Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

Asalamu alaikum rahmatulah wa barakatu


Imām Al-Awzā’ī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Faith (īmān) is not sound except with [correct] words. Faith and words are not sound except with [good] works. And faith, words and deeds are not sound except with [the correct] intentions in conformance to the Sunnah. Those who went before us of our Salaf did not separate faith from deeds: deeds are a part of faith, and faith is from [ones deeds]. īmān is a word that brings together these aspects of the religions [of Allāh] and is confirmed through [a person’s] works.

So whoever believes in word, knows in his heart and confirms [his belief] through his works, then this is the strongest handhold that will never break. And whoever says [words of faith] but does not know [faith] in his heart nor confirms it with his works, it will never be accepted of him and he will be in the hereafter from those who suffer in loss.

Ibn Ba tt ah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā article 1097.

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It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

The house in which the Qur’ān is not recited is like a derelict house that has no one to maintain it.

It is also reported that he said:

Verily the emptiest of houses are those that are empty of the Book of Allāh.

It is reported that Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say about the house in which the Qur’ān is recited:

It becomes spacious for its inhabitants, the good of it becomes plentiful, the angels come to it and the devils leave it. And the house in which the Qur’ān is not recited becomes cramped for its inhabitants, has little good in it, and the devils come to it.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf articles 30645, 30647 and 30650.

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It is reported that Mujāhid – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Those who strive and exert themselves (al-mujtahid) amongst you today are like those who used to play around amongst those before you.

Wakī’ b. Al-Jarrāh, Al-Zuhd article 221.

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It is reported that ‘Alī b. Abī Tālib wrote to Salmām Al-Farsī – Allāh be pleased with them both – saying:

The likeness of this worldly life (dunyā) is that of a snake: soft to the touch, it will kill you with its poison. So turn away from what impresses you of it, since what stays with you is so little. And do not be concerned about it, since you are certain about its parting. And be most happy in it when you are most heedful of it; for every time its companion takes solace in one of its delights, it gives way to one of its woes.
Was-Salām.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Zuhd article 164.

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This life in brief

It is reported that some people asked ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him – to describe this worldly life (the dunyā). He said:

Do you want a long description or a brief one? They replied, “a brief one.” He said, “Its permissible things (ḥalāl) [lead to] accounts being taken from you, and its forbidden things (ḥarām) [lead to the] Fire.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dham Al-Dunyā article 17.

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Abdullāh b. ‘Abbās – Allāh be pleased with them – said:

O Muslims, how can you ask the People of the Book [about their scripture] when the Book of Allāh that was revealed to your Prophet – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – is the most recent news of Allāh; you recite it complete and unaltered? Allāh has informed you that they replaced what Allāh wrote and changed the Book with their hands and said ‘This is from Allāh,’ to purchase with it a measly price (Quran 2:79). Does not the knowledge that has come to you forbid you from asking them? By Allāh, we have not seen a single man among them asking you about what was revealed to you.

Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ hadith 2685, Chapter on not asking the Polytheists for testimonies or anything else. He also records it in other chapters.

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

It is right that an intelligent person does not undervalue three [types of people]: the scholars, the rulers, and [his Muslim] brothers. Whoever undervalues the scholars will lose his afterlife, whoever undervalues the rulers will lose his worldly life, and whoever undervalues his brothers loses his good character and conduct.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`17:251.

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Anas reports that when Salmān [Al-Fārsī] – Allāh be pleased with him – was ill, Sa’d visited him and found him crying, so he asked him:

O my brother, what makes you cry? Did you not accompany the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ ? Did you not do such-and-such [good deeds]? He replied, “I am not crying over any one of two things: I am not crying out of love and yearning for this world nor out of dislike for the hereafter, but I am crying because Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ took a covenant from me about something I think I have only transgressed. He made me promise that it is enough for anyone only to have enough [of this world] as would suffice as the provisions of a traveler, but I think I have only gone too far. As for you o Sa’d, fear Allāh when you judge, and when you distribute anything and when you think about doing anything.”

