Part of Lives of the Salaf — the Pious Predecessors (series completed)
· Lesson 4 of 72
The life of the predecessors between words and deeds | Episode (4) | Respecting knowledge and celebrating its people
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The life of the salaf: between word and deed.
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Knowledge and the scholars.
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Reverence for knowledge and honoring its people.
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Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, saw a man whose garment was trailing below his ankles.
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He said, "Raise your garment."
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The man replied, "And you, O Ibn Mas'ud, raise your garment."
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He said, "My shins are thin, and I am an imam for the people."
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This reached 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.
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He began to strike the man, saying,
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"Do you talk back to Ibn Mas'ud?"
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It is narrated from Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both,
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that he held the stirrup for Zayd ibn Thabit.
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Zayd said,
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"Move away, O cousin of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
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Ibn 'Abbas replied,
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"This is how we are commanded to treat our scholars and our elders."
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Thabit al-Bunani, may Allah have mercy on him, whenever he came,
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would say to Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him,
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"O Jamila,
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bring me some perfume so I may apply it to my hands,
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for the son of Umm Thabit will not be satisfied until he kisses my hands."
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He would say,
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"They have touched the hand of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
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Nafi' ibn Jubayr said to 'Ali ibn al-Husayn, may Allah have mercy on them both,
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"May Allah forgive you!
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You are the master of the people and the best of them,
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yet you go to this slave and sit with him?"
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He meant Zayd ibn Aslam.
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'Ali replied,
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"Indeed, it is fitting that knowledge be sought wherever it may be."
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Ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked a question in the presence of Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah.
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He said,
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"We have been forbidden from speaking in the presence of our elders."
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A man once mentioned a scholar in the presence of one of the salaf, speaking of him in a certain way.
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The man said,
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"Hush!
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Do not speak of the scholars in such a way,
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lest Allah cause your heart to die."
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Qatadah, may Allah have mercy on him, said,
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"It is preferred that one does not read the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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except while in a state of ritual purity."
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Muhammad ibn Sirin, may Allah have mercy on him, used to recite poetry,
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mention various things, and laugh,
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but when a hadith from the Sunnah was mentioned,
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his expression would change, and he would become solemn.
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Al-Zuhri, may Allah have mercy on him, said,
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"I served 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Utbah,
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to the point that his servant would come out and say,
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'Who is at the door?'
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And the maid would say,
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'Your little servant, al-A'imash.'
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She thought I was a young servant,
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even though I would serve him to the extent of drawing water for his ablution."
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A man came to Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, may Allah have mercy on him, while he was lying down,
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and asked him about a hadith while he was in that position.
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Sa'id sat up and narrated it to him.
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The man said to him,
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"I wish you had not troubled yourself."
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Sa'id replied,
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"I disliked narrating to you from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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while I was lying down."
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Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said,
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"We used to visit Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, may Allah have mercy on him,
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and when we mentioned a hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to him,
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he would weep until we felt pity for him."
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Malik ibn Anas, may Allah have mercy on him,
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whenever he intended to narrate a hadith,
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would perform ablution and sit on the edge of his mattress,
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comb his beard,
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and sit with dignity and solemnity.
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Then he would narrate.
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When he was asked about this,
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he said,
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"I love to honor the hadith of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
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and I do not narrate it except while in a state of purity and composed."
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He disliked narrating on the road, while standing, or while in a hurry.
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He said,
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"I love for what I narrate from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to be understood."
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Whenever someone raised his voice in his presence, he would say,
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"Lower your voice,
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for Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, says:
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“O ye who believe! Lift not up your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor shout when speaking to him as ye shout one to another, lest your works be rendered vain while ye perceive not.” (49:2)
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So whoever raises his voice at the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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is as if he has raised his voice above the voice of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
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Malik ibn Anas
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used to lead Nafi', the freed slave of Ibn 'Umar, from his house to the mosque,
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as Nafi' had lost his sight.
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He would ask him questions, and Nafi' would narrate to him.
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Nafi''s house was in the area of al-Baqi'.
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'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, may Allah have mercy on him, said,
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"We would go to a man for the knowledge we sought,
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but it was not just for that; we went to learn from his guidance, his demeanor, and his character."
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Yahya ibn Yahya, may Allah have mercy on him, collected issues
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that he had asked Ashhab, Ibn Nafi',
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and others among the companions of Malik, may Allah have mercy on them,
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and wrote them down from them.
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He then presented them to Ibn al-Qasim, may Allah have mercy on him,
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to see his school of thought regarding them.
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Ibn al-Qasim began to criticize them.
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When Yahya saw that,
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he folded his book and tucked it into his sleeve.
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Ibn al-Qasim said to him,
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"What is the matter with you?"
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He replied,
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"These people have a right over me just as you do,
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and I have written from them.
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I did not intend to expose them to disparagement.
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If this is the case, then I have no need for this."
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Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, may Allah have mercy on him, said,
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"Part of showing gratitude for knowledge
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is that you sit with a group of people, and they mention something you do not know,
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so you learn it from them.
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Then, you sit in another place later,
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and they mention that same thing you learned,
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so you say,
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'By Allah, I knew nothing of this,
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until I heard so-and-so say such-and-such,'
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and so I learned it.
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If you do that,
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you have shown gratitude for knowledge.
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Do not let them imagine that you said this from your own self."
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The life of the salaf: between word and deed.