Part of Lives of the Salaf — the Pious Predecessors (series completed)
· Lesson 33 of 72
A summary of the life of the Salaf between words and deeds | Episode (33) | The condition of the predecessors with temptations and tribulations
0:000:00
Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
0:00
In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
0:03
The Life of the Salaf Between Word and Deed
0:09
Filial Piety and Upholding Ties of Kinship
0:14
'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
0:18
"Learn your lineages so that you may uphold your ties of kinship."
0:22
Indeed, the only thing that prevented Uways ibn 'Amir (may Allah have mercy on him) from traveling to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
0:31
was his devotion to his mother.
0:33
'Umar ibn Dharr (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:
0:36
"How was your son's devotion to you?"
0:39
He replied:
0:40
"I never walked by day
0:42
but that he walked behind me,
0:44
nor by night but that he walked in front of me,
0:48
nor did he ever climb onto a roof while I was beneath it."
0:51
Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
0:56
"'Umar spent the night praying"—
0:58
referring to his brother—
1:00
"while I spent the night massaging my mother's foot,
1:02
and I would not trade my night for his."
1:06
Whenever Muhammad ibn Sirin (may Allah have mercy on him) entered upon his mother,
1:11
he would not speak to her with his full voice out of humble reverence for her.
1:15
A man once entered upon him while he was with his mother
1:19
and asked:
1:20
"What is the matter with Muhammad? Is he suffering from an illness?"
1:24
They replied, "No,
1:26
but this is how he always is in his mother's presence."
1:30
Ibn Dar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
1:33
"I intended to set out"—meaning to travel in pursuit of knowledge—
1:36
"but my mother forbade me.
1:38
So I obeyed her, and I was blessed in doing so."
1:43
Abu Bakr ibn 'Ayyash said:
1:46
"I would often sit with Mansur ibn al-Mu'tamir (may Allah have mercy on him) in his home,
1:52
and his mother would shout at him—
1:54
she was a harsh, coarse woman—
1:57
saying:
1:58
'O Mansur!
2:00
Ibn Hubayrah wants you to take the judiciary,
2:02
yet you refuse him!'
2:04
Meanwhile, he would keep his beard lowered against his chest,
2:07
not even raising his glance toward her."
2:10
Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
2:13
"Filial piety is an expiation for major sins."
2:20
The State of the Salaf in the Face of Tribulations and Trials
2:23
Their State Regarding Afflictions, Illnesses,
2:28
and Remaining Patient Through Them
2:31
'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
2:34
"We found the best of our living in patience."
2:37
'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
2:41
"Behold, patience is to faith what the head is to the body:
2:46
when the head is severed, the body perishes."
2:50
Then he raised his voice and said:
2:53
"Behold, he has no faith who has no patience!"
2:58
He also said:
3:00
"Indeed, I have seen through the passing days of experience
3:04
that patience yields an outcome praised in its traces;
3:08
and rarely does anyone strive earnestly after a goal he pursues,
3:12
clothing himself in patience, without attaining triumphant victory."
3:16
'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
3:20
Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) said to me:
3:24
"Shall I not show you a woman from the people of Paradise?"
3:27
I said, "Yes, indeed."
3:29
He said, "This black woman.
3:32
She came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said:
3:36
'I suffer from epileptic seizures and become uncovered,
3:40
so supplicate Allah for me.'
3:42
He said: 'If you wish, be patient and Paradise is yours;
3:46
and if you wish, I will supplicate Allah to heal you.'
3:51
She said, 'I will be patient.'
3:53
Then she said, 'Yet I become uncovered,
3:56
so supplicate Allah that I do not become uncovered.'
3:59
Thus, he supplicated for her."
4:01
Sa'id ibn Wahb said:
4:04
"I went with Salman al-Farsi (may Allah be pleased with him)
4:07
to visit a sick friend of his from Kindah.
4:10
Salman said to him:
4:13
'Indeed, Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, afflicts His believing servant with trial,
4:17
then heals him, making it an expiation for what has passed
4:22
and an admonition to seek His favor in what remains of his life'—
4:25
meaning he desists from misdeeds and repents—
4:28
'whereas Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, afflicts His wicked servant with trial,
4:33
then heals him, and he is like a camel hobbled by its owners
4:38
and then untied by them:
4:40
it knows not why they hobbled it,
4:42
nor why they released it when they released it.'"
