Do not sell your soul for a lowly price

Do not sell your soul for a lowly price

Taken from Fajr Blog (Click the link above)

As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah

Shaykh Sayyid al-‘Affani: “Whoever seeks Allah and desires nobility and great honour, let him not sell his soul for a lowly price when in front of him lies Paradise and eternity. Indeed, we have only been created to live with our Creator in a Home the garden of which Allah the Most High has cultivated with His Hands.”

‘Aamir ibn ‘Abd: “I have not looked towards anything except that I saw Allah the Most High was closer to it than myself.”

Al-Junayd: “Know that He `azza wa jall, draws close to the hearts of His slaves according to how close they draw to Him, so look to what is drawing close to your heart.”

Al-‘Affani: “Knowing the greatness of Allah, the King of Kings, will make it easier for a person to gain sincerity. Likewise it’s made easier knowing that the hearts and forelocks of the slaves of Allah lie in His Hands, and that He runs their affairs; He commands and prohibits, honours and disgraces. He turns the hearts of the creation, so the heart of him whom you wish to show off to in is the Hands of Him Whom you are disobeying… It is incredible that you should know Him and yet not be sincere to Him, incredible that you should hear His call and yet delay in responding. Indeed, everything has a replacement, but Allah cannot be replaced.”

One of the salaf said, “Fight your soul and prevent it from the causes of Riya’ (showing off), and try to imagine the people around you as being like cattle or children so that you do not differ in your ‘Ibadah (worship) when they are present or absent, when they see you or not, and be content with the fact that Allah sees you.”

Abu al-Darda’ (radhiallahu `anhu) said, “O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the humbleness of the hypocrites.” It was said, “And what is the humbleness of the hypocrites?” He said, “That you should see the body being humble, but the heart refuses to be humble.”

Dhul-Nun: “When the wise one feels comfort in solitude, then he has attained sincerity, and at that point, his wisdom will move him to the truth and correctness in matters.”

لا تركنن لمخلوق على طمع *** فإن ذلك نقص منك في الدين
Do not rely upon the creation to grant you your wishes
Indeed that’s only a shortcoming on part of your religion

لن يقدر العبد أن يعطيك خردلة *** إلا بإذن الذي سواك من طين
A slave has no power to grant you, not even an atom’s weight
Except with the Permission of He who made you from clay

فلا تصاحب قوياً تستعز به *** و كن عفيفاً و عظِّم حرمة الدين
So do not walk with the mighty in order to boast with them
Rather be modest and virtuous and exalt the sanctity of this Deen

واسترزق الله مما في خزائنه *** فإن رزقك بين الكاف والنون
Seek provision from Allah; from the treasures that are with Him
For indeed your provision only lies between Kaf and Nun*

* i.e. between the letters Kaf and Nun – in Arabic this spells out كن (‘Be,’ or ‘to become’) which is a reference to the verse “Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be! (kun)” and it is.” [Ya-Sin: 82].

– Taken from ‘Ta’tir al-Anfas min Hadith al-Ikhlas’ by Shaykh Sayyid Husayn al-’Affani

Five Fortresses of Imaan

 

1. Certainty

2. Sincerity

3. Faraa’idh (obligations)

4. Sunnan Acts

5. Adaab (Manners)
If you don’t guard your adaab, shaytan enters until he destroys every fortress down to the fortess of Certainty.

Worst Quality of Hypocrisy (Laziness towards Salah)

Sincerity – Muhammad Mukhtar Ash-shinqitee

“…and to call upon oneself saying, enough hypocrisy, and enough showing off, and enough seeking people’s pleasure, and enough seeking praise and thanks, and to turn to Allah…”

 

Something that we shouldn’t learn the hard way: it never pays to be insincere. It doesn’t pay in the aakhira, and if you think it pays in this life, you’re deluding yourself. And if you continue like that, then you are fighting a battle that you will never win. But it may be that from His mercy, He shows you in this world that it doesn’t pay to be insincere.

wabillahit tawfeeq

“Hypocrisy is to be inwardly different from what you are on the outside, to say one thing and do another, and to be different in how you enter and how you leave. And the root of it is lying.”

