Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

Whenever 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 ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Blessings arrive with gratitude [to Allāh], and gratitude is connected with more [blessings], and the two are tied together: more blessings from Allāh will never stop unless gratitude from the servant stops.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Shukr article 18.
 
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (rahmatullahi ‘alayh) narrates from someone of knowledge who said: “Learn to say, ‘I do not know’, and do not learn to say: ‘I know’. This is because if you say: ‘I do not know’, they will teach you till you know. But if you say, ‘I know’, they will continue questioning you till you have no answer.” Ibn ‘Abdil Barr, Jami’ Bayan al-‘Ilm, Vol 2, p. 55
 
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
 
It is reported that Imām Mālik said:

The Salaf used to teach their children to love Abū Bakr and ʿUmar like they used to teach them a sūrah of the Qurān.

Al-Lālakāʾī, Sharḥ ʾUsūl ʾIʿtiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah #2325.
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Verily a man continues to be truthful until he is written with Allāh as a true believer (ṣiddīq); and he persists in truthfulness until there is not even the space of a needle for sinfulness left in his heart to settle. And a man lies and persists in lying until there is not even the space of a needle for goodness in his heart to settle.

Wakīʿ b. Al-Jarrāḥ, Al-Zuhd ḥadīth 398.
 
It is reported that Maymūn b. Mihrān – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

There are three things that must be given to both the righteous and the sinful: the ties of the womb (relatives) must be kept connected, whether they are righteous or sinful; trust must be fulfilled, for the righteous and the sinful; and promises must be kept, to the righteous as well as the sinful.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf 12:298.
 
ʿAmr b. Dīnār reports that ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them – intended not to marry after the [passing of the] Prophet – ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa salam, so Ḥafṣah (his sister) – Allāh be pleased with her – advised him:

My brother, marry, for if you have a child and it dies, it will precede you into Al-Jannah (and be a cause for you to be admitted), and if it lives, the child will supplicate for good for you.

ʿAbd Al-Razzāq Al-Ṣanʿānī, Al-Muṣannaf #10388
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

If the people were gathered on one plain, all of them believers, except for two unbelievers amongst them, they would join each other. And if the people were gathered on one plain, all of them unbelievers, except for two believers amongst them, they would join each other.

Ibn Baṭṭah, Al-ʾIbānah Al-Kubrā 1:455
 
It is reported that Mālik – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

It is upon whoever seeks knowledge to have a solemn, dignified demeanour, fearful [of Allāh]; and to follow in the footsteps of those who went before him.
 
ʿAbd Al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī reports:

A man laughed in [the circle of] Hishām Al-Dustawāʾī, so Hishām said to him, “Young man! You seek knowledge laughing?” He replied, “Is it not Allāh who makes [us] laugh and cry (as stated in the Qurʾān)?” So Hishām replied, “Then go and cry.”

Op. cit. 233
 
Ismāʿīl b. Yaḥyā reports:

Sufyān once saw me joking with a man from Banī Shaybah at the House (Kaʿbah). I laughed, so he said to me, “You laugh here? A man used to hear a single ḥadīth and its demeanour and guidance would be seen on him for three days.”

Op. cit. 234
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

It is part of sure belief (yaqīn) [in Allāh] that you do not please the people by angering Allāh, and do not praise anyone [else] for what Allāh has provided you, and do not blame anyone for what Allāh has not given you. For verily, the provision of Allāh is not gained by the keenness of those who are keen [for you to have it], nor is it prevented by the hatred of those who hate [for you to have it]. And verily Allāh, in His justice, made happiness and joy in being certain and content [with Allāh], and made worry and sadness in doubt and anger.

Hannād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd, article 535.
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr b. Al-ʿĀs – Allāh be pleased with them – said:

Leave alone what you have nothing to do with, and do not speak about what does not concern you, and secure your tongue like you secure your money.

Ibn Ḥibbān Al-Bustī, Rawḍatu Al-ʿUqalāʾ 1:55.
 
according to Sells, "Junayd seems to presuppose that his hearer or reader has had the experience about which he is speaking – or, even more radically, that the hearer or reader is able to enter that experience, or some re-creation of it – at the moment of encounter with Junaid's words."[4] This statement makes it seem like Junayd was writing to a specific sect of the elite that he described earlier. The elite that he refers to are the elect, or "a tightly-knit group of 'brethren' that Junayd designates by such phrases as 'the choice of believers' or 'the pure ones'. They play significant roles in the community of believers."[7]

As mentioned, Junayd has always been difficult to read for scholars because most of his writings have been lost to time. Junayd constantly uses precise words and language specific to try and describe God, the longing for Him, and the human condition. His ornate language immediately turns off most people, but Junayd had a reason for writing so cryptically. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, Junayd found out that a letter he had written was opened by a stranger before it got to its destination: “doubtless by some zealot desirous of finding cause for impugning his orthodoxy; and to this ever-present danger must in part be attributed the deliberate preciosity which marks the writings of all the mystics of J̲unayd's period”.[9] This constant worry about others getting a hold of his ideas caused Junayd to become very protective of his writings.
 
It is reported that Masrūq – Allāh have mercy him – said: There is no house better for the believer than the niche of his grave, for then he will rest from the worries of this world, and be secured from the punishment of Allāh.

Ibid. #87
 
Life is nothing but an accumulation of many breaths. So every breath is just a precious diamond which cannot be purchased with anything in the world. It is a priceless jewel which has got no substitute in value. So in movements and talks, and in sorrows and happiness, such a priceless breath should not be spent in vain. To destroy it is to court destruction. An intelligent man cannot lose it. When a man gets up at dawn, he should enter into an agreement with himself just as a tradesman contracts with his partner. At that time, he should address his mind thus: O mind, you have been given no other property as precious as life. When it will end, the principal will end and despondency will come in seeking profit in business. Today is a new day. Allah has given you time, that is, He has delayed your death. He has bestowed upon you innumerable gifts. Think that you are already dead. So don't waste time. Every breath is a precious jewel. Man has got for each day and night twenty-four treasure houses in twenty-four hours. Fill up these then find them filled up with divine sights in the world next. If they are not filled up with good works, they will be filled up with intense darkness wherefrom a bad stench will come out and envelop them all around. Another treasure house will neither give him happiness nor sorrow. That is an hour in which he slept, or was careless, or was engaged in any lawful work of this world. He will feel grieved for its remaining vacant.

[Taken from al-Ghazali: Meditation and Introspection, The Book of Constructive Virtues, Ihya Ulum-id-din.]
 
Saʿīd b. Jubayr – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Tawakkul (reliance and trust in Allah) comprehends all of Īmān.

Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd #534.
 
Aḥmad b. Yūnus reports:

I saw Zuhayr b. Muʿāwiyah come to Zāʾidah b. Qudāmah (d.160H) and speak to him to get him to narrate ḥadīth to a man, so Zāʾidah asked, Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah? Zuhayr replied, I do not know that he has any bidʿah. Zāʾidah said, No, that is another matter! Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah? Zuhayr said, Since when have people become like this? Zāʾidah replied, Since when did people curse Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?!

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #754.
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Verily, you will find the believer (muʾmin) consistent time after time, upon one way, showing the same face; [whereas] you will find the hypocrite (munāfiq) changing colors, trying to be like everyone around him, running with every wind.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm #1936
 

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