’Uthaimeen Reciting as Imaam of the Haram in Makkah
February 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
’Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, as Imaam in the Haram in Makkah in 1982:
’Uthaimeen and the University Inkpot
February 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
“When he, may Allaah have mercy on him, needed to fill his pen with ink from the inkwell in the university’s library to use it for things related specifically to the university, before leaving he would empty the ink remaining in his pen into the inkwell because it was specifically for the university.”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 25.
’Uthaimeen when He would be Absent from His Assigned Duties at his Mosque and when Late for Work
February 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
“An amazing example of his piety was that when he would be absent from leading the prayer at the Al-Jaami’ al-Kabir [mosque] in ’Unaizah where he was the appointed Imaam and for which he would receive a monthly stipend, he would give the money equal to his absence, even if it was only one day, to the person who covered him as Imaam.
Likewise, when he was teaching at the educational academy in ’Unaizah, if he were late to work—even if it were only a few minutes—he would write his lateness down in the [signing in] register and next to it write, ‘Without an excuse.’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, pp. 24-25.
’Uthaimeen and the Fax Machine
February 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
“Shaikh Badr ibn Naadir al-Mashaari mentions the following, ‘The Shaikh phoned one of the Shaikhs who worked in the courts [as a judge] so that he could send a personal letter to him which had no connection to the courts but was for him personally, so the judge told Shaikh ’Uthaimeen that there was a fax machine next to him to which he could send the letter. So ’Uthaimeen asked him, ‘Isn’t that the court’s fax machine.’ ‘Yes,’ replied the judge. ’Uthaimeen said, ‘How can I send a personal letter at the cost [of the bait al-maal] of the Muslims? Go and buy a fax machine so I can send you this letter,’ and so he did and the Shaikh then sent the letter.’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 24.
’Uthaimeen Issuing a Fatwa, then Withholding and Going to Ask His Shaikh for Guidance, His Shaikh Being Ibn Baaz
February 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
“And this shows the pinnacle of his piety in issuing fatwas, and this was concerning glucose injections, in one of his lectures he mentioned a ruling concerning them and one of the people present objected with a medical opinion which went against the fatwa that the Shaikh had given, so the Shaikh announced that he [now] withheld judgement until he would go and ask his Shaikh, the ’Allaamah ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on him. Then the next day he came back and gave them the fatwa of his Shaikh.”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 23.
’Uthaimeen and the Prince of Qaseem’s Gift
February 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
“The Shaikh’s son, ’Abdullah ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen told me the following, he said, ‘Prince ’Abdul-Ilaah ibn ’Abdul-’Aziz Aal-Su’ood, the Ameer of Qaseem, sent a new American car to the Shaikh as a gift. When the Shaikh got to his house he found the car next to it and was told about what had happened. So the car sat there for five days without being driven, then the Shaikh having made his decision called his son ’Abdullah and said, ‘Take the car to the prince and thank him for what he did but tell him that I don’t need it.’ So the car was sent back to the prince. The Shaikh had an old, cheap car, he wouldn’t pay heed to the appearance of his ride, and he passed away and still had that same old car.’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 23.
’Uthaimeen and Money Offered to him for Giving Lectures
February 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
“The accountant for the administration of girl’s education in ’Unaizah presented the Shaikh with some money for the lectures that he had given in the Faculty of Education for women in ’Unaizah, so al-’Uthaimeen said, ‘And you want me to draw a wage for [what I hold to be] my obligations towards my daughters and sisters in religion?’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 22.
Take Heed and Use Your Brain, This is How It’s Done: The Man who Abused and Cursed Ibn Baaz and who then Passed Away—The Gentleness, Mercy, and Understanding of Ibn Baaz
February 13, 2014 § Leave a comment
“An example of the soundness of the Shaikh’s heart can be seen in what Shaikh ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Jallaal narrated to me, may Allaah reward him, where he said that Shaikh Ibn Baaz ruled against a man in a certain issue and the man became upset and he was someone who had a sharp tongue and he started to insult the Shaikh and speak ill of him.
After a while that man passed away while Shaikh Ibn Baaz was on Hajj. When his body was brought forward after one of the obligatory prayers to be prayed over, the Imaam, who was one of the students of Shaikh Ibn Baaz, asked, ‘Who is the deceased?’ They said, ‘So and so.’ He said, ‘The one who spoke ill of Shaikh Ibn Baaz and swore at him? By Allaah, I won’t pray over him!’
