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.
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.
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…
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.
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 .
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.
‘Alī b. Abī Khālid – Allāh have mercy on him – reports:
I once said to Aḥmad, “This shaykh – referring to an older man who was with us – is my neighbor. I told him not to keep the company of a certain person, and he would like to hear what you have to say about him: I am referring to Ḥārith Al-Qaṣīr (Al-Ḥārith Al-Muḥāsibī). Many years ago, you saw me with him and told me not to sit with him nor speak with him. I have not spoken to him since that time. This shaykh, however, does sit with him. So what do you say?”
I saw Aḥmad go red with anger, his eyes bulging; I had never before seen him like this. He started to say, “Him! May Allāh do such-and-such to him! Only those well-informed of him know what he really is, only those who really know him know what he is. Al-Mughāzilī, Ya’qūb and so-and-so sat with him, and he caused them to adopt the views of Jahm (Ibn Ṣafwān, leader of the Jahmites). They were destroyed because of him.”
The old man said, “But Abū ‘Abdillāh, he reports ḥadīth, and he is mild and humble; he has done such-and-such [good works].” Abū ‘Abdillāh (Imām Aḥmad) became angry and began repeating, “Let not his humility and softness deceive you”. He also said, “Do not be fooled by his bowed head, he is an evil man; only those well-informed of him through experience know him. Do not speak to him – with all disrespect to him. Are you going to sit with everyone who narrates from Allāh’s Messenger – may the praise and peace of Allāh be upon him – though he be a heretic (mubtadi’)? No, with all disrespect.”
Ṭabaqāt Al-Ḥanābilah, article 325.
It is reported that Abū Bakr Al-Maṭū’ī said:
I sat in the circle of Abū ‘Abdillāh 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, Manāqib Aḥmad, article 210.
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan b. Ismā’īl said, ‘I heard my father say:
There would gather in the circle of Aḥmad five thousand people or more; less than five hundred would write, the rest would learn from him good manners and behavior.’
Ibid.
It is reported that Sufyān Al-Thawrī said:
A man who wanted to write ḥadīth would [learn] manners and worship for twenty years before starting.
Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā`, 6:361.
‘Abdullāh b, ‘Abbās reports that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with them – said:
I used to have a neighbor from the Anṣār who lived in the area of Banī Umayyah b. Zayd, which is in the ‘Awālī of Medinah, and we used to take turns attending [the gatherings] of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him. My neighbor would attend one day and I the other; so when I attended I would convey to him the reports about the revelation that had come, and other such news, and when he attended he would do the same.
My Anṣārī companion went on one of his days, and [upon returning] came to my door and knocked hard saying, ‘Is he there?’ I was alarmed and came out to him, and he said, ‘Something serious has happened (some people thought the Prophet had divorced his wives).’ I entered upon Ḥafṣah and found her weeping. I said, ‘Has Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – divorced you [all]?’ She replied, ‘I don’t know.’ Then, I came to the Prophet – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – and asked him, still standing, ‘Have you divorced your women?’ He said, ‘No’, so I said, ‘ Allāhu Akbar (Allāh is Greatest).’
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ, Chapter on Taking Turns in Seeking Knowledge.
Notes
The narration translated above is a shorter report of the full incident, recorded elsewhere in Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī.
In his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī, Ibn Ḥajr lists some of the lessons and points that can be taken from this narration, including the following:
1. This hadith shows us that the khabar (news, report) of a single (reliable) person is dependable.
2. The student of knowledge should not neglect taking care of his living needs, in order to help him continue seeking knowledge and other pursuits (at that time, ‘Umar was involved in trade, as is mentioned in other reports).
3. At the same time, the student of knowledge should be diligent and resolute in asking about the knowledge he has missed in his absence.
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
It has reached me that when Allāh the Mighty and Majestic blesses a people and gives them some good he asks them to be grateful. If they are grateful, He is all-able to give them more. But if they are ungrateful, He is all-able to turn His blessings into a punishment.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shu’ab Al-Imān article 4536.