In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The life of the salaf between speech and action.
Fear, apprehension, and hope.
Fear and apprehension.
When ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was stabbed,
people came and began to praise him.
He said,
"I wish that it would be a wash—neither for me nor against me."
He said to Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari (may Allah be pleased with them both),
"Would it please you if our Islam with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
our migration with him,
our jihad with him,
and all our deeds with him
were a wash for us,
and that every deed we performed after him we were saved from,
breaking even, head for head?"
He replied, "No, by Allah!
We have performed jihad after the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
we have prayed and fasted,
we have done much good,
and many people have embraced Islam at our hands."
"And we hope for that [reward]."
‘Umar said,
"But as for me, by Him in Whose hand is the soul of ‘Umar,
I would wish that it were a wash for us,
and that every deed we performed after him we were saved from,
breaking even, head for head."
Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said,
"The head of ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was in my lap.
He said, 'O ‘Abdullah,
place my head on the ground.'
I gathered my garment
and placed it under his head.
He said, 'Place my head on the ground, may you have no mother!'
Then he said, 'Woe to ‘Umar and woe to his mother,
if Allah does not forgive him.'"
‘Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
"The believer sees his sins as if he were sitting beneath a mountain,
fearing it might fall upon him.
But the wicked person sees his sins like a fly that passes over his nose,
and he waves it away like this."
Abu Shihab al-Zuhri gestured with his hand over his nose.
Hudhayfah Ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
"People used to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about good,
and I used to ask him about evil, fearing it might overtake me."
When death came to Hudhayfah Ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him),
he was deeply distressed.
He was asked, "What makes you weep?"
He said, "I do not weep out of regret for the world;
rather, death is more beloved to me.
But I do not know what I am approaching:
whether it is pleasure or wrath."
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
"He who weeps out of fear of Allah will not enter the Fire,
until the milk returns to the udder."
He (may Allah be pleased with him) wept during his illness.
He was asked, "What makes you weep?"
He said, "I do not weep for this world of yours,
but I weep for the length of my journey and the scarcity of my provisions.
For I have reached the evening ascending toward Paradise or Hell,
and I do not know which of the two I shall be taken to."
Ibn ‘Abbas sought permission [to visit] before the death of ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her),
while she was overcome [by illness].
He said, "You are in a good state, if Allah wills,
as the wife of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
and he did not marry any virgin other than you,
and your exoneration was sent down from the heavens."
She replied, "I wish I were a thing forgotten and passed out of mind."
Khabbab Ibn al-Art (may Allah be pleased with him) was visited
by some of the remaining Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
They said, "Rejoice, Abu ‘Abdullah,
for you are going to meet your brothers tomorrow."
He wept and said, "It is not because of that state.
It is not that I am distressed,
but you have reminded me of people,
and you have named them as my brothers.
Those people have passed on with their rewards intact,
and I fear that the reward for what you mention of those deeds
is what we have attained after them."
Shaddad Ibn Aws al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him)
used to, when he went to bed,
toss and turn on his mattress,
unable to sleep.
He would say,
"O Allah, the Fire has taken sleep away from me."
Then he would rise and pray until morning.
Abu Raja’ al-‘Utaridi said,
"I saw Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him)
and beneath his eyes were marks like old shoelaces from his tears."
Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) entered the Ka‘bah,
and I heard him while he was prostrating, saying,
"You know that nothing prevents me from competing with the Quraysh for this world
except my fear of You."
Ka‘b al-Ahbar (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
"For me to weep out of fear of Allah,
so that my tears flow down my cheeks,
is more beloved to me than to give my weight in gold as charity."
Sufyan al-Thawri (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
"No one has been able to perform worship, nor has anyone had the strength for it,
except through intense fear."
Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him)
would frequently say in his gatherings,
"O Allah, grant safety, grant safety."
It was said to al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him),
"How should we deal with people who frighten us
until our hearts are almost ready to fly away?"
Al-Hasan replied,
"By Allah, to accompany people who frighten you
until you attain security
is better for you than to accompany people who make you feel secure
until fear overtakes you."
Some of the salaf said,
"The fearful one is not he who weeps and squeezes his eyes,
but the fearful one is he who abandons the thing he fears
he will be punished for."
Ibrahim ibn Shayban (may Allah have mercy on him)
said,
"When fear settles in the heart,
it burns away the places of desire within it,
and drives away the longing for the world."
Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad said,
"We used to travel with Ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him),
and it would often cross my mind,
and I would say to myself,
'In what way does this man excel over us
to have attained such fame among the people?
If he prays,
we also pray;
if he fasts,
we also fast;
if he goes on military expeditions,
we also go on expeditions;
if he performs Hajj,
we also perform Hajj.'
He said,
'We were on one of our journeys on the road to al-Sham,
one night, having dinner in a house,
when the lamp went out.
Some of us stood up, took the lamp,
and stayed there for a while,
then returned with the lamp.
I looked at the face of Ibn al-Mubarak,
and his beard was soaked with tears.
I said to myself,
"It is by this apprehension that this man excels over us."
