“Whoever travels a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise.”
Saʿīd b. Jubayr – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Tawakkul (reliance and trust in Allah) comprehends all of Īmān.
Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd #534.
It is reported that Abū Bakr Al-Ṣiddīq – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
Beware of lying, for lying is far removed from īmān.
Abū Bakr Al-Ḵallāl, Al-Sunnah no. 1467, 1470; Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān no. 4463.
It is reported that Imām Mālik – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whatever you fool around with, don’t fool around with your dīn (religion).
Al-Lālakāʾī, Sharḥ ʾUṣūl ʾIʿtiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah 1:163
Allah knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the breasts conceal [Quran, Ghāfir (40):19]
يَعْلَمُ خَآئِنَةَ ٱلْأَعْيُنِ وَمَا تُخْفِى ٱلصُّدُورُ
Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd article 1428.
It is reported that Imām Al-Awzāʿī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Learn what is not to be taken, like you learn what is to be taken.
Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿu Bayyān Al-ʿIlm article 435.
It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
A person has not been true to Allāh, the mighty and sublime, if he loves recognition (fame).
Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Al-Zuhd article 2240.
Topic index
All topicsName index
All namesRecent entries
It is reported that Al-A’mash – Allāh have mercy on him – said: They (the Salaf) never used to ask about [the religious condition of ] a man after knowing three things about him: where and upon whom he entered, where and with whom he walked, and the close company he kept.
Meaning: Knowing these things about a man is more than sufficient for knowing whether he is following the right path on the Sunnah or not.
Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah article 419.
It is reported that Al-Dahhāk said: How surprising it is that the companions of ʿAbdulāh (ibn Mas’ūd) are looking now to see where the sun rises from. Do they not know that when Fajr comes from a direction, the sun rises from the same?
It is reported that Jundub b. ʿAbdillāh Al-Bajalī said: I once sought permission to see Ḥudhayfah three times without being given permission. So I left, but his messenger caught up with me. [When I spoke to Ḥudhayfah] he asked, “What made you leave?” I replied, “I thought you were sleeping (after Fajr).” He said, “I do not sleep until I see where the sun rises from.” [The narrator] said, “I related this to Muḥammad (another narrator), to which he said, ‘More than one of the Companions of Muḥammad – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – did this.’” Ibn Abī Shaybah, Kitāb Al-Adab articles 156 and 157.
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Kitāb Al-Adab articles 156 and 157.
The munāfiqūn (hypocrites) amongst you today are worse than those in the time of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him. He was asked, “How is that o Abū ʿAbdillāh”? He replied: Because those [in the time of the Prophet] used to hide their nifāq (hypocrisy), whereas the hypocrites of today commit [hypocrisy] openly. Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ hadith 7113.
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ hadith 7113.
It is reported that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb came out one Eid. Passing by a group of women, he could smell the scent of perfume from one of them. He asked, “Who is the one wearing this scent? By Allāh, if I knew who she was, I would do such-and-such (punish her). A woman is only to wear perfume for her husband, and if she goes out, she wears her older (scruffier) clothes or the older clothes of her servant.” And so it was rumoured amongst the women that the woman [who was wearing perfume in public] got up from that gathering having soiled herself (out of fear).
Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf article 6387.
It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
This world (the dunyā) is [only taken as] a home by those who will have no real home [in Jannah], and it is the wealth of those who will have no real wealth, and it is gathered and collected for by those who have no real intelligence. Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dhamm Al-Dunyā article 16.
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dhamm Al-Dunyā article 16.
It is reported that Imām Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
To learn a single topic of knowledge and teach it to a Muslim is more beloved to me than having the whole world and giving it in the cause of Allāh. Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqih article 53.
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Faqīh wa Al-Mutafaqqih article 53.
It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
By Allāh, he who gives people verdicts (fatwā) for every question they ask him is crazy (majnūn). Ibn Battah Al-‘Ukbarī, Ibṭāl Al-Ḥiyal article 81, et al. Imām Ibn Battah (d. 304H) laments: So here is Ibn Masʿūd, swearing by Allāh that a person who gives people verdicts for every question they ask him is mad. And [now] if a person swore, he would not be breaking his oath, and if a person said, he would be speaking the truth: that most of the muftis of our time are mad. For you will hardly find a man who is asked about an issue pausing to consider carefully before answering, nor fearing Allāh and bringing to mind that Allāh is watching him, and fearing that He will say to him: What is the basis of your answer? Rather, most of them worry that it will be said: so-and-so was asked a question and he had no answer…
So here is Ibn Masʿūd, swearing by Allāh that a person who gives people verdicts for every question they ask him is mad. And [now] if a person swore, he would not be breaking his oath, and if a person said, he would be speaking the truth: that most of the muftis of our time are mad. For you will hardly find a man who is asked about an issue pausing to consider carefully before answering, nor fearing Allāh and bringing to mind that Allāh is watching him, and fearing that He will say to him: What is the basis of your answer? Rather, most of them worry that it will be said: so-and-so was asked a question and he had no answer…
It is reported that Abū Qilābah – Allāh Have mercy on him – said:
It is only the storyteller-preachers (al-quṣāṣ) who have killed knowledge. A man listens to a storyteller for a year without really learning anything that will last, whereas a man who sits with a scholar for an hour learns what will last and benefit him before he even gets up. Abō Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` 2:287.
Abō Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` 2:287.
It is reported that Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Al-Shāfi’ī saw me sitting in his circle, and there was some ink on my shirt I was trying to hide. He said, “Young man, why are you hiding it? Having ink on ones clothes is a sign of lofty conduct: to the sight it is black, but to the insight it is white (with the light of knowledge).” It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Al-Mubārak – Allāh have mercy on him – said: Ink on the clothes is the perfume of the scholars. – Some put this in verse (from Arabic): The ink-pot’s ink is the perfume of men As saffron is the perfume of women So the former befits the garments of those men As the latter the garments of wives It is reported that Imām Aḥmad said, seeing the students of ḥadīth approaching with their ink-pots: These are the lanterns of Islām. Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmi’ li-Akhlāq Al-Rāwī, articles 508, 509, 512 .
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmi’ li-Akhlāq Al-Rāwī, articles 508, 509, 512 .
It is reported that a man once came to ‘Abdullāh b. ‘Umar – Allāh be pleased with him – and said:
I love you for Allāh. Ibn ‘Umar replied: Then bear witness that I hate you for Allāh! The man asked, “Why?” He replied, “Because you sing in your adhān (call to prayer), and you take a wage [for calling it]!” Al-Ṭabarānī, Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabīr, article 13059; from Shaykh Al-Albānī, Al-Saḥīḥah 1:104, where he grades it authentic.
Al-Ṭabarānī, Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabīr, article 13059; from Shaykh Al-Albānī, Al-Saḥīḥah 1:104, where he grades it authentic.