Some More Pieces of Wisdom and Admonition
1. Yahya bin Mu’ad said:
Know that Dirham is a scorpion. The person who does not know its Ruqya (reading on an affected object), its poison will kill him.
He was asked: What is this Ruqya?
He replied: That it should be earned from a Halal source and be spent in a Halal way.
2. Abu Hazim said:
Spend and do not be fearful about the future of your children. Because if they are ‘believers’, then Allah will give them without any count and if they are sinful, then you should not help them committing sins with your money.
3.Yahya bin Muad Said:
One of us is always fearful of disgrace and poverty in this world but he is never fearful of the disgrace and poverty of the Hereafter. Does he not know that an impoverished person because of the lack of good deeds, would be more disgraceful and would in the Hereafter be ashamed to face the people that day.
So where do we stand?
4. A man said to ‘Umar bin Abdul Aziz:
Give me a piece of admonition!
He said: Be careful when you sit with pious people and do not benefit from them OR you blame the sinful but do not escape sinning yourself OR you are among those people who curse the Satan openly while you obey him secretly.
5. A man said to Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak:
Give me a piece of admonition!
He said: Leave unnecessary staring, you will be granted Khushu (humbleness & concentration). Leave unnecessary talk, you will be granted wisdom. Leave unnecessary eating, you will be granted opportunities to worship. Leave spying on the sins of the people, you will be granted a chance to glance at your own defects. Leave discussion about the nature of Allah, you will not be subjected to doubt and hypocrisy.
6. The heart has six places in which it keeps on running. There is no seventh to it.
Three of a low nature and three of a high nature.
The low nature ones are:
- A glamorous world around him.
- His own Nafs (self) which speaks to him.
- His enemy who keeps on whispering to him.
So these are the places in which low types of souls keep on operating.
The three high places are:
- Knowledge which gives light
- Mind (intellect) which guides him
- Allah whom he worships
So the hearts are occupied with these six places.
7. To follow your desire and to be lured by long wishes are the main sources for all corruption. Because by following the desire, you become blind to see the truth. And by long wishes, you forget your Hereafter and stop preparing for it.
8. The one who was invited but did not respond loses a day or night only.
- The one who cultivated but did not reap, loses the whole year.
- The one who did not read or write, loses half of his life.
- But who did not work for his Hereafter loses both this world and the Hereafter.
9. Ibn Al-Qayyim says:
The year is like a tree.
The months are its branches.
The days are like shoots.
The hours are its leaves.
The breaths are its fruits.
So the one whose breaths are occupied in obedience, it makes a blessed tree and the one whose breaths are occupied in sins, it grows only a colocynth (a very sour tree)
10. Mustafa Al-Siba’i said:
Keep your honour in four places:
- When you are studying with someone who is more knowledgeable than you.
- When you are teaching someone who is older than you.
- When you are disputing with someone who is stronger than you.
- When you are arguing with someone who is more stupid than you.