The words of Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him)

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Murrah that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Worship Allah as though you see Him, and count yourselves among the dead. Know that a little which suffices you is better than a lot which distracts you, and know that righteousness does not wear out and sin is not forgotten."

It is narrated from Raja' bin Haywah that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) gathered the people of Damascus and then said: "Listen to your sincere brother. Do you gather what you will not eat? And do you hope for what you will not attain? And do you build what you will not live in? Where are those who were before you? They gathered much, hoped for far-off things, and built strong (buildings). Then what they gathered became worthless, their hopes became a delusion, and their homes became graves."

It is narrated from Habib that he said: Whenever Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda passed by any town, he would say: "Where are your people?" Then he (may Allah be pleased with him) would say: "They have gone, but the deeds remain."

It is narrated from Abd al-Malik bin Umayr that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda said: "Whoever mentions death often, his envy will be less and his joy will be less."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "You cannot be a complete faqih until you become angry with people for the sake of Allah, and then you turn back to your own self and are even angrier with it."

It is narrated from Mu'awiyah bin Qurrah that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Goodness is not that your children and wealth become many. Rather, goodness is that your forbearance grows, your deeds increase, and you outstrip other people in the worship of Allah. Then, if you do well, you praise Allah, and if you do wrong, you ask Allah for forgiveness."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "One hour of reflection is better than a whole night of standing (in worship)."

Salim bin Abi al-Ja'd narrates from Sayyidah Umm al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with her) that she (Sayyidah Umm al-Darda, may Allah be pleased with her) was asked: "What was the best deed of Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him)?" She said: "Reflection."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Those whose tongues remain constantly moist with the remembrance of Allah will enter Paradise laughing."

Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: "Whenever I spend a night and in the morning people have not struck me with any calamity, I consider that a favour from Allah upon me."

It is narrated from Abu Hazim that he said: Sayyidah Umm al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with her) said to Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him): "An old man comes and prays, and a young man comes and does not pray." At this Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Each one is in a reward which has been prepared for him."

It is narrated from Kathir bin Murrah al-Hadrami that he said: I heard Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: "Shall I not tell you of the best of deeds, which is the most beloved to your Master and the most elevating of your ranks? It is better even than that you fight your enemy and they strike your necks and you strike their necks, and better than giving dirhams and dinars?" The people asked: "O Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him)! What is it?" He (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The remembrance of Allah. And the remembrance of Allah is a very great thing."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "I command you to do something while I do not do it myself, but I hope for reward in it. And the person I most hate to wrong is the servant who seeks help against me from none but Allah."

It is narrated about Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that when he mentioned this world he would say: "This world and all that is in it are accursed."

It is narrated from Mu'awiyah bin Qurrah that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) fell ill and the people visited him. The people asked: "What do you complain of?" He said: "My sins." It was asked: "What do you desire?" He said: "Paradise." It was said: "Shall we call a physician for you?" He said: "He is the very One who has laid me in bed."

It is narrated from Zayd bin Aslam that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Seek good throughout your entire life, and keep placing yourselves before the breezes of Allah's mercy, for Allah has breezes of His mercy with which He reaches whomever He wills among His servants. And ask Allah to conceal your secrets and to give you safety from your fears."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "The best place of worship for a man is his home, in which he guards his tongue and his gaze. And beware of the market, for it leads into idle talk and makes one heedless."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Whoever keeps inspecting will be deprived, and whoever does not show patience in distressing matters will become helpless."

He said: And Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "If you pay people back in kind, they will pay you back in kind, and if you leave them, they will not leave you." He said: "Then what do you command me?" He said: "Lend from your honour for the day of your poverty."

It is narrated from Abu al-Bakhtari that he said: Once a fire was burning under a cooking pot of Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him), and Sayyiduna Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) was with him, when suddenly Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) heard a sound from the pot. Then that sound became a sobbing sound like the voice of a child. The narrator said: Then the pot fell and turned over, and then it returned to its place, and nothing had spilled from it. So Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) began calling out: "O Salman! Look at this strange thing! Look at something the like of which neither you nor your father has seen!" Sayyiduna Salman said: "Had you remained silent, you would have heard some of the great signs of Allah Almighty."

It is narrated from Humayd bin Hilal that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When I stand for the reckoning, what I fear most is that it will be said to me: 'You had knowledge. So what did you do with what you knew?'"

It is narrated from Salim bin Abi al-Ja'd that he said: Two oxen passed by Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him), both of them yoked to their work. Then one of them stood still, and the other stood still as well. At this Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, there is a lesson in this."

It is narrated from Ya'la bin al-Walid that he said: I was walking with Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: I said: "O Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him)! What do you wish for the one you love?" He said: "Death." The narrator said: I said to him: "But if he does not die?" He said: "That his children and wealth be few."

Abdullah bin Yazid relates that Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "One night I went to the mosque in the darkness before dawn. When I entered, I passed by a man who was in prostration, and he was saying: 'O Allah, I am afraid and seeking refuge, so grant me refuge from Your punishment. And I am a poor man asking, so provide for me from Your bounty. I am not free of sin that I should offer an excuse, nor am I powerful that I should defend myself. Rather, I am a sinner seeking forgiveness.'" The narrator said: In the morning Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) began teaching these words to his students, as he thought well of them.

