WEBVTT 00:00:00.850 --> 00:00:04.799 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:11.720 The life of the salaf between speech and action. 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.119 High aspirations. 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:19.190 Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) said: 00:00:19.190 --> 00:00:23.690 When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) passed away, 00:00:23.690 --> 00:00:26.190 I said to a man from the Ansar, 00:00:26.190 --> 00:00:32.189 "Shall we go and ask the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)?" 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:35.219 "For they are many today." 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:36.219 He replied, 00:00:36.219 --> 00:00:39.219 "How strange of you, O Ibn 'Abbas! 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:42.219 Do you think people are in need of you, 00:00:42.219 --> 00:00:48.250 while among the people are the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in such numbers?" 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:49.250 He said: 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:51.250 So I left that pursuit, 00:00:51.250 --> 00:00:57.250 and I began asking the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about hadiths. 00:00:57.250 --> 00:01:00.750 If a hadith reached me about a man, 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:03.750 I would go to his door while he was taking his midday nap, 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:05.750 and I would lay my cloak on the ground as a pillow. 00:01:05.750 --> 00:01:07.750 He would come out and see me, 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:08.750 and say, 00:01:08.750 --> 00:01:12.750 "O cousin of the Messenger of Allah, what brings you here? 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:15.780 Why did you not send for me so I could come to you?" 00:01:15.780 --> 00:01:17.939 I would say, "No, 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:21.939 I am more deserving to come to you and ask you about the hadith." 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:25.200 That Ansari youth lived 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:30.200 until he saw me with people gathered around me asking me questions, 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:32.200 and he said, 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:35.200 "This youth was wiser than I." 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.549 Abu al-Zinad said: 00:01:38.549 --> 00:01:40.549 There gathered in the Hijr [of the Ka'bah] 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:44.549 Mus'ab, 'Urwah, 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, 00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:46.549 and 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar. 00:01:46.549 --> 00:01:48.549 They said, "Let each of you state his wish." 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:51.549 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr said, 00:01:51.549 --> 00:01:54.549 "As for me, I wish for the Caliphate." 00:01:54.549 --> 00:01:56.579 'Urwah said, 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:58.579 "As for me, 00:01:58.579 --> 00:02:01.579 I wish for knowledge to be taken from me." 00:02:01.579 --> 00:02:03.579 Mus'ab said, 00:02:03.579 --> 00:02:04.579 "As for me, 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:07.579 I wish for the governorship of Iraq, 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:10.580 and to be married to 'A'ishah bint Talhah 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:13.620 and Sukaynah bint al-Husayn." 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:15.620 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar said, 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:18.710 "As for me, I wish for forgiveness." 00:02:18.710 --> 00:02:20.710 He said: 00:02:20.710 --> 00:02:22.710 And they all attained what they wished for, 00:02:22.710 --> 00:02:26.289 and perhaps Ibn 'Umar was forgiven. 00:02:26.289 --> 00:02:28.289 Al-Sha'bi said: 00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:32.289 Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) went out to Basra 00:02:32.289 --> 00:02:35.289 to a man to ask him about a verse, 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:38.289 but he did not find any knowledge of it with him. 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:41.289 He was told about a man from the people of Syria, 00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:44.289 so he came to us here. 00:02:44.289 --> 00:02:49.800 Then he traveled to Syria to that man in pursuit of it. 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:53.800 Sa'id ibn Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:55.800 I would often go to Ibn 'Abbas 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.800 and write in my notebook until I filled it, 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.800 and I would write on my sandals until I filled them, 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:04.800 and I would write on my palms. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:09.219 Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:03:09.219 --> 00:03:12.219 I would travel for days and nights 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:15.539 in pursuit of a single hadith. 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:18.539 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:03:18.539 --> 00:03:21.539 I had a soul that was ever-longing; 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:24.539 I would not attain anything from it 00:03:24.539 --> 00:03:27.539 but it would long for something greater. 