Sayings of the Salaf

How the Salaf were (and weren’t) when hearing the Quran and Dhikr

It was said to ‘Ā`ishah – Allāh be pleased with her, “There are people who faint when they hear the Quran.” She said. “The Quran is nobler than to have people lose their minds from it. Rather, it [should be] as Allāh the Mighty and Sublime said:

Those who fear their Lord tremble with fear by it, then their skins and hearts settle to the remembrance of Allah. (Sūrah Al-Zumar: 23)

Abū ‘Ubayd Al-Qāsim b. Sallām, Faḍā`il Al-Qur`ān p214.

It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. ‘Urwah b. Al-Zubayr said, “I asked my grandmother Asmā` (bint Abī Bakr) – Allāh be pleased with her, ‘How were the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh peace and praise be upon him – when they heard the Quran?’ She replied, ‘their eyes would shed tears and they would tremble (with fear), as Allāh described them (in the Quran).’ I said, ‘There are some people here who, when they hear the Quran, fall down unconscious,’ She said, ‘I seek refuge with Allāh from the accursed Shayṭān.’”

Al-Bayhaqī, Shu’ab Al-Īmān 3:417; Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā`iq 3:54 with a slightly variant wording.

It is also reported that Asmā` was asked, “Did any of the Salaf used to faint out of the fear of Allāh?” She replied, “No, but they used to cry.”

Al-Qāsim b. Salām, op. cit. p214.

It is reported that Ibn ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with him – once passed by a man from Iraq who had dropped unconscious. He asked, “What is wrong with him?” [People] replied, “When the Quran is recited to him or he hears the remembrance of Allāh he falls unconscious out of his fear of Allāh.” Ibn ʿUmar said, “We fear Allāh and we do not drop unconscious!”

Ibid p214; Al-Baghawī in his Tafsīr, Sūrah Al-Zumar: 23 with a slightly variant wording.

It is reported that Anas b. Mālik was asked about people who drop unconscious when the Quran is recited to them. He said, “That is the behavior of the Khawārij.”

Al-Qāsim b. Salām, op. cit. p215.

It is reported that Muḥammad b. Sīrīn said, having been asked about a man who drops unconscious when the Quran is recited to him, “Make an appointment between us and him, we will sit on a wall, and the Quran – from beginning to end – will be recited unto him. If he falls off the wall, he is as he claims.”

Ibid., Al-Baghawī, op. cit.

Anas b. Mālik Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr Muḥammad b. Sīrīn ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar ʿĀʾishah

Bidʿah Qurān Remembrance of Allāh The Companions The Heart
An Insult with a Gift [Backbiting]

It is reported that ‘Abd Al-Rahmān b. Mahdī – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “If it were not for the fact I hate that Allah is disobeyed, I would have wished that no one remain in this city except that he had spoken ill of me and backbitten me; for what is nicer than a good deed a man finds in his records on the Day of Resurrection without having done a thing or even having known?”

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyatu Al-Awliyā` 4:45.

Notes

This is a reference to a person who has been backbitten receiving good deeds on the Day of Judgment from the person who backbit him and didn’t repent and make amends, as mentioned in some narrations from the Prophet – Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. The narration reminds us of the dire consequences of backbiting others: your good deeds may go to them if you don’t repent and make up for what you have done. It also provides assurance for those who have been backbitten: if left wronged in this life, they will be given good deeds in the hereafter as compensation and justice will be done.

ʿAbd Al-Rahmān b. Mahdī

Backbiting Good Deeds The Hereafter
I’m the Man [the youngster who puts himself forward]

It is reported that there was a young man who was from the people of knowledge who used to put himself forward, speak and behave haughtily with his knowledge in front of those older than him. This angered Sufyān [Al-Thawrī] and he said, “The Salaf were never like this; they never used to claim leadership, or sit at the head of the gathering until they had sought this knowledge for thirty years, and you act haughty in front of those who are older than you. Get up, I never want to see you even come close to my circ le.”

Al-Bayhaqī, Al-Madkhal ilā Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā 2:74.

Sufyān Al-Thawrī

Character Knowledge Manners and Conduct
The Salaf and the Quran in Ramadan

It is reported that Al-Aswad [b. Yazīd Al-Nakha’ī] used to complete the recitation of the Quran in Ramadan every two nights; sleeping between al-maghrib and al-‘ishā. Outside of Ramaḍān, he used to complete a recitation every six nights.

Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` 1:250.

It is related from Al-Rabī’ b. Sulaymān, “Muḥammad b. Idrīs Al-Shāfi’ī used to complete reciting the Quran in the month of Ramadan sixty times, all in the prayer.”

Ibid. 4:107

It is reported that Abul-Ash-hab said, “Abū Al-Rajā` [Al-Aṭārudī] would complete with us a recitation of the Quran in the night prayers of Ramadan every ten days.”

Ibid. 1:348

It is reported that Qatādah used to complete a recitation of the Quran once every seven nights, and when Ramadan came, once every three nights. During the last ten nights, he would complete a recitation every night.

Ibid. 1:364

It is reported that Al-Bukhārī used to complete a recitation [of the Quran] once a day in Ramadan, and would pray after Tarāwīḥ every night, completing another recitation every three nights.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 12:439

Notes

After mentioning some similar examples from the Salaf, Ibn Rajab says in Laṭā`if Al-Ma’ārif p319:

The prohibition of reciting the Quran in less than three days [found in some ahadith] refers to doing so regularly [throughout the year]. As for virtuous times, like Ramadan – especially the nights in which it is hoped Laylatu Al-Qadr will occur – or virtuous places, like Makkah – for those who enter it and are not residents there, then it is recommended to increase in reciting the Quran, making the most of the time and the place. This is the position of [Imam] Aḥmad, Isḥāq [ibn Rāhūyah] and other Imams, and the practice of others [from the Salaf] indicates [they held the same position].

Abū Al-RajāʾAl-Aṭārudī Al-Aswad b. Yazīd Al-Nakhaʿī Imām Al-Bukhārī Imām Al-Shāfiʿī Qatādah

Good Deeds Qurān Ramadan Remembrance of Allāh
Breaking the fast as soon as the sun sets [Sunnah of Fasting]

Sa’īd b. Al-Musayyib reports from his father, “I was once sitting with ʿUmar when a group of people arrived from Al-Shām. ʿUmar enquired about them and how they were; he asked, ‘Do the people of Al-Shām hasten to break the fast.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ [ʿUmar] said, ‘They will not cease to remain upon good as long as they do this, and do not wait for the stars [to come out] as the people of Irāq do.’”

ʿAbd Al-Razzāq Al-Ṣanʿānī, Al-Muṣannaf 4:225.

‘Amr b. Maymūn Al-Awdī reports, “The Companions of Muḥammad – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – used to be the quickest to break the fast and the slowest in taking the pre-dawn meal.”

Ibid. p226.

Ibn Al-Musayyib also reports that ʿUmar wrote to the commanders of the various regions, ‘Do not be of the procrastinators when breaking the fast, and nor of those who wait for the stars before they start praying [al-maghrib].’

Ibid. p225.

Mūsā b. Anas reports that Anas [ibn Mālik] used to have his slave-girl go to the top of his house, instructing her, ‘When the horizon becomes even (evenly lit, marking sunset), tell me.’

Ibn Abī Shaybah, Al-Muṣannaf 2:430.

Abū Al-Tiyāḥ Al-Ḍabaʾī reports that “he used to break fast with Ibn ʿAbbās during Ramaḍān. When evening approached he would send a girl from his household to the roof [to look out], and when the sun set he would make the call to prayer (adhān). He would eat with us, and when he had finished, the call for the commencement of prayer (iqāmah) would be given, and he would pray, and we would pray with him.”

Ibid. p429.

Anas b. Mālik ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbbās ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb

Fasting Fiqh Ramadan Sunnah The Companions
Taking the pre-dawn meal as late as possible [Sunnah of Fasting]

Sālim b. ‘Ubayd reports, “I used to stay in the house of Abū Bakr. One night, he prayed for as long as Allāh willed him to. He then said [to me], ‘Go and see if al-fajr has started,’ so I went, returned and said, ‘Whiteness has risen in the sky.’ So he prayed for as long as Allāh willed, then said [again], ‘Go and see if al-fajr has started.’ I went out, returned and said, ‘[The light] is spreading out and becoming reddish,’ to which he said, ‘Now bring me my drink (i.e. my pre-dawn meal, al-suḥūr).’”

