حياة السلف بين القول والعمل

Ali ibn Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, said: Be more concerned with the acceptance of your deeds than with the deeds themselves. Have you not heard God say: “God only accepts from the righteous” [Al-Ma’idah: 27]? [Ibn Abi Al-Dunya Encyclopedia 1/175].

On the authority of Hammad ibn Salamah, he said: We never came to Sulayman al-Taymi, may God have mercy on him, at a time when God, the Almighty and Majestic, is obeyed, except that we found him obedient. If it was the time of prayer, we found him praying, and if it was not the time of prayer, we found him either performing ablution, or visiting the sick, or accompanying a funeral procession, or sitting in the mosque. He said: So we thought that he did not know how to disobey God, the Almighty and Majestic,. [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 1/440].

On the authority of Abu Awana, he said: If it had been said to Mansur bin Zadhan, may God have mercy on him, that you would die today or tomorrow, he would have had no more to add. [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 1/450].

On the authority of Al-Mu'alla ibn Ziyad Al-Qurdusi, who said: I said to Al-Hasan Al-Basri, may God have mercy on him: Two men, one who devotes himself to worship and the other who strives to provide for his family, which of them is better? He said: The one who devotes himself to worship is better. [Az-Zuhd by Imam Ahmad / 461]. This applies if the striving is for the surplus of life and what is beyond one's needs. However, if it is for obtaining sustenance, satisfying hunger, and sustaining life, then the scholars of the righteous predecessors and those who came after them have unanimously agreed on the obligation of striving to earn a living.

On the authority of Ubaid bin Umair, may God have mercy on him, he said: The one who strives now is like the one who played in the past [Al-Zuhd by Imam Ahmad / 628].