quotes of the salaf thread

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – All�h have mercy on him – said: How strange it is that a people whose departure (from this world to the next) has been announced, and whose predecessors have already departed, still play around!

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Muj�lasah wa Jaw�hir Al-‘Ilm article 843.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – All�h have mercy on him – once said during the funeral of a man:
May All�h have mercy on the man who works for the likes of this day; for today you are able to do what these brothers of yours, the residents of these graves, cannot do. So make full use of your health and free time before the day of distress and accounts comes upon you.

Ibn Abī Al-Duny�, Dhamm Al-Duny� article 53.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Yūnus b. ‘Ubayd (d. 139H) – All�h have mercy on him – said:

I only liken the worldly life (duny�) to a man who, whilst sleeping, sees in his dream things he likes and things he does not like. Then he wakes up (the world ends and the next life starts).

Ibn Abī Al-Duny�, Dham Al-Duny� article 21.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – All�h have mercy on him – said:
The duny�, from its beginning to its end, is only like a man who takes a nap, sees in his dream what pleases him, and then wakes up.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Muj�lasah wa Jaw�hir Al-ʿIlm article 2056.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Harim b. Ḥayy�n – All�h have mercy on him – said:
Never does the servant turn wholeheartedly to All�h except that All�h turns the hearts of the believers to him, providing him their love.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’l�m Al-Nubal�` 4:49.

[eesa the kiwi]

Muhammad Ibn Al-Hanafīyah – All�h have mercy on him – said:

He is not wise who does not live in a good way with the person he has no choice but to live with, until All�h gives him relief from that [situation].

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’l�m Al-Nubal�` 4:117 et al. Shaykh Al-Alb�nī graded it Sahīh in Silsilatu Al-Da’īfah 6:172, after explaining that it is not authentic as a hadīth from the Prophet – All�h’s praise and peace be upon him.

[eesa the kiwi]

calamiÂties that afÂflict knowlÂedge imÄ�m al-zuhrÄ« said:

verily, knowledge has calamities [that afflict it]. one of its calamities is when the scholar is left, until he goes away with his knowledge. another calamity is forgetting [knowledge]. yet another calamity is lying about [knowledge], and this is the worst type.

ibn ‘abd al-barr, j�mi’ bay�n al-‘ilm article 684.

[eesa the kiwi]

Stupid: Asking for Quran without Sunnah It is reported that ‘Imr�n b. Husayn – All�h be pleased with him – was once relating hadīth amongst a group of people, when a man said:

Leave this and give us something from the Book of All�h. ‘Imr�n said, “You are a dunce (stupid). Do you find in the Book of All�h details of prayer. Do you find in the Book of All�h details of fasting!? This Qur`�n prescribes those matters, and the Sunnah explains them.�

Al-Harawī, Dham Al-Kal�m article 244, et al with various wordings.

[eesa the kiwi]

Non-Racial Supremacy It is reported that Abū ‘Ubaydah b. Al-Jarr�ḥ – All�h be pleased with him – said:
O people! Yes, I am a man from Quraysh, but there is not a white man (literally: red), nor a black man amongst you who exceeds me in righteousness (taqw�) except that I wish I was in his skin.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’l�m Al-Nubal�` 1:18.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that ‘Abdull�h b. Masʿūd – All�h be pleased with him – said:
This world (the duny�) 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-Duny�, Dhamm Al-Duny� article 16.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Im�m Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – All�h 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 All�h.

Al-Khaá¹Ä«b Al-BaghdÄ�dÄ«, Al-FaqÄ«h wa Al-Mutafaqqih article 53.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that ‘Abdull�h b. Masʿūd – All�h be pleased with him – said:
By All�h, he who gives people verdicts (fatw�) for every question they ask him is crazy (majnūn).

Ibn Battah Al-‘UkbarÄ«, Ibá¹Ä�l Al-Ḥiyal article 81, et al.

Im�m Ibn Battah (d. 304H) laments:

So here is Ibn Masʿūd, swearing by All�h 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 All�h and bringing to mind that All�h 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…

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that AbÅ« Bakr Al-Maá¹Å«â€™Ä« said:

I sat in the circle of Abū ‘Abdill�h Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal for twelve years while he read the Musnad to his children, and I never wrote a single ḥadīth, I only looked at his behavior, character and etiquette.

Ibn Al-Jawzī, Man�qib Aḥmad, article 210.

[eesa the kiwi]

“The people of knowledge and understanding that I have met in our country, when one of them was asked a question on an issue, he would feel like one about to die. But the people of our own time love giving fatwa (without hesitation). Had they known what they are going to face tomorrow (in the Day of Judgement) they would not have done that. Umar, `Ali and ‘Alqama are some of the best Companions of the Prophet, yet when anyone of them was asked a question, he would consult his fellow companions before giving an answer. But it is unfortunate that fatwa has become the pride for the people of our time�.
Imam Malik ibn Anas.

[eesa the kiwi]

It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – All�h have mercy on him – said:

One who acts without knowledge is like one who travels off the path; and the one who acts without knowledge corrupts more than he rectifies. So seek knowledge in a way that does not harm your worship, and seek to worship [All�h] in a way that does not harm [your seeking of] knowledge. For verily, there were people (the Khaw�rij extremists) who sought to worship [All�h] but abandoned knowledge until they attacked the Ummah of Muḥammad – All�h’s praise and peace be upon him – with their swords. But if they had sought knowledge, it would not have directed them to do what they did.

Quoted by Ibn ‘Abd Al-Barr, J�mi’ Bay�n Al-‘Ilm wa Fa�lihi article 905.