WEBVTT 00:00:00.850 --> 00:00:03.850 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 00:00:03.850 --> 00:00:09.300 The life of the salaf between word and deed. 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:13.439 Self-abasement. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:20.620 Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said in the sermon he delivered at the beginning of his caliphate: 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:23.719 "I have been given authority over you, though I am not the best among you." 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:26.719 "If I do well, then support me." 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:30.719 "And if I do wrong, then correct me." 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:32.880 Sufyan, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:36.880 It reached us that al-Hasan, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:40.880 "Yes, by Allah, he was indeed the best of them." 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:43.880 "But the believer abases his own soul." 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:48.140 And Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:54.619 "If you knew what I know about myself, you would heap dust upon my head." 00:00:54.619 --> 00:00:58.619 A man once jostled Salim Ibn Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him. 00:00:58.619 --> 00:01:00.619 Salim said to him: 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:03.619 "Take it easy, may Allah have mercy on you." 00:01:03.619 --> 00:01:05.620 The man replied: 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:08.650 "I see you as nothing but a wicked man." 00:01:08.650 --> 00:01:10.650 Salim replied: 00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:12.650 "I do not think you are any better." 00:01:12.650 --> 00:01:16.739 Mutarrif Ibn Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:01:16.739 --> 00:01:19.739 "No one has ever praised me," 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.780 "but that my soul felt smaller in my own estimation." 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:26.810 He also said, may Allah have mercy on him, while at Arafat: 00:01:26.810 --> 00:01:29.810 "O Allah, do not reject the entire gathering on my account." 00:01:29.810 --> 00:01:34.219 Abdullah Ibn Bakr al-Muzani, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:01:34.219 --> 00:01:37.219 I heard a man narrating on the authority of my father: 00:01:37.219 --> 00:01:40.219 That he was standing at Arafat, 00:01:40.219 --> 00:01:42.219 and he wept, saying: 00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:44.219 "Were it not for my presence among them," 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:47.219 "I would have said that they have been forgiven." 00:01:47.219 --> 00:01:49.379 Al-Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:01:49.379 --> 00:01:55.379 "Thus should the servant belittle his own soul and abase it." 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:58.700 Muhammad Ibn Wasi‘, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.700 "If sins had a scent," 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:04.700 "you would not be able to come near me," 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:06.700 "due to the stench of my sins." 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:11.250 Abdullah Ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him, was reading: 00:02:11.250 --> 00:02:13.250 The Book of Rites (al-Manasik). 00:02:13.250 --> 00:02:16.250 He reached a hadith which contained: 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:19.250 "Abdullah said: 'We adopt this view.'" 00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:23.250 He asked, "Who wrote this from my words?" 00:02:23.250 --> 00:02:26.250 It was said, "The scribe who wrote it." 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:30.250 He continued to rub it out with his hand until it was erased. 00:02:30.250 --> 00:02:35.729 Then he said, "Who am I that my words should be written down?" 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:39.729 Abu Sulayman al-Darani, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:02:39.729 --> 00:02:45.729 "If all of creation gathered to lower my status as much as I lower it in my own eyes," 00:02:45.729 --> 00:02:47.729 "they would not be able to do so." 00:02:47.729 --> 00:02:52.270 A man said to Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him: 00:02:52.270 --> 00:02:55.270 "Praise be to Allah that I have seen you." 00:02:55.270 --> 00:03:01.530 He said, "Sit down. Who am I? What is this?" 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:03.530 A man said: 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:06.530 "I saw the traces of grief on the face of Abu Abdullah," 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:09.530 meaning Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:12.530 when someone praised him and said to him: 00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:16.530 "May Allah reward you with good on behalf of Islam." 00:03:16.530 --> 00:03:20.530 He replied, "Rather, may Allah reward Islam with good on my behalf." 