In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The life of the salaf was defined by the harmony between their words and their deeds.
Guarding the tongue.
Guarding the tongue against backbiting.
It is narrated from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said:
"The one who conveys a false statement,
and the one who sustains it with sin, are both the same."
It is also narrated from Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said:
"Beware of backbiting,
for its perpetrator finds no rest from the torment of the grave."
Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"The backbiter corrupts in an hour
what the sorcerer cannot corrupt in a month."
Condemning the two-faced and warning against them.
Some people said to Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both:
"We enter upon our rulers,
and we say to them things contrary to what we say
when we leave their presence."
He replied:
"We used to consider that hypocrisy."
Guarding the tongue against lying.
It is narrated from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said:
"Beware of lying,
for lying is incompatible with faith."
'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"You will not find a believer who is a habitual liar."
'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say:
"Lying is not appropriate, whether in earnest or in jest,
nor should a man promise his child something
and then fail to fulfill it."
He also said, may Allah be pleased with him:
"A man continues to speak the truth and strives for truthfulness
until there is not left in his heart for wickedness
even the space of a needle's eye to settle.
And a man continues to lie and strives for falsehood
until there is not left in his heart for righteousness
even the space of a needle's eye to settle."
Ibn Mas'ud and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said:
"A believer may be naturally inclined to all sorts of traits,
except for lying and treachery;
for you will never find a believer who is a traitor or a liar."
Al-Hasan, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"It is counted as hypocrisy:
the discrepancy between action and speech,
the discrepancy between one's private and public life,
and the discrepancy between what one enters into and what one exits from."
"The root of hypocrisy, and that upon which hypocrisy is built,
is lying."
He also said, may Allah have mercy on him:
"Lying is the sum of hypocrisy."
Yunus ibn 'Ubayd, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Every bad trait may be hoped to be abandoned one day,
except for the one who is a habitual liar."
Hudhayfah al-Mar'ashi, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"That I should intentionally tell a lie for the sake of Allah
is more beloved to me than performing a Hajj pilgrimage."
Samnun ibn 'Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him,
used to speak about divine love,
then he named himself 'the liar'
because of his claim in his own words:
'I have no share in anything other than You,
so test me however You wish.'
He was then tested with urinary retention,
and he would go around to the offices
and say to the young boys:
'Pray for your uncle who is afflicted by his tongue.'"
Some eloquent scholars said:
"The truthful person is protected and honored,
while the liar is disgraced and humiliated."
Ibrahim, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"They did not permit lying
in either earnest or jest."
Yazid ibn Maysarah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Lying waters the door of every evil,
just as water waters the roots of trees."
Some of the wise men of the Arabs said:
"I examined the qualities of people,
and I found the most noble of them to be the truthfulness of the tongue.
Whoever lacks the virtue of truthfulness in his speech
has been bereaved of his most honorable character."
Guarding the tongue against reviling and insulting.
It is narrated from Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said:
"Whoever curses something without cause,
the curse continues to circulate between the heaven and the earth,
until it settles upon the collarbone of the one who uttered it."
Abu Ja'far,
Muhammad ibn 'Ali, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"The weapon of the base is foul speech."
It is narrated from Ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him, that he said:
"Whoever belittles the scholars loses his Hereafter,
whoever belittles the rulers loses his worldly life,
and whoever belittles his brothers loses his chivalry."
Mujahid, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"It is said that whenever the devil mentions a people, he is present with them.
So if he hears someone cursing him, he says:
'You have cursed one who is already cursed.'
And there is nothing more cutting to his back than 'La ilaha illa Allah' (There is no god but Allah)."
Guarding the tongue against mockery.
Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"I see something that is blameworthy,
and nothing prevents me from speaking about it
except the fear that I might be afflicted with it myself."
Al-Hasan, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"They used to say:
'Whoever mocks his brother for a sin from which he has repented to Allah, the Almighty and Majestic,
will not die until Allah afflicts him with it.'"
Guarding the tongue against speaking about Allah without knowledge.
And piety in issuing fatwas and narrating from the Prophet, peace be upon him.
Maymun ibn Mihran, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him,
when a dispute was brought to him, would look into the Book of Allah.
If he found in it that which he could judge by, he would judge between them with it.
If he did not find it in the Book,
he would look to see if there was a Sunnah from the Prophet, peace be upon him, regarding it.
If he knew it, he would judge by it.
And if he did not know it, he would go out and ask the Muslims,
saying: 'Such and such has come to me,
and I have looked into the Book of Allah
and into the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
and I have not found anything regarding it.
Do you know if the Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him,
has issued a judgment regarding this?'
Often a group would stand up
and say: 'Yes, he judged such and such regarding it.'
So he would accept the judgment of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, used to do the same.
If he found it difficult to find in the Qur'an and the Sunnah,
he would look to see if Abu Bakr had issued a judgment regarding it.
If he found that Abu Bakr had issued a judgment regarding it, he would follow it.
Otherwise, he would call the leaders of the Muslims and their scholars,
and consult them.
If they agreed upon a matter, he would judge between them accordingly.
'Ubayd ibn Jurayj said:
"I used to sit in Makkah with Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both,
and he would say 'I do not know' regarding what he was asked
more often than he would issue a fatwa."
It is narrated from Jabir ibn Zayd
that Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, met him during the circumambulation (Tawaf),
and said to him:
"O Abu al-Sha'tha',
you are one of the scholars of Basra,
so do not issue a fatwa except based on a clear Qur'an
or an established Sunnah,
for if you do otherwise,
you will perish and cause others to perish."
'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"O people,
fear Allah.
Whoever among you knows something,
let him speak based on what he knows,
and whoever does not know,
let him say:
'Allah knows best.'
For it is better for one of you
to say about what he does not know:
'Allah knows best,'
for Allah, the Almighty and Majestic,
said to His Prophet, peace be upon him:
'Say: I do not ask of you any reward for it.'"
“Say (O Muhammad, unto mankind): I ask of you no fee for this, and I am no simulating.” (38:86)
It is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both,
that they said:
"Whoever issues a fatwa to people on everything they ask him about
is a madman."
He also said, may Allah be pleased with him:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said..."
then he trembled,
and then he said something similar to that.
Anas, may Allah be pleased with him,
used to narrate little from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
and when he did narrate from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
he would say:
"Or as the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said."
Al-Sha'bi, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"'I do not know' is half of knowledge."
'Umar ibn Abi Za'idah said:
"I have never seen anyone who was more frequent
in saying, when asked about something:
'I have no knowledge of it,'
than al-Sha'bi, may Allah have mercy on him."
It was said to al-Sha'bi, may Allah have mercy on him:
"How did you used to act when you were asked?"
He said:
"When a man was asked,
he would say to his companion: 'You answer it,'
and they would continue until it returned to the first one."
Ibn Abi Layla, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"I met one hundred and twenty of the Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
and there was not one of them who was asked a hadith
but that he wished his brother would suffice him in narrating it,
nor was there one asked for a fatwa
but that he wished his brother would suffice him in issuing it."
Some wise men said:
"Do not speak about what you do not know,
lest you be accused regarding what you do know."
Ibn Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him,
when asked about the lawful and the unlawful,
his color would change,
until you would say he was not the same person he was before.
The life of peace.
Between speech and action.