A summary of the life of the Salaf between words and deeds | Episode (12)

0:00 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

0:04 The life of the salaf between speech and action.

0:11 The leaders who are to be followed.

0:16 Umar saw Talhah, may Allah be pleased with them both, wearing two garments dyed with red ochre.

0:22 While he was in the state of ihram.

0:24 He said:

0:26 "What are these two garments you are wearing?"

0:29 Talhah replied:

0:31 "There is no harm in them."

0:34 "They were dyed with clay."

0:37 Umar said:

0:39 "You are leaders whom people follow."

0:43 "If an ignorant person were to see you wearing a dyed garment while in the state of ihram, he would say:"

0:49 "'I saw Talhah wearing dyed garments while in the state of ihram.'"

0:54 "So, none of you, O group, should wear these garments while in the state of ihram."

1:00 Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, used to:

1:05 When he went to prayer, he would be concise and brief.

1:09 Yet he would perfect his bowing and prostration.

1:12 But when he entered his house, he would prolong them.

1:15 It was said to him:

1:17 He replied:

1:19 "We are leaders who are to be followed."

1:22 Al-Awza'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

1:25 "We used to laugh and joke."

1:28 "But when we became people who are followed,"

1:31 "I feared that such behavior would no longer be appropriate for us."

1:34 It was said to Yahya Ibn Yahya, may Allah have mercy on him:

1:39 "Why do you not relax in public as you do in private?"

1:43 He replied:

1:45 "If I did that, I would be imitated."

1:49 "And I love to be followed just as I have followed others."

1:57 Abandoning affectation.

1:59 Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

2:02 "We have been forbidden from affectation."

2:06 Ibn al-Muqaffa', may Allah have mercy on him, said:

2:09 "Set for yourself a limit in everything,"

2:13 "hoping for strength and perfection in it."

2:16 "Know that if you exceed the limit in worship,"

2:20 "you will fall into negligence."

2:23 "If you exceed it in acquiring knowledge,"

2:26 "you will join the ranks of the ignorant."

2:28 "And if you exceed it in striving to please people and being overly casual with them in their needs,"

2:34 "you will be the loser and the squanderer."

2:37 Acting upon knowledge.

2:43 From Umar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:

2:47 The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:

2:51 "Allah, the Almighty, forbids you from swearing by your fathers."

2:57 Umar said:

2:58 "By Allah, I have not sworn by them since I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, forbid it,"

3:06 "neither as a narrator nor as one quoting another."

3:09 And from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:

3:14 "People all speak well."

3:18 "So whoever’s actions conform to his words,"

3:21 "that is the one who has attained his share."

3:24 "And whoever’s actions contradict his words,"

3:27 "he is merely rebuking himself."

3:30 He, may Allah be pleased with him, also said: "Acquire knowledge,"

3:35 "and when you have learned, then act."

3:38 Abu al-Darda', may Allah be pleased with him, said:

3:41 "Woe to the one who does not know once,"

3:45 "and woe to the one who knows but does not act seven times."

3:51 He, may Allah be pleased with him, also said:

3:53 "I do not fear that it will be said to me, 'What did you know?'"

3:58 "Rather, I fear that it will be said to me, 'What did you do?'"

4:02 He, may Allah be pleased with him, also said:

4:05 "You will never be a scholar until you are a student,"

4:10 "and you will never be a scholar until you act upon what you have learned."

4:16 Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

4:22 "The thing I fear most,"

4:24 "when I stand for the reckoning, is that it will be said to me:"

4:28 "'You knew, so what did you do with what you knew?'"

4:33 Jundub Ibn al-Bajali, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

4:37 "The example of one who teaches people but forgets himself,"

4:41 "is like a lamp that illuminates for others while burning itself."

4:48 Mu'adh Ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

4:52 "Learn what you wish to learn,"

4:55 "but Allah will not benefit you with knowledge until you act."

5:00 From Abdullah Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:

5:04 That he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say:

5:10 "It is not the right of a Muslim who has something to bequeath,"

5:15 "to spend three nights without having his will written down with him."

5:21 Abdullah Ibn Umar said:

5:24 "Not a single night has passed since I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say that,"

5:32 "without my will being with me."

5:35 Some of the salaf said:

5:38 "Whoever surpasses people in knowledge is worthy of surpassing them in action."

5:45 It was said to one of the salaf:

5:47 "How did you attain what you attained?"

5:50 He said: "Through knowledge."

5:52 It was said to him:

5:53 "But others have known more than you have known,"

5:57 "yet they did not attain what you attained."

5:59 He said:

6:01 "That was knowledge that was merely carried,"

6:03 "while this was knowledge that was put into practice."

6:06 Sufyan al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

6:11 "No hadith ever reached me from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,"

6:17 "except that I acted upon it, even if only once."

6:20 He, may Allah have mercy on him, also said:

6:23 "Knowledge calls out to action;"

6:26 "if it answers, well and good; otherwise, it departs."

6:29 He, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked:

6:33 "Is seeking knowledge dearer to you, O Abu Abdullah, or action?"

6:38 He replied:

6:39 "Knowledge is only sought for the sake of action."

6:42 "Do not abandon seeking knowledge for the sake of action,"

6:45 "and do not abandon action for the sake of seeking knowledge."

6:49 Some of the wise said:

6:51 "The best of knowledge,"

6:53 "is a man stopping at the limits of his knowledge."

6:56 It was said to Alqamah, may Allah have mercy on him:

6:59 "Will you not preach to us?"

7:01 He said:

7:03 "I dislike commanding you to do what I do not do myself."

7:07 From al-Sha'bi, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

7:11 "There is no preacher who preaches,"

7:14 "but that his sermon will be presented to him on the Day of Resurrection."

7:19 From Malik Ibn Dinar, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

7:23 "When a scholar does not act upon his knowledge,"

7:27 "his exhortation slips from the hearts,"

7:30 "just as rain slips off a smooth rock."

7:33 He, may Allah have mercy on him, also said:

7:37 "If you seek knowledge to act upon it,"

7:41 "knowledge will humble you."

7:43 "But if you seek it for other than acting upon it,"

7:46 "it will only increase you in arrogance."

7:49 Umar Ibn Qays, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

7:52 "If you hear of a good deed,"

7:55 "act upon it, even if only once."

7:58 From al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

8:02 "A man used to seek knowledge,"

8:05 "and it would not be long before that was seen in his humility and conduct,"

8:10 "and in his tongue, his gaze, and his hand."

8:14 From Sufyan Ibn 'Uyaynah, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

8:19 "The true people of knowledge, who are worthy of it,"

8:23 "are those who act upon it."

8:26 Al-Marwazi said:

8:28 Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, said to me:

8:32 "I have not written a single hadith except that I have acted upon it,"

8:36 "to the point that it reached me that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was cupped,"

8:42 "and he gave Abu Taybah a dinar,"

8:45 "so I gave the cupper a dinar when I was cupped."

8:50 Some of them said:

8:53 "O you who teach others,"

8:57 "why was this teaching not for yourself?"

9:01 "You prescribe medicine for the sick to heal them,"

9:05 "so that they may become healthy, while you are sick."

9:09 "I see you trying to nourish our minds with guidance,"

9:13 "as advice, while you are devoid of guidance."

9:17 Ibn al-Muqaffa', may Allah have mercy on him, said:

9:20 "Good speech is not complete without good action."

9:24 "It is like a sick person who knows the cure for his own ailment,"

9:28 "but if he does not treat himself with it, his knowledge will not benefit him."

A summary of the life of the Salaf between words and deeds | Episode (12) | Working with knowledge

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