Ok, I'm starting a thread for general sayings of the Salaf and I want everyone to contribute inshallah.
Please provide the source for your posts. It is not enough to say "X" said such and such. It should be probably referenced so that we can all gain the full benefits!
Example:
Al-Hasan al-Basree (rahima-hullaah) said: Seeking knowledge when one is young, is like etching on a stone [In other words, the knowledge which one memorises when one is young will be so strong in one's memory, that it is as if it had been etched on a stone, wAllaahu A'lam!].
Source: Mabaahith fee Ahkaam al-Fatwa - Page 28
Last edited by 'Abd-al Latif; 05-27-2016 at 04:36 PM.
Reason: Corrected grammatical/punctuation mistakes.
And verily for everything that a slave loses there is a substitute, but the one who loses Allah will never find anything to replace Him.” [Related by Ibn al-Qayyim in ad-Dâ' wad-Dawâ Fasl 49]
It is reported that Al-Nuʿmān b. Bashīr – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
The example of the son of Adam and death is that of a man who has three friends. He says to one of them: “What do you have?” [The first friend] replies, “I have your wealth, take from it what you wish, and whatever you do not take, you will no longer possess.” Then he asks the second, “What do you have?” He replies, “I will look after you, and when you die, I will bury you and then leave you.” The man then asks the third, “What do you have?” He replies, “I will be with you wherever you go.” [Al-Nuʿmān] said, “As for the first one, it is the wealth of a person: whatever he uses is his, and whatever he does not use is not. As for the second, it is a man’s family and kin: when he dies they take care of him, then they leave him. As for the third, it is a man’s actions: wherever he goes (before and after death), they go with him.”
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
Verily a man continues to be truthful until he is written with Allāh as a true believer (ṣiddīq); and he persists in truthfulness until there is not even the space of a needle for sinfulness left in his heart to settle. And a man lies and persists in lying until there is not even the space of a needle for goodness in his heart to settle.
It is reported that Ma’rūf Al-Karkhī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
When Allāh chooses good for a person He opens the door to action for him, and closes the door to argumentation; and when Allāh chooses evil for a person he opens the door of argumentation and closes the door to action.
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.”
It is reported that Sufyān Al-Thawrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whoever hears of a bidʿah, let him not tell it to those who are with him, lest he cast it into their hearts.
Commenting, Al-Dhahabī states, “The majority of the Imāms of the Salaf are upon this; they see that the hearts are weak, and specious arguments ensnare.”
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Al-Mubārak – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
The insightful and wise do not trust that they are safe from four things: a past sin about which it is not known what the Lord Almighty will do, the remaining lifespan wherein it is not known what destruction lies, some (apparent) advantage a person is given but which could be a lure (from Allāh) in recompense for his wrongdoing, a misguidance that has been beautified – so that he thinks it is guidance – and a momentary deviation of the heart, for a person can be stripped of his religion without realizing it.
Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – once passed by the market in Medinah. He stopped at the market and said, “O people of the market, how incapable you are!” They said, “And how is that Abū Hurayrah?” He replied, “Over there the inheritance of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – is being distributed and you are here! Won’t you go and take your share?” “Where is it?” they asked. He replied, “In the Masjid.” So they hurried to the Masjid and Abū Hurayrah waited for them until they returned. When they came back, he said, “What’s the matter?” They replied, “Abū Hurayrah! We went to the Masjid but we didn’t see anything being distributed.” Abū Hurayrah asked them, “And you didn’t see anyone in the Masjid?” They replied, “Indeed we did; we saw people praying, others reciting Qur`ān and others studying the regulations of ḥalāl and ḥarām.” So Abū Hurayrah said, “Woe to you! That is the inheritance of Muḥammad – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him.”
Al-Ḥāfidh Al-Mundhirī said in Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb, “Reported by Al-Ṭabarāni in Al-Awsaṭ with a ḥasan chain of narrators.” Also graded ḥasan by Shaykh Al-Albānī. See his Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb Vol. 1 p19.
“Allah gave you a gift of 86,000 seconds today, have you used one to say ‘Alhamdulilah"
“Whoever decorates himself by displaying to the people some characteristics that Allaah knows are contrary to his real characteristics, will be disgraced and dishonoured by Allaah.” [Ad-Daaraqutnee, 4/207]
“To endure short-lived difficulties that are followed by long lasting ease, is better than hurrying for a short-lived ease that is followed by ever-lasting hardship.” [Al-Hilyah, 2/134]
“I never saw ‘Abdullaah Ibn Saalih (137-223H) except that he was narrating ahaadeeth or saying tasbeeh.” [Siyaar A’laamun Nubulaa, Vol. 10, Pp. 405-416]
“For 20 years I have not heard a man narrate hadeeth except that I know more about it than him. I had forgotten some knowledge, the extent of which if a person were to memorize (it), he would be a scholar.”[]
“Whoever marries his beloved daughter to an innovator has cut off the ties of relationship with her.” [Al-Barbahaaree, An Explanation of the Creed, 137]
“O’ people, you must seek knowledge before it is taken away, for indeed when its people (the scholars) die, it wll be taken away. And beware of bid’ah, innovation and sophistication, and adhere to the ancient way [i.e., the way of the Prophet (saw)].” [Al-Bidaayah wan-Nahy ‘anha by Ibn Waddaah]
Abû Bakr Al-Matû’î said:I sat in the circle of Abû ‘Abdillâh Ahmad b. Hanbal for twelve years while he read the Musnad to his children, and I never wrote a single hadîth, I only looked at his behavior, character and etiquette. Ibn Al-Jawzî, Manâqib Ahmad, article 210.
“Allah gave you a gift of 86,000 seconds today, have you used one to say ‘Alhamdulilah"
It is reported from Al-Awzâ’î – Allâh have mercy on him – that he said: I have been told that it used to be said, “Woe to those who study [their religion] for a purpose other than worship, and those who seek to permit what is forbidden through doubts and specious arguments.” Al-Khattîb Al-Baghdâdî, Iqtdâ Al-‘Ilm Al-‘Amal, p77.
“Allah gave you a gift of 86,000 seconds today, have you used one to say ‘Alhamdulilah"
It is reported from Al-Hasan Al-Basrî – Allâh have mercy on him – that he said:
The life of this world is made up of three days: yesterday has gone with all that was done; tomorrow, you may never reach; but today is for you so do what you should do today.
Al-Bayhaqî, Al-Zuhd Al-Kabîr p197.
“Allah gave you a gift of 86,000 seconds today, have you used one to say ‘Alhamdulilah"
It is reported that Ḥabīb b. ʿUbayd – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Learn knowledge, understand it and benefit from it (live by it); and do not study it in order to decorate yourself with it, for if you live long you will likely see a time when knowledge will be used for beautification like a man beautifies himself with his garments.
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.
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