4:47
'Imran ibn Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) was afflicted with an illness in his body,
4:51
and he said:
4:53
"I see it as nothing other than the consequence of a sin,
4:55
yet what Allah pardons is far greater."
4:58
And he recited:
5:00
“Whatever of misfortune striketh you, it is what your right hands have earned. And He forgiveth much.” (42:30)
5:03
"Whatever affliction strikes you is for what your hands have earned."
5:06
Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
5:09
"Patience is half of faith,
5:11
and certainty is faith in its entirety."
5:14
One of them said:
5:17
"The trial of adversity
5:19
is endured by both the righteous and the wicked,
5:22
but none can endure the trial of prosperity except a person of supreme truthfulness."
5:27
When Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) was tried with adversity,
5:32
he bore it patiently and did not despair,
5:34
saying:
5:35
"It was an increase in my faith."
5:38
But when he was tried with prosperity,
5:41
he became distressed and feared it might be a decrease in his religion.
5:45
The poet said:
5:47
"Be patient through every affliction and show steadfast endurance,
5:51
and know that man is not destined for eternity;
5:55
and endure just as noble souls endure, for these are but
5:59
vicissitudes that strike today and vanish on the morrow;
6:03
so whenever you recall an affliction that grieves you,
6:07
recall the affliction of losing the Prophet Muhammad."
6:12
Another said:
6:14
"If you do not find solace through patient endurance and seeking divine reward,
6:18
you will simply forget with the passing of time, just as beasts do."
6:22
Judge Shurayh (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
6:25
"Whenever an affliction befalls me,
6:28
I praise Allah for it four times:
6:31
I praise Him that it was not greater than it was;
6:35
I praise Him for granting me patience to endure it;
6:38
I praise Him for guiding me to say 'To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return,' hoping for its reward;
6:43
and I praise Him that He did not place it in my religion."
6:48
Malik ibn Dinar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
6:51
"There is no righteous deed
6:54
except that an arduous hurdle lies before it;
6:56
if its doer perseveres, it leads to relief,
7:00
but if he despairs, he turns back."
7:02
One of them said:
7:04
"Whenever matters have their pathways barred,
7:08
patience unlocks every door whose opening is sought;
7:12
how worthy is the patient one to attain his need,
7:16
and the persistent knocker of doors to gain entry!
7:20
Never despair—no matter how long the quest endures—
7:24
of seeing relief, so long as you seek aid through patience."
7:28
Al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
7:32
"If we were only rewarded for what we love,
7:36
our reward would be meager;
7:38
but Allah is Generous: He afflicts the servant with what he dislikes,
7:42
and then grants him a magnificent reward for it."
7:45
He also said:
7:47
"Patience is a treasure among the treasures of good;
7:50
Allah grants it to none except a servant who is noble in His sight."
7:55
Ibn 'Awn (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
7:58
"Every good deed has a known reward,
8:01
except for patience."
8:03
Allah said:
8:05
“Say: O My bondmen who believe! Observe your duty to your Lord. For those who do good in this world there is good, and Allah's earth is spacious. Verily the steadfast will be paid their wages without stint.” (39:10)
8:10
The poet said:
8:12
"Even when hardships strike you with their misery,
8:16
it is that very misery which reveals to you how sweet their blessings are."
8:21
Ibn al-Muqaffa' (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
8:24
"Patience is of two kinds:
8:26
ignoble people possess greater physical endurance,
8:29
while noble souls possess greater fortitude of the spirit.
8:32
The patience for which one is truly praised
8:35
is not that a man have a body strong enough for toil and hard labor,
8:39
for that is an attribute of donkeys;
8:42
rather, it is that he triumphs over his base desires
8:45
and bears the weight of adversity."
8:49
When Ibrahim al-Taymi (may Allah have mercy on him) was thrown into the prison of al-Hajjaj,
8:54
he saw people bound together in chains,
8:57
rising together and sitting together.
9:01
He said:
9:02
"O people surrounded by Allah's trial amidst His blessing,
9:06
and O people surrounded by His blessing amidst His trial!
