حياة السلف بين القول والعمل

Acting upon and conveying knowledge: Al-Dhahabi, may God have mercy on him, said: “Whoever seeks knowledge to act upon it, knowledge will humble him, and he will weep for himself. But whoever seeks knowledge for the sake of schools, issuing fatwas, boasting, and showing off, will become foolish, arrogant, and will look down upon people. Conceit will destroy him, and people will despise him. ‘He has certainly succeeded who purifies it, and he has certainly failed who corrupts it’ [Ash-Shams: 9-10]; that is, he corrupts it with immorality and disobedience. The letter ‘seen’ in it has been changed to ‘alif’.” [Siyar (its abridgment) 3/1401].

On the authority of Abdullah bin Salam, he said to those who were present when Uthman, may God be pleased with him, was writhing in agony when Abu Ruman al-Adha struck him: What did Uthman say as he was writhing? They said: We heard him say: O God, unite the nation of Muhammad, O God, unite the nation of Muhammad, O God, unite the nation of Muhammad, three times. He said: By Him in whose hand is my soul, if he had prayed to God in that state that they would never unite, they would not have united until the Day of Resurrection. [Ibn Abi al-Dunya Encyclopedia 5/314].

On the authority of Isa bin Yunus, he said: We have not seen in our time anyone like Al-A’mash, may God have mercy on him, nor the class that came before us. We have never seen the rich and the sultans in a gathering more humiliated than they were in the gathering of Al-A’mash, when he was in need of a dirham!! [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 2/138].

A man wrote to Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both: Write to me with all knowledge. He replied: Knowledge is abundant, but if you can meet Allah with your back free of the burden of people's blood, your stomach empty of their wealth, your tongue restrained from their honor, and holding to the affairs of their community, then do so. [Siyar (abridged edition) 1/370].

Al-Hasan ibn Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Four matters of Islam belong to the ruler: judgment, fay revenues, Friday prayer, and jihad. [Uyun al-Akhbar 1/47, 48].