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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

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The life of the salaf was defined by the harmony between their words and their deeds.

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Condemning the haste to assume positions of leadership in gatherings, teaching, and issuing legal rulings.

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Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

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"Acquire fiqh before you are elevated to positions of leadership."

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And Ibrahim Ibn Adham, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"Whenever we saw a young man speaking in a gathering,

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we despaired of any good coming from him."

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And al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"Whoever speaks before he is needed to do so brings humiliation upon himself."

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And Sahnun, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"I have never found anyone who sold his Hereafter for the worldly life of another, except for the one who issues legal rulings."

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And al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"If a young person assumes a position of leadership, much knowledge escapes him."

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And Malik Ibn Anas, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"I did not issue a legal ruling until seventy [scholars] testified that I was qualified to do so."

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And he also said, may Allah have mercy on him:

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"I would not answer a question regarding a legal ruling until I had asked someone more knowledgeable than myself,

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whether he saw me as fit for that task."

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"I asked Rabi'ah and I asked Yahya Ibn Sa'id,

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and they commanded me to do so."

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It was said to him, "O Abu Abd Allah,

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what if they had forbidden you?"

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He said, "I would have desisted."

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"It is not appropriate for a man to consider himself fit for something

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until he asks someone who is more knowledgeable than him."

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And he said, may Allah have mercy on him:

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"Not everyone who wishes to sit in the mosque to teach hadith and issue legal rulings should do so,

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until he consults the people of righteousness and virtue,

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and the people of authority in the mosque.

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If they see him as fit for it, then he may sit."

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"I did not sit until seventy scholars of knowledge testified

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that I was a person fit for that."

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And Sahnun Ibn Sa'id, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"The boldest of people in issuing legal rulings are the least of them in knowledge."

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"A man may possess only one chapter of knowledge,

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yet he thinks that all truth is contained within it."

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And it was said to him:

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"Questions come to you that are well-known and understood,

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yet you are slow to answer them."

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He replied:

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"To be quick with an answer that is correct

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is a greater trial than the trial of wealth."

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And he said, may Allah have mercy on him:

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"You find a man who is patient with fasting and prayer,

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and who exercises caution regarding his worldly needs,

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but when it comes to issuing legal rulings, he lacks patience."

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And al-Sa'luki, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

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"Whoever assumes a position of leadership before his time,

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has only invited his own disgrace."

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Stories and incidents concerning some of the scholars.

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Muhammad Ibn al-Munkadir, may Allah have mercy on him, passed by

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a young man talking to a woman on the road.

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He said:

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"O young man,

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is this how you show gratitude for the blessing of Allah upon you?"

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And he, may Allah have mercy on him, saw a man with a woman in a ruin,

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and he was speaking to her.

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He said:

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"O you, Allah sees you both;

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may Allah conceal us and you."

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And from Thabit:

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That Silah Ibn Ashyam, may Allah have mercy on him, and his companions

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saw a man who had let his garment hang below his ankles.

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His companions wanted to rebuke him with their tongues,

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but Silah said:

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"Leave him to me, I will suffice you."

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He said:

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"O son of my brother,

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I have a need of you."

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"What is it, O uncle?"

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He said:

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"Raise your garment."

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He said, "Yes, and with pleasure."

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Then he said to his companions:

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"Had you approached him harshly, he would have said,

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'I will not do it,' and he would have persisted."

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Some of the salaf saw a man from the family of Ali walking with a swagger,

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so he hurried to him, took his hand, and said:

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"O you,

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the one whom Allah has honored, this was not his way of walking."

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He said:

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"And the man abandoned that walk thereafter."

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Malik Ibn al-Mundhir summoned Muhammad Ibn Wasi', may Allah have mercy on him,

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who was the chief of police in Basra,

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and said:

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"Take the position of judge."

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But Muhammad refused.

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He pressed him again, but he refused.

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So he said:

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"Either you take the position, or I will have you lashed three hundred times."

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Muhammad said to him:

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"If you do so, you are a tyrant,

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and to be humiliated in this world is better than to be humiliated in the Hereafter."

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A woman came to Sufyan al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, and said:

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"My son has neglected me and abandoned his work."

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He asked:

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"In what field is your son occupied?"

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She said:

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"In hadith."

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He said:

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"Seek your reward with Allah."

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And it was said to Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him:

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"If only you would unite the people upon one thing."

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He replied:

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"It does not please me that they do not differ."

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Then he wrote to the horizons and the provinces,

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that every people should judge according to what their jurists have agreed upon.

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Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, was brought before the Caliph,

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and they tried to intimidate him,

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for he had already beheaded two men.

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Ahmad looked at Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Shafi'i

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and said:

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"What do you remember from al-Shafi'i regarding wiping [the khuffayn]?"

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Ibn Abi Du'ad said:

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"Look at this man who is being led to his execution,

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yet he is debating fiqh!"

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And Abu Zakariya al-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him,

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showed signs of brilliance from his youth.

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He arrived in Damascus in the year 649,

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and he read the *Tanbih* in four and a half months,

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and memorized a quarter of *al-Muhadhdhab* in the remainder of the year.

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He remained with his teacher, al-Kamal

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Ishaq Ibn Ahmad al-Maghribi, may Allah have mercy on him,

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and stayed for nearly two years,

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barely resting his side to sleep,

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subsisting only on the stipend from the Rawahiyah school where he resided.

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He would read twelve lessons a day to the scholars,

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covering explanation and verification.

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He, may Allah have mercy on him, possessed a great share of knowledge and asceticism,

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moderation in living, and patience with its hardships,

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and a level of piety that we have not heard of in anyone of his time,

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nor for a long time before him.

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He slept very little,

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spending much of his night in worship, recitation, remembrance, and writing.

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He was one who enjoined good and forbade evil,

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confronting the princes, the elite, and the kings with that,

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and speaking the truth openly.

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Sheikh Muhyi al-Din was appointed

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to the headship of the Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyah

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after Sheikh Shihab al-Din Abu Shamah, may Allah have mercy on him,

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in the year 665 until he passed away.

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He did not take a single penny from its endowment,

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and he rarely accepted a gift from anyone.

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He lived only on what came to him from his father, of bread and dry food.

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He was unassuming among the people,

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yet he was clothed in tranquility and dignity, may Allah have mercy on him.