Perhaps when the lamp went out
and he was plunged into darkness,
he remembered the Resurrection.'"
Ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
"The one among you with the most knowledge
should be the one among you with the most fear."
‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jabir said,
"I said to Yazid ibn Martad (may Allah have mercy on him),
'Why do I see your eyes never dry?'
He said,
'What is your question?'
'Why do I see your eyes never dry?'
He said,
'What is your question about that?'
I said,
'Perhaps Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, will benefit me through it.'
He said,
'Allah has threatened me that if I disobey Him, He will imprison me in the Fire.
By Allah, if He had only threatened to imprison me in a bathhouse,
I would still be worthy of never having dry eyes.'"
Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
"Whoever fears Allah, no one will harm him,
and whoever fears other than Allah, no one will benefit him."
Abu Sulayman al-Darani (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
"Whoever has a good opinion of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic,
yet does not fear Allah,
he is deceived."
Al-Marwazi said,
"Abu ‘Abdullah (may Allah have mercy on him)
would be choked with tears whenever death was mentioned.
He used to say,
'Fear prevents me from eating food and drinking.
When I remember death,
every worldly matter becomes trivial to me.
It is only food after food,
and clothing after clothing,
and these are but a few days.
I do not equate poverty with anything.
If I could find a way,
I would leave until I was no longer remembered.'"
Hope and having a good opinion of Allah.
‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
"Allah will surely forgive on the Day of Resurrection with a forgiveness
that has never crossed the heart of any human being."
He also said (may Allah be pleased with him),
"By Him besides Whom there is no god,
no servant has been given anything
better than a good opinion of Allah.
By Him besides Whom there is no god,
no servant has a good opinion of Allah
but that Allah gives him that which he expected,
for all good is in His hand."
He also said (may Allah be pleased with him),
By Allah, if you knew what I know of Allah,
you would surely speak out.
A Bedouin fell ill, and it was said to him,
"You are dying."
He asked, "Where am I being taken?"
They replied, "To Allah."
He said, "What reason have I to dislike going
to the One from whom I have seen nothing but good?"
Regarding Mu'tamir Ibn Sulayman, may Allah have mercy on him,
it is said:
My father, may Allah have mercy on him, said when death approached him,
"O Mu'tamir,
tell me of the concessions [in the law],
so that I may meet Allah while having a good opinion of Him."
Some have said:
Despite my fear of Allah, I am confident
in His bounty, for Allah is the most generous of those who bestow.
Regarding Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, may Allah have mercy on him,
it is said:
They used to like to remind the servant
of his good deeds at the time of his death,
so that he might have a good opinion of his Lord.
Some have said:
I truly hope in Allah, to the point that it is as if
I see, through my good opinion, what Allah is about to do.
Hammad Ibn Salamah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
By Allah, if I were given the choice between being held to account by Allah
for myself,
or being held to account by my parents,
I would choose to be held to account by Allah rather than my parents,
because Allah the Almighty is more merciful to me than my parents.
Yahya Ibn Mu'adh, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
Were it not that pardon is among the things He loves most,
He would not have tested the most honored of His creation with sin.
When Bishr Ibn Mansur, may Allah have mercy on him, was dying, he laughed
and said:
"I am departing from among those whose trials I fear,
and arriving to the One in whose mercy I have no doubt."
Balancing fear and hope.
Mutarrif, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
If the believer's fear and hope were weighed,
they would be found equal,
neither exceeding the other.
Al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
Hope and fear are the mount of the believer.
Al-Fudayl Ibn 'Iyad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
Fear is better than hope
as long as a man is healthy,
but when death descends upon him,
then hope is better.
Regarding those who swoon upon hearing an exhortation,
and the stance of the salaf regarding that.
Husayn Ibn 'Abd al-Rahman said:
I said to Asma' bint Abi Bakr, may Allah be pleased with her,
"How were the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
when the Qur'an was recited?"
She said:
"They were as Allah described them,
or as the Almighty described them:
their eyes would shed tears,
and their skins would tremble."
I said to her:
"There are men here today
who, when the Qur'an is recited to them, fall unconscious."
She replied:
"I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan."
Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, passed by
a man from Iraq who had collapsed.
He asked,
"What is the matter with him?"
They said,
"When the Qur'an is recited to him, this happens to him."
He said,
"We fear Allah the Almighty,
yet we do not collapse."
There was a man who would tremble during the dhikr,
and Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said to him:
"If you are doing this intentionally,
then I do not care to count you as anything.
And if you are not doing it intentionally,
then you have opposed those who are better than you."
Other benefits.
Al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said
regarding the saying of the Almighty:
"Here, read my record."
“Surely I knew that I should have to meet my reckoning.” (69:20)
He said:
"The believer had a good opinion of his Lord, so he performed good deeds;
while the hypocrite had a bad opinion, so he performed bad deeds."
Abu Hazim, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"The greatest quality to be hoped for in a believer
is that he be most fearful for his own soul,
and most hopeful for every other Muslim."
The life of the weapons.
Between speech and action.