Thābit (one of the reporters) said, “And it reached me that [when he died] he left only about twenty dirham of spending he had.”

Ibn Mājah, Al-Sunan. Shaykh Al-Albānī graded this narration ṣaḥīḥ. See ṣaḥīḥ wa Ḍaʿīf Sunan Ibn Mājah no. 4104.

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Abd Al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī reports:

I entered upon Mālik b. Anas when a man was asking him about the Qur`ān. [Imām Mālik] said, “Perhaps you are a companion of Amr b. ‘Ubayd. May Allāh curse ‘Amr, for he was the one who innovated this bid’ah of Kalām . If Kalām was knowledge, the Companions and their Followers would have spoken it, like they spoke about the regulations and laws [of Islam]. But [Kalām] is falsehood that leads to falsehood.”

Abul-Faḍl Al-Muqri`Al-Rāzī, Aḥādīth fī Dham Al-Kalām wa Ahlihī p96.
Al-Harawī, Dham Al-Kalām wa Ahlihī no.874.

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It is reported that Abū Al-Dardā – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
You will never be pious (a person of taqwā) until you become knowledgeable, and you will never be beautiful with your knowledge until you act [by it].

Ibn Ábd Al-Barr, Jāmi’ Bayān Al-‘Ilm wa Faḍlihī article 1239.

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It is reported that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

We were once in a time when we did not think anyone learned the Quran seeking anything but Allāh the Exalted, but now I fear there are men who learn it and intend the people and what they can get from them. So seek Allāh with your recitation and deeds. For verily, we used to know you when Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – was amongst us, when revelation would descend and Allāh would tell us about you. As for today, Allāh’s Messenger – peace and blessings be upon him – has passed on, and the revelation has stopped; and I only know you as I say: whoever shows what is good, we love him for it and think good of him, and whoever shows what is evil, we hate him for it and suspect him. Your secret and private matters are between you and your Lord the Mighty and Majestic.

Al-Ājurrī, Akhlāq Ḥamalat Al-Qur`ān article 26.

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It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ‘Ayyād – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
How will you be if you reach a time when you will see people who do not distinguish truth from falsehood, believer from unbeliever, trustworthy from treacherous, nor ignorant from knowledgeable, and neither recognize what is right nor censure what is wrong?

Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā 1:188.

After reporting this narration, Imām Ibn Battah (d. 387H) said:

To Allāh we belong and to Him we will return! We have reached that time, we have heard this and have come to know most of it and witnessed it. If a man to whom Allāh has bestowed sound reasoning looks and thinks carefully and ponders the matter of Islām and its people and treads the rightly guided path as regards to them, it will become clear to him that most people have turned back on their heals, deviated from the correct path, and turned away from correct proof. Many people have started to like what they used to hate, allow what they used to forbid and recognize what they used to reject. And for sure – Allāh have mercy on you – this is not the [right] character of the Muslims, nor the behaviour of those who have insight into this religion, and neither of those who believe in it and are certain about it.

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Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā Al-NaysābūrĪ reports:

I was once with Sufyān b. ‘Uyainah – Allah have mercy on him, when a man came to him and said, “O Abū Muḥammad, I complain to you of so-and-so”, meaning his wife, “I am the lowest and most despicable thing to her.” [Sufyān] lowered his head for a few moments, then said, “Perhaps you wanted her in order to better your status.” The man said, “Indeed, o Abū Muḥammad.” Sufyān said, “Whoever goes for glory will be tried with ignominy, whoever goes for wealth will be tried with poverty, but whoever goes for religiousness, Allah will bring together for him glory and wealth with the religion.” He then started to narrate to him:

We were four brothers: Muḥammad, ‘Umrān, IbrāhĪm and I. Muḥammad was the eldest, ‘Umrān was the youngest, and I was in the middle. When Muḥammad wanted to marry, he desired status and married a woman of higher standing, so Allah tried him with ignominy. ‘Umrān desired wealth, so he married a richer woman and Allah tried him with poverty: [her family] took everything from him and gave him nothing.