Al-Dāraquṭnī, Al-Sunan 2:166. Al-Dāraquṭnī grades its chain of transmission ṣaḥīh.

Abū Bakr Al-Ṣiddīq

Fasting Fiqh Ramadan Sunnah
Umar and the Black Stone

Al-Bukhārī reports that ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with him – came to the Black Stone (performing ṭawāf, circumambulation), kissed it, and said, “I know that you are a stone, you do not cause benefit or harm; and if it were not that I had seen Allāh’s Messenger – peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him – kiss you, I would never have kissed you.”

Al-Bukhārī, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ, Chapter on what has been said about the Black Stone.

Points to note

· The illustrious Companion and Caliph ʿUmar reminded us in this narration of the pure belief that benefit and harm are not caused by created objects and thus should not be sought from them. Only Allāh has control over these things.

· We are reminded that acts of worship are taken from Allāh’s Messenger, and a person is not supposed to make up his own way of worship, he must follow the manner of worship that the Prophet taught and practiced.

· We also learn that once an action is confirmed in the Sunnah, the believer submits and complies and practices it because it is confirmed that Allāh’s Messenger did it, even if we don’t know the wisdom behind it.

· This narration is also an example of how a responsible person tries to clarify and do away with any misunderstandings that people may have about matters of faith. The people had recently left their unbelief and polytheism, so ʿUmar wanted to make it clear that kissing the Black Stone is by no means done as an act of devotion to it, as people used to do with their stone idols.

Adapted from Ibn Ḥajr, Fatḥ Al-Bārī, and other ḥadīth commentaries.

ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb

Ḥajj and ʿUmrah Sunnah Worship ʿAqīdah
Eating to Fast [not Fasting to Eat]

It is reported that once, some good food was served to Anas [Ibn Mālik] – Allāh be pleased with him, and [the person who served the food] was well off enough to afford good food. As he was eating, he kept a morsel of the food in his mouth for a while, then looked at the people and began to cry. Then he said, “By Allāh, I have accompanied people who, if they could get hold of this kind of food, would have fasted even more often, and spent less time not fasting. One of them would find only milk mixed with water [as food], which he would drink and then fast on.”

Al-Mu’āfā b. ‘Imrān, Kitāb Al-Zuhd article 215.

Anas b. Mālik

Dunyā Fasting Ramadan The Companions Zuhd
Secret Devotion

It is reported that Shurayḥ the Judge used to have a house in which he would spend time alone on Fridays; no one knew what he did in it.

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` Vol.4 p105.

It is reported that Abū Al-‘Āliyah said, “I learned writing and the Qur`ān without my family noticing, and not a drop of ink was ever seen on my garment.”

Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` Vol. 2 p217.

It is reported that when Ibn Abī Laylā prayed [at night], if someone entered [his house], he would lie down on his bed [as if he was sleeping].

Ibid. Vol. 4 p351.

It is reported that Ayyūb Al-Sakhtiyānī used to pray all night and hide it. In the morning, he would raise his voice as if he had just woken up.

Al-Dhahabī, op. cit. Vol. 6 p17.

It is reported that Dāwūd b. Abī Hind fasted for forty years without his family knowing, he would take his lunch out with him and donate it in the street.

Ibid. Vol. 6 p378.

Abū Al-ʿĀliyah Ayyūb Al-Sakhtiyānī Dāwūd b. Abī Hind Shurayḥ Al-Qādī

Character Good Deeds Ikhlās Intentions Worship
Helping to destroy Islam

It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Whoever helps an adherent of bid’ah (heretic) has helped in the destruction of Islam.”

Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` Vol. 1 p398.

It is reported that Abū Isḥāq Al-Hamdānī and Ibrāhīm b. Maysarah said, “Whoever respects an adherent of bid’ah has helped in the destruction of Islam.”

Reported from Al-Hamdānī by Al-Ājurrī, Al-Sharī’ah Vol. 5 p260; and from Ibn Maysarah by Al-Lālakā`ī, Sharḥ Usūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah Vol. 1 p265.

Abū Ishāq Al-Hamdānī Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ Ibrāhīm b. Maysarah

Bidʿah