Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

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.

It is reported that Al-Awzāʿī said:

Follow the narrations [ways] of those who have preceded (the Salaf) even if people reject you; and beware of people’s opinions, even if they beautify them for you.

Al-Ājurrī, Kitāb Al-Sharīʿah 1:138; Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān Al-ʿIlm wa Faḍlihi 3:373.

The Disease of this Ummah and its Doctor

It is reported that Sufyān Al-Thawrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Wealth is the disease of this Ummah, and the scholar is the doctor of this Ummah. So if the doctor brings the disease to himself, how will he cure the people?”
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, Vol. 7 p243.

The Disease of this Ummah and its Doctor - Sayings of the Salaf It is reported that Sufyān Al-Thawrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Wealth is the disease of this Ummah, and the scholar is the doctor of this Ummah....

The Weight of the Quran

It is reported that Ibn ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with him – said, “We were the beginning [the heads] of this Ummah, and perhaps a man from the best of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – and the most righteous amongst them could maintain only one chapter of the Qur`ān or thereabouts. For the Qur`ān was weighty upon them, and they were given knowledge of it or action based on it. But the last of this Ummah will find the Qur`ān light [and easy] – the child and the non-Arab will recite it, without possessing any knowledge about it.”
Al-Harawī, Dhamm Al-Kalām wa Ahlihī Vol. 5 p144.

It is reported that Shurayḥ – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “If I am afflicted with a calamity, I praise Allāh for it four times: I praise Him because it wasn’t worse than it was, I praise Him when He gives me the patience to bear it, I praise Him for enabling me to say al-istirjā’ (‘To Allāh we belong and to him we will return’; see Al-Baqarah: 154-156 ) in hope of a great reward, and I praise Him for not making it a calamity in my religion.”
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, in his biography of Shurayḥ Al-Qāḍī.

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.

Sinning in the Time of Calamities
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.

Four Corruptions
It is reported that Muʿādh b. Jabal – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
“O people, there are four characteristics to come, whoever can avoid reaching them should do so.”
[People] asked, “And what are they?” He replied:

1. There will come a time in which falsehood will rise
2. And a time will come in which a man will say, ‘By Allāh, I do not know what I am’, he will neither live nor die upon insight (knowledge of what he should be).
3. And a time will come in which a man will start his day on one religion and end it on another.
4. And a time will come when a man will be given wealth from the wealth Allāh provides, in return for saying what is wrong and false and for which Allāh will be angry with him.

Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh Dimishq 58:442

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-SunnahVol.1 p228; Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā Vol2. P175; Ibn Al-Jawzī, Talbīs Iblīs p14 – with slightly variant wordings.

It is reported that Ayyūb Al-Sakhtiyānī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever loves Abū Bakr has upheld the religion, whoever loves ‘Umar has made the way clear, whoever loves ‘Uthmān is enlightened by the light of Allāh, and whoever loves ‘Alī has taken the firmest handhold. Whoever speaks well of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – is clear of hypocrisy (nifāq), but whoever belittles any one of them or dislikes [any one of them] for something he did, then he is a heretic (mubtadi’), an opponent of the Sunnah and the Righteous Predecessors (the Salaf), and it is feared that none of his deeds will be raised to the heavens until he loves all of [the Companions] and his heart is clear towards them.

Ibn Abī Zamanīn, Uṣūl Al-Sunnah article 189.

Mu’āwiyah b. Qurrah reports that Abū Al-Dardā` used to say, “We ask Allāh for a lasting faith (īmān), true certainty and beneficial knowledge.” Mu’āwiyah b. Qurrah then said, “So this indicates that there is a type of faith that does not last, and a type of certainty that is not true, and a type of knowledge that is not beneficial.”

Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā Vol. 2 p498.

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 FadlihiVol. 2 p233.

Patience, Asceticism, Prudence and HumblenessIt is reported on the authority of Ibrāhīm b. Al-Ash’ath that he said, “I asked Al-Fudayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – about patience (al-sabr) in the face of adversity and he said, ‘It is to not broadcast it.’ I asked him about asceticism (al-zuhd) and he said, ‘Al-zuhd is to be content with what you have, and that is what it means to be rich.’ I asked him about prudence (al-wara’) and he said, ‘It is to stay away from what is forbidden.’ And I asked him about humbleness (al-tawādu’) and he said, ‘It is when you submit to the truth and comply no matter who you hear it from; even if it was from the most ignorant of people, you would be required to accept it from him.’”

Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmi’ Bayān Al-‘Ilm wa FadlihiVol. 1 p498.

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.Muhammad b. ‘Alī b. Husayn b. ‘Alī b. Abī Tālib, known as Al-Bāqir, was the great-great grandson of the Prophet – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him.

Intelligence in Action

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 ‘Abd Al-Rahmān b. Mahdī – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “If it were not for the fact I hate that Allah is disobeyed, I would have wished that no one remain in this city except that he had spoken ill of me and backbitten me; for what is nicer than a good deed a man finds in his records on the Day of Resurrection without having done a thing or even having known?”

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyatu Al-Awliyā` 4:45.

It is reported that Al-Aswad [b. Yazīd Al-Nakha’ī] used to complete the recitation of the Quran in Ramadan every two nights; sleeping between al-maghrib and al-‘ishā. Outside of Ramaḍān, he used to complete a recitation every six nights.

Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` 1:250.

It is related from Al-Rabī’ b. Sulaymān, “Muḥammad b. Idrīs Al-Shāfi’ī used to complete reciting the Quran in the month of Ramadan sixty times, all in the prayer.”

Ibid. 4:107

Risking your religion through Argumentation
Ma’n b. ‘Īsā reports
Mālik b. Anas was once returning from the mosque, leaning on my arm, when a man called Abū Al-Juwayrīyah who was accused of Al-Irjā` caught up with him. He said. “O Abū ʿAbdullāh, listen to something I have to say and debate with me and let me tell you my opinion.” [Imām] Mālik said, “And what if you overcome me?” The man replied, “If I defeat you, you follow me.” Mālik asked, “And what if another man comes and defeats us?” He replied, “Then we follow him.” To this, Mālik – Allāh’s mercy be upon him – said, “O servant of Allāh, Allāh sent Muḥammad – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – with a single religion, but I see you moving from religion to religion. ʿUmar b. ʿAbd Al-‘Azīz said, ‘Whoever makes his religion the object of argumentation will frequently change it.’”
Al-Ājurrī, Ktāb Al-Sharī’ah Vol.1 p128.

Three Laughs and Three Tears

It is reported form Abū Al-Dardā – Allāh be pleased with him – that he said, “Three make me laugh, and three make me cry.Those that make me laugh are a person who puts his hopes in this worldly life while death pursues him, a person who is heedless [of his Lord] while [his Lord] is not heedless of him, and a person who always laughs while he does not know whether he has pleased Allāh or angered Him.What makes me cry is being separated from my beloved: Muhammad and his party (the Companions), the horrors of the time of death, and standing in front of Allāh ‘azza wa jall on the Day when the secrets will be revealed and I do not know will I then go to Paradise or Hell?”

Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā`iq article 250.

Worship in the Time of Plague
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)