people, and thus they go astray.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:49
 
Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – reports:

A female slave once entered upon ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – and he recognised her as having been owned by some of the Muhājirūn or the Anṣār, but she was wearing a jilbāb covering her head with it, so he asked her, “Have you been freed?” To which she replied, “No.” So he said, “Then why the jilbāb? Remove it from your head, the jilbāb is only to be worn as a duty by the free women of the believers.” She hesitated and was slow to comply so he raised his stick and hit her on the head with it until she cast [the jilbāb] from her head.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf ḥadīth 6240. Graded ṣaḥīḥ according to the conditions of Muslim by Al-Albānī in Irwāʾ Al-Ġalīl 6:204.
 
It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

There are three types of men and three types of women. As for the women, then [one] is the chaste, Muslim, gentle, loving and childbearing woman. She helps her family in difficult situations and does not help situations to overcome her family. Rarely will you find such women. Another is a vessel, she does nothing more than bear children. The third type is a shackle, Allāh puts her around the neck of whomever he wills, and when he wills to remove it, he removes it. Men are [also] three kinds. [The first is] a chaste, easy, gentle man who possesses opinion (insight) and is worthy of being consulted; and when a matter befalls him, he follows his insight, and approaches matters as they should be. [The second is] a man who has no opinions of his own, and when a matter befalls him he goes to the one who does have insight and should be consulted, and he adopts his opinion on the matter. The third is a man who is confused, lost and aimless; he neither follows (seeks) guidance, nor obeys any guide.

Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān 10:39 ḥadīth 7131.
 
Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – reports:

A female slave once entered upon ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – and he recognised her as having been owned by some of the Muhājirūn or the Anṣār, but she was wearing a jilbāb covering her head with it, so he asked her, “Have you been freed?” To which she replied, “No.” So he said, “Then why the jilbāb? Remove it from your head, the jilbāb is only to be worn as a duty by the free women of the believers.” She hesitated and was slow to comply so he raised his stick and hit her on the head with it until she cast [the jilbāb] from her head.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf ḥadīth 6240. Graded ṣaḥīḥ according to the conditions of Muslim by Al-Albānī in Irwāʾ Al-Ġalīl 6:204.
 
ʿAṭāʾ 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.
 
It is reported from Anas b. Sīrīn that he said:

It once reached us in Kūfā that Masrūq used to flee from the plague. Muḥammad denied this and said, “Let us go to his wife and ask her.” So we entered upon her and asked her about this, and she replied, “No, by Allāh, he never used to flee, but he would say, ‘These are days of preoccupation, so I like to be alone during them to worship.’ So he used to go aside and be alone to do worship. Sometimes, I would sit behind him and cry because of what I saw him doing to himself; he would pray so much that his feet would swell. I heard him say, ‘the plague, abdominal disease, postpartum bleeding and drowning: whoever dies during any of them will have it in his credit as martyrdom.'”

Ibn Saʿd, Al-Ṭabaqāt Al-Kubrā 8:202 (Al-Khānji)
 
Three Exhorters

It is reported that ʿAbd Al-ʿAzīz b. Abī Rawwād – Allāh have mercy on him – said to a man:

Whoever does not take exhortation [and is not effected] by three things, will not be exhorted by anything: Islām, the Qurān and old age (graying)

.Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-ʿUmr Wa Al-Shayb #40
 
[h=2]Final Blame and Praise[/h]It is reported that Khālid b. Maʿdān – Allāh have mercy him – said:
Whoever seeks praise by [saying or doing] what goes against Allāh, Allāh will turn those praises back on him to blame; and whoever is bold enough to [say or do] what brings blame [from people but] is in conformity to the truth, Allāh will turn that blame into praise.
​
Abū Dāwūd, Al-Zuhd #494.
 
Al-Muzanī reports:
I heard Al-Shāfiʿī say:

A man once asked Ubay b. Kaʿb – Allāh be pleased with him, “Exhort me with something I can benefit by and by which I will be rewarded.” He replied, “Be brotherly with brothers according to how righteous they are, do not expend your speech on those who are not interested in it, do not seek anyone to meet your need who does not care if he does not fulfil it, and do not envy the living except for something you would envy the dead.”

Al-Ājurrī, Juz fīhi Ḥikāyāt ʿan Al-Shāfiʿī article 24.
 
It is reported that Bilāl b. Saʿd – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

If you see a man being obstinate, argumentative and impressed with his own opinion, then his loss is complete.

Abū Nuʿaym, ʿHilyatu Al-Awliyāʾ 5:228
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbbās – Allāh be pleased with them – said:

Wear what you wish and eat what you wish, as long as you avoid two practices: extravagance and haughtiness.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf ḥadīth 26601.
 
Ibn Al-Sunnī records that when ʿĀʾishah – Allāh be pleased with her – wanted to go to sleep she would say:

O Allāh, verily I ask you for good dreams: dreams that are true and not false, beneficial and not harmful.

اللهم إني أسألك رؤيا صالحةً صادقةً غيرَ كاذبةٍ نافعةً غيرَ ضارةٍ

And when she said this, [those who heard her] knew that she would not speak any more until she woke up from the night.

Al-Nawawī, Al-Adhkār ḥadīth 271. Ibn Ḥajr graded it ṣaḥīḥ in Natāʾij Al-Afkār 3:89.
 
[h=2]Who is Rich?[/h]A man once asked ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr b. Al-ʿĀṣ – Allāh be pleased with them:
“Are we not from the poor of the Muhājirīn?” He replied, “Do you have a wife to go back to?” The man replied, “Yes.” ʿAbdullāh asked, “Do you have a home to live in?” The man said, “Yes.” ʿAbdullāh said, “Then you are one of the rich.” The man said, “And I have a servant.” ʿAbdullāh said, “In that case, you are a king!”
​
Muslim, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ #5290
 

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