A summary of the life of the Salaf between words and deeds | Episode (14) | The position of the predecessors regarding faith and destiny

0:00 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The life of the salaf between speech and action.

0:11 The position of the salaf regarding faith.

0:15 It is belief, speech, and action.

0:18 It increases and decreases.

0:22 On the authority of Jundub ibn ‘Abdullah al-Bajali, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:

0:27 We were with the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,

0:31 while we were young, sturdy youths.

0:35 We learned faith before we learned the Qur’an.

0:40 Then we learned the Qur’an, and through it, our faith increased.

0:46 On the authority of ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr al-Laythi, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

0:52 Faith is not mere wishful thinking.

0:55 Rather, faith is a conviction held in the heart and an action performed.

1:01 On the authority of Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, may Allah have mercy on him, who said more than once:

1:07 Faith is speech and action.

1:10 He said:

1:11 We took it from those before us: it is speech and action.

1:16 And there is no speech except through action.

1:20 Ibn ‘Uyaynah was asked: Does it increase and decrease?

1:24 He said:

1:26 What else could it be?

1:28 It was also said to him, may Allah have mercy on him:

1:32 Does faith increase and decrease?

1:35 He said:

1:36 Do you not recite the Qur’an?

1:39 It says: "And it increased them in faith," in more than one place.

1:43 It was said:

1:44 Does it decrease?

1:46 He said:

1:47 There is nothing that increases except that it also decreases.

1:52 Al-Awza‘i, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

1:55 Those who passed before us from our salaf did not differentiate between faith and action.

2:01 Action is part of faith.

2:04 And faith is part of action.

2:07 Yahya ibn Sa‘id al-Qattan, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

2:11 The Imams I encountered used to say:

2:15 Faith is speech and action.

2:18 It increases and decreases.

2:22 The position of the salaf regarding the Divine Decree (Qadar).

2:27 On the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn Fayruz, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

2:31 Something occurred in my mind regarding this Qadar.

2:35 I feared it would corrupt my religion and my affairs.

2:40 So I went to Ubayy ibn Ka‘b and said:

2:43 O Abu al-Mundhir!

2:45 Something has occurred in my mind regarding this Qadar.

2:49 I fear for my religion and my affairs.

2:53 So tell me something about it,

2:56 perhaps Allah will benefit me through it.

2:59 He said:

3:01 If Allah were to punish the inhabitants of His heavens and His earth,

3:06 He would punish them while not being unjust to them.

3:10 And if He were to have mercy on them, His mercy would be better for them than their own deeds.

3:16 Even if you had a mountain of gold like Uhud,

3:19 or the equivalent of Mount Uhud,

3:22 and you spent it in the way of Allah,

3:24 it would not be accepted from you until you believe in Qadar.

3:28 You must know that what has befallen you could not have missed you,

3:33 and what has missed you could not have befallen you.

3:37 And if you were to die believing otherwise, you would enter the Fire.

3:42 It would not hurt you to go to my brother ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud and ask him.

3:48 So I went to ‘Abdullah,

3:50 and I asked him.

3:51 He mentioned the same as what Ubayy had said.

3:54 He said to me:

3:56 It would not hurt you to go to Hudhayfah.

3:59 So I went to Hudhayfah,

4:01 and I asked him.

4:02 He said the same as what he had said.

4:05 And he said:

4:07 Go to Zayd ibn Thabit and ask him.

4:10 So I went to Zayd ibn Thabit,

4:13 and I asked him.

4:14 He said:

4:16 I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say:

4:21 If Allah were to punish the inhabitants of His heavens and His earth,

4:26 He would punish them while not being unjust to them.

4:30 And if He were to have mercy on them,

4:31 His mercy would be better for them than their own deeds.

4:36 Even if you had gold like Uhud,

4:40 or the equivalent of Mount Uhud in gold,

4:43 and you spent it in the way of Allah,

4:46 He would not accept it from you until you believe in Qadar.

