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.
Condemning the haste to assume positions of leadership in gatherings, teaching, and issuing legal rulings.
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"Acquire fiqh before you are elevated to positions of leadership."
And Ibrahim Ibn Adham, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Whenever we saw a young man speaking in a gathering,
we despaired of any good coming from him."
And al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Whoever speaks before he is needed to do so brings humiliation upon himself."
And Sahnun, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"I have never found anyone who sold his Hereafter for the worldly life of another, except for the one who issues legal rulings."
And al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"If a young person assumes a position of leadership, much knowledge escapes him."
And Malik Ibn Anas, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"I did not issue a legal ruling until seventy [scholars] testified that I was qualified to do so."
And he also said, may Allah have mercy on him:
"I would not answer a question regarding a legal ruling until I had asked someone more knowledgeable than myself,
whether he saw me as fit for that task."
"I asked Rabi'ah and I asked Yahya Ibn Sa'id,
and they commanded me to do so."
It was said to him, "O Abu Abd Allah,
what if they had forbidden you?"
He said, "I would have desisted."
"It is not appropriate for a man to consider himself fit for something
until he asks someone who is more knowledgeable than him."
And he said, may Allah have mercy on him:
"Not everyone who wishes to sit in the mosque to teach hadith and issue legal rulings should do so,
until he consults the people of righteousness and virtue,
and the people of authority in the mosque.
If they see him as fit for it, then he may sit."
"I did not sit until seventy scholars of knowledge testified
that I was a person fit for that."
And Sahnun Ibn Sa'id, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"The boldest of people in issuing legal rulings are the least of them in knowledge."
"A man may possess only one chapter of knowledge,
yet he thinks that all truth is contained within it."
And it was said to him:
"Questions come to you that are well-known and understood,
yet you are slow to answer them."
He replied:
"To be quick with an answer that is correct
is a greater trial than the trial of wealth."
And he said, may Allah have mercy on him:
"You find a man who is patient with fasting and prayer,
and who exercises caution regarding his worldly needs,
but when it comes to issuing legal rulings, he lacks patience."
And al-Sa'luki, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Whoever assumes a position of leadership before his time,
has only invited his own disgrace."
Stories and incidents concerning some of the scholars.
Muhammad Ibn al-Munkadir, may Allah have mercy on him, passed by
a young man talking to a woman on the road.
He said:
"O young man,
is this how you show gratitude for the blessing of Allah upon you?"
And he, may Allah have mercy on him, saw a man with a woman in a ruin,
and he was speaking to her.
He said:
"O you, Allah sees you both;
may Allah conceal us and you."
And from Thabit:
That Silah Ibn Ashyam, may Allah have mercy on him, and his companions
saw a man who had let his garment hang below his ankles.
His companions wanted to rebuke him with their tongues,
but Silah said:
"Leave him to me, I will suffice you."
He said:
"O son of my brother,
I have a need of you."
"What is it, O uncle?"
He said:
"Raise your garment."
He said, "Yes, and with pleasure."
Then he said to his companions:
"Had you approached him harshly, he would have said,
'I will not do it,' and he would have persisted."
Some of the salaf saw a man from the family of Ali walking with a swagger,
so he hurried to him, took his hand, and said:
"O you,
the one whom Allah has honored, this was not his way of walking."
He said:
"And the man abandoned that walk thereafter."
Malik Ibn al-Mundhir summoned Muhammad Ibn Wasi', may Allah have mercy on him,
who was the chief of police in Basra,
and said:
"Take the position of judge."
But Muhammad refused.
He pressed him again, but he refused.
So he said:
"Either you take the position, or I will have you lashed three hundred times."
Muhammad said to him:
"If you do so, you are a tyrant,
and to be humiliated in this world is better than to be humiliated in the Hereafter."
A woman came to Sufyan al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, and said:
"My son has neglected me and abandoned his work."
He asked:
"In what field is your son occupied?"
She said:
"In hadith."
He said:
"Seek your reward with Allah."
And it was said to Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him:
"If only you would unite the people upon one thing."
He replied:
"It does not please me that they do not differ."
Then he wrote to the horizons and the provinces,
that every people should judge according to what their jurists have agreed upon.
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, was brought before the Caliph,
and they tried to intimidate him,
for he had already beheaded two men.
Ahmad looked at Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Shafi'i
and said:
"What do you remember from al-Shafi'i regarding wiping [the khuffayn]?"
Ibn Abi Du'ad said:
"Look at this man who is being led to his execution,
yet he is debating fiqh!"
And Abu Zakariya al-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him,
showed signs of brilliance from his youth.
He arrived in Damascus in the year 649,
and he read the *Tanbih* in four and a half months,
and memorized a quarter of *al-Muhadhdhab* in the remainder of the year.
He remained with his teacher, al-Kamal
Ishaq Ibn Ahmad al-Maghribi, may Allah have mercy on him,
and stayed for nearly two years,
barely resting his side to sleep,
subsisting only on the stipend from the Rawahiyah school where he resided.
He would read twelve lessons a day to the scholars,
covering explanation and verification.
He, may Allah have mercy on him, possessed a great share of knowledge and asceticism,
moderation in living, and patience with its hardships,
and a level of piety that we have not heard of in anyone of his time,
nor for a long time before him.
He slept very little,
spending much of his night in worship, recitation, remembrance, and writing.
He was one who enjoined good and forbade evil,
confronting the princes, the elite, and the kings with that,
and speaking the truth openly.
Sheikh Muhyi al-Din was appointed
to the headship of the Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyah
after Sheikh Shihab al-Din Abu Shamah, may Allah have mercy on him,
in the year 665 until he passed away.
He did not take a single penny from its endowment,
and he rarely accepted a gift from anyone.
He lived only on what came to him from his father, of bread and dry food.
He was unassuming among the people,
yet he was clothed in tranquility and dignity, may Allah have mercy on him.