I pondered their situation. Mu’ammar b. Rāshid once came to us so I consulted him on the situation and told him the story of my brothers. He reminded me of the ḥadĪth of Yaḥyā b. Ja’dah and the ḥadĪth of ‘Ā`ishah. The ḥadĪth of Yaḥyā b. Ja’dah states that the Prophet – Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – said, “A woman is married for four things: her religion, her status (lineage), her wealth or her beauty; so take the religious one and be successful.” The ḥadĪth of ‘Ā`ishah states that the Prophet – Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – said, “The most blessed woman is she who is easiest to maintain.”

Thus, I chose [to marry a woman of] religion and modest dowry, in accordance with the Sunnah of Allah’s Messenger – Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, and Allah gave me status and wealth along with the religion.

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyatu Al-Awliyā` 7:289, 290.

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Khālid b. ‘Umayr Al-‘Adawī reports, ‘Utbah b. Ghazwān – Allāh be pleased with him – once gave us a sermon. He praised Allāh, then said:

The life of this world has announced its departure and is quickly turning away, and nothing remains of it save the likes of the last drop of water in a vessel as its possessor tries to catch it. You are moving on to an abode that has no end, so move on with the best [deeds] that you have. For it has been said to us that a rock can be dropped from the edge of Hell and fall for seventy years without reaching the bottom. Yet, by Allāh, it will be filled. Do you not then wonder? And it has been said to us that a single entrance to Paradise is as wide as a journey of forty years, yet there will come a day when it will be crowded.

I have seen myself as the seventh of seven [followers of] Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him; we had no food save the leaves of trees which put sores round our mouths. I once got a cloak which I tore in half to share with Sa’d b. Mālik: I used half as my waist-wrap and he used the other. And yet today, there is not one of us except he has become a governor over some city – and I seek refuge with Allāh that I consider myself great and important when I am small in front of Allāh. Verily there was never prophet-hood except that it gradually changed until it ended up being a kingship, and verily you will see what the governors after us are like.

Sahīh Muslim no. 7624

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It is reported that ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Goodness is not in your wealth and offspring being plentiful; true goodness is when your [good] deeds are plenty and you have great understanding and forbearance, and when you compete to worship your Lord. If you do good you praise Allāh and thank Him, and if you sin you beg Allāh’s forgiveness. There is no good in this life except with two types of men: A man who sins but then corrects himself through repentance, and a man who strives and hastens to get [the good] of the hereafter.

Ibn ‘Asākir, Al-Tawbah article 13.

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The Sunnah vs. What People Do

It is reported that:

ʿAbdullāh b. Al-Ḥasan used to often sit with Rabīʿah. One day they were revising and studying various practices from the Sunnah when a man in the gathering said, “[But] this is not what is practiced [by the people].” ʿAbdullah said, “So if the ignorant become so numerous that they become the rulers and judges, will they then be a proof over the Sunnah?” Rabīʿah said, “I bear witness that these are the words of the sons of the Prophets.”

Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqiharticle 384.

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Ibn Shihāb reports:

‘Umar b. ‘Abd Al-‘Azīz – Allah have mercy on him, said, “The Messenger of Allāh – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – and the authorities (leaders of the Muslims, the Caliphs ) after him set certain ways and practices. To follow those ways is to believe in Allāh’s Book and to complete [ones] obedience of Him, and to be strong upon the religion of Allāh. It is not for anyone to alter those ways or change them for something else, and it is not for anyone to consider the views and opinions of those who contradict them. Whoever follows what [the Prophet and his Caliphs] laid down will be guided, whoever seeks enlightenment through it will be enlightened. But whoever contradicts those ways and follows a way other than the way of the Believers, Allāh the Mighty and Majestic will leave him in the path he has chosen and land him in Jahannam (Hell); and what an evil destination that is.'”

