Sayings of the Salaf

Guilty by Association

It is reported that Imām Al-Awzā’ī – Allāh have mercy on him – used to say:

Whoever hides his heresy (bid’ah) from us, his companionship is not hidden from us.

Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā article 420.

It is reported that when Sufyān Al-Thawrī – Allāh have mercy on him – came to Baṣrah he started to look into the matter of Al-Rabī’ – i.e. Ibn Ṣabīḥ
⁽¹⁾ – and his status amongst the people. [Sufyān] asked, “What does he believe?” [People] replied, “He believes in nothing but the Sunnah.” He asked, “Who are his companions?” They replied, “The People of Qadr (those who denied Allāh’s pre-decree).” He said, “Then he is a Qadarī (like them).”

Ibid. article 421.

⁽¹⁾Al-Rabī’ b. Ṣabīḥ is described in biographies as being a truthful reporter, but with a bad memory; a devout worshipper and a mujāhid.

It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ‘Ayyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The souls [of people] are in groups gathered together: those of them that identify with each other come together, and those that are different diverge. It is not possible for an adherent of the Sunnah to incline towards an adherent of Bid’ah except out of hypocrisy (nifāq).

Ibid. article 429.

Al-Awzāʿī Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ Sufyān Al-Thawrī

Bidʿah Hypocrisy ʿAqīdah
The hard life now for the good life later

It is reported that Ḥafṣah – Allāh be pleased with her – once said to her father (‘Umar, during his Caliphate):

Allāh has increased the provisions; if only you would eat better food than the food you eat now and wear softer clothes then those you wear now?! He said, “I will argue [against] you with your own self: Was not the condition of Allāh’s Messenger – praise and peace be upon him – such-and-such [when you were his wife]!?” He kept reminding her until she cried. He continued, “I have told you, by Allāh, I will share in their hard living (in this world, referring to The Prophet and Abū Bakr) so that I may partake in their good life (in Paradise).”

Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd article 687; Imām Aḥmad, Al-Zuhd article 201, et al. ⁽¹⁾

^{(1) Shaykh Abd Al-Raḥmān Al-Farīwā`ī explains in his edition of Hunād’s Al-Zuhd that this narration is ṣaḥīḥ if it is confirmed that Muṣ’ab b. Sa’d heard it from Ḥafṣah; otherwise its chain of transmission is mursal ṣaḥīḥ (i.e. it is authentic except there is a missing link between Mus’ab and Ḥafṣah)}

Ḥafṣah ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb

Attire Dunyā Paradise Zuhd
Umar on obeying the Muslim Ruler

Suwayd b. Ghaflah reports that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with him – once took him by the hand and said:

O Abū Umayah, by Allāh, I know not if we will meet again after today. Fear and obey Allāh your Lord until the Day of Resurrection, as if you see Him, and obey the ruler (imām) even if he is a cut-nosed Abyssinian slave: if he beats you, be patient; if he robs you, be patient and if he belittles you, be patient. And if he tells you [to do something] to the detriment of your religion (to sin), say: “I hear and obey, [but] my blood goes before my religion.” Never leave the Main Muslim Body (Al-Jamā’ah).

Ibn Zanjawayh, Kitāb Al-Amwāl article 30; Ibn Abī Zamanīn, Uṣūl Al-Sunnah article 205 with a slight variation in wording. Also recorded in other collections.

ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb

Affairs of the Ummah Governance Patience Sins
The Sahabah on Leaving the Salah

‘Abdullāh b. Shaqīq Al-‘Uqaylī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

The Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allah’s praise and peace be upon him – did not consider the leaving of any action to be kufr (unbelief), except the prayer (ṣalāh).

Al-Tirmidhī, Al-Sunan ḥadīth 2622. Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Al-Albānī in his edition of Sunan Al-Tirmidhī.

ʿAbdullāh b. Shaqīq Al-ʿUqaylī

Īman Prayer The Companions
Teach but do not Pretend

Ibn Al-Muhallab reports that he heard Abȗ Mȗsā Al-Ash’arī – Allah be pleased with him – standing on his minbar (pulpit) saying:

Whoever Allāh has given some knowledge should teach it. And he must not say anything he has no knowledge of, lest he become one of the pretenders and leave the religion.

