WEBVTT

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

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The Life of the Salaf Between Word and Deed:

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Courteousness toward People.

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On the authority of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:

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"He is not truly forbearing who does not treat with kindness

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someone with whom he has no choice but to associate,

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until Allah grants him a way out."

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On the authority of 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:

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"It is written in wisdom:

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'Let your speech be pleasant,

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and let your countenance be cheerful,

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and you will be more beloved to people than one who gives them gifts.'"

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

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"Managing people is more difficult than managing beasts."

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Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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"As long as you live, treat all people with courtesy,

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for you are living in an abode of courteous adaptation.

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Whoever behaves courteously will prosper, and whoever does not will soon see himself

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becoming a companion to regret."

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A man complained to Makhlad ibn al-Husayn (may Allah have mercy on him)

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about a man from the people of Kufa.

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Makhlad replied, "Where are you when it comes to social courtesy?

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For indeed, I treat everyone with courtesy, even this girl,"

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referring to an Abyssinian slave girl who was sifting barley for his horses.

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Scrupulous Piety: Its Importance and Meaning.

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On the authority of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who said:

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"Indeed, people have neglected the greatest part of their religion: scrupulous piety (*wara'*)."

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'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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"To return a single dirham of doubtful origin

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is more beloved to me than giving one hundred thousand in charity—

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nay, even reaching six hundred thousand!"

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On the authority of al-Dahhak (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:

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"I met people who used to learn scrupulous piety."

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On the authority of Damrah ibn Habib (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:

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"Do not be amazed by the abundance of a person's prayer or fasting,

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but look instead to his scrupulous piety.

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If he possesses scrupulous piety alongside whatever worship Allah has provided him,

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then he is truly a servant of Allah."

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These are accounts of the salaf regarding scrupulous piety.

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On the authority of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who said:

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Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had

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a slave boy who used to pay him an agreed daily earnings fee (*kharaj*),

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and Abu Bakr would eat from his earnings.

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One day the slave brought something, and Abu Bakr ate from it.

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The slave boy asked him, "Do you know what this is?"

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Abu Bakr replied, "What is it?"

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He said,

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"I performed fortune-telling for a man during the pre-Islamic Days of Ignorance,

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though I was no good at fortune-telling;

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I merely deceived him.

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He met me today and gave me this for it,

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and this is what you just ate from."

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Abu Bakr inserted his hand into his throat

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and vomited up everything that was in his stomach.

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Mu'adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) had two wives.

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When it was the day assigned to one of them,

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he would not even perform ablution in the house of the other.

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Later, both wives passed away during the plague that struck them in Syria,

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while the people were intensely preoccupied.

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So both were buried in a single grave,

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and he drew lots between them

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as to which of them should be lowered into the grave first.

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Whenever Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him)

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narrated a hadith, he appeared as though he were guarding against something,

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as if he were wary of something.

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Ibn 'Awn said:

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"I heard Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him)

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say regarding a matter I debated with him:

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'I did not say to you that there is no harm in it;

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I only said to you:

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I do not know of any harm in it.'"

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On the authority of Hisham ibn Hassan, who said:

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"Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) gave up

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forty thousand dirhams

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regarding a transaction in which you today would see no harm."

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'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) was brought

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water that had been heated using fuel from the state treasury.

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He disliked it and refused to perform ablution with it.

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Once, spoils containing musk were brought to him (may Allah have mercy on him),

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so he covered his nose.

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They asked, "O Commander of the Faithful,

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why do you hold your nose for this?"

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He replied, "One benefits from this only through its scent,

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and I dislike enjoying its scent to the exclusion of the rest of the Muslims."

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On the authority of Maymun ibn Mihran (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:

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"A man's lawful earnings are not secure

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until he places a barrier of lawful matters between himself and the unlawful."

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Clarification on Correct versus Misguided Scrupulous Piety,

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and who is worthy of scrupulous piety.

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A man asked Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both)

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about the blood of a mosquito.

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Ibn 'Umar asked, "Where are you from?"

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The man replied, "From the people of Iraq."

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Ibn 'Umar said, "Look at this man!

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He asks me about the blood of a mosquito,

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he asks me about the blood of a mosquito,

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when they have killed the grandson of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!

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And I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say:

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'They [al-Hasan and al-Husayn] are my two sweet-smelling blossoms in this world.'"

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Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Anmati said:

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"I was with Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him),

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and in front of him was an inkwell.

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A hadith was mentioned,

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so I asked his permission to write from his inkwell.

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He said to me,

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'Write, my good sir!

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For this [excessive hesitation] is dark, misplaced piety.'"

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Refinement of Manners and Chivalrous Honor (*Muru'ah*).

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On the authority of al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him),

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who said:

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"We used to come to the scholar,

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and learning from his noble manners was more beloved to us than acquiring his knowledge."

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'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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"Good manners were almost two-thirds of the religion."

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Imam Malik ibn Anas said

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to a youth from the Quraysh:

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"O son of my brother, learn good manners before you learn knowledge."

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He (may Allah have mercy on him) also said:

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"I said to my mother,

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'I am going out to write down knowledge.'

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She said,

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'Come and put on the garments of knowledge.'

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So she dressed me and wound a turban on my head,

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then said to me,

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'Go to Rabi'ah

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and learn from his manners before his knowledge.'"

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Ibn Wahb said:

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"What we acquired of Malik's good manners was more than what we learned of his knowledge."

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

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"If I knew that drinking cold water would diminish my chivalrous honor (*muru'ah*),

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I would not drink it except warm."

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The people of chivalrous honor are in constant exertion.

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Al-Dhahabi said:

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"There used to gather in the assembly of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him)

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nearly five thousand people

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or more;

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around five hundred would write down hadiths,

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while the rest learned from his excellent manners and dignified demeanor."

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Ibn al-Muqaffa' (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

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"Do not be impressed by the honor shown to you by someone due to high rank or authority,

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for authority is among the quickest worldly things to vanish.

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Nor let the honor shown to you for wealth impress you,

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for wealth follows authority in its rapid disappearance.

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Nor let their honor shown to you for noble lineage impress you,

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for lineage is the least of virtuous traits in benefiting its possessor in religion or worldly affairs.

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But if you are honored for religion or chivalrous honor,

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then let that impress you;

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for chivalrous honor will never depart from you in this world,

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and religion will never depart from you in the Hereafter."

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One of the wise men said:

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"Good manners are the outward form of the intellect,

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so fashion the form of your intellect as you wish."

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The poet said:

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"A man will never attain chivalrous honor

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if he inherits noble virtues from his father only to squander them.

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His soul commanded him to baseness and vulgarity,

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and forbade him from the paths of lofty ambition, so he obeyed it.

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Thus, whenever he acquires a trait of noble virtue

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through which the generous man builds honorable traits, he sells it away."

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The Life of the Salaf Between Word and Deed.