Part of Lives of the Salaf — the Pious Predecessors (series completed)
· Lesson 10 of 72
The life of the predecessors between words and deeds | Episode (10) | The virtue of the hadith scholars
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
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The life of the salaf between word and deed.
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The merit of the people of hadith.
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Budayl ibn Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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I, along with Ibrahim ibn Sa‘id al-Jawhari, visited Ahmad ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him,
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on the day he passed away,
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or he passed away on the night preceding that day.
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He said:
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Ahmad began saying to us:
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"Hold fast to the Sunnah."
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"Hold fast to the traditions (athar)."
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"Hold fast to the hadith."
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"Do not write down the opinion of so-and-so or the opinion of so-and-so."
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He then named the proponents of personal opinion (ahl al-ra'y).
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Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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Seeking hadith in this era
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is superior to all other types of voluntary worship,
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because of the fading and neglect of the Sunnah,
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and the emergence of innovations and the dominance of their proponents.
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Some of the salaf said:
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There is no one among the people of knowledge
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but that there is a radiance upon his face,
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due to the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him:
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"May Allah brighten the face of a person who hears something from us,
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and conveys it just as he heard it."
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The state of the salaf and the people of knowledge during disagreements.
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There was a discussion between Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both,
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meaning a dispute regarding a certain matter.
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Abu Bakr angered ‘Umar,
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so ‘Umar turned away from him in anger.
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Abu Bakr followed him, asking him to seek forgiveness for him,
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but he would not do so until he closed his door in his face.
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So Abu Bakr went to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
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"As for your companion here, he has indeed ventured too far."
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‘Umar regretted what he had done,
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so he came, greeted him, and sat with the Prophet, peace be upon him.
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He recounted the story to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, became angry.
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Abu Bakr began saying:
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"By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I was the one who was more in the wrong."
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‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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I and Ibn ‘Umar were
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leaning against the chamber of ‘A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her,
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and we could hear her using the siwak to brush her teeth.
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He said: I said, "O Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman,
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did the Prophet, peace be upon him, perform ‘Umrah in Rajab?"
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He said, "Yes."
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I said to ‘A'ishah, "O Mother,
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do you not hear what Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman is saying?"
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She said, "What is he saying?"
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I said, "He says
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the Prophet, peace be upon him, performed ‘Umrah in Rajab."
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She said:
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"May Allah forgive Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman.
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By my life, he never performed ‘Umrah in Rajab,
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nor did he perform an ‘Umrah
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except that he was with him."
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He said:
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Ibn ‘Umar was listening,
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yet he said neither no nor yes;
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he remained silent.
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And he, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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Abu Musa and Abu Mas‘ud entered
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upon ‘Ammar ibn Yasir, may Allah be pleased with them all,
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when ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, had sent him
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to the people of Kufa to mobilize them.
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He said:
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"We have never seen you do anything we disliked more
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than your haste in this matter since you embraced Islam."
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‘Ammar said:
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"I have never seen anything from you both since you embraced Islam
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that I disliked more than your slowness in this matter."
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Abu Mas‘ud said—
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and he was a man of means—
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"O boy, bring two garments."
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He gave one to Abu Musa and the other to ‘Ammar,
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and said:
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"Go in them to the Friday prayer."
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Other benefits.
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‘A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
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"Excellent are the women of the Ansar;
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modesty did not prevent them from seeking understanding in the religion."
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Mujahid, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Knowledge is not acquired by the shy nor the arrogant."
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Al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Whoever seeks leadership through knowledge prematurely,
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misses out on much knowledge."
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Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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A parable was struck for the scholars of evil.
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It was said:
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"The likeness of the evil scholar
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is like a stone in a water channel;
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it neither drinks the water itself,
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nor does it let the water pass to the trees so they may live."
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Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"The status of one who seeks knowledge to benefit from it
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is like that of a slave who seeks everything that pleases his master;
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he seeks to endear himself to him and draw near to him,
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and to have a high status with him,
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so that he finds nothing with him that he dislikes."
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Bilal ibn Abi Burdah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Do not let the evil of what you see in us prevent you
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from accepting the best of what you hear."
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From al-Zuhri, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
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"Knowledge is only lost through
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forgetfulness and abandoning review."
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From Makhul, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
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"Knowledge should only be taken from one whose pursuit of it is attested."
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From Abu Bakr ibn ‘Ayyash, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:
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"Entering into knowledge is easy,
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but exiting from it to Allah is difficult."
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From Musa al-Juhani, who said:
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Talhah ibn Musarrif, may Allah have mercy on him,
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whenever disagreement was mentioned in his presence, would say:
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"Do not call it disagreement,
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but call it expansion."
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It was said to ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him:
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"O Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman,
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until when will you write this hadith?"
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He replied:
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"Perhaps the word by which I will benefit
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is one I have not yet written."
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The life of the salaf
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between word and deed.