Gems Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

Abu Bakr and Umar with The Prophet TodayIt is reported from Sufyān b. ʿUyainah – Allāh have mercy on him – that a man once asked ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. ʾAbī Ṭālib – Allāh have mercy on him, What was the status of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar with Rasūlullāh – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him? He replied, Their place with him is like their place with him today (i.e. where they are in their graves).


Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm 4:254
 
[h=2]Never Give Up Re-pent-ing[/h]
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
 
ʿAlqamah reports:

Ibn Masʿūd and [the rest of] the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to say the qunūt supplication before bowing in the witr prayer.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf ḥadīth 6911, and others.
 
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 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.
 
It is reported that Abū Juḥayfah – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Sit with the seniors, mix with the wise, and enquire with the scholars.

Ibn Ḥibbān, Rawḍatu Al-ʿUqalāʾ p176. See Al-Albānī, Al-Ḍaʿīfah ḥadīth 3462.
 
It is reported that Hasan b. Rabī’ asked ‘Abdullāh b. Al-Mubārak – Allāh have mercy on him – about the meaning of the hadith, “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim”. He replied:

It is not [the expert knowledge of hadith and fiqh] you are seeking. Seeking knowledge is an obligation when a man comes to something concerning his religion (dīn): he is to ask about it until he knows it.


Al-Khatīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqih article 162.
 
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 Bakr b. ʿAbdillāh Al-Muzanī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

If you want your ṣalāh to benefit you, say (to yourself): perhaps I will never pray another (my life will end before the next prayer).

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Qaṣr Al-ʾAmal article 104.
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Al-ʿAmr b. Al-ʿĀṣ – Allāh be pleased with them – said:

There are three types of sleep: the incompetent’s sleep, proper sleep, and stupid sleep. As for the incompetent’s sleep, it is to sleep in the morning after sunrise (ḍuḥā time), when people are going about their needs (work), he is sleeping. As for the proper sleep, it is the midday nap (qaylūlah). And as for the stupid sleep, it is to sleep when it is time to pray.
 
It is reported that Mujāhid – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The teacher of the kuttāb (where the children would be taught, the madrasah) will be brought on the Day of Resurrection, and if he was not fair and just with the boys, he will be grouped with the tyrants.”

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 619.
 
It is reported that Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say:

Whoever does not think that his speech is part of his deeds and that his character is part of his religion will be destroyed without even realizing.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā Dham Al-Kadhib wa Ahlī article 94.
 
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.
 
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 Ya’lā b. ‘Ubayd said, “We entered upon Ibn Sūqah, who said: ‘O nephew, let me relate to you something that will hopefully benefit you; for it benefited me. ‘Atā b. Abī Rabāh once said to us:'”
Those before you used to consider idle talk to be anything other than the Book of Allāh, or the enjoining of good, or the forbidding of evil, or speaking for the sake of your basic living needs. Do you deny that there are recording angels appointed over you? Sitting on your right and your left? Never is a word said except there is an observer prepared to record? Are you not afraid (ashamed) that your record of words and deeds be spread open only to discover that there is nothing of the hereafter in it?
​
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 5:86
 
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.
 
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)
 
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said: There is no comfort or rest for the believer until he meets Allāh.

Wakīʿ b. Al-Jarrāḥ, Al-Zuhd #86
 
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
 
It is reported that Al-Rabīʿ b. Khuthaym – Allāh have mercy him – said: There is nothing that is away from the believer, and for which he waits, better for him than death.

Ibid. #88
 

Similar Threads

Back
Top