Sayings of the Salaf

It is reported that ʿIkrimah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Everyone gets happy and gets sad, but you should turn your happiness into gratitude (to Allāh) and your sadness into patience (ṣabr).

Ibn Kathīr, Tafsir of Al-Ḥadīd: 23.

It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:

Whoever is happy (satisfied) with what Allāh has apportioned for him, it will suffice him and Allāh will bless it for him, but whoever is not satisfied, then [what is apportioned for him] will not suffice him and it will not be blessed.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Riḍā ʿan Allāh bi Qaḍāʾihi article 95.

Muʿāwiyah b. Khadīj (or Ḥudayj) reports that he once passed by Abū Ḏarr Al-Ġifārī – Allāh be pleased with him – while the latter was standing with a horse of his, so he asked:

“What are you doing with this horse of yours?” Abū Ḏarr replied, “I think this horse has had his supplication answered.” Muʿāwiyah asked, “And what supplication does a beast have?” He replied, “By him in whose hand is my soul, there is no horse except that it supplicates every twilight before the dawn: O Allāh, you have given me to a servant of yours and have put my provision at his hands, so make me more beloved to him than his wife, his property and his children.”

Imām Aḥmad, Al-Musnad, ḥadīth 21334.

Note: The report of this supplication as being from the Arabian horse is also related via Abū Ḏarr from the Prophet ﷺ himself in the Sunan of Al-Nasāʾī and elsewhere in the Musnad of Aḥmad, and has been graded Ṣaḥīḥ by Al-Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ Susan Al-Nasāʾī ḥadīth 3581 and Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Tarġīb ḥadīth 1251, although scholars have differed on this. In any case, an authentic report from a Companion about matters of the unseen has the ruling of being from the Prophet ﷺ because the Companions did not speak about the unseen except after learning about it from the Prophet ﷺ.

It is reported that ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him – said:

Blessings arrive with gratitude [to Allāh], and gratitude is connected with more [blessings], and the two are tied together: more blessings from Allāh will never stop unless gratitude from the servant stops.

Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Shukr article 18.

A man once asked ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr b. Al-ʿĀṣ – Allāh be pleased with them:

“Are we not from the poor of the Muhājirīn?” He replied, “Do you have a wife to go back to?” The man replied, “Yes.” ʿAbdullāh asked, “Do you have a home to live in?” The man said, “Yes.” ʿAbdullāh said, “Then you are one of the rich.” The man said, “And I have a servant.” ʿAbdullāh said, “In that case, you are a king!”

Muslim, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ #5290