We prayed over him along with the people. [Afterwards] some people were saying that this Imaam who didn’t pray over that man will have a high and privileged standing in the eyes of Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz.
When the Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, came back from Hajj, they told him that that man had passed away, so he asked for Allaah’s mercy for him. Then they told him that the Imaam didn’t pray over him—and the Shaikh became angry, visibly so, and he wasn’t pleased [at all]. Then he told someone, either ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Jallaal or someone else, to take him to the graveyard, and [when he got there] he stood at the grave of that man and prayed and supplicated for him.”
Al-Imaam Ibn Baaz, Duroos wa Mawaaqif wa ’Ibar, p. 67.
Young or Old, Male or Female, They All Loved Ibn Baaz—But Why? What was The Secret? Ibn Baaz Replies
February 13, 2014 § Leave a comment
“One time in his car I asked him, ‘Yaa Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz, I don’t know anyone except that they love you, young or old, male or female, this is almost something unanimous, what is the secret to that, O Shaikh?’ So he, may Allaah have mercy on him, tried to excuse himself from answering. So I repeated the question once or twice more, so he said words to the effect, ‘I do not have spite/hatred for any Muslim, and I do not hear of enmity between two except that I rush to reconcile between them.’”
Al-Imaam Ibn Baaz, Duroos wa Mawaaqif wa ’Ibar, pp. 66-67.
Ibn Baaz and the Number of Times He Read Al-Nawawi’s Explanation of Saheeh Muslim
February 13, 2014 § 2 Comments
“Shaikh Ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on him, was asked what the best book that he had read was, so he replied, ‘Al-Nawawi’s explanation of Saheeh Muslim,’ [which is eighteen odd volumes] and the person narrating this said that the Shaikh said, ‘I’ve read it more than sixty times.’”
Al-Imaam Ibn Baaz, Duroos wa Mawaaqif wa ’Ibar, p. 28.
Ibn Baaz Sitting on Hay, There’s Rain and Lightning, He’s Crying and Teaching
February 13, 2014 § Leave a comment
“Shaikh ’Abdur-Rahmaan al-Jallaal told me that one time he went out for a picnic with His Eminence [Ibn Baaz, may Allaah have mercy on him], and said, ‘When we prayed maghrib and sat, as far as I recall, a cloud came along and it started to rain with Allaah’s leave and it became heavy. The Shaikh told us to go back, we did and [by then] on the way darkness had spread. When we had left some farmers had seen us [earlier] when we had passed them by, and they knew that the Shaikh was with us, so [now] they started to light some fires with leafless palm-branches so that we could see our way, when we saw the fires we found our way to their farms and came to them. In those days the people were in difficult times, they took us to a small room made of clay where hay would be kept and it was still raining, we let the Shaikh enter and then got up on the hay along with him and sat on it, waiting for the rain to slow.
So the Shaikh said to me, ‘O Abu ’Abdullah, read.’ So I was surprised, how can I read at this uneasy time? It’s night time, raining and there’s lightning!
So the Shaikh said, ‘Since we’re sitting here, recite, and recite your portion.’
When the Shaikh said, ‘Recite your portion,’ I realised that the Shaikh meant that I should lengthen my recitation. So I recited from Surah al-A’raaf and when I finished the Shaikh started to elucidate and explain it and tears were preceding his words, may Allaah have mercy on him.”
Al-Imaam Ibn Baaz, Duroos wa Mawaaqif wa ’Ibar, pp. 19-20.
See this post for more about Ibn Baaz crying, may Allaah grant him Firdous, wa sallallaahu ’alaa Muhammad, Aameen.
Freedom From the Stranglehold of Sayings Without Proof, No Living Person is Safe from Fitnah—Ibn Mas’ood on Blind-Following
February 13, 2014 § Leave a comment
Ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with him, said, “For a surety! Let not a single one of you blindly follow another man in his religion: [such that] if he believes, he [too] believes, and if he disbelieves, he disbelieves. If it is a must that you emulate someone, then the dead—for verily, the living are not safe from fitnah.”
Al-Laalikaa’i, no. 130.
