Al-Aḥnaf b. Qays reports that ʿUmar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
Nothing is permitted for ʿUmar from the wealth of Allāh except two garments: one for winter and one for summer [heat], and what I need to carry me to Hajj and ‘Umrah. And the provisions for my family are that of an [average] man of the Quraysh: neither the richest nor the poorest amongst them. After that, I am just a man from amongst the Muslims.
Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm 6:78.
It is reported that Al-Aḥnaf b. Qays – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Stay away from mentioning women and food in our gatherings, for I hate a man to constantly be talking about his private parts and his belly. It is from higher conduct and religiousness that a man [sometimes] leaves eating food while he desires it.
Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm, 3:44, 45.
It is reported that when Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī was on his deathbed, some of his companions came to him and said:
O Abū Sa’īd, offer us some words you can benefit us with. He replied, “I will equip you with three words, then you must leave me to face what I am facing. Be the farthest of people from those things you have been forbidden, and be the most involved of people in the good you have been commanded to do; and know that the steps you take are two steps: a step in your favor and a step against you, so be careful where you come and where you go.”
Abū Nu’yam, Ḥilyah Al-Awliyā` 2:154
It is reported that Imām Al-Awzāʿī (d157H) wrote:
O Muslims, fear Allāh and obey Him, and accept the advice of the sincere advisers and the exhortation of the exhorters, and know that this knowledge is religion, so be careful about what you do [in it] and from whom you take [it] and who you follow and who you trust your religion to. For verily, the followers of Bid’ah are all falsifiers and liars, neither are they careful nor do they fear and protect [against wrongdoing], and nor are they to be trusted to not distort what you hear. They say what they know not when criticizing and decrying or when affirming their lies. But Allāh encompasses what they do. So be on guard against them, suspect them, reject them and distance yourselves from them, for this was what your earlier scholars and the righteous latter ones did and instructed others to do.
Beware of rising against Allāh and becoming instruments in the destruction of His religion and undoing its handholds by respecting the innovators, for you know what has come down to us about respecting them. And what stronger respect and veneration can there be than taking your religion from them, following them, believing them, being close to them and helping them in alluring those they allure and attracting those they attract of the weak Muslims towards their ideas and the religion they practice? This is enough to be considered a partnership and contribution to what they do.
Ibn ‘Asākir, Tārīkh Dimishq 6:361, 362.
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said when asked ‘what is īmān (faith)?’:
It is perseverance (al-ṣabr) from the things that are forbidden by Allāh the Mighty and Majestic and acceptance. He was asked, “What is perseverance and acceptance?” He replied, “al-ṣabr is to persevere in holding back from what Allāh has forbidden, and [acceptance is] acceptance of what Allāh the Mighty and Majestic has commanded.”
Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm 3:535.
It is reported that Jundub b. ‘Abdillāh Al-Bajalī – Allah be pleased with him – was once asked for advice and instruction. He said:
I advise you to fear Allāh and obey Him (taqwā) and I advise you to adhere to the Quran, for it is a light in the dark night and a guidance during the day, so implement it no matter how much struggle and poverty you have to face. If a calamity befalls you, put your wealth forward to protect your religion, and if the calamity continues, put forward your wealth and your life to save your religion [but never risk your religion], for the ruined is he whose religion is ruined, and the looted is he whose religion is taken. And know that there is no poverty after Paradise, and no riches after the Fire.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 3:174.
The likeness [of the munāfiq] is as the likeness of one who kindled a fire; then, when it lighted all around him, Allāh took away their light and left them in darkness. So they could not see. They are deaf, dumb and blind, so they return not [to the Right Path]. (Quran 2:17)
Qatādah – Allāh’s mercy be upon him – said:
This is the likeness Allāh has given of the Hypocrite (munāfiq); he says lā ilāha illallāh and with it marries into the Muslims, inherits from the Muslims, fights alongside the Muslims, and protects his blood and wealth. But when death comes, [the testimony of faith] has no basis in his heart, and no reality in his actions, so the munāfiq is stripped of it at death and left in darkness and blindness wondering therein, just as he was blind about the right of Allāh and obedience to Him in his worldly life and deaf to the truth.
Al-Ṭabarī, Al-Tafsīr.
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan b. Al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh have mercy on him – said to a person from the Rāfiḍah:
Love us, but if we disobey Allāh, then hate us; for if Allāh was going to benefit anyone because of his relation to the Messenger of Allāh – peace and blessings be upon him, without obedience [to Allāh], He would have benefitted the mother and father [of the Prophet].
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 4:486.
Ibn ‘Abbās – Allāh be pleased with him – said, “Address the people once a week, and if you must do so more often, then twice; and if you have to do even more, then three times; and do not make people tired or bored with the Quran. Let me not find you coming to the people to exhort them and tell them stories while they are speaking amongst themselves, thus interrupting their conversation and tiring them. Instead, listen, and when they tell you, address them when they desire to listen to your speech. And beware of making your supplications rhyme, stay away from this, for I found Allāh’s Messenger – peace and praise of Allāh be upon him – and his Companions doing nothing but [staying away from this].”
Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ ‘What is hated about making supplications rhyme.’
Notes
In this narration, the illustrious Companion ʿAbdullāh b. ‘Abbās gives some guidelines about being wise and aware of people’s condition when teaching them and calling them to Allāh. He advised that a person should not address the people and give talks to them too often, lest they become bored or fed up of hearing the Quran. This consideration is taken from the Sunnah of the Prophet – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – as related by Ibn Mas’ūd.
This tradition also expresses the dislike of trying to disseminate knowledge in a way that might be detrimental to its purpose. We are discouraged from spreading knowledge to those who do not desire it or those who are not enthusiastic to receive it and interrupting people while they are speaking. We are encouraged to teach knowledge to those who express their desire for it, because all this means it is more likely that the recipient will benefit from this knowledge.
The narration also warns against the practice of trying to make du’ā (supplication) rhyme. This is because occupying oneself with putting together rhyming prayers conflicts with the state of being humble and imploring Allāh, which is how a person should be when supplicating. There is no contradiction between this disliked behavior and the fact that some of the Prophetic supplications and statements rhyme, because the Prophet never used to have to try and make them rhyme, but was effortlessly eloquent and at the same time fully humbled in front of Allāh.
Adapted from Ibn Ḥajr, Fatḥ Al-Bārī.
Ibn ‘Abbās and Abū Hurayrah – Allāh be pleased with them – said, “There is no harm in making up [fasts of] Ramaḍān separately from one another.”
ʿAbd Al-Razzāq, Al-Muṣannaf 4:243; Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf article 9114; Al-Dāraquṭnī, Al-Sunan 2:193.
Abū ‘Ubaydah b. Al-Jarrāḥ – Allāh be pleased with him – said, when asked about making up missed fasts of Ramaḍān separately, “Allāh did not legislate upon you the breaking of the fast, and then cause hardship on you when making it up, so count the days [you excusably missed] and fast them as you wish.”
Ibn Abī Shaybah, op. cit. article 9133.
Anas b. Mālik – Allāh be pleased with him – said, “If you wish, make up [missed fasts of] Ramaḍān consecutively, or if you wish, make them up separately.”
Ibid. article 9115.