“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
How fast these days are in doing away with our lifespans, and how fast this year is in doing away with its months, and how fast this month is in doing away with its days.
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-ʿUmr was Al-Shayb article 25.
Whoever hears of a bidʿah, let him not tell it to those who are with him, lest he cast it into their hearts.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 7:261.
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.
Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqāʾiq no. 1056.
Sit with the seniors, mix with the wise, and enquire with the scholars.
Ibn Ḥibbān, Rawḍatu Al-ʿUqalāʾ p176. See Al-Albānī, Al-Ḍaʿīfah ḥadīth 3462.
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.
If you see a man being obstinate, argumentative and impressed with his own opinion, then his loss is complete.
Abū Nuʿaym, ʿHilyatu Al-Awliyāʾ 5:228
Whoever has been given wealth, beauty, garments or knowledge and then is not humble will have severe repercussions on the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Tawāḍuʿ Wa Al-Khumūl ḥadīth 90.
When Iyās was born I invited a group of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and fed them, and they supplicated. I said, “You have all supplicated so may Allāh bless you in what you have supplicated for, and when I make a supplication please say āmīn.” So I supplicated much for him (my newborn) for his religion, his intelligence and the like, and verily now I recognize in him [the qualities] in the supplication of that day.
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Adab Al-Mufrad ḥadīth 1255. Al-Albānī grades its chain of transmission ṣaḥīḥ in Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 950/1255.
Knowledge only comes from learning, and forbearance comes from trying to be forbearing, and whoever seeks what is good will be given it, and whoever avoids evil will be protected from it.
Abū Khaythumah, Kitāb Al-ʿIlm (Albānī edition) ḥadīth 114. Al-Albānī grades its chain of transmission ṣaḥīḥ, and states it has been reported from the Prophet ﷺ. See Al-Ṣaḥīḥah 342.