Part of Lives of the Salaf — the Pious Predecessors (series completed)
· Lesson 11 of 72
The life of the predecessors between words and deeds | Episode (11) | Condemning ignorance, imitation, and bragging about the most virtuous
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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 speech and action.
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Condemning ignorance.
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'Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
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"How will you be when a trial envelops you,
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In which the elderly grow decrepit,
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The young grow up,
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And people adopt it as a Sunnah?
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If it is ever changed, they will say,
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'The Sunnah has been changed!'"
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They asked,
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"When will that be, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman?"
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He replied,
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"When your reciters become many,
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Your scholars of fiqh become few,
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Your leaders become many,
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Your trustworthy ones become few,
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And the world is sought through the deeds of the Hereafter."
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'Urwah Ibn al-Zubayr, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"O my sons, seek knowledge,
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For if you are the juniors of a people today,
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You may become their seniors tomorrow."
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How wretched,
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What is more unsightly than an ignorant old man?
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The poet spoke the truth:
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"What use are the days when you count them,
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If you have gained neither knowledge nor virtue in them?"
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It was said to Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him,
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"A man has 500 dirhams;
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Do you think he should spend it on military expeditions and jihad,
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Or on seeking knowledge?"
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He replied,
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"If he is ignorant, seeking knowledge is more beloved to me."
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He also said, may Allah have mercy on him,
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"I am amazed at those who hold back from seeking knowledge,
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And they use al-Fudayl, may Allah have mercy on him, as an excuse,
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Yet perhaps al-Fudayl had already attained sufficiency.
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No one holds back from seeking knowledge except an ignorant person."
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Some have said:
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"In ignorance, before death, there is death for its people,
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And their bodies are graves before they reach the grave.
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Their souls are in desolation within their bodies,
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And they shall have no resurrection even after the Resurrection."
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Condemning blind imitation and forbidding it.
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And what has been said regarding partisanship.
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On the authority of 'Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
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"Let no one among you blindly follow a man in his religion;
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For if he believes, he believes,
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And if he disbelieves, he disbelieves.
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But if you must follow someone,
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Then follow one who has already passed away,
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For the living are not safe from trial."
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Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"I am but a human; I err and I am correct.
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So examine my opinions;
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Whatever agrees with the Book and the Sunnah, take it,
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And whatever does not agree with the Book and the Sunnah, leave it."
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It was said to Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him,
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"There is a man in Tarsus who has heard the opinion of 'Abdullah Ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him,
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And he issues fatwas based on it."
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He said,
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"This is due to the man's limited knowledge;
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He blindly follows in his religion a man who is not broad in knowledge."
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Condemning boasting about lineage.
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A man said to Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him,
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"O Abu 'Abd Allah,
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It has reached me that you are a man from the Arabs,
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So from which of the Arabs are you?"
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He replied,
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"We are a humble people,
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And what benefit is there in this?"
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Ibn al-Rumi, may Allah have mercy on him, spoke well when he said:
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"Do not boast except of what you yourself have done,
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And do not think that glory is inherited through lineage.
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A man does not attain nobility except through his own actions,
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Even if he counts noble ancestors of high status.
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If a branch does not bear fruit, even if it is a shoot
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From a fruit-bearing tree, people count it as firewood."
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Among what is considered excellent in this regard is the saying of the poet:
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"The true youth is he who says, 'Here I am,'
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Not the youth who says, 'My father was.'"