Ibn Sa’d, Al-Ṭabaqāt 4:102. Maktabah Al-Khānjī, Cairo.

Abū Mūsā Al-Ashʿarī

Daʿwah Knowledge
Be with the Carriers of Books

It is reported that Imām ‘Abd Al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī – Allāh have mercy on him – said, following a mention of the Ṣȗfīah (Sufis):

Do not sit with them, nor with the followers of Kalām.⁽¹⁾ Be with the carriers of books,⁽²⁾ for they are like mines, like those who descend: one brings up a gem and another a nugget of gold.

Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā article 483.

(1) Speculative theology, drawn from foreign philosophy and logic, as practiced by sects such as the Jahmia and Mutazila.

(2) Arabic al-qamātir: covers or folders used to keep written material. ‘Carriers of books’ refers to the scholars and students who occupied themselves with Islamic knowledge and hadīth.

ʿAbd Al-Rahmān b. Mahdī

Bidʿah Ḥadīth Knowledge ʿAqīdah
Faith is not just in the heart [definition of Iman]

Imām Al-Awzā’ī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Faith (īmān) is not sound except with [correct] words. Faith and words are not sound except with [good] works. And faith, words and deeds are not sound except with [the correct] intentions in conformance to the Sunnah. Those who went before us of our Salaf did not separate faith from deeds: deeds are a part of faith, and faith is from [ones deeds]. īmān is a word that brings together these aspects of the religions [of Allāh] and is confirmed through [a person’s] works.

So whoever believes in word, knows in his heart and confirms [his belief] through his works, then this is the strongest handhold that will never break. And whoever says [words of faith] but does not know [faith] in his heart nor confirms it with his works, it will never be accepted of him and he will be in the hereafter from those who suffer in loss.

Ibn Ba tt ah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā article 1097.

Al-Awzāʿī

Good Deeds Īman ʿAqīdah
The House in which the Quran is Recited

It is reported that ‘Abdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

The house in which the Qur’ān is not recited is like a derelict house that has no one to maintain it.

It is also reported that he said:

Verily the emptiest of houses are those that are empty of the Book of Allāh.

It is reported that Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say about the house in which the Qur’ān is recited:

It becomes spacious for its inhabitants, the good of it becomes plentiful, the angels come to it and the devils leave it. And the house in which the Qur’ān is not recited becomes cramped for its inhabitants, has little good in it, and the devils come to it.

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf articles 30645, 30647 and 30650.

Abū Hurayrah ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd

Angels Family Qurān Remembrance of Allāh Shayṭān
The Braying Drunkard

Al-‘Awām b. Ḥawshab (148H) – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

I once came to an area in one part of which was a graveyard. After ‘aṣr, one of the graves split open and a man with the head of a donkey and the body of a human came up from it and brayed three times, after which the grave closed back up on him. I then saw an old woman weaving fleece or wool, and a woman said, “Do you see that old woman?” I said, “What about her?” She replied, “That is the mother of this [dead] man.” I asked, “What was his story?” She replied, “He used to drink wine, and whenever he would go out his mother would say, ‘O my son, fear Allāh; until when will you keep drinking wine?’ He would reply, ‘You bray like a donkey.'” The woman said, “He then died after ‘aṣr, so every day after ‘asr the grave opens up and he brays a few times, then the grave closes up on him again.”

Al-Hāfidh Abul-Qāsim Al-Aṣbahānī, Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb article 471.

Shaykh Nāṣir Al-Dīn Al-Albānī graded this narration ḥasan in his edition of Al-Mundhirī’s Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb. See Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb ḥadīth 2517.

Al-Mundhirī quotes Al-Aṣbahānī as saying:
This [story] was narrated by Abul-‘Abbās Al-Aṣam in a dictation at Naysābūr, in the presence of great preservers [of traditions] and people of knowledge, and they did not reject it.

Al-ʿAwām b. Ḥawshab

Death Family Sins The Grave
Do not forget your character and speech

It is reported that Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with him – used to say:

Whoever does not think that his speech is part of his deeds and that his character is part of his religion will be destroyed without even realizing.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā Dham Al-Kadhib wa Ahlī article 94.

Abū Hurayrah

Character Manners and Conduct