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:30.569 When my soul reached the ultimate goal, 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:34.080 it longed for the Hereafter. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:38.110 Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:42.110 Whoever among you can be a leader for his family, 00:03:42.110 --> 00:03:44.110 a leader for his neighborhood, 00:03:44.110 --> 00:03:47.110 and a leader for those beyond that, 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:50.110 then there is nothing taken from you [in terms of knowledge or good] 00:03:50.110 --> 00:03:53.110 but that you will have a share in it. 00:03:53.110 --> 00:03:56.590 Al-Sari al-Saqati (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:03:56.590 --> 00:03:59.590 Whoever knows what he is seeking, 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:02.939 finds what he sacrifices easy to bear. 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:06.939 Abu Muhammad, the nephew of al-Shafi'i, said: 00:04:06.939 --> 00:04:08.939 My mother said: 00:04:08.939 --> 00:04:11.939 We would often bring [the lamp] in one night 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:15.939 thirty times, or less, or more, 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:19.939 the lamp to before al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him). 00:04:19.939 --> 00:04:22.939 He would lie down and reflect, 00:04:22.939 --> 00:04:25.939 then call out, "O servant girl, 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:28.939 bring the lamp." 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:31.939 She would bring it, and he would write what he needed to write, 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:34.939 then say, "Take it away." 00:04:34.939 --> 00:04:37.009 I asked Abu Muhammad, 00:04:37.009 --> 00:04:40.009 "What did he intend by asking for the lamp to be removed?" 00:04:40.009 --> 00:04:44.009 He said, "Darkness is clearer for the heart." 00:04:44.009 --> 00:04:47.420 Malik ibn Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:50.459 A man would frequent another man 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:53.459 for thirty years to learn from him. 00:04:53.459 --> 00:04:56.870 Muhammad ibn Yusuf said: 00:04:56.870 --> 00:04:59.870 I was with Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:03.870 (may Allah have mercy on him) in his house one night, 00:05:03.870 --> 00:05:06.870 and I counted that he got up and lit the lamp 00:05:06.870 --> 00:05:09.870 to review things he was noting down 00:05:09.870 --> 00:05:13.870 eighteen times in one night. 00:05:13.870 --> 00:05:17.420 Qatadah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:19.420 O son of Adam, 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:22.420 if you do not want to pursue goodness 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:24.420 except when you feel energetic, 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.420 then your soul is inclined toward weariness, 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:29.480 lethargy, and boredom. 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:32.480 But the believer is the one who perseveres, 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:35.480 and the believer is the one who strengthens himself. 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:39.149 It was said to al-'Attabi, 00:05:39.149 --> 00:05:42.149 [like] Thawm ibn 'Umar (may Allah have mercy on him), 00:05:42.149 --> 00:05:44.149 "So-and-so has low aspirations." 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:46.149 He said, 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:50.310 "He cannot have a goal short of Paradise." 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:52.310 Some of them said: 00:05:52.310 --> 00:05:55.310 "The soul is desirous if you make it desire, 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:59.310 and if you return it to little, it is content." 00:05:59.310 --> 00:06:02.660 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hatim 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:03.660 (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:06.759 We were in Egypt for seven months, 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:08.759 during which we did not eat any stew. 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:12.759 Our entire day was divided among the sittings of the scholars, 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:14.759 and at night, 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:16.790 [we were occupied with] copying and collation. 00:06:16.790 --> 00:06:17.790 He said: 00:06:17.790 --> 00:06:21.790 One day, a companion and I went to a scholar, 00:06:21.790 --> 00:06:22.790 and they said, 00:06:22.790 --> 00:06:24.790 "He is ill." 00:06:24.790 --> 00:06:28.819 On our way, we saw a fish that we liked, 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:30.860 so we bought it. 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:32.860 When we reached home, 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:35.860 the time for the sitting of one of the scholars arrived, 00:06:35.860 --> 00:06:38.860 so we could not prepare it. 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:40.860 We went to the sitting, 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:44.860 and we remained there until three days had passed. 00:06:44.860 --> 00:06:49.860 We had no spare time to give it to someone to grill it for us. 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:50.980 Then he said: 00:06:50.980 --> 00:06:54.980 Knowledge cannot be attained with a comfortable body. 00:06:54.980 --> 00:07:00.399 Abu Ja'far al-Tabari (may Allah have mercy on him) said to his students: 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.399 "Are you energetic enough for a history of the world 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:06.430 from Adam to our time?" 