Al-Fawzaan on the Fact that Boycotting is Only Done if There is Benefit to it and if it Doesn’t Lead to Greater Harm
February 13, 2014 § Leave a comment
Questioner: The noble Prophet ﷺ said, “It is not allowed for a Muslim to boycott his brother for more than three. They meet and so this one turns away from that one, and that one from this. And the best of them is the one who initiates giving the salutation to his brother,” [Bukhaari] or something to that effect, if the person who I argued with doesn’t pray or fast and does bad things, is my dispute with him something haraam? What [exactly] does this hadith mean?
Al-Fawzaan: Boycotting [al-Hajr] is to stop talking to someone, to stop sitting with them and giving them salaam.
Boycotting a believer is not allowed for more than three days if it is about something worldly, in fact he should reconcile with his brother and give him salaam when he meets him.
To begin with, he shouldn’t [even] boycott over a worldly matter, but if it does take place then it should not be for more than three days, this is what the hadith, ‘It is not allowed for a Muslim to boycott his brother for more than three days,’ means, i.e., when the ostracising is over a worldly issue.
As for when it is over a sin which the person being boycotted has committed, a major sin which he has not left, then he must be advised and directed to fear Allaah the Mighty and Majestic. If he does not desist from that sin and does not repent, then he is boycotted, because the boycotting acts as a reprimand and deterrent for him, maybe he will repent [because of it].
Unless ostracising him is something which will lead to harm, whereby it is feared that he will increase sinning and that it will result in greater evil—then in such a situation it is not allowed to boycott him, boycotting a sinner is only allowed if there is benefit to it and if it doesn’t lead to greater harm.
And success lies with Allaah.
Al-Muntaqaa min Fataawaa Fadeelatis-Shaikh Saalih ibn Fawzaan ibn ’Abdillaah al-Fawzaan, vol. 1, pp. 397-398.
Also see here and here for further articles discussing this topic.
The Meaning of the Phrase, ‘Something Emphatically/Unequivocally Known to be Part of the Religion [المعلوم من الدين بالضرورة]’
February 12, 2014 § 2 Comments
Questioner: What does, ‘Something emphatically/unequivocally known to be part of the religion [المعلوم من الدين بالضرورة],’ mean, we hear this phrase a lot? And is it something established in all times and ages or does it differ according to the time and place?
Al-Fawzaan: That which is, ‘emphatically established in the religion [المعلوم من الدين بالضرورة],’ is something which is established by unequivocal proof, either by being unanimously reported [tawaatur] or through the Ummah’s unequivocal consensus, and the one who denies it is regarded as a disbeliever.
For example, the obligation of the five prayers, zakaah, fasting, Hajj, the pillars of Islaam, likewise the forbiddance of alcohol, interest, fornication, and [conversely] those things which are permissible and whose permissibility is emphatically/unequivocally known in Islaam, like [eating] grazing livestock that has been Islamically slaughtered, or bread and things like that.
Whoever denies something whose ruling of permissibility or impermissibility is emphatically established in Islaam is regarded as a disbeliever in Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, an apostate from Islaam.
And such things are constant in all times until the Hour is established, because the rulings of the religion are permanent, fixed and abiding, from the time Allaah sent Muhammad ﷺ to the establishment of the Hour, they do not alter or change.
Al-Muntaqaa min Fataawaa Fadeelatis-Shaikh Saalih ibn Fawzaan ibn ’Abdillaah al-Fawzaan, vol. 3, p. 388.
Excellent Resource: Offline Hans Wehr Arabic-English Dictionary for Your Android Smartphone
February 11, 2014 § 1 Comment
For those of you who need access to the Hans Wehr dictionary on your Android smartphones this is a marvellous resource, it works without internet connection once you’ve downloaded and installed the program and file.
May Allaah reward the brother who produced it with good.
You can download it from the Google Play Store here.
Ibn Baaz During Hajj, Hundreds of People Around Him and the Fruit …
February 10, 2014 § Leave a comment
“In ’Arafah during 1418AH/1998CE he was sitting at the place of prayer and hundreds of people were around him. Some cut fruit was brought to him because during the Hajj rituals it was his habit that most of the time he would only eat fruit and dates and laban. So when it was put before him he said, ‘Have all those present been given the same thing [too]?’ They replied, ‘No.’ So he said, ‘Take it away,’ and became angry.”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz Ibn Baaz, p. 130.