Sulayman bin Marthad relates that he said: I heard the daughter of Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) relating from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "If you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much, and you would go out weeping, not knowing whether you will be saved or not."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "If you wish, I will swear an oath to you: the most beloved of His servants to Allah Almighty are those servants who love Allah and who make His servants love Allah Almighty, and those who watch the sun, the moon, the stars and the shadows for the sake of the remembrance of Allah."

It is narrated from Ibn Abi Layla that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote a letter to Sayyiduna Maslamah bin Mukhallad (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was the governor of Egypt: "Amma ba'd (to proceed): Indeed, when a servant does deeds of obedience to Allah, Allah Almighty loves him. And when Allah Almighty loves him, He makes him beloved among His creation. And when Allah Almighty hates a servant, He makes him hated among His creation."

It is narrated about Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "What is the matter with me that I see your scholars departing, and I see your ignorant people not acquiring knowledge? Acquire knowledge before knowledge is taken away, for the taking away of knowledge is the departure of the scholars. What is the matter with me that I see you eager for what has been guaranteed for you, while you neglect what has been entrusted to you? I know the wicked among you better than a veterinarian knows horses. They are those who offer the prayer only after its time has passed, who listen to the Qur'an only with indifference, and whose freed slave is not truly freed."

It is narrated from Salim that he said: A man went up to Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was on top of a room picking up grains. The narrator said: It was as though the man felt shy of him and turned back. At this Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Come, for your gentle dealing in your livelihood is your good sense."

Sayyidah Umm al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with her) relates: On one occasion Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) fainted. Then he regained consciousness, and his son Bilal was with him. Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Get up and go out from me." Then he said: "Who will work for a resting place like this one of mine? Who will work for an hour like this one of mine? 'And We will turn their hearts and their eyes, just as they did not believe in it the first time, and We will leave them wandering blindly in their transgression.' [Al-An'am: 110]" Sayyidah Umm al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Then he lost consciousness again. He would remain so for a while, then he would recover and repeat the same words. He went on repeating these words until his soul was taken.

Tamim bin Ghaylan relates that a man came to Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) during his illness and said: "O Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him)! You are surely at the edge of this world, so give me an instruction through which Allah Almighty will benefit me and by which I will remember you." Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You are from a nation that has been pardoned. So establish the prayer, pay zakah if you have wealth, fast Ramadan and avoid indecencies, and then you have glad tidings." The man said this to Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) a second time, and Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said the same to him again. At this the man shook out his cloak and said: "Indeed, those who conceal what We have sent down of clear proofs and guidance after We have made it clear to the people" up to His saying: "and those who curse will curse them." [Al-Baqarah: 159] So Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Bring him to me." The man came, and Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "What did you say?" The man said: "You are a man of knowledge. You have knowledge that I do not have. My intention was that you would tell me something through which Allah Almighty would benefit me, but you gave me only one answer." At this Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said to the man: "Sit down and understand what I am about to tell you. Where do you stand regarding the day on which you will have of the earth only a plot two cubits wide and four cubits long? Your family, who do not like to be separated from you, will bring you there, and your companions and brothers, who do not like to be separated from you, will bring you there. They will make a fine structure over you, pile plenty of earth on you, and leave you to that state. Then two curly-haired, black and blue angels will come to you, whose names will be Munkar and Nakir. These two will sit you up and ask you: 'What are you? What religion were you upon? And what do you say about this man?' If you say: 'By Allah, I do not know. I used to hear the people saying something, so I said what the people said,' then you are surely ruined and destroyed. And if you say: 'This is Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah Almighty sent down His Book upon him, and I believed in him and in what he brought,' then you have surely been saved and rightly guided. And you will never be able to do this without steadfastness from Allah, while you will also be seeing severity and terror. Then where do you stand regarding the day on which you will have of the earth only a space the size of your two feet? It will be a day whose length is equal to fifty thousand years. On that day all people will stand before the Lord of the Worlds, there will be no shade except the shade of the Throne of the Lord of the Worlds, and the sun will be brought near. If you are among the people of the shade, then by Allah you are surely saved and guided, and if you are among the people of the sun, then by Allah you are surely ruined and destroyed. Then where do you stand regarding the day on which Hell will be brought, having enclosed both sides (the east and the west), and it will be said: 'You will never enter Paradise until you cross Hell'? If you have light, you will go straight across the Bridge, and then you are surely saved and guided. And if you do not have light, then some of the hooks of Hell, or its grappling-irons, or other clinging things there will fasten upon you, and then you are surely ruined and destroyed. By the Lord of Abu al-Darda, what I have said is the truth, so understand what I have said."

It is narrated from Khaythamah that he said: Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I used to engage in trade before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent. When he (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent, I persistently tried (to combine) worship and trade, but the two did not come together. So I took up worship and left trade."