9:09
Indeed, Allah has deemed you worthy of being tested by Him,
9:13
so show Him that you are worthy of being patient for His sake."
9:16
Al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
9:19
"A man reviled one of the early generations,
9:23
so the man stood wiping the sweat from his brow while reciting:
9:28
“And verily whoso is patient and forgiveth - lo! that, verily, is (of) the steadfast heart of things.” (42:43)
9:34
Al-Hasan said:
9:35
"By Allah, he truly grasped it and understood it,
9:38
whereas the ignorant have neglected it."
9:42
Qatadah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
9:45
"Whoever is not patient in adversity
9:48
is not grateful for blessings."
9:51
"If patience were a man, he would be noble and handsome."
9:56
People entered upon one of the salaf (early generations)
9:59
after a mule had kicked him and broken his leg,
10:03
and he said:
10:04
"Were it not for the tribulations of this world, we would arrive before Allah completely bankrupt."
10:09
Abu al-'Abbas ibn 'Ata' (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
10:14
"When the heart yearns for Paradise,
10:17
the gifts of Paradise hasten toward it—
10:20
and those gifts are disliked afflictions;
10:22
for disliked afflictions are the gifts of Paradise bestowed upon the bodies of the truthful."
10:27
Abu Hazim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
10:30
"Every blessing that does not draw one closer to Allah, the Exalted and Majestic,
10:34
is in truth an affliction."
10:36
Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
10:40
"He has not tasted the full hardship of trial who has not assumed guardianship of orphans,
10:45
or served as a judge over people regarding their wealth,
10:49
or ruled as a leader over their necks."
10:52
Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
10:56
"Well-being conceals both the righteous and the wicked;
11:00
but when affliction arrives,
11:03
true men are distinctly revealed."
11:06
Their Stance Regarding Fighting in Tribulation
11:11
and Their Guidance Concerning It
11:13
It was said to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him):
11:18
"Will you not fight?
11:20
"For you are one of the members of the consultative council (shura),
11:22
and you have more right to this matter than anyone else."
11:26
But he replied:
11:27
"I will not fight until you bring me a sword
11:31
that has two eyes, a tongue, and two lips,
11:34
which can distinguish a believer from a disbeliever!
11:37
For I have fought in jihad, and I truly know what jihad is."
11:41
And when 'Uthman ibn 'Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed,
11:46
Salamah ibn al-Akwa' (may Allah be pleased with him) withdrew to al-Rabadhah,
11:51
where he married a woman
11:53
and fathered children with her.
11:56
He continued to dwell there
11:58
until just a few nights before his death,
12:01
when he finally returned and settled in Medina.
12:03
And on the authority of Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:
12:06
"Beware of tribulations (fitan)!
12:08
Let no one actively seek them out;
12:11
for by Allah, no one ever marches toward them
12:14
but that they sweep him away,
12:16
just as a raging torrent sweeps away an embankment.
12:18
Indeed, they approach deceptively, looking ambiguous,
12:21
to the point that an ignorant person says,
12:24
'This resembles the truth!' Yet their falsehood becomes clear only as they depart.
12:27
Therefore, when you see them,
12:29
stay firmly planted inside your homes,
12:31
break your swords,
12:33
and cut your bowstrings."
12:35
And on the authority of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father),
12:40
who said:
12:42
"Our situation during this tribulation was simply
12:45
like that of a company of travelers journeying
12:48
along a clearly defined highway they well knew.
12:51
While they were proceeding thus,
12:53
they were suddenly engulfed by a dense cloud and pitch darkness.
12:56
Some of them veered off to the right and to the left,
13:00
thereby losing the path,
13:02
whereas we halted right where that darkness overtook us,
13:05
until Allah cleared it away from us,
13:08
whereupon we once again beheld our original path,
13:11
recognized it, and continued upon it.
13:14
These are merely the youth of Quraysh,
13:17
fighting one another over this political dominion
13:20
and over this transient worldly life!
13:23
I would not care to have that over which they kill one another
13:27
in exchange for these two worn-out sandals of mine."
13:30
Two men came to him during the tribulation of Ibn al-Zubayr
13:33
and said:
13:35
"The people have done what they have done,
13:37
and you are the son of 'Umar
13:39
and a Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!
