Sayings of the Salaf Updates

The Age of Knowledge

Abû ‘Abdillâh Owais Al-Hâshimi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:52:23 +0000

It is reported that Ayyûb Al-Sakhtiyânî was asked:

Is knowledge today greater or lesser [in amount]? He replied, “There is more speech today, but there was more knowledge in the past.”

Al-Fasawî, Al-Ma’rifah wa Al-Târîkh 2:136.

The Expenses Claims of Umar

Abû ‘Abdillâh Owais Al-Hâshimi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:36:02 +0000

Al-Ahnaf b. Qays reports that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattâb – Allâh be pleased with him – said:

Nothing is permitted for ‘Umar from the wealth of Allâh 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.

Abû Bakr Al-Daynûrî, Al-Mujâlasah wa Jawâhir Al-‘Ilm 6:78.

Women and Food [Man Talk]

Abû ‘Abdillâh Owais Al-Hâshimi — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:56:18 +0000

It is reported that Al-Ahnaf b. Qays – Allâh have mercy on him – said:

Stay away from mentioning women and food in our gatherings, for I hate a man to constantly describe his private parts and his stomach. It is an aspect of higher conduct and religiousness that a man [sometimes] leaves eating food while he desires it.

Abû Bakr Al-Daynûrî, Al-Mujâlasah wa Jawâhir Al-‘Ilm 3:44, 45.

An advice at death about direction in Life

Abû ‘Abdillâh Owais Al-Hâshimi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:55:50 +0000

It is reported that when Al-Hasan Al-Basrî was on his deathbed, some of his companions came to him and said:

O Abû Sa’îd, 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.”

Abû Na’yam, Hilyah Al-Awliyâ` 2:154

Imam Al-Awzai’s Letter of Warning against Heresy and Heretics

Abû ‘Abdillâh Owais Al-Hâshimi — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:17:58 +0000

It is reported that Imâm Al-Awzâ’î (d157H) wrote:

O Muslims, fear Allâh 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 Allâh 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 Allâh 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 ‘Asâkir, Târîkh Dimishq 6:361, 362.