Imaam adh-Dhahabi’s Epic Advice
February 9, 2014 § Leave a comment
Imaam adh-Dhahabi said, “So may Allaah have mercy on a man who devotes himself to his own situation, restricts his tongue, dedicates himself to reciting his Quraan, cries over his time, constantly ponders over the two Sahihs, and worships Allaah before the appointed time overtakes him unawares—O Allaah, so grant success and have mercy.”
Tadhkiratul-Huffaadh, vol. 2, p. 86.
Ibn Baaz, the Cadillac, the Mercedes, the Ford, the Buick and the Caprice …
February 8, 2014 § 1 Comment
“The time for the car that was accorded to him and people like him by the government had expired and they wanted to change it to something newer.
So Ibn Baaz said, ‘What’s wrong with this one?’
He was told that its time had expired and so, ‘What would you like instead, Eminent Shaikh?’
‘What types of car are available?’ he asked.
So they mentioned a Cadillac, Mercedes, Ford, Buick and others.
He said, ‘And the Caprice?’
They said, ‘It doesn’t befit your rank.’
He replied, ‘Why? Isn’t the grave one [and the same for everyone]?’”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz Ibn Baaz, p. 128.
’Uthaimeen and The Russian Pilgrims
February 7, 2014 § Leave a comment
“This incident was mentioned by one of the members of the Da’wah and Guidance Office in Jeddah. During Hajj in the year 1417AH/1996CE he was with Shaikh Ibn ’Uthaimeen at King ’Abdul-’Aziz Airport in Jeddah. The Shaikh would stand amongst the pilgrims arriving for Hajj carrying out his obligation of da’wah and teaching. He was then surprised by the arrival of some pilgrims who had come from one of the Soviet Republics, so the Shaikh wanted to speak to them and asked whether they had a translator. The group guide who was a Russian came forward but he did not know that the Shaikh [standing before him] was Shaikh ’Uthaimeen.
Once he had finished translating, the guide asked, ‘Who is this Shaikh?’ ‘That is Ibn ’Uthaimeen,’ he was told. [Upon hearing that] he hugged the Shaikh, kissing him and crying. And then he took the microphone and told the entire group of pilgrims that this is Shaikh ’Uthaimeen, and so tears started flowing from them all, and the guide kept calling out with the mic at the top of his voice, repeating the name of Shaikh Ibn ’Uthaimeen. And the individuals in the group started to give salaam to the Shaikh and kiss him [on his forehead].
The guide [then] said to the Shaikh, ‘These are your students. They used to read your books in the cellars underground during Communist rule.’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 38.
’Uthaimeen, His Lecture, and the Broken Pipe in the Mosque Bathroom
February 7, 2014 § 1 Comment
“One time while the Shaikh was giving a lecture in the mosque next to his house one of the students went to the bathroom and found that a pipe was broken and leaking. He told the Shaikh about it during his lecture, and so the Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, stopped his lecture and went home and brought some tools and himself joined in with the students to fix the leak.”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 43.
An Imaam’s Humility: ’Uthaimeen and The Car That Stalled
February 7, 2014 § Leave a comment
“Shaikh ’Uthaimeen and a brother who loved him [for the Sake of Allaah] got into an old car which would break down very often, and it stalled on the way. So the Shaikh said to the driver, ‘Stay where you are and I’ll get out to push it.’
So he got out and pushed it himself until it started up.”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 42.
The Steadfastness of an Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah: Ibn ’Uthaimeen at the End of a Tiring Journey
February 7, 2014 § Leave a comment
“This instance is narrated by The Shaikh, Dr. [Abu Anas] Hamad al-’Uthmaan from Kuwait, and he is one of the students of Shaikh ’Uthaimeen who accompanied him for more than five years. It shows the steadfastness of Shaikh ’Uthaimeen in worship and that he wouldn’t leave the night prayer even when travelling. What happened was that Shaikh Abu Anas Hamad al-’Uthmaan accompanied the Shaikh on a journey from ’Unaizah to Riyadh, and then they headed out to Makkah by car for ’Umrah. After they finished ’Umrah, everyone who was accompanying the Shaikh yielded to sleep due to how exhausted they were from their journey and the ’Umrah.
