Statements of salaf ra

Al-Ḥasan b. ʿUtaybah reports:

Sufyān Al-Thawrī said to Sufyān b. ʿUyainah, “Why do you not speak (narrate)?” He replied, “While you are alive, no way.”

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baġdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #698.

Husayn b. Al-Walīd Al-Naysābūrī said: a reliable person informed me:

Abdullāh b. ʿUmar (Al-ʿUmarī, great-great grandson of ʿUmar) was once asked about something to do with ḥadīth, so he replied, “As long as Abū ʿUthmān (his older brother) is alive, then no.”

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baġdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #699

It is reported that ʿĀṣim said:

Zirr (Ibn Ḥubaysh) was older than Abū Wāʾil (Shaqīq b. Salamah); so if they ever sat together [in a gathering] Abū Wāʾil would not speak with Zirr (out of respect).

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baġdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #702.

It is reported from Abū ʿAbdillāh Al-Muʿayṭī that he said:

I saw Abū Bakr b. ʿAyyāsh in Makkah. Sufyān b. ʿUyainah came to him and knelt in front of him. Abū Bakr asked him, “How are you Sufyān? Sufyān, how is your father’s family?” Then a man came and asked Sufyān about a ḥadīth, so Sufyān said, “Do not ask me as long as this Shaykh is sitting here.”

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baġdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī#705

And it is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Al-Mubārak was once asked about an issue in the presence of Sufyān b. ʿUyainah, so he replied,

“We have been forbidden from speaking in front of our seniors.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 8:420.

statement of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (radiyallahu ‘anhu):

ا ينقص الدين وأنا حي

‘Can Din be deficient while I’m living’?

(See: Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 1399, Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 20, Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith: 1551, Sunan Tirmidhi. Hadith: 2607, Sahih Ibn Hibban; Al Ihsan, Hadith: 217, Musnad Ahmad vol. 1 pg. 11)

It is reported that Saʿīd b. Jubayr – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Verily, fear (al-khashyah) is that you fear Allāh such that your fear comes between you and your disobedience (of Allāh). That is khashyah. And dhikr (remembrance) is obedience to Allāh: whoever obeys Allāh has remembered Him; and whoever does not obey Him is not a rememberer of Him, even if he says a lot of tasbīḥ and recites a lot of Qurān.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:326

Maymun ibn Mihran (rahimahullah) said:

“A man will not attain true taqwa as long as he does not take reckoning of himself, and as long as he does not know the source of his food, drink and clothes.”

(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, Hadith: 36419 and Hilyatul Awliya, vol. 4 pg. 89. Also see: Musnadul Firdaws, Hadith: 8377)

It is reported from Al-Faḍl b. Mūsā that he said:

ʿAbdullāh b. Al-Mubārak and I once came to a bridge, so I said to him, “Go ahead”, and he said, “Go ahead.” So we calculated [the age difference], and it turned out I was two years older than him.

Al-Khaṭīb, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #249.

Al-Khaṭīb mentions after these and other narrations,“And if the elder gives precedence to someone more knowledgeable than himself, this is allowed, and it is good.”

He then reports that Al-Ḥusayn b. Manṣūr said:

One day, I was with Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā and Isḥāq (Ibn Rāhuwayh) visiting a sick person. When we all came to the door (next to each other), Isḥāq stepped back and said to Yaḥyā, “Go ahead.” Yaḥyā said to Isḥāq, “You go ahead.” He replied, “O Abū Zakarīyah, you are older than me.” Yaḥyā replied, “Yes, I am older than you, but you are more knowledgeable than me.” So Isḥāq went ahead.

Op. cit. #252.

It is reported that Sufyān Al-Thawrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever takes leadership quickly (too early) will harm a lot of [his] knowledge (will not learn what he needs); and whoever does not take leadership can continue to seek knowledge until he reaches [where he needs to be].

