Sayings of the Salaf

Praise be to Allāh for this Calamity

It is reported that Shurayḥ – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “If I am afflicted with a calamity, I praise Allāh for it four times: I praise Him because it wasn’t worse than it was, I praise Him when He gives me the patience to bear it, I praise Him for enabling me to say al-istirjā’ (‘To Allāh we belong and to him we will return’; see Al-Baqarah: 154-156 ) in hope of a great reward, and I praise Him for not making it a calamity in my religion.”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, in his biography of Shurayḥ Al-Qāḍī.

Shurayḥ Al-Qādī

Character Gratitude Patience Reward
We believed, they rejected [How the Salaf came to Islam]

‘Āṣim b. ʿUmar b. Qatādah [Al-Anṣārī] reports from some men amongst his people, “One of the things that called us to accept Islam – with the mercy of Allāh and His guidance – is what we used to hear from some Jewish men. We were polytheists who worshipped idols. They (the Jews) were people of scripture and had knowledge that we did not possess. There was always some badness between us; if we did to them something they hated, they would say to us, ‘The time is nigh when a Prophet will be sent, with whom we will fight and kill you like ‘Ād and Iram.’ We would often hear this from them. When Allāh sent His Messenger- Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – we answered him when he called us to Allāh the Exalted, and we recognized what they used to warn us about. So we preceded them to him; we believed in him and they disbelieved. And it is about us and them that these verses of Al-Baqarah were revealed:

And when there came to them (the Jews), a Book (this Qur’ān) from Allāh confirming what is with them (Torah) and the Gospel, although aforetime they had invoked Allāh (for coming of the Prophet), in order to gain victory over those who disbelieved. Then when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it. So let the curse of Allāh be on the disbelievers.” [Al-Baqarah: 89]

Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrah Vol.1 p211, and others. Shaykh Muqbil Al-Wādi’ī graded this narrations chain of transmission ḥasan. See Al-Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Musnad min Dalā`il Al-Nubūwah p93.

ʿĀsim b. ʿUmar b. Qatādah

Coming to Islam Historical ʿAqīdah
In the company of Swine

It is reported that Abul-Jawzā` – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “I would prefer to sit with swine than to sit with the people of desires (heretics, adherents of bid’ah).”

Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, in his biography of the Abul-Jawzā`. He reported from a number of Companions, and Al-Dhahabī considered him to be one of the senior scholars.

Abul-Jawzāʾ

Bidʿah ʿAqīdah
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Sayings of the Salaf

Announcements
Accounts for Accounts

Ibrāhīm Al-Taymī reports from his father that Abū Dharr [Al-Ghifārī] – Allāh be pleased with him – said, “A person possessing two dirhams will have a harsher reckoning (on the Day of Judgment) than a person who possesses just one dirham, and a person who possesses two dinars will have a harsher reckoning than someone who possesses only one.”

Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā`iq article 555. Shaykh Al-Albānī graded this narration’s chain of transmission ṣaḥīḥ is Al-Ḍa’īfah Vol. 8 p117.

Abū Dharr Al-Ghifārī

Dunyā The Hereafter Zuhd
The Last Sermon of Caliph Umar b. Abd Al-Aziz

It is reported that the last sermon ʿUmar b. ʿAbd Al-‘Aziz – Allāh have mercy on him – delivered was as follows:

He praised Allāh and said, “You were not created in vain, nor will you be left without purpose. Verily, you have an appointed time in which Allāh – the Most High – will come down to judge you. Wretched and ruined will he be who leaves the mercy of Allāh and is denied a Garden whose width is that of the heavens and Earth. Know you not that no one will be safe tomorrow save one who is wary of today and fears it; and sells the transitory for what will remain, and the little for the plenty, and fear in exchange for security [in the hereafter]? See you not that you are in the loins of the dead, to be taken by those who remain after you, until all matters return to the Best of Inheritors? Every day, [in the funerals] you accompany those returning to Allāh the Mighty and Sublime, having spent their time, until you hide them in a crevice in the ground, in the belly of a bare and unfurnished hole, having parted from their loved ones, stroking the dirt and facing their accounts. Now, they are dependent on their deeds, free of what they left behind, in need of [the deeds] they put before them. So fear Allāh before the time He appointed is up and death descends upon you. This is what I have to say.” He then lifted the edge of his garment over his face and wept profusely, and made everyone around him weep.

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm Vol. 3 p343.

ʿUmar b. ʿAbd Al-ʿAzīz

Advice Death The Hereafter
The Many Pretenders of Faith [Munafiqun]

It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – used to say, “If it were not for the munāfiqūn, you would feel all alone in the streets (the streets would be empty).”

It is also reported that Al-Sha’bī – Allāh have mercy on him – said the same thing, “If it were not for the munāfiqūn, you would feel all alone in the streets (the streets would be empty).”

It is reported that Mālik b. Dīnār – Allāh’s mercy be upon him – said, “I swear, if the munāfiqūn started growing tails, the believers wouldn’t find a spot of ground to walk on.”

Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā articles 936-938.

Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī Al-Shaʿbī Mālik b. Dīnār

Hypocrisy ʿAqīdah
The Heretic Miracle Worker

It is reported that Imām Layth b. Sa’d – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “Even if I saw a heretic (follower of bid’ah) walk on water, I would not accept him.” This was reported to Imām Al-Shāfi’ī – Allāh have mercy on him, to which he replied, “He didn’t go far enough. Rather, if I saw one walk in the air, I would not accept him.”

Al-Lālakā`ī, Sharh Usūl ‘I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah Vol.1 p228; Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā Vol2. P175; Ibn Al-Jawzī, Talbīs Iblīs p14 – with slightly variant wordings.

Al-Layth b. Saʿd Imām Al-Shāfiʿī

Bidʿah ʿAqīdah
Ask Allah a Lasting Faith

Mu’āwiyah b. Qurrah reports that Abū Al-Dardā` used to say, “We ask Allāh for a lasting faith (īmān), true certainty and beneficial knowledge.” Mu’āwiyah b. Qurrah then said, “So this indicates that there is a type of faith that does not last, and a type of certainty that is not true, and a type of knowledge that is not beneficial.”

Ibn Battah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā Vol. 2 p498.

Note

The supplication mentioned above is as follows in Arabic:

Abū Al-Dardāʾ

Īman Knowledge Supplication
The Unfair Teacher

It is reported that Mujāhid – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The teacher of the kuttāb (where the children would be taught, the madrasah) will be brought on the Day of Resurrection, and if he was not fair and just with the boys, he will be grouped with the tyrants.”

Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 619.

Mujāhid

Character Manners and Conduct The Hereafter