Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

It is reported that the last sermon ʿUmar b. ʿAbd Al-‘Aziz – Allāh have mercy on him – delivered was as follows:

He praised Allāh and said, “You were not created in vain, nor will you be left without purpose. Verily, you have an appointed time in which Allāh – the Most High – will come down to judge you. Wretched and ruined will he be who leaves the mercy of Allāh and is denied a Garden whose width is that of the heavens and Earth. Know you not that no one will be safe tomorrow save one who is wary of today and fears it; and sells the transitory for what will remain, and the little for the plenty, and fear in exchange for security [in the hereafter]? See you not that you are in the loins of the dead, to be taken by those who remain after you, until all matters return to the Best of Inheritors? Every day, [in the funerals] you accompany those returning to Allāh the Mighty and Sublime, having spent their time, until you hide them in a crevice in the ground, in the belly of a bare and unfurnished hole, having parted from their loved ones, stroking the dirt and facing their accounts. Now, they are dependent on their deeds, free of what they left behind, in need of [the deeds] they put before them. So fear Allāh before the time He appointed is up and death descends upon you. This is what I have to say.” He then lifted the edge of his garment over his face and wept profusely, and made everyone around him weep.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm Vol. 3 p343.

It is reported that Imām Layth b. Sa’d – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Even if I saw a heretic (follower of bid’ah) walk on water, I would not accept him.” This was reported to Imām Al-Shāfi’ī – Allāh have mercy on him, to which he replied, “He didn’t go far enough. Rather, if I saw one walk in the air, I would not accept him.”

Al-Lālakā`ī,-Sharh-Usūl ‘I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah-Vol.1 p228; Ibn Battah,-Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā-Vol2. P175; Ibn Al-Jawzī,-Talbīs Iblīs-p14 – with slightly variant wordings.

It is reported that Abū Al-Dardā` – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say, “Learn knowledge before it is taken way, and it is taken away by its people (scholars) being taken away. The scholar and the student are partners in good and there is no good in any other people. The richest of men is the knowledgeable man whose knowledge is needed: he benefits those who need him and if done without, he benefits himself with the knowledge Allāh ‘azza wa jalla has placed with him. So how is it I see your scholars dying yet the ignorant amongst you not learning? I fear that the predecessor will depart and the successor will not learn. If the scholar studies, he only increases in knowledge, and he does not take anything away from knowledge. And if the ignorant studies, he will find knowledge firm and established. So how is it that I see you full up with food, yet starved of knowledge?”

Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr,-Jāmi’ Bayān Al-‘Ilm wa Fadlihi-Vol. 2 p233.

Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – once saw two men. He asked one of them, “How is this man related to you?” He replied, “He is my father.” Abū Hurayrah said, “Do not call him by his name, do not walk in front of him and do not sit before he does.”

Al-Bukhārī,-Al-Adab Al-Mufrad.-Shaykh Al-Albānī graded its chain of transmission-sahīh-in-Sahīh-Al-Adab Al-Mufrad-Vol. 1 p19.

It is reported from Al-Hasan Al-Basrī that he said, “If a man from amongst the Salaf were to be sent forth today, he would not recognize anything from Islam.” He put his hand on his cheek and added, “Except this prayer (salāh).” Then he said, “But by Allāh, this does not apply to the person who lives in this unfamiliar time, never having seen the Righteous Predecessors, but who sees [instead] the innovator calling to his bid’ah, and the follower of worldly wealth calling to his materialism, but Allāh protects him from all this and makes his heart love and aspire to those Righteous Predecessors, asking about their way, searching and trying to follow in their footsteps, and adhering to their path. Such is a person who will be recompensed with an immense and great reward. So be you all like this, by Allāh’s permission”.

Ibn Waddāh,-Al-Bida’-Vol. 1 p190.

It is reported that Al-Fudayl b. ʿAyyāḍ said, “When backbiting appears, brotherhood for Allāh will disappear; and at that time you will be like things plated with gold and silver: wooden on the inside, [merely] looking good on the outside.”

Abū Nu’aym,-Hilyah Al-Awliyā`, Vol. 3 p395.