13:42
What, then, prevents you from going forth to fight?"
13:45
He replied:
13:47
"What prevents me is that Allah has forbidden the shedding of my brother's blood."
13:50
They said:
13:52
"Has not Allah said:
13:54
'And fight them until
13:56
there is no more fitnah'?"
13:58
He replied:
14:00
"We fought until there was no more fitnah
14:03
and the religion was wholly for Allah,
14:05
whereas you wish to fight
14:08
so that there will be fitnah
14:10
and the religion becomes for other than Allah!"
14:13
In another narration, he said:
14:16
"Muhammad (peace be upon him) only
14:19
fought against the polytheists,
14:21
for falling into their idolatrous religion was the true
14:24
fitnah;
14:25
it was nothing like your fighting over worldly kingship!"
14:28
He (may Allah be pleased with him) also said:
14:30
"Among the perilous entanglements from which there is no way out for whoever casts himself therein
14:36
is the shedding of inviolable blood without lawful justification."
14:41
And on the authority of Yasir ibn 'Amr:
14:43
Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him),
14:47
when 'Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was murdered,
14:50
secluded himself within his home.
14:52
So I went in to see him
14:54
and asked him for counsel,
14:55
and he said:
14:56
"Adhere firmly to the main body of Muslims (al-jama'ah),
14:58
for Allah will never unite the Ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him) upon misguidance.
15:05
And be patient
15:06
until a righteous person is relieved of this world,
15:08
or relief is brought from a wicked one."
15:11
Mutarrif (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
15:14
"Indeed, tribulation does not come to guide people;
15:18
rather, it comes only to strip the believer of his religion.
15:23
And that Allah should say to me on the Day of Resurrection,
15:25
'Why did you not kill so-and-so?'
15:27
is far dearer to me than that He should say,
15:30
'Why did you kill so-and-so?'"
15:32
And he (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
15:34
"To choose the safe course by staying home
15:37
is far dearer to me than seeking the virtue of jihad through perilous presumption."
15:46
Their attitude toward the temptations of desires and women:
15:50
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
15:53
"Satan never despairs of ensnaring a person through anything
15:56
except that he approaches him through women."
15:59
And he said this when he was eighty-four years old,
16:03
having already lost sight in one of his eyes
16:05
while his vision was severely failing in the other:
16:08
"There is nothing I fear more for myself than women."
16:12
And on the authority of 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:
16:17
"Even if I were entrusted with a public treasury, I would be trustworthy,
16:21
yet I would not trust myself alone with an unsightly bondwoman."
16:25
Al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
16:28
"He spoke the truth, may Allah have mercy on him,
16:30
for it is stated in the hadith:
16:32
'No man is ever alone with a woman
16:35
but that the devil is the third party between them.'"
16:38
Hassan ibn 'Atiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
16:42
"No nation was ever destroyed
16:45
except by way of their women."
16:48
And on the authority of Maymun ibn Mihran (may Allah have mercy on him), who said:
16:52
"Three matters you must never test yourself with:
16:57
do not enter upon a ruler,
16:59
even if you say, 'I will enjoin him to obey Allah';
17:02
do not enter upon a woman in seclusion,
17:05
even if you say, 'I will teach her the Book of Allah';
17:08
and do not lend your ear to a person of deviant desires,
17:11
for you do not know what doubt might cling to your heart from him."
17:15
Sufyan al-Thawri (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
17:18
"Entrust me with a house filled with wealth,
17:22
but do not entrust me with an enslaved black woman
17:26
who is not lawful for me."
17:28
Once, a woman came and said:
17:31
"I wish to ask you about a matter."
17:34
So he said to her:
17:36
"Go outside to the doorway,
17:39
and then speak from behind the door."
17:42
Ibn al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
17:46
"'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak related to us—
17:49
and he was a man of profound intellect—
17:51
on the authority of the scholars of the people of the Levant,
17:54
that they said:
17:56
'Whoever initially exposes himself to the avenues of temptation
18:00
will not escape in the end, no matter how hard he strives.'"
18:04
The vizier Ibn Hubayrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
18:08
"Beware the downfalls of the intellect
18:10
whenever lusts and desires are inflamed."
18:13
The life of peace and integrity
18:16
between speech and action.