– Abu Bakr Al Khara

3 types of people read the Quran

On the authority of Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudree (May Allaah be pleased with him) he said that the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

“There will come a people who will recite the Qur’aan but it will not go past their throats. Three types of people read the Qur’aan: a believer, a hypocrite, and a criminal.”

(Musnad of Ahmad, Al-Haakim and others, graded Hasan)

As you treat others, you shall be treated…

Rawdhatul-’Uqala’ [post 6] 

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, “Beware of suspicion (and ill-thinking), for it is the worst of false tales. Do not probe into each others affairs, and do not envy one another, and do not hate one another. But O’ slaves of Allah, be brothers!” [Sahih al-Bukhari & Muslim]

Kathir ibn Ziyad said, ‘I heard al-Hasan (al-Basri) say, “Do not ask about the good and bad deeds of your brother, for that is surely tajassus (probing, spying, finding fault etc).”‘

Abu Hatim: ‘The intelligent one must adhere to salvation by staying away from probing into the faults of people, and instead should preoccupy himself with his own faults. Surely, whoever preoccupies himself with his own faults instead of the faults of others, will find peace and relaxation in his being and his heart will not be exhausted. Whenever he looks to his faults and errors, then the similar faults of his brother will be easy for him to bear. However, whoever preoccupies himself with the faults of others instead of his own, then his heart will become blind, he will become tired out and he will forget his own shortcomings. The weakest of people is the one who criticizes others for what is in them, and the weakest from amongst them is the one who criticizes others for what is also within himself. And whoever criticizes others, will be criticized by them.’

Truthful was he who said:

‘If you rebuke others, they’ll rebuke you and do so more!
And then what was hidden within you, will be on show.
Someone once said in some statement of the past,
A word containing wisdom and beauty so vast:
If ever you mention people, then leave behind their errors
For there is no error, except that yours can be said
If you criticize a people for what is not within them
Then that is mighty in the Sight of Allah and also men
And if you criticize them for what is also within you
Then how can the one-eyed rebuke the one-eyed too?
And how can people be criticized by someone who
His faults are worse when all faults are diffused?
When you look for other’s defects, you shall indeed find them
But remember that what is in you is far greater than them
So grant peace to the people, and leave them to themselves
For they can see your errors more than you can see yourself.’

Al-Shaybani mentioned that, “It is written in the Books that: ‘As you treat others, you shall be treated, and the cup you give to others, is the cup you shall drink from…’”

Abu Hatim: ‘Probing and seeking the faults of others is from the branches of hypocrisy just like thinking good of others is from the branches of faith. The intelligent one always has a good opinion of his brothers, and keeps his grief and sadness to himself. As for the ignorant one, he has evil opinion of his brothers and does not think about his crimes and distress.’

[pg. 110-112]

SOURCE: http://fajr.wordpress.com/

Sincerity, Showing off, and Love of Fame

Narrations of the Salaf about Sincerity, Showing off and the Love of Fame
– Compiled and Translated by Abu Abdillaah Hassan as-Somali

Taken from the book: ‘Min Akhbaar-is-Salaf’

Ayoob As-Sakhtayaani used to pray the night prayer, and he would conceal this. If
morning arrived, he would raise his voice as if he only awoke at that hour. (Sifatus
Safwah: 3/492)

Abdus Samad ibn Abdil Waarith said:
Hawshab would cry and say: My name has reached the Masjid Al-Jaami’.