00:03:20.530 --> 00:03:23.530 "Who am I, and what am I?" 00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:29.300 A man asked Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Attab, may Allah have mercy on him, 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:32.300 about some issues he had selected and prepared. 00:03:32.300 --> 00:03:35.300 He answered him with the best of answers. 00:03:35.300 --> 00:03:37.300 The man praised him, 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:39.300 and he said to him: 00:03:39.300 --> 00:03:42.300 "O son of my brother, do not make this a habit." 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:45.300 "For had I not reviewed them yesterday," 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:48.300 "I would not have answered you like this." 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:52.159 Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:57.159 Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, would often say: 00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:01.159 "I possess nothing, and nothing comes from me," 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:03.159 "nor is there anything in me." 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:07.189 He would often recite this line of poetry: 00:04:07.189 --> 00:04:10.189 "I am a beggar, son of a beggar," 00:04:10.189 --> 00:04:13.189 "and such were my father and my grandfather." 00:04:13.189 --> 00:04:17.220 When he was praised to his face, he would say: 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:22.220 "By Allah, I am still renewing my Islam at every moment," 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:26.220 "and I have not yet truly submitted as I ought." 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:29.540 Toward the end of his life, he sent me 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:32.540 a treatise on Tafsir in his own handwriting. 00:04:32.540 --> 00:04:36.610 On the back of it were verses of his own composition: 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:39.610 "I am the one in need of the Lord of all creation," 00:04:39.610 --> 00:04:43.610 "I am the poor one in all my states." 00:04:43.610 --> 00:04:47.610 "I am the one who wrongs my own soul, and it is my oppressor," 00:04:47.610 --> 00:04:51.610 "and if any good comes to us, it comes from Him." 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:55.610 "I cannot bring any benefit to myself," 00:04:55.610 --> 00:04:59.610 "nor can I ward off any harm from myself." 00:04:59.610 --> 00:05:03.610 "I have no master other than Him to manage my affairs," 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:07.610 "nor any intercessor when my sins surround me." 00:05:07.610 --> 00:05:11.610 "I possess nothing apart from Him, ever," 00:05:11.610 --> 00:05:15.610 "nor am I a partner to Him in even the smallest atom." 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:19.610 "He has no helper to assist Him," 00:05:19.610 --> 00:05:23.610 "as is the case with those who hold worldly authority." 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:27.610 "Poverty is an essential attribute of my being forever," 00:05:27.610 --> 00:05:31.610 "just as richness is an essential attribute of His being forever." 00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:35.610 "This state is the state of all creation," 00:05:35.610 --> 00:05:39.610 "and they are all servants coming to Him." 00:05:39.610 --> 00:05:43.610 "So whoever seeks a goal from other than his Creator," 00:05:43.610 --> 00:05:47.610 "is the ignorant, oppressive, arrogant polytheist." 00:05:47.610 --> 00:05:51.610 "And praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds," 00:05:51.610 --> 00:05:55.610 "for what has passed and for what is yet to come." 00:05:55.610 --> 00:06:00.220 He, may Allah have mercy on him, would draw the righteous poor close, 00:06:00.220 --> 00:06:04.220 honor them, keep them company, and be easygoing 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:08.220 with his delightful conversation, more so than with others. 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:12.279 He would even serve them himself, 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:16.279 and assist them by carrying their burdens to comfort their hearts, 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:20.279 seeking thereby to draw closer to his Lord. 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:24.540 He, may Allah have mercy on him, would never grow weary of anyone 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:28.540 who sought a legal ruling or asked him a question; rather, he would turn to them 00:06:28.540 --> 00:06:32.569 with a cheerful face and a gentle disposition. 00:06:32.569 --> 00:06:36.569 He would stand with them until they were the ones to depart from him, 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:40.569 whether they were young or old, man or woman, 00:06:40.569 --> 00:06:44.569 free or slave, scholar or layman. 00:06:44.569 --> 00:06:48.569 He would never rebuff them—that is, he would never meet them with speech 00:06:48.569 --> 00:06:52.569 that was harsh or cold, nor would he embarrass them, 00:06:52.569 --> 00:06:56.569 nor alienate them with words that would cause them distress. 00:06:56.569 --> 00:07:00.569 Rather, he would answer them, help them understand, and clarify the error 00:07:00.569 --> 00:07:05.689 from the truth with gentleness and openness. 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:10.009 Between word and deed.