Part of Lives of the Salaf — the Pious Predecessors (series completed)
· Lesson 8 of 72
The life of the predecessors between words and deeds | Episode (8) | Stories and facts of some scholars
0:000:00
Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
0:00
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
0:04
The life of the salaf was defined by the harmony between their words and their deeds.
0:11
Condemning the haste to assume positions of leadership in gatherings, teaching, and issuing legal rulings.
0:18
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
0:20
"Acquire fiqh before you are elevated to positions of leadership."
0:24
And Ibrahim Ibn Adham, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
0:28
"Whenever we saw a young man speaking in a gathering,
0:32
we despaired of any good coming from him."
0:34
And al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
0:37
"Whoever speaks before he is needed to do so brings humiliation upon himself."
0:41
And Sahnun, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
0:45
"I have never found anyone who sold his Hereafter for the worldly life of another, except for the one who issues legal rulings."
0:51
And al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
0:54
"If a young person assumes a position of leadership, much knowledge escapes him."
1:00
And Malik Ibn Anas, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
1:03
"I did not issue a legal ruling until seventy [scholars] testified that I was qualified to do so."
1:09
And he also said, may Allah have mercy on him:
1:12
"I would not answer a question regarding a legal ruling until I had asked someone more knowledgeable than myself,
1:17
whether he saw me as fit for that task."
1:20
"I asked Rabi'ah and I asked Yahya Ibn Sa'id,
1:24
and they commanded me to do so."
1:26
It was said to him, "O Abu Abd Allah,
1:29
what if they had forbidden you?"
1:31
He said, "I would have desisted."
1:34
"It is not appropriate for a man to consider himself fit for something
1:38
until he asks someone who is more knowledgeable than him."
1:42
And he said, may Allah have mercy on him:
1:44
"Not everyone who wishes to sit in the mosque to teach hadith and issue legal rulings should do so,
1:50
until he consults the people of righteousness and virtue,
1:54
and the people of authority in the mosque.
1:57
If they see him as fit for it, then he may sit."
2:00
"I did not sit until seventy scholars of knowledge testified
2:05
that I was a person fit for that."
2:07
And Sahnun Ibn Sa'id, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
2:12
"The boldest of people in issuing legal rulings are the least of them in knowledge."
2:16
"A man may possess only one chapter of knowledge,
2:20
yet he thinks that all truth is contained within it."
2:23
And it was said to him:
2:25
"Questions come to you that are well-known and understood,
2:29
yet you are slow to answer them."
2:31
He replied:
2:33
"To be quick with an answer that is correct
2:35
is a greater trial than the trial of wealth."
2:39
And he said, may Allah have mercy on him:
2:41
"You find a man who is patient with fasting and prayer,
2:45
and who exercises caution regarding his worldly needs,
2:47
but when it comes to issuing legal rulings, he lacks patience."
2:51
And al-Sa'luki, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
2:54
"Whoever assumes a position of leadership before his time,
2:57
has only invited his own disgrace."
2:59
Stories and incidents concerning some of the scholars.
3:05
Muhammad Ibn al-Munkadir, may Allah have mercy on him, passed by
3:10
a young man talking to a woman on the road.
3:13
He said:
3:15
"O young man,
3:17
is this how you show gratitude for the blessing of Allah upon you?"
3:20
And he, may Allah have mercy on him, saw a man with a woman in a ruin,
3:24
and he was speaking to her.
3:26
He said:
3:28
"O you, Allah sees you both;
3:30
may Allah conceal us and you."
3:33
And from Thabit:
3:36
That Silah Ibn Ashyam, may Allah have mercy on him, and his companions
3:40
saw a man who had let his garment hang below his ankles.
3:43
His companions wanted to rebuke him with their tongues,
3:48
but Silah said:
3:50
"Leave him to me, I will suffice you."
3:52
He said:
3:54
"O son of my brother,
3:55
I have a need of you."
3:58
"What is it, O uncle?"
4:00
He said:
4:02
"Raise your garment."
4:04
He said, "Yes, and with pleasure."
4:07
Then he said to his companions:
4:09
"Had you approached him harshly, he would have said,
4:12
'I will not do it,' and he would have persisted."
4:15
Some of the salaf saw a man from the family of Ali walking with a swagger,
4:21
so he hurried to him, took his hand, and said:
4:25
"O you,
4:27
the one whom Allah has honored, this was not his way of walking."
4:32
He said:
4:33
"And the man abandoned that walk thereafter."
4:36
Malik Ibn al-Mundhir summoned Muhammad Ibn Wasi', may Allah have mercy on him,
4:41
who was the chief of police in Basra,
4:44
and said:
4:45
"Take the position of judge."
4:47
But Muhammad refused.
4:49
He pressed him again, but he refused.
4:52
So he said:
4:53
"Either you take the position, or I will have you lashed three hundred times."
4:57
Muhammad said to him:
4:59
"If you do so, you are a tyrant,
5:02
and to be humiliated in this world is better than to be humiliated in the Hereafter."
5:07
A woman came to Sufyan al-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, and said:
5:13
"My son has neglected me and abandoned his work."
5:17
He asked:
5:18
"In what field is your son occupied?"
5:21
She said:
5:22
"In hadith."
5:24
He said:
5:25
"Seek your reward with Allah."
5:27
And it was said to Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him:
5:31
"If only you would unite the people upon one thing."
5:34
He replied:
5:36
"It does not please me that they do not differ."
5:39
Then he wrote to the horizons and the provinces,
5:43
that every people should judge according to what their jurists have agreed upon.
5:48
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, was brought before the Caliph,
5:53
and they tried to intimidate him,
5:56
for he had already beheaded two men.
5:59
Ahmad looked at Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Shafi'i
6:03
and said:
6:04
"What do you remember from al-Shafi'i regarding wiping [the khuffayn]?"
6:08
Ibn Abi Du'ad said:
6:11
"Look at this man who is being led to his execution,
6:15
yet he is debating fiqh!"
6:17
And Abu Zakariya al-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him,
6:22
showed signs of brilliance from his youth.
6:25
He arrived in Damascus in the year 649,
6:29
and he read the *Tanbih* in four and a half months,
6:33
and memorized a quarter of *al-Muhadhdhab* in the remainder of the year.
6:37
He remained with his teacher, al-Kamal
6:39
Ishaq Ibn Ahmad al-Maghribi, may Allah have mercy on him,
6:43
and stayed for nearly two years,
6:46
barely resting his side to sleep,
6:49
subsisting only on the stipend from the Rawahiyah school where he resided.
6:55
He would read twelve lessons a day to the scholars,
7:00
covering explanation and verification.
7:02
He, may Allah have mercy on him, possessed a great share of knowledge and asceticism,
7:07
moderation in living, and patience with its hardships,
7:11
and a level of piety that we have not heard of in anyone of his time,
7:15
nor for a long time before him.
7:18
He slept very little,
7:20
spending much of his night in worship, recitation, remembrance, and writing.
7:25
He was one who enjoined good and forbade evil,
7:30
confronting the princes, the elite, and the kings with that,
7:34
and speaking the truth openly.
7:36
Sheikh Muhyi al-Din was appointed
7:39
to the headship of the Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyah
7:42
after Sheikh Shihab al-Din Abu Shamah, may Allah have mercy on him,
7:47
in the year 665 until he passed away.
7:51
He did not take a single penny from its endowment,
7:55
and he rarely accepted a gift from anyone.
7:59
He lived only on what came to him from his father, of bread and dry food.
8:05
He was unassuming among the people,
8:09
yet he was clothed in tranquility and dignity, may Allah have mercy on him.