Al-Dārimī, Al-Sunan #554

It is reported from Ḥabīb Al-Jallāb that he asked ʿAbdullāh b. Al-Mubārak – Allāh have mercy on him:

“What is the best thing a person is ever given?” He replied, “Innate intelligence.” He then asked, “And if not that?” He replied, “Good conduct.” He then asked, “And if not that?” He replied, “A compassionate brother to consult.” He then asked, “And if not that?” He replied, “Long silence.” He asked, “And if not that?” Ibn Al-Mubārak replied, “Then an early death.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 8:397.

Imam Tirmidhi (rahimahullah) has recorded a narration in his Shamail, regarding the generosity of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), on the authority of Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (radiyallahu ‘anhuma). Under the commentary of this Hadith,
‘Allamah Bajuri (rahimahullah) states,

‘Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) would give like a king, but he himself lived the life of a pauper.’

(Shamail Tirmidhi with commentary of ‘Allamah Bajuri, pg. 571)

The famous Tabi’i; Sayyiduna Sa’id ibn Musayyab (rahimahullah) reports that Sayyiduna ‘Umar (radiyallahu ‘anhu) said:


Do not ask about matters that have not occurred because that which has already taken place is enough to keep you occupied from that which has not.

(Rawdatul ‘Uqala, pg.83)

ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them – said:

A man from [the tribe of] the Anṣār once came to me during the caliphate of ʿUthmān. He spoke to me and I realised he wanted me to fault ʿUthmān; he spoke at length and he had some heaviness in his speech and could not finish speaking quickly. When he had finished, I said to him, “We used to say, while the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was still alive, the best of the Ummah of the Messenger of Allāh after him is Abū Bakr, then ʿUmar, then ʿUthmān. And by Allāh, we do not know that ʿUthmān has ever killed anyone without right or committed any major sin; but it is an issue of this wealth [with you people]: if he gives you, you are happy, and if he gives to his kin, you are angry. You only want to be like the Persians and Romans, who leave no leader of theirs without killing him.”

Then his eyes filled with tears and he said, “O Allāh, we do not want this.”

Imām Aḥmad, Faḍāʾil Al-Ṣaḥābah, article 64

Ayyūb Al-Sakhtiyānī reports that Abū Qilābah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

O Ayyūb, when Allāh brings about knowledge for you, bring about worship of him, and do not let your [sole] concern be to narrate it.

Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān Al-ʿIlm, article 1279

It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever seeks knowledge sincerely, for the servants of Allāh to benefit by and to benefit himself, then being hidden (from fame) is more beloved to him than seeking loftiness. He is the one who becomes more lowly to himself, strives more in worship, fears Allāh more, yearns for Allāh more, and becomes more humble amongst people. He cares not what he has of this dunyā night or day.

Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān article 1653

It is reported that Abū Al-Dardāʾ – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

When you adorn your copies of the Qurān and embellish your mosques, destruction will be upon you.

Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqāʾiq, article 746.

It is reported that Al-Zuhrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said to Yūnus b. Yazīd:

O Yūnus! Do not try to overcome knowledge, for verily knowledge is [like vast] valleys: whichever of them you take will stop you before you traverse it. Instead, take it over the days and nights. And do not take knowledge all at once, for whoever tries to take it all at once will lose it all at once. Rather take it bit by bit over the days and nights.

Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān Al-ʿIlm article 652.

It is reported that Al-ʿAwwām b. Ḥawshab – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Boasting that you did a sin (when you did not) is worse than committing the sin.

Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm, article 3073

It is reported that Bakr b. ʿAbdillāh Al-Muzanī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

When you see someone older than you, say: he has preceded me in īmān and righteous actions so he is better than me; and when you see someone younger than you, say: I have preceded him in sinning and disobedience so he is better than me. And when you see your brothers honouring and revering you, say: this is a virtue they have attained; and when you see them falling short (in their treatment of you) say: this is [because of] a sin I committed.

Ibn Al-Jawzī, Ṣifatu Al-Ṣafwah, article 505: Bakr b. ʿAbdillāh Al-Muzanī.