WEBVTT

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

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The lives of the salaf: between word and deed.

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Stories of the ascetic.

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Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

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I performed the Asr prayer with Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).

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Then I returned with him to his home.

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He said to his wife, Asma bint Umays,

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"Do you have any food?"

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She replied, "No, by Allah, there is nothing."

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He said, "Look again."

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She replied, "No, by Allah, there is nothing."

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So he took hold of a sheep that had given birth that very day.

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It was a sheep of his.

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He milked it.

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Then he poured the milk into a cooking pot.

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He then ordered his servant girl to cook it.

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Then it was brought to us.

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He ate, and we ate.

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Then he prayed, and we prayed.

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He did not perform wudu, nor did we.

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Anas Ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

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I saw Umar Ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him),

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while he was the Commander of the Believers,

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with four patches sewn between his shoulders,

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one on top of the other.

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Al-Hasan said:

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I saw Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him)

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sleeping in the mosque,

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wrapped in a simple cloak, with no one around him,

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even though he was the Commander of the Believers.

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Harun Ibn Antara reported from his father, who said:

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I entered upon Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him),

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and he was shivering under a worn-out velvet garment.

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I said, "O Commander of the Believers,

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Allah has allocated for you and your household a share of this wealth,

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yet you treat yourself in this manner?"

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He replied,

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"By Allah, I do not take anything from your wealth.

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This is the same garment I brought with me from my house."

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Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her)

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would distribute seventy thousand [dirhams] in a single day,

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yet she would be patching her own garment.

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When the belongings of Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) were sold,

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they amounted to only fourteen dirhams.

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Maymun Ibn Mihran said:

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I entered the house of Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both),

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and there was nothing in it worth even this much—[gesturing to a small amount].

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Hisham Ibn Abd al-Malik entered the Kaaba,

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and there he found Salim Ibn Abd Allah (may Allah have mercy on him).

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He said to him,

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"O Salim, ask me for a need."

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He replied,

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"I am too ashamed before Allah to ask for anything in the House of Allah from anyone other than Allah."

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When he stepped outside, Hisham followed him

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and said,

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"Now that you have left,

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ask me for a need."

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Salim asked him,

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"Are you referring to the needs of this world or the needs of the Hereafter?"

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He replied,

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"The needs of this world, of course."

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Salim said to him,

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"I have not asked the One who actually possesses them,

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so how could I ask one who does not?"

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Maslama Ibn Abd al-Malik said:

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I visited Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) during his illness,

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and he was wearing a dirty shirt.

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I said to Fatima bint Abd al-Malik,

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"O Fatima,

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wash the shirt of the Commander of the Believers."

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She said,

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"We shall do so, if Allah wills."

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Then I returned,

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and the shirt was in the same state.

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I said,

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"O Fatima,

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did I not command you to wash the shirt of the Commander of the Believers?

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People are coming to visit him."

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She said,

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"By Allah, he has no other shirt."

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Malik Ibn Dinar said:

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People say,

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"Malik Ibn Dinar is an ascetic."

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But the true ascetic is Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz,

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to whom the world came, yet he turned away from it.

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Sayings and wisdom on contentment.

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Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) said to his son Umar,

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"My son,

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if you seek wealth, seek it through contentment,

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for if you do not have contentment,

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no amount of wealth will ever suffice you."

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A man asked Abd Allah Ibn Amr Ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with them both), saying,

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"Are we not among the poor of the Emigrants?"

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Abd Allah asked him,

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"Do you have a wife to whom you return?"

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He said, "Yes."

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He said,

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"Do you have a dwelling in which you live?"

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He said, "Yes."

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He said,

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"Then you are among the wealthy."

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The man said,

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"But I have a servant."

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He said,

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"Then you are among the kings."

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Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

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"The wealthy eat, and we eat;

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they drink, and we drink;

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they dress, and we dress;

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they ride, and we ride.

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They have surplus wealth that they gaze upon,

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and we gaze upon it with them,

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but they will be held accountable for it,

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while we are free of it."

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Ali Ibn Sahl (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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"I sought comfort,

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and I found it in despair [of worldly things]."

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Someone else said:

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"The soul is greedy if you indulge it,

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but if you return it to a little, it becomes content."

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Another said:

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"If what suffices you does not satisfy you,

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then everything on earth will not satisfy you."

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Al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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"If you possess a contented heart,

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then you and the owner of the world are equal."

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He also said:

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"I saw that contentment is the essence of wealth,

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so I held fast to its hem.

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Now no one sees me at his door,

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nor does anyone see me obsessed with him.

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I became wealthy without a single dirham,

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walking among people like a king."

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Al-Fath Ibn Khaqan (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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I entered upon al-Mutawakkil one day,

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and I saw him bowed in deep thought.

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I said to him,

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"What is this contemplation, O Commander of the Believers?

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For by Allah, there is no one on earth with a better life than you,

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nor anyone more at peace than you."

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He replied,

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"A better life than mine?

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[It is] a man who has a spacious house,

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a righteous wife,

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and a sufficient livelihood,

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who does not know us so that we might harm him,

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and who does not need us so that we might despise him."

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The life of peace:

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between word and deed.