Sayings of the Salaf

Sunnah, Bid’ah and Arabic

ʿAbdullah b. Zayd Al-Numayrī reports that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī said:

They (the heretics) were destroyed by their inability in Arabic (al-‘ujmah).

Al-Bukhārī, Al-Tārīkh Al-Kabīr Vol.5 p99.

And Imām Al-Shāfi’ī said:

People didn’t become ignorant and didn’t differ amongst themselves except because they left Arabic and leaned towards the language of Aristotle.

Quoted by Al-Suyūṭī in Ṣawn Al-Manṭiq p15. He said on p22:

I have found Salaf before Al- Shāfi’ī indicate what he did: that the cause of heresy (al-ibtidā’) is ignorance of Arabic language.

Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī Imām Al-Shāfiʿī

Bidʿah Knowledge
Sincere and Correct

Al-Fudayl b. ʿAyyāḍ [187H] – Allah have mercy on him – said:

“Allah ‘azza wa jalla accepts only those deeds which are both correct and sincere (pure). If the deed is done correctly but not sincerely, it will not be accepted. And if it is sincere but not correct, it will not be accepted.” He was asked, “Abū ‘Alī! What is the sincere and correct deed?” He replied, “The sincere deed is one that is done only for Allah ‘azza wa jall. And the correct deed is one done according to the Sunnah.”

Abū Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyā` Vol.8 p95.

Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ

Bidʿah Ikhlās Intentions Sunnah Worship
The Hematuria of Imām Sufyān Al-Thawrī [97-161H]

Yūsuf b. Asbāt – Allah have mercy on him – reports that whenever Sufyān remembered the hereafter he would urinate blood.

It is also reported that Sufyān – Allah have mercy on him – said:

I sometimes see something I feel I am obliged to speak out about, but when I don’t say anything I urinate blood.

And in another report:

I sometimes see an evil being done, but if I don’t speak out about it I urinate blood.

Al-Dhahabī , Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` in his biography of Imām Sufyān Al-Thawrī .

Sufyān Al-Thawrī

Fear The Hereafter
Training Children for Worship

Al-Rubay’ bint Mu’awwidh – Allah be pleased with her – said while describing how the Prophet – Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – told them to fast ‘Āshūrā:

We used to make toys out of dyed wool for the children and keep them with us so if the children asked us for food we would give them the toys to distract them until they completed their fast.

Sahīh Muslim. A similar narration is also in Sahīh Al-Bukhārī.

Al-Nawawī states in his commentary on Sahīh Muslim:

In this narration we are shown that children should be trained to do acts of obedience and made used to doing worship; although they are not legally bound.

Al-Rubayʿ bint Muʿawwidh

Family Fasting Ramadan Worship
Imām Al-Shāfi’ī: Evidence that the Believers will see their Lord

Abū Ibrāhīm Al-Muzanī, the companion of Imām Al-Shāfi’ī reports:

I heard Al-Shāfi’ī comment on the statement of Allah:

Nay, they (the unbelievers) will be on that day veiled from their Lord. [Al-Muṭaffifīn: 15]

He said, “In this verse there is evidence that the awliyā` of Allah (His beloved righteous worshippers) will see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection.”

Al-Lālakā`ī in Sharḥ Usūl I’tiqād Ahl Al-Sunnah wa Al-Jamā’ah Vol.2 p309.

Imām Al-Shāfiʿī

The Hereafter ʿAqīdah
How ʿUmar received the treasure of Persia

Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd Al-Raḥmān b. ‘Auf reports:

ʿUmar b. Al-Khattāb – Allah be pleased with him – was given the treasures of the Persian Emperor (after his conquest), ʿAbdullah b. Arqam asked, “Are you going to put this into the public treasury (bayt al-māl) until you can distribute it?” ʿUmar replied, “No by Allah, I will not take this under a roof before I have passed it on.” So they put it in the middle of the mosque and spent the night guarding it. In the morning, ʿUmar uncovered the treasure and saw such an amount of gold and silver that it almost shone; so he began to cry. ʿAbd Al-Raḥmān b. ‘Auf – Allah be pleased with him – said, “Why do you cry o Amīr of the Believers? This is a day of thanks and a day of happiness for sure.” ʿUmar replied, “Woe to you, this has never been given to a people except that it has cast enmity and hatred amongst them.”

Ibn Al-Mubārak in Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqā`iq Vol. 2 p595, 596.

ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb

Dunyā
A Sign of Knowledge and a Sign of Ignorance

Masrūq – Allah have mercy on him – said:

Sufficient as knowledge for a person is that he fears Allah, and sufficient as ignorance for a person is that he feels impressed with the knowledge he has.

Al-Ājurrī in Akhlāq Al-‘Ulamā’ no.40.

Masrūq was one of the major Tābi’īn, or students of the Companions. He accompanied Ibn Mas’ūd and was one of his students who became senior teachers and muftis after him. He reported from numerous other Sahābah. It is said that he was called Masrūq (literally: stolen) because he was kidnapped as a child but later recovered. He died in 62H or 63H.

Masrūq

Fear Knowledge
Make Fasting Different

Sulaymān b. Mūsā [d119H] – Allah have mercy on him – said:

When you fast, your hearing and sight should also fast, and your tongue should fast by keeping away from lies; and do not harm your servant. Don’t let the day you fast be the same as the day you don’t fast.

Tārīkh Dimishq Vol. 22 p389.

Al-Sawm (fasting) literally means to keep away from something. Fasting of the faculties of hearing and seeing means to keep away from listening to and looking at things that are displeasing to Allah, in the same way that we stay away from food and drink when we are fasting.

Sulaymān b. Mūsā

Fasting Ramadan
Marriage and the Light of Faith

‘Ikrimah, Sumay’ and Kurayb report that Ibn ‘Abbās – Allah be pleased with them – said to them:

Marry, for if the servant of Allah commits fornication Allah snatches the light of īmān from him, and may or may not return it to him.

Ibn Sa’d, Al-Ṭabaqāt Al-Kubrā (Dār Ṣādir ed.), Vol.5 p287.

ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbbās

Īman Marriage Relationships Sins
The Secret Charity of ‘Alī b. Husayn

It is reported that there used to be poor people in Al-Madīnah who didn’t know where they were getting their food from. When ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn passed away, they started missing what they used to be given at night.

Abū Ḥamzah Al-Thumālī narrates that ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn used to carry bread on his back in the darkness of the night and follow the poor people (to give it to them). He used to say, “Charity in the darkness of the night extinguishes the Lords anger.”

‘Amr b. Thābit reports that when ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn died, they found marks on his back from the sacks of provisions he used to carry at night to the houses of the widows.

Shaybah b. Nu’āmah narrates that when ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn died they found out that he used to provide for a hundred (poor) families.

Al-Dhahabī in Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā’ under the biography of ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn Zayn Al-‘Ābidīn.

ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn Zayn Al-ʿĀbidīn

Charity Ikhlās Intentions