Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

It is reported that Imām Al-Zuhrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

We used to sometimes come to a scholar and what we learned of his manners was more beloved to us than the knowledge we took from him.

Abū Nuʿaym, Ḥilyatu Al-ʾAwliyāʾ #4575
 
It is reported that a man once wrote to Ibn ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them:

Please write down all knowledge for me. Ibn ʿUmar replied: Knowledge is vast, but if you can meet Allāh having kept your back light of the burden of people’s blood, your stomach void of people’s wealth and having kept your tongue from [disparaging] their honour, then do so.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 3:222
 
It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Do not mix except with those who have good character; for the one who has good character brings nothing but good, whilst the one who has bad character brings nothing but evil.

Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān, #87044
 
It is reported that Abū Muslim Al-Khawlānī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The example of the scholars on earth is that of the stars in the sky: when they appear, the people are guided (they navigate using the stars), but when they disappear, the people get confused and lost.

Al-Bayhaqī, Al-Madkhal ilā Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā #287
 
It is reported that a man came to ʿAlī – Allāh be pleased with him – and asked, What do you think about a man who committed a sin? He replied, He must seek Allāh’s forgiveness and repent to Him. [The man] said, He did that, but then sinned again? [ʿAlī] said, He must seek Allāh’s forgiveness and repent to Him. The man again said, He did that, but returned to sin. [ʿAlī] said, He must seek Allāh’s forgiveness and repent to Him. The man said for the fourth time, He did, but then sinned again. ʿAlī then said, Until when?Then he said, He must seek Allāh’s forgiveness and repent to Him; and not give up until it is Shayṭān who is defeated [overcome].

Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Kitāb Al-Zuhd article 910
 
Delving into Falsehood (I’ll take what’s good)

It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Ad-ham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Delving into falsehood removes the ability to recognize the truth from the heart.

Abu Nu’aym, Hilyatu Al-Awliyā` 8:22.
 
Muhammad ibn Waasi' (rahima-hullaah) used to say:

((If sins had an odour then nobody would be able to sit with me)).

The Evil of Craving for Wealth and Status - Imaam ibn Rajab al-Hanbalee

Ref: Fatwa-Online

Subhan Allaah!
 
It is reported that Wahb b. Munabbih – Allāh have mercy on him – used to say:

The believer mixes with others in order to learn, keeps quiet to keep safe (from sinning), speaks in order to understand, and secludes himself for the attainment (of good).

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-‘Uzlah article 99.
 
It is reported that Imām Al-Zuhrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Those of our scholars who went before us used to say,”Adherence to the Sunnah is salvation, but knowledge is taken away quickly, so the revival of knowledge means the stability of religion and worldly affairs, and the loss of knowledge means the loss of all that.”

Al-Lālakā`ī, Sharh Usūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah article 136
 
It is reported that Sufyān b. ‘Uyainah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Verily, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ is the highest standard; things are measured by him: his character, lifestyle and behavior. Whatever agrees with [these] is true and correct, and whatever contradicts [them] is wrong.

Al-Khatīb Al-Baghdādī, Akhlāq Al-Rāwī wa Ādāb Al-Sāmi’ article 8.
 
It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Ad-ham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Zuhd (abstinence from materialism, asceticism) is of three types: (i) obligatory zuhd, (ii) virtuous zuhd and (iii) zuhd for safety. Obligatory zuhd is to abstain from what is forbidden (harām); virtuous zuhd is to be disinterested in what is allowed (of this world); and zuhd for safety is to stay away from doubtful matters.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 905.
 
It is reported that ‘Alī b. Abī Tālib – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Mention what you will of the greatness of Allāh, but Allāh is greater than anything you say. And mention what you will of the Fire, but it is more severe than anything you say. And mention what you will of Paradise, but it is better than anything you say.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 853.
 
It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
How strange it is that a people whose departure (from this world to the next) has been announced, and whose predecessors have already departed, still play around!

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 843.
 
The believer has good expectation of his Lord, so he makes his deeds good. But, the evil person has bad expectation of his Lord, so he does evil. - Hasan al-Basri
 
It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – Allāh have mercy on him – once said during the funeral of a man:

May Allāh have mercy on the man who works for the likes of this day; for today you are able to do what these brothers of yours, the residents of these graves, cannot do. So make full use of your health and free time before the day of distress and accounts comes upon you.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dhamm Al-Dunyāarticle 53.
 
Living the Dream

It is reported that Yūnus b. ‘Ubayd (d. 139H) – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

I only liken the worldly life (dunyā) to a man who, whilst sleeping, sees in his dream things he likes and things he does not like. Then he wakes up (the world ends and the next life starts).

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dham Al-Dunyā article 21.
 
Umar bin Khattab (radiyAllaahu 'anhu) said,

"We were a people who lived in humiliation before, and Allah gave us honor through Islam. So if we seek honor through anything else other than what Allah has honored us with, then Allah will humiliate us".

[Mustadrak Al Hakim 207, Sahih by Ad Dhahabi in Talkhees and Sahih by Albani in Silsilah Sahiha 51]
 
It is reported that Ibrāhīm Al-Taymī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

What a great difference there is between you and those people [of the past, the Salaf]! Worldly wealth came to them but they fled from it, whereas the world turns its back on you and you go after it.
Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā`iqarticle 538.
 
It is reported that ‘Imrān b. Husayn – Allāh be pleased with him – was once relating hadīth amongst a group of people, when a man said:

Leave this and give us something from the Book of Allāh. ‘Imrān said, “You are a dunce (stupid). Do you find in the Book of Allāh details of prayer. Do you find in the Book of Allāh details of fasting!? This Qur`ān prescribes those matters, and the Sunnah explains them.”

Al-Harawī, Dham Al-Kalām article 244, et al with various wordings.
 
Non-Racial Supremacy

It is reported that Abū ‘Ubaydah b. Al-Jarrāḥ – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
O people! Yes, I am a man from Quraysh, but there is not a white man (literally: red), nor a black man amongst you who exceeds me in righteousness (taqwā) except that I wish I was in his skin.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 1:18.
 

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