‘And I woke up,’ said Shaikh Hamad al-’Uthmaan, ‘half way through the night and lo and behold the Shaikh was standing in prayer. So I said to myself, ‘Yaa Subhaanallaah, I’m a youth who succumbed to sleep, and this is an elderly Shaikh who succumbed to prayer and worship.’ So I performed ablution and started to pray, following the example of the Shaikh. So I tried to fight off the drowsiness and overcome it but I wasn’t able to and sleep overcame me.
So I went to sleep and the Shaikh was there still praying.’”
Al-Jaami’ li-Hayaatil-’Allaamah Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-’Uthaimeen, p. 39.
The Humility of an Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah: Ibn Baaz and The Thirteen Year Old Advisor
February 7, 2014 § 1 Comment
One time a young boy phoned Shaikh Ibn Baaz and said, “Eminent Shaikh, the people are in desperate need of scholars who will give them fatwas, I suggest that your excellency appoints a Mufti for every city so that it is easy to call him.” So the Shaikh said, “Maa Shaa Allaah, may Allaah put right all your affairs, how old are you?” “Thirteen,” he said. The person relating the story then said, “So His Eminence said to me, ‘This is a good suggestion which needs to be studied. Write to the Secretary-General of the Committee of Major Scholars about this.’ So I wrote what he dictated, part of which was, ‘Amma Ba’d, a sincere advisor called me and said that he suggests that a Mufti be placed in each city, and I hold that this should be put before the Permanent Committee so that we can exchange views on the topic …’”
Jawaanib min Seeratil-Imaam ’Abdul-’Aziz Ibn Baaz, p. 129.
You Are a Misguided Innovator If You Prop Up Someone To Be Followed Unconditionally Apart From the Prophet ﷺ
February 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
Shaikh Bakr Abu Zaid, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “It is not allowed for a person to be propped up for the Ummah and his way called to, [and then have] loyalty and enmity based upon that way except for our Prophet and Messenger Muhammad ﷺ. So whoever sets up someone else instead of him ﷺ for that [role], then he is misguided, an innovator.”
Hukmul-Intimaa ilaa al-Firaq wal-Ahzaab wal-Jamaa’aat al-Islaamiyyah, p. 104.
Shaikh ’Uthaimeen’s Twelve Cassettes Explaining Shaikh Bakr Abu Zaid’s Book, Hilyatu Taalibil-’Ilm
February 1, 2014 § 1 Comment
Shaikh Bakr Abu Zaid on Extreme Blind Following: Obeying Everything that is Said Without Asking for Proof for Both What Is Said or the Fatwas Issued
January 31, 2014 § Leave a comment
The great scholar of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Bakr Abu Zaid, may Allaah have mercy on him said, “The Shaikh of Islaam, Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allaah have mercy on him said, “Whoever props up a person—whoever that person may be—and then bases his loyalty and enmity upon what that person says or does, then he is from those, “who split up their religion and became sects.” [Room 30:32]
And this is the condition of many of the jamaa’ahs and Islamic sects today where they appoint people as their leaders and show loyalty to those leader’s allies and enmity to their enemies and obey them in every fatwa they give them without referring back to the Book and the Sunnah and without asking them for their proofs for what they say or the fatwas they give.”
Hukmul-Intimaa ilaa al-Firaq wal-Ahzaab wal-Jamaa’aat al-Islaamiyyah, pp. 104-105.
Shaikh Muqbil: “How easy it is to memorise some words [like], ‘So and so is a hizbi,’ or, ‘So and so is an agent.’
January 8, 2014 § 1 Comment
The PDF: Shaikh Muqbil on Not Wasting Time.
Questioner: Why don’t you speak such that your Jarh of contemporaries will be the same as or like the Jarh of the scholars of the past about weak or abandoned narrators, such that you say, for example, “So and so is a hizbi and weak and he is not to be taken from,” or, “So and so is a liar or a dajjaal or abandoned,” and so on, along with a clarification of the methodology of the man in terms of his Shi’ism or Sufism or hizbiyyah or tamyee’?
