حياة السلف بين القول والعمل

Sincerity and the Condemnation of Hypocrisy and Showing Off: On the authority of Ahmad ibn Asim, he said: Sufyan al-Thawri and Fudayl ibn Iyad, may God have mercy on them both, met and conversed, and they wept. Sufyan said: I hope that this gathering of ours will be the most blessed gathering we have ever had. Fudayl said to him: You hope so, but I fear that it will be the most ominous gathering we have ever had. Did you not look at the best of what you have and adorn yourself with it for me, and I adorn myself with it for you? Then Sufyan wept until his sobbing became loud, and then he said: You have given me life, may God give you life. [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 2/404].

Sincerity and condemnation of hypocrisy and showing off: Muslim bin Yasar, may God have mercy on him, said: Beware of showing off, for it is a moment of ignorance for the scholar, and through it Satan seeks to cause him to slip up. [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 1/395].

Sincerity and condemnation of hypocrisy and pretense: On the authority of Ja`far, he said: I heard Malik, may God have mercy on him, say: I swear to you, if the hypocrites grew tails, the believers would not find any land to walk on. [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 1/427].

Sincerity and condemnation of hypocrisy and pretense: On the authority of Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, may God have mercy on him, he said: I used to sit on Fridays, and if the people were many, I would be happy, and if they were few, I would be sad. So I asked Bishr ibn Mansur, and he said: This is an evil gathering, so do not return to it, so I did not return to it. [Al-Siyar (its abridgment) 2/817].

Sincerity and condemnation of hypocrisy and pretense: Bilal bin Saad, may God have mercy on him, said: Do not be a friend of God Almighty in public and His enemy in secret. [Sifat al-Safwa 4/435].