Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

[h=2]The Economic Crisis [Dunya][/h]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`iq article 538.
It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
By Allāh, never was a person given an abundance of worldy wealth and then not feared this might be a plot against him [for his wrongdoing] except a person lacking intelligence and sound opinion. And never has Allāh held back worldy wealth from a person and that person has not thought that a good choice has been made for him except a person who [also] lacks intelligence and sound opinion.
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dham Al-Dunyā article 42.
 
Sulaymān b. Mūsā [d119H] – Allah have mercy on him – said:
When you fast, your hearing and sight should also fast, and your tongue should fast by keeping away from lies; and do not harm your servant. Don’t let the day you fast be the same as the day you don’t fast.
Tārīkh Dimishq Vol. 22 p389.
 
Allah The Most High says, "O Mankind! Worship your Lord (Allah), Who created you and those before you so that you bay become Al-Muttaqoon (i.e. those who have taqwaa)." Al-Baqarah (2):21

And He said, "And I created not the Jinns and men except that they may worship Me (Alone)." Adh-Dhaariyaat (51):56

Allah Ta`aalaa also says in the Qur'aan: "Blessed be He in Whose Hand is the dominion, and He is able to do all things. Who has created death and life, that He may test which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving." Al-Mulk (67):1-2

These verses where revealed to us by Allah in order to inform us of why we are here on the Earth, what we should be doing and where we are heading. Not to benefit Himself, or because He needs our worship. Rather, because we are in need of Him.

Allah Ta`aalaa says, "O mankind! It is you who stand in need (who are poor) of Allah, but Allah is Rich (Free of all needs), Worthy of all praise." Faatir (35):15

What is meant by "to test which of you is best in deed"? Al-Fudayl Ibn `Iyyaad said, "The best deed is that which is most devoted and most proper." He was asked, "How should it be most devoted and most proper?", and he responded, "For if the deed was devoted but was not proper it would not be accepted, and if it was proper but was not devoted it would not be accepted; the devoted is to be for Allah alone, and the proper is to be in compliance with As-Sunnah."
 
عن محمد بن أبي عائشة رحمه الله قال

لا تكن ذا وجهين وذا لسانين تظهر للناس أنك تحب الله ويحمدونك وقلبك فاجر.


Muhammad bin Abī ‘Āishah رحمه الله said:


“Do not be one who is two faced or two tongued. You show the people that you love Allaah and they praise you, whilst your heart is wicked.”




٣٦٠/٥ شعب الإمان للبيهقي
 
It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

This world (the dunyā) is [only taken as] a home by those who will have no real home [in Jannah], and it is the wealth of those who will have no real wealth, and it is gathered and collected for by those who have no real intelligence.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dhamm Al-Dunyā article 16.
 
It is reported that Imām Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
To learn a single topic of knowledge and teach it to a Muslim is more beloved to me than having the whole world and giving it in the cause of Allāh.
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqih article 53.
 
It is reported that Muhammad b. Al-Hanafīyah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whoever has self respect does not give any value to the worldly life (dunyā).

Ibn Al-Jawzī, Sifatu Al-Safwah 2:77.

character, dunyā, zuhdMuhammad Ibn Al-Hanafīyah
 
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-Dunyā article 53.
 
It is reported that Abū Bakr Al-Maṭū’ī said:
I sat in the circle of Abū ‘Abdillāh Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal for twelve years while he read the Musnad to his children, and I never wrote a single ḥadīth, I only looked at his behavior, character and etiquette.
Ibn Al-Jawzī, Manāqib Aḥmad, article 210.
 
It is reported that Imām Aḥmad said, seeing the students of ḥadīth approaching with their ink-pots

:These are the lanterns of Islām.

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmi’ li-Akhlāq Al-Rāwī, articles 508, 509, 512 .
 
Al-Hasan al-Basree, raHimahullaah, said:

"Whoever learns something in the name of Allaah, seeking that which is with Him, he will win. And whoever learns something for other than Allaah, he will not reach the goal, nor will his acquired knowledge bring him closer to Allaah." [Related by Ibn ul Jawzee]
 
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

It has reached me that when Allāh the Mighty and Majestic blesses a people and gives them some good he asks them to be grateful. If they are grateful, He is all-able to give them more. But if they are ungrateful, He is all-able to turn His blessings into a punishment.


Al-Bayhaqī, Shu’ab Al-Imān article 4536.
 
According to ‘Abdu’llah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be well pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “May Allah brighten a man who listened from us something and then passed it on to others exactly as he heard it because many a person to whom something is transmitted retains better than the person who first heard it.” [Related by at-Tirmidhi in as-Sunan, vol. 5, p. 34 # 2657; and Ibn Maja in as-Sunan, vol. 1, p. 85
 
According to ‘Abdu’llah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be well pleased with him), Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “May Allah keep him enjoying and rejoicing who heard something from me, remembered it and kept it well in his mind and then narrated it (to others).” [Reported by al-Imam ash-Shafi‘i in al-Musnad (p. 240) and ar-Risala (p. 401 # 1102); and at-Tabarani in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir, vol. 2, p. 126
 
According to Abu Qarsafa (may Allah be well pleased with him), Allah’s Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) said: “Whatever you hear from me, narrate it to others and never say anything but truth. And whoever will fabricate a lie on me for him a house will be built in Hell.” [Reported by at-Tabarani in Turuq Hadith man Kadhaba ‘Alayya, p. 146 # 155; and in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir, vol. 3, p. 18
 
Ignorance and the Sword

It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:One who acts without knowledge is like one who travels off the path; and the one who acts without knowledge corrupts more than he rectifies. So seek knowledge in a way that does not harm your worship, and seek to worship [Allāh] in a way that does not harm [your seeking of] knowledge. For verily, there were people (the Khawārij extremists) who sought to worship [Allāh] but abandoned knowledge until they attacked the Ummah of Muḥammad – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – with their swords. But if they had sought knowledge, it would not have directed them to do what they did.

Quoted by Ibn ‘Abd Al-Barr, Jāmi’ Bayān Al-‘Ilm wa Faḍlihi article 905.
 
It is reported that Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Al-Shāfi’ī saw me sitting in his circle, and there was some ink on my shirt I was trying to hide. He said, “Young man, why are you hiding it? Having ink on ones clothes is a sign of lofty conduct: to the sight it is black, but to the insight it is white (with the light of knowledge).”

It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Al-Mubārak – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Ink on the clothes is the perfume of the scholars.

– Some put this in verse (from Arabic):

The ink-pot’s ink is the perfume of men
As saffron is the perfume of women
So the former befits the garments of those men
As the latter the garments of wives

It is reported that Imām Aḥmad said, seeing the students of ḥadīth approaching with their ink-pots:

These are the lanterns of Islām.

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmi’ li-Akhlāq Al-Rāwī,
 
It is reported that Qatādah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever has been given wealth, beauty, garments or knowledge and then is not humble will have severe repercussions on the Day of Resurrection.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Tawāḍuʿ Wa Al-Khumūl ḥadīth 90.
 
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.
 
Chosen Opportunities from Allah
It is reported from Ka’b Al-Aḥbār – Allāh have mercy on him – that he said:
Allāh chose from the months the month of Ramaḍān, from all the lands He chose Makkah, from the nights He chose Laylatu Al-Qadr (The Night of Decree), and chose the times for prayers; so a believer is always between two good deeds: one he has done and the other he is waiting to do.
Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyah Al-Awliyā` Vol.2 p458.
 

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