Al-Lālakā`ī, Sharḥ Uṣūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah 1:94.

Notes

In this statement, Caliph ‘Umar b. ‘Abd Al-Azīz affirms a number of important points related to the creed and methodology of Ahl Al-Sunnah wa Al-Jamā’ah – orthodox Islam:

The path of guidance, the Sunnah, is what was laid down by the Prophet, as understood and implemented by the Rightly Guided Caliphs and Companions.
For a person to truly believe in the Quran, and to be guided, he must adhere to this Sunnah and to it alone.
A Muslim is not allowed to innovate in the religion or exchange any part of it for foreign beliefs and ideologies.
True enlightenment and insight lies in adhering to this way.
A Muslim is not supposed to be interested in and expose himself to the views and opinions of people who go against the Sunnah and way of the Salaf.
Going against this way is to follow ‘a way other than the way of the Believers’ and take a path to Hell; a reference to Al-Quran 4:115 where this principle is evidenced.
This narration is recorded with variant wordings in numerous other sources. In a version recorded on the authority of Muttarrif b. ‘Abdillāh by Al-Qāḍī Abū Ya’lā (d458H) in Ibṭāl Al-Ta’wīl 1:52, it is stated that when those who ‘deflected the narrations speaking of the Ṣifāt’ (divine attributes of Allāh) were mentioned in the presence of Imām Mālik, he would quote this saying of Caliph ‘Umar b. ‘Abd Al-‘Azīz. In yet another report of this statement, the heretics being referred to are described as ‘the deviants in the religion.’

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Dead Hearts and Empty Supplications

It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham (d162H) – Allāh have mercy on him – once passed through the market of Baṣrah. People gathered around him and asked:

O Abū Isḥāq, Allāh the Exalted says in his Book. ‘Call on me, I will answer your prayers’, but we have been calling on Him for a long time and He does not answer our prayers. [Ibrāhīm] replied, “O people of Baṣrah, your hearts have died in respect to ten things: First, you know Allāh but you do not give Him His rights; second, you have read Allāh’s Book but you do not act by it; third, you claim to love Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – yet you abandon his Sunnah; fourth, you claim to be enemies to Shayṭān but you conform to [his ways]; fifth, you say you love Paradise yet you do not work for it; sixth, you say you fear The Fire yet you put yourselves closer to it [by sinning]; seventh, you say death is true but you do not prepare for it; eighth, you busy yourselves with the faults of others and disregard your own; ninth, you consume the favors of your Lord but are not grateful for them; and tenth, you bury your dead but take no lesson from them.”

Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyah Al-Awliyā’ 8: 15, 16.

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It is narrated that ‘Uthmān b. ʿAffān – Allāh be pleased with him – said in a sermon:

Son of Adam! Know that the angel of death who has been assigned to you has not ceased to pass you and move on to others, ever since you have been in this world. But it is as if he is about to pass someone else and move on to target you, so be careful and prepare for him (by correcting your deeds). And do not forget him, for he does not forget you. And know o son of Adam, if you are heedless about yourself and do not prepare, no one else will prepare for you. You must meet Allah the Mighty and Majestic, so take for yourself and do not leave it to someone else. Peace be on you.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm 2: 73, 74.

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It is reported that Bishr b. Al-Ḥārith said:

I heard Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ say, “It has reached me that Allāh has barred repentance from every adherent of bid’ah (religious innovation), and the worst of the people of bid’ah are those who hate the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him.” He then turned to me and said, “Make the firmest of your deeds with Allāh your love for the Companions of His Prophet, for [then], were you to come to the standing of judgment (on the Day of Resurrection) with the likes of the Earth in sins, Allāh would forgive you; but if you come [on that Day] with even the smallest amount of hatred for them, no [good] deed will benefit you.”

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm 5: 412.