It is reported upon Abul Aaliyah that if more than three people were to gather and
sit around him, he would get up. (At-Tawaadu’:47)

It is reported upon Bishr ibn Al-Haarith that he said:
O Allaah. If you have made me famous to expose me on the day of judgement,
then strip it away from me. (Az-Zuhd by Al-Bayhaqi: 147)

Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaad said: No one loves leadership except that they are envious,
transgress, search for the faults of the people and hate that anyone be mentioned
with good. (Jaami’ Bayaan Al-‘ilm: 1/652)

Abdullaah ibn Al-Mubaarak said:
Sufyaan Ath-Thawri said to me: Beware of fame. Everyone I met warned me about
fame. (As-Siyar: 7/260)

Abul ‘Aaliyyah said: The Companions of Muhammad said to me:
“Do not perform an action for other than Allaah, as He will leave you to the one
whom you have acted for.” (Al-Musannaf: 7/207)

Hamdoon Al-Qassaar was asked:
“Why is the speech of the Salaf more beneficial than ours?
He replied: This is because they spoke to give ascendancy to Islam and to please
The Most Merciful; whereas we speak to give ascendancy to ourselves, to seek
after the worldly life and please the creation.
(Safwatus Safwah: 2/122)

Muhammad  ibn Al-Qaasim said:
I accompanied Muhammad ibn Aslam for more than 20 years, and I never saw him
pray two supererogatory rak’ahs, except on the day of Jum’ah. On one occasion, I
heard him take an oath: “By Allaah If I was able to pray a supererogatory prayer
where my two angels could not see me; I would do so out of fear of showing off.
He used to enter his house and close his door. I was never aware of what he would
get up to until I heard his young son conversing how he used to cry. However, when he used to go outside, he would wash his face and apply kuhl, and no sign of him crying would be visible. He used to provide for a people and clothe them, but when he would send his Messenger, he used to say: Make sure they don’t know who sent you. (As-Siyar: 12/201)

Hurmulah said:
I heard Ash-Shaafi’ee say:
I hoped to be rewarded for all the knowledge that I possessed and that the people
had learnt from me, but (I desired) that they would not praise me. (As-Siyar:
10/55)

Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaad said:
“Whosoever is saddened by loneliness and feels tranquil around the people, is not
safe from Riyaa.
(As-Siyar: 8/436)

Abu Haazim said:
“Hide your good deeds more than you hide your bad deeds.” (Al-Musannaf: 7/195)

Al-Khuraybee said:
They used to prefer that a man hide his righteous deeds, (to the extent), that his
wife or anyone else wouldn’t be aware of it. (As-Siyar: 9/349)

Wakee’ said:
Whoever inquires about something and he already understands it, then this is a
part of showing off.
(Al-Jaami’ Li Akhlaaq Ar-Raawi: 1/ 197)

‘Aqeel ibn Ma’qil said:
I heard my paternal uncle, Wahb ibn Munabbih, say:
Three signs of a hypocrite: when his alone he is lazy, he is energetic when in the
company others and he chases after praise in all of his affairs.
Three signs of an envious person: he backbites the one whom he is jealous of, if he
were to meet him, he flatters him, and he is delighted at his misfortunes. (Al-
Hilyah: 4/47)

When ‘Abdur Rahman ibn Mahdi rose from a gathering, he was followed by the
people. (Upon this) he said: O people! Do not follow me. (Siyar: 9/207)

Abu ‘Awn said:
When the righteous people met one another they would advise each other and if
they were absent they would write to one another, (with the following):
Whoever does an act seeking the hereafter then Allaah will suffice him in his
worldly affairs, whoever corrects what is between him and Allaah, then Allaah will
correct that which is between him and the people, and whoever corrects his
behaviour in private, then Allaah will correct his situation publicly.  (Al-Musannaf:
7/162)

Bishr ibn Al-Haarith said:
The (person) that loves fame has not feared Allaah.
He also said:
Don’t act in order to be mentioned, and hide your good deeds like you hide your
bad ones. (As-Siyar: 10/476)

Sa’eed ibn Al-Haddaad said:
Nothing hinders from the path of Allaah like seeking praise and status. (As-Siyar:
14/ 214)

Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaadh said:
Whoever loves to be mentioned, will not be mentioned; and whoever dislikes to be
mentioned, then he will be mentioned. (As-Siyar: 8/432)

Sufyaan Ath-Thawri:
Safety is that you don’t desire to be known. (As-Siyar: 7/257)

Surah Al-Munafiqoon (The Hypocrites)

Ayaat about Munafiqoon (Hypocrites)