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:07.430 They said, 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:08.430 "How large would it be?" 00:07:09.430 --> 00:07:12.430 He mentioned about thirty thousand pages. 00:07:12.430 --> 00:07:13.430 They said, 00:07:13.430 --> 00:07:17.430 "This is something that lifetimes would end before its completion." 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:19.560 He said, 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:21.560 "To Allah we belong [and to Him we shall return]; 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:23.589 ambitions have died." 00:07:23.589 --> 00:07:27.750 So he summarized it into about three thousand pages. 00:07:27.750 --> 00:07:30.750 And when he wanted to dictate his Tafsir, 00:07:30.750 --> 00:07:33.750 he said something similar to them, 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:38.170 then he dictated it in about the same size as the history. 00:07:38.170 --> 00:07:43.170 Ibn Hibban (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the middle of his book *al-Anwa'*: 00:07:43.170 --> 00:07:48.420 "We have perhaps written from more than two thousand scholars." 00:07:48.420 --> 00:07:50.420 Al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:53.420 "Thus should aspirations be." 00:07:53.420 --> 00:07:57.420 This is along with what he possessed of fiqh, Arabic, 00:07:57.420 --> 00:08:01.420 brilliant eloquence, and numerous compositions. 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:06.579 Abu Hatim al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) said to his son 'Abd al-Rahman: 00:08:06.579 --> 00:08:10.620 "In the first year I went out in pursuit of hadith, 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:15.620 I stayed for seven years; I calculated what I walked on my feet 00:08:15.620 --> 00:08:18.779 to be more than a thousand *farsakhs* [leagues]. 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:20.779 I kept counting, 00:08:20.779 --> 00:08:23.779 until when it exceeded a thousand *farsakhs*, 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:26.220 I stopped counting." 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:28.220 Abu Ya'la (may Allah have mercy on him) 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:32.220 would divide his entire night into sections: 00:08:32.220 --> 00:08:34.220 a portion for sleep, 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:36.220 a portion for standing in prayer, 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:39.220 and a portion for classifying the lawful and the prohibited. 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:46.639 Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) adhered to the scholars for correction and explanation; 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:51.639 he would read 12 lessons every day with the scholars. 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:54.639 He was of such asceticism, worship, 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:58.639 piety, caution, and withdrawal from people, 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.639 to a great extent, 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:04.669 that no other jurist could match him. 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:06.669 He would fast perpetually, 00:09:06.669 --> 00:09:08.669 and would not combine two side dishes [at a meal]. 00:09:08.669 --> 00:09:14.669 Most of his sustenance was what his father brought him from Nawa. 00:09:14.669 --> 00:09:17.669 He would not waste any of his time. 00:09:17.669 --> 00:09:25.779 He would enjoin good and forbid evil to kings and others. 00:09:25.779 --> 00:09:27.779 Condemning laziness. 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:32.840 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:36.840 "I truly hate to see a man idle, 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:42.190 not engaged in any work of this world nor in any work of the Hereafter." 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:46.190 Muhammad ibn 'Ali (may Allah have mercy on him) said to his son: 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:48.190 "O my son, 00:09:48.190 --> 00:09:50.190 beware of laziness and boredom, 00:09:50.190 --> 00:09:53.220 for they are the keys to every evil. 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:57.220 If you are lazy, you will not fulfill a right, 00:09:57.220 --> 00:10:01.740 and if you are bored, you will not be patient for the sake of a right." 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:03.769 Among what was said: 00:10:03.769 --> 00:10:06.769 "Your day, O deluded one, is negligence and heedlessness, 00:10:06.769 --> 00:10:10.769 and you tire yourself in what you will eventually hate the consequences of. 00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:14.769 Your night is sleep, and your [lack of] provision is inevitable; 00:10:14.769 --> 00:10:19.340 thus do the beasts live in this world." 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:23.340 [Someone] passed by a group of people while they were playing, 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:26.340 and said, "What is the matter with you?" 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:31.379 He said, "We have finished today, O Abu Umamah." 00:10:31.379 --> 00:10:35.659 He replied, "That is not what the one who has finished is commanded to do." 00:10:35.659 --> 00:10:38.659 Yahya Ibn Abi Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 00:10:38.659 --> 00:10:42.659 "Knowledge cannot be attained through bodily comfort." 00:10:42.659 --> 00:10:49.649 The lives of the salaf were a bridge between speech and action.