4:50 You must know that what has befallen you could not have missed you,

4:55 and what has missed you could not have befallen you.

4:59 And if you were to die believing otherwise, you would enter the Fire.

5:04 It was said to Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him:

5:09 What is the statement of the people regarding believing in Qadar, its good and its evil?

5:14 He said:

5:15 When you believe in Qadar,

5:18 you know that what has missed you could not have befallen you,

5:22 and what has befallen you could not have missed you.

5:26 And you do not say:

5:28 "If I had done such and such, then such and such would have happened,"

5:33 or "If I had not done such and such,

5:35 then such and such would not have happened."

5:39 ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit, may Allah be pleased with him, said

5:42 to his son when death approached him:

5:46 O my son,

5:47 I advise you to have taqwa of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic.

5:51 And know that you will never have taqwa of Allah

5:54 until you believe in Allah.

5:56 And know that you will never believe in Allah,

5:59 nor will you taste the reality of faith,

6:02 nor will you reach the essence of knowledge,

6:04 until you believe in Qadar in its entirety,

6:07 its good and its evil.

6:10 He said to him: O my father,

6:13 how can I believe in Qadar in its entirety, its good and its evil?

6:18 He said:

6:19 Know that what has befallen you could not have missed you,

6:24 and what has missed you could not have befallen you.

6:28 O my son,

6:29 I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say:

6:35 The first thing Allah created was the Pen.

6:38 He said:

6:40 "Write."

6:41 It said:

6:42 "What shall I write, O Lord?"

6:45 He said:

6:46 "Write the Qadar."

6:48 So the Pen flowed at that very moment with what had been,

6:52 and what will be until eternity.

6:56 On the authority of Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both,

6:59 that he was asked about Qadar,

7:02 and he said:

7:03 It is something Allah the Almighty willed not to disclose to you.

7:08 So do not seek from Allah the Almighty what He has withheld from you.

7:14 Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Ajurri, may Allah have mercy on him, said,

7:19 commenting on this report:

7:22 This is the meaning of what ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, said

7:27 in his letter to the people of Qadar.

7:30 His statement:

7:31 "If you say:

7:33 'Allah has said in His Book such and such,'

7:37 it is said to them:

7:39 They have read from it—

7:41 meaning the Companions—

7:42 what you have read,

7:44 and they understood from its interpretation what you are ignorant of.

7:48 Then they said after all of that:

7:51 Everything is by Book and Qadar,

7:54 and the writing of wretchedness.

7:56 What is decreed will be,

7:58 and what He willed has come to pass,

8:00 and what He did not will has not come to pass.

8:03 We possess no power to harm or benefit ourselves.

8:08 Then, after that, they sought His favor and feared Him.

8:11 And peace."

8:14 On the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, that he said:

8:18 Everything is by Qadar,

8:21 even your placing your hand upon your cheek.

8:25 On the authority of Muhammad ibn Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him, that he said:

8:30 How can a people deny that Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, knew something and then wrote it down?

8:36 On the authority of Iyas ibn Mu‘awiyah, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

8:40 I have never debated with all my intellect against the people of innovation except for the people of Qadar.

8:47 I said:

8:48 Tell me, what is injustice in the language of the Arabs?

8:53 They said:

8:54 That a man takes what is not his.

8:57 I said:

8:58 But everything belongs to Allah.

9:02 Some of them said:

9:05 A weak-minded person wastes his opportunity,

9:09 and when the matter passes, he blames the Qadar.

9:14 It was said to Muhammad ibn Wasi‘, may Allah have mercy on him:

9:17 What do you say about the Divine Decree and Qadar?

9:21 He said:

9:22 Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, will not ask His servants on the Day of Resurrection about His decree and His Qadar.

9:29 He will only ask them about their deeds.

9:34 On the authority of al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, who said:

9:37 Whoever denies Qadar has committed kufr.

A summary of the life of the Salaf between words and deeds | Episode (14) | The position of the predecessors regarding faith and destiny

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