It is reported that Hishām b. ‘Urwah said, reporting from his father, ‘Urwah b. Al-Zubayr – Allāh have mercy on him , “He used to say to us when we were youths, ‘Why do you not seek knowledge? Even though [today] you are the youngsters, you are about to be the elders [in the future]. What is the use of being a shaykh when the shaykh is ignorant? Four years before the death of ‘Ā`ishah, I would say, if she died today, I would not feel regret about a single-hadīth she had, for I had gathered them from her. I would hear that a Companion had a-hadīth and would go to him. I might find that he was napping, so I would sit at his door and wait, and then ask him about it [later when he woke].’”

It is reported that Muhammad Al-Bāqir – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Never does any pride enter the heart of a man except that his intelligence decreases by the same amount.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar-A’lām Al-Nubalā`,-in his biography of Muhammad Al-Bāqir.

Abdullāh the son of Al-Imām Ahmad reports that his father, Al-Imām Ahmad, said, “The graves of Ahl Al-Sunnah who committed major sins are gardens (from Paradise) whilst the graves of the heretics (adherents of Bid’ah) who were ascetics are pits (from the Fire). The sinners from Ahl Al-Sunnah are the beloved (awliyā`) of Allāh, whereas the ascetics of Ahl Al-Bid’ah are the enemies of Allāh.”

Ibn Abī Ya’lā,-Tabaqāt Al-HanābilahVol. 1 p182.

It is reported that Sufyān b. ‘Uyainah – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The intelligent person is not one who merely knows what is good and what is bad. The intelligent person is one who, when he sees what is good, follows it, and when he sees evil, shuns it.”

Abū Nu’aym,-Hilyah Al-Awliyā`, Vol. 4 p16.

It is reported that Ṭalq b. Ḥabīb – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The right of Allāh is too great and heavy for the creation to fulfill and the blessings of Allāh are too many to enumerate, but you should remain repentant, morning and evening.”

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā,-Al-Tawbah-article 62.

It is reported that Muḥammad b. Sīrīn – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “I have never envied anyone over anything: if a person is going to be in the Fire, how could I envy him over some worldly matter when he is destined for the Fire?! And if he is going to Paradise, how could I be envious of a man of Paradise with whom Allāh tabāraka wa ta’ālā is pleased?!” Muslim said, “We have never heard anything better than this from the words of Ibn Sīrīn.”

It is reported that:

ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn – Allāh have mercy on him – would sometimes ride to Makkah and return without entering it (meeting anyone there), and he used to sit with Aslam the freedman of ʿUmar (himself a scholar), so it was said to him, “You leave Quraysh, and instead sit with the slave of Banī ʿAdī!” So he replied, “A man [should] sit where he benefits.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:388.

It is reported that a man once came to Al-Shaʿbī – Allāh have mercy on him – and asked him about something, so he replied:

“Ibn Masʿūd used to say such-and-such [about this issue].” The man asked, “But tell me your opinion.” He replied, “Are you not all astonished by this man? I inform him of what Ibn Masʿūd [said] and he asks me my opinion. My religion is more important to me than that. By Allāh, I would rather sing a song than inform you of my opinion.”

Al-Dārimī, Al-Sunan ḥadīth 108.

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

Safety lies in not wanting to be known.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 7:258

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

Verily the Qurān guides you to your disease and your treatment: as for your disease, it is your sins; and as for your treatment, it is to seek the forgiveness of Allāh.

Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān 9:347 no. 6745.

It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said to a young man while exhorting him:

A man might have ten qualities, nine of them good and one bad, but the nine good ones can be spoiled by the one bad quality. Beware of the slips and faults of youth.

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

I have not seen less zuhd (abstinence) in anything than leadership; you can see a man renouncing food, drink, wealth and clothing, but if his leadership is contested, he vehemently defends and has enmity over it.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 7:262.

It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever is happy (satisfied) with what Allāh has apportioned for him, it will suffice him and Allāh will bless it for him, but whoever is not satisfied, then [what is apportioned for him] will not suffice him and it will not be blessed.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Riḍā ʿan Allāh bi Qaḍāʾihi article 95.

It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Do not expose yourself to what does not concern you, stay away from your enemy, beware of [taking as] your friend anyone except the trustworthy amongst people – and there is no one who is trustworthy except one who fears Allāh; and do not accompany the sinner in case you learn his sinfulness, and do not let him know your secrets, and consult those who fear Allāh for your affairs.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf 34476.