Pearls of Wisdom of the Salaf

Allah knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the breasts conceal [Quran, Ghāfir (40):19]
It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. ‘Abbās – Allāh be pleased with him – said, explaining this verse:
A man is with a group of people when a woman passes. He shows them that he has lowered his gaze from looking at her. But when he sees they are not paying attention, he looks at her. If he fears they will notice, he lowers his gaze, but Allāh has seen in his heart that he wishes he could see her body (private areas).
Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd article 1428.

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 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, “There will come a time in which falsehood will rise, 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). And a time will come in which a man will start his day on one religion and end it on another. 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 Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

There are two days and two nights the likes of which no one has ever heard of before: the Day on which you will receive the news about Allāh the Exalted: whether you will receive His punishment or His mercy, the Day you will be given your book (of deeds): either in your right hand or your left, that [first] night you will spend alone in your grave, a night like no other you have spent, and that night on the morning of which will be the Day of Resurrection, after which there will be no more night.


Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 19.

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

Verily, when Allāh the Exalted wants to honor a servant of His (for his righteousness), He afflicts him with a reduced means of living, illness in his body and a fearful life (all of which expiate his sins). Until death comes upon him, and he still has some sins, death is made hard upon him because of them, causing him to meet Allāh with no sins against him.


And when a person is of little value to Allāh (because of his disobedience), He makes his body healthy, broadens his means of living and makes him feel safe (the rewards for any good deeds he did are exhausted). Until death comes upon him, and he still has some good deeds, the experience of death is lightened for him because of them, and he meets Allāh with nothing.


Abu Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 2865.

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 Imām Al-Shāfiʿī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Do not live in a land in which there is neither a scholar to inform you about your religion, nor a doctor to tell you about your body.

Al-Bayhaqī, Manāqib Al-Shāfiʿī 2:115

Mālik b. Dīnār – Allāh have mercy on him – once said:
Verily you are in greatly troubled times. Only one with true insight knows the times you live in. Verily you are in a time of [people] boasting and being proud. ^[1] Their tongues are swollen in their mouths, and they seek worldly gain through the deeds of the hereafter. So be warned against them for yourselves, lest they catch you in their nets. O scholar, you are a scholar yet you devour [wealth] with your knowledge. O scholar, you are a scholar yet you boast with your knowledge. O scholar, you are a scholar yet you seek to amass [wealth] with your knowledge. O scholar, you are a scholar yet you transgress [against others] with your knowledge. If you had truly sought this knowledge for Allāh, it would have been seen on you and in your deeds.
[1] The word in some reports is tafākhur (boasting and being proud) but in some other versions, other somewhat ambiguous words are found in its place.
Abū Bakr Al-Ājurrī, Kitāb Al-‘Ālim Al-Jāhil article 73 et al.

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:

Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allah be pleased with him – said:

Shall I not tell you who the real faqīh is? He is one who does not make people despair of Allah’s mercy, yet he does not give them concessions to disobey Allah. He does not make them feel safe from Allah’s plan and he does not leave the Quran.

There is no good in worship that involves no efforts to gain fiqh, and there is no good in seeking fiqh without seeking a thorough understanding. And there is no good in reading without contemplating.

Al-Ājurrī in Akhlāq Al-‘Ulamā’ no. 45, Al-Khaṭīb in Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqih Vol. 2 pp338-339.

Worse than not knowing
Imām Muslim reports in the introduction to his Saḥīḥ that Yaḥya b. Saʿīd once said to Al-Qāsim b. ʿUbaydillāh:

“Abu Muḥammad! It feels horrible and grave that you should be asked a question about this religion and not have knowledge about it or a way to get out [and not look like you don’t know].” He replied, “And why is that?” Yaḥya replied, “Because you are the son of two great Imāms of Guidance, Abu Bakr and ʿUmar.” Al-Qāsim said, “Even more horrible than this – to those who understand what Allāh has taught us – is that I should say something without knowledge or report a narration from someone who is not reliable.”

Al-Qāsim b. ʿUbaydillāh was the great grandson of Abu Bakr Al-Ṣiddīq on his mother’s side and the great grandson of ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb on his father’s side. His grandfather was ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar – Allāh be please with them all

Be with the Carriers of Books

It is reported that Imām ‘Abd Al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī – Allāh have mercy on him – said, following a mention of the Ṣȗfīah (Sufis):
Do not sit with them, nor with the followers of Kalām.⁽¹⁾ Be with the carriers of books,⁽²⁾ for they are like mines, like those who descend: one brings up a gem and another a nugget of gold.
Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā article 483.
(1) Speculative theology, drawn from foreign philosophy and logic, as practiced by sects such as the Jahmia and Mutazila.
(2) Arabic al-qamātir: covers or folders used to keep written material. ‘Carriers of books’ refers to the scholars and students who occupied themselves with Islamic knowledge and hadīth.

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

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.

Imām Al-Bukhārī (as Al-Nawawi later did in his Forty Hadīth) begins his Sahīh collection with this hadīth, reminding us that any deed through which Allah’s pleasure is not sought is futile; it will bear no fruits in this life or the hereafter.

ʿAbd Al-Rahmān b. Mahdī, the great scholar of hadīth, said, “If I were to compile a work in chapters, I would place this hadīth at the beginning of each one.” He also said, “Whoever wishes to author a book, he should begin with the hadīth about intentions.”

It is reported from Imām Ahmad that he said, “The foundations of Islām are upon three hadīth: the one reported by ʿUmar – ‘Actions are but by intentions’, the one reported by ‘Āishah – ‘Whoever does a deed that does not conform to our commands will have it rejected’ and the one reported by Al-Nu’mān b. Bashīr – ‘The halāl and harām are clear…’”

This hadīth teaches us the principle that acceptance of our deeds and whether or not they are regarded as righteous depends primarily on what the intention behind them is. If the intention is good and pure – to receive Allah’s pleasure and reward, the deed is righteous. Otherwise the deed is futile and false. This is the first thing that needs to be dealt with.

Do not forget your character and speech

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.

Do not forget your character and speech - Sayings of the Salaf 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...

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

Whoever exposes himself to suspicion, let him blame only himself for whoever suspects him.
He who covers his secret is in a position to choose [to correct himself].
Assume the best about your brother until what comes to you from him overcomes you [and you have to change your opinion].
You can never pay back someone who disobeys Allāh in his dealings with you with anything better than obeying Allāh in your dealings with him.
Take righteous brothers [as friends]; acquire them in plenty, for they are a beautification in prosperity and an aid during calamity.
Do not ask about what has not yet happened until it actually happens, for what has happened is enough of an occupation to worry about what has not happened.
Let not your speech be given freely except to those who want to hear it and will value it.
Do not seek help in fulfilling a need you have except from someone who wants success for you in that endeavor.
Do not consult except people who fear Allāh, and do not accompany the sinner, [lest] you learn his sinfulness.
And be humble at the graves.


Abū Dāwūd, Kitāb Al-Zuhd article 89.

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.