Shaikh Muqbil: That is something good but I am busy and I have projects [to do] which I want to finish and which I hold to be more beneficial, like [researching about] the Shaikhs of al-Haakim and the Shaikhs of his Shaikhs and his narrators whose biographies were not written in Tahdheeb at-Tahdheeb, and [another project is] like the completion of, ‘As-Saheeh al-Musnad Mimmaa Laisa fis-Saheehain,’ and like, ‘Al-Jaami’ as-Saheeh Mimmaa Laisa fis-Saheehain.’
So I am busy and have fallen short in many things.
Numerous books come to me from here and there and the brothers who send them say, ‘We want you to refute them,’ so I say, ‘If I do it will be on cassette because I am busy with what I hold to be more beneficial for Islaam and the Muslims.’
And I regard, ‘Al-Makhraj minal-Fitnah,’ and, ‘Al-Musaara’ah,’ and, ‘Qam’ul-Mu’aanid wa Zajrul-Haaqid al-Haasid,’ to be books of Jarh and Ta’deel. In ‘Al-Musaara’ah,’ I spoke about the Sufis and the people of superstitious deviations, and the Mukaaramah [a branch of Isma’ili Shi’a found in Najran in Saudi Arabia and Yemen], and journalists and many of the callers to Hizbiyyah in Yemen. In, ‘Qam’ul-Mu’aanid,’ I spoke about Hizbul-Islaah and about hizbiyyah cloaked with [the title of being] ‘associations’, so I regard these to be books of Jarh and Ta’deel [that I have written].
And after [mentioning] this, I advise my brothers to completely dedicate themselves to seeking knowledge, because this differing which is present in the lands of the two harams and Najd between the people of knowledge comes from free time.
How easy it is to memorise some words [like], ‘So and so is a hizbi,’ or, ‘So and so is an agent,’ and then to go around relaying it from this gathering to that. Rather I want you to start by memorising the Quraan and memorising the hadiths of Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ that you are able to, and similarly with the Arabic language.
So I say, whether they like it or not, this clash has come about between them due to free time—so if you were to occupy yourselves with memorising the Quraan and acquiring beneficial knowledge you wouldn’t have the time for such talk.
And someone came to me from the land of the Harams and Najd and all of a sudden he was saying, “The Shaikh … and the Shaikh … and the Shaikh …,’ [i.e., talking ill of them] so I said, “O so and so:
فَدَع عَنكَ نَهباً صيحَ في حَجَراتِه وَلَكِن حَديثاً ما حَديثُ الرَواحِلِ
So leave alone spoil by the sides of which a shouting was raised.
But relate to me a story: what is the story of the riding-camels?
[These are the opening lines from a poem by Imru’ul-Qais and are an, “Arabic adage used about someone who has lost some of his wealth, and thereafter something even more valuable than it is lost. Namely, ‘Leave the spoils which have [already] been pillaged from all around you [i.e., they’ve already been cried over so there is no point mentioning them now, instead], relate to me the story of the riding-camels you took [i.e., which are even more valuable than what was previously taken from me]: what became of them?’” [An-Nihaayah fi Ghareebil-Hadithi wal-Athar, p. 188.]]
[And so I said to him] I want to test you about the knowledge you had with you when you departed from us [for your journey], and so he started scratching his head and became silent.
So beware of squandering your time and wasting it with these issues. You should rather be diligent and strive to obtain beneficial knowledge and understanding of Allaah’s Religion. And anything which comes to us which opposes the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ we discard and disprove it.
Ghaaratul-Ashritah, vol. 2, pp. 410-411.
Ibn Abbaas’ Advice on How to Stop Backbiting
December 30, 2013 § 1 Comment
From Ibn ’Abbaas, may Allaah be pleased with him, “Whenever you want to mention your brother’s faults, mention yours.”
Hayaatus-Salaf bainal-Qawl wal-’Amal, p. 606.
’Uthaimeen on Steadfastness and Not Relying on Yourself
December 24, 2013 § Leave a comment
Shaikh ’Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, “It is an obligation for a person to turn to Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, because He is the One in whose Hands is the dominion of the heavens and the earth, so do not, for example, rely on the firmness of eemaan in your heart, relying on [the idea that] the Devil will not overcome you and that the desires of the soul that orders evil will not infiltrate you, rather always recourse back to Allaah, the Most High, and ask Him for steadfastness.”
Tafseer Surah Yaa Seen, p. 26.
