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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.
Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqāʾiq no. 1056.
It is reported that Mālik b. Dīnār – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Since I have come to know people, I do not rejoice when they praise and I do not dislike it when they blame, for those that praise go to excess in praise and those that blame go to excess in blaming. When the scholar learns knowledge in order to act, it humbles him; but if he learns it for something other than action, it only makes him more boastful.
Al-Dhahbī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 5:362.
Safety lies in not wanting to be known.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 7:258.
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.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 7:262.
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
A man remains upon good as long as he knows what things spoil his deeds.
Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Al-Zuhd p339.
It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whoever seeks knowledge sincerely, for the servants of Allāh to benefit by and to benefit himself, then being hidden (from fame) is more beloved to him than seeking loftiness. He is the one who becomes more lowly to himself, strives more in worship, fears Allāh more, yearns for Allāh more, and becomes more humble amongst people. He cares not what he has of this dunyā night or day.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān article 1653.
It is reported that Al-ʿAwwām b. Ḥawshab – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Boasting that you did a sin (when you did not) is worse than committing the sin.
Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm, article 3073.
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them – said:
Whoever tries to make people hear of his deeds, Allāh will make [some] of His creation hear of him (expose him), and belittle him. Ibn ʿUmar then began to cry.
Wakīʿ b. Al-Jarrāḥ, Al-Zuhd #308.
It is reported from Ḥammād b. Zayd that ʾAyyūb [Al-Sakhtiyānī] was once in a gathering when he was effected (moved to tears) by an exhortation, so he began wiping his nose saying, How severe a cold can be!
It is reported from Ḥammād b. Zayd that he said, I never saw a man who used to smile more at people than ʾAyyūb.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 5:17
Three things are from Imān: when a man has nocturnal emission during a cold night, so he gets up – only Allāh sees him – and he has a full wash (ghusl); when a person fasts on a hot day; and when a man prays in a barren land, where none but Allāh sees him.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shu’ab Al-Īmān article 51