In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The life of the salaf between speech and action.
The leaders who are to be followed.
Umar saw Talhah, may Allah be pleased with them both, wearing two garments dyed with red ochre.
While he was in the state of ihram.
He said:
"What are these two garments you are wearing?"
Talhah replied:
"There is no harm in them."
"They were dyed with clay."
Umar said:
"You are leaders whom people follow."
"If an ignorant person were to see you wearing a dyed garment while in the state of ihram, he would say:"
"'I saw Talhah wearing dyed garments while in the state of ihram.'"
"So, none of you, O group, should wear these garments while in the state of ihram."
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, used to:
When he went to prayer, he would be concise and brief.
Yet he would perfect his bowing and prostration.
But when he entered his house, he would prolong them.
It was said to him:
He replied:
"We are leaders who are to be followed."
Al-Awza'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"We used to laugh and joke."
"But when we became people who are followed,"
"I feared that such behavior would no longer be appropriate for us."
It was said to Yahya Ibn Yahya, may Allah have mercy on him:
"Why do you not relax in public as you do in private?"
He replied:
"If I did that, I would be imitated."
"And I love to be followed just as I have followed others."
Abandoning affectation.
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"We have been forbidden from affectation."
Ibn al-Muqaffa', may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Set for yourself a limit in everything,"
"hoping for strength and perfection in it."
"Know that if you exceed the limit in worship,"
"you will fall into negligence."
"If you exceed it in acquiring knowledge,"
"you will join the ranks of the ignorant."
"And if you exceed it in striving to please people and being overly casual with them in their needs,"
"you will be the loser and the squanderer."
Acting upon knowledge.
From Umar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"Allah, the Almighty, forbids you from swearing by your fathers."
Umar said:
"By Allah, I have not sworn by them since I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, forbid it,"
"neither as a narrator nor as one quoting another."
And from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
"People all speak well."
"So whoever’s actions conform to his words,"
"that is the one who has attained his share."
"And whoever’s actions contradict his words,"
"he is merely rebuking himself."
He, may Allah be pleased with him, also said: "Acquire knowledge,"
"and when you have learned, then act."
Abu al-Darda', may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"Woe to the one who does not know once,"
"and woe to the one who knows but does not act seven times."
He, may Allah be pleased with him, also said:
"I do not fear that it will be said to me, 'What did you know?'"
"Rather, I fear that it will be said to me, 'What did you do?'"
He, may Allah be pleased with him, also said:
"You will never be a scholar until you are a student,"
"and you will never be a scholar until you act upon what you have learned."
Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"The thing I fear most,"
"when I stand for the reckoning, is that it will be said to me:"
"'You knew, so what did you do with what you knew?'"
Jundub Ibn al-Bajali, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"The example of one who teaches people but forgets himself,"
"is like a lamp that illuminates for others while burning itself."
Mu'adh Ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"Learn what you wish to learn,"
"but Allah will not benefit you with knowledge until you act."
From Abdullah Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:
That he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say:
"It is not the right of a Muslim who has something to bequeath,"
"to spend three nights without having his will written down with him."
Abdullah Ibn Umar said:
"Not a single night has passed since I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say that,"
"without my will being with me."
Some of the salaf said:
"Whoever surpasses people in knowledge is worthy of surpassing them in action."
It was said to one of the salaf:
"How did you attain what you attained?"
He said: "Through knowledge."
It was said to him:
"But others have known more than you have known,"
"yet they did not attain what you attained."
He said:
"That was knowledge that was merely carried,"
"while this was knowledge that was put into practice."
Sufyan al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"No hadith ever reached me from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,"
"except that I acted upon it, even if only once."
He, may Allah have mercy on him, also said:
"Knowledge calls out to action;"
"if it answers, well and good; otherwise, it departs."
He, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked:
"Is seeking knowledge dearer to you, O Abu Abdullah, or action?"
He replied:
"Knowledge is only sought for the sake of action."
"Do not abandon seeking knowledge for the sake of action,"
"and do not abandon action for the sake of seeking knowledge."
Some of the wise said:
"The best of knowledge,"
"is a man stopping at the limits of his knowledge."
It was said to Alqamah, may Allah have mercy on him:
"Will you not preach to us?"
He said:
"I dislike commanding you to do what I do not do myself."
From al-Sha'bi, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
"There is no preacher who preaches,"
"but that his sermon will be presented to him on the Day of Resurrection."
From Malik Ibn Dinar, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
"When a scholar does not act upon his knowledge,"
"his exhortation slips from the hearts,"
"just as rain slips off a smooth rock."
He, may Allah have mercy on him, also said:
"If you seek knowledge to act upon it,"
"knowledge will humble you."
"But if you seek it for other than acting upon it,"
"it will only increase you in arrogance."
Umar Ibn Qays, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"If you hear of a good deed,"
"act upon it, even if only once."
From al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
"A man used to seek knowledge,"
"and it would not be long before that was seen in his humility and conduct,"
"and in his tongue, his gaze, and his hand."
From Sufyan Ibn 'Uyaynah, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
"The true people of knowledge, who are worthy of it,"
"are those who act upon it."
Al-Marwazi said:
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, said to me:
"I have not written a single hadith except that I have acted upon it,"
"to the point that it reached me that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was cupped,"
"and he gave Abu Taybah a dinar,"
"so I gave the cupper a dinar when I was cupped."
Some of them said:
"O you who teach others,"
"why was this teaching not for yourself?"
"You prescribe medicine for the sick to heal them,"
"so that they may become healthy, while you are sick."
"I see you trying to nourish our minds with guidance,"
"as advice, while you are devoid of guidance."
Ibn al-Muqaffa', may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Good speech is not complete without good action."
"It is like a sick person who knows the cure for his own ailment,"
"but if he does not treat himself with it, his knowledge will not benefit him."