Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he said: By Allah, if you knew what I know, you would surely weep much and laugh little. And if you knew what I know, you would not stretch your hands towards your women, nor would you find comfort on your beds, and you would raise your voices towards the hills and go out weeping. By Allah! If, on the day of my creation, I had been made a tree that would be cut and eaten.

It is narrated from Hazrat Hattan that he says: A good companion is better than solitude, and solitude is better than a bad companion. One who prompts good is better than one who is silent, and one who is silent is better than one who prompts evil. Trustworthiness is better than suspicion, and suspicion is better than having a bad opinion.

It is narrated from Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: On the Day of Judgment, a person with two dirhams will be held to a more severe account than a person with one dirham.

It is narrated about Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) that it was said to him: Why do you not acquire land as Hazrat Talha and Hazrat Zubair have done? The narrator says that he replied: What would I do by becoming wealthy? For me, a sip of water or a sip of nabidh or a sip of milk is enough for each day, and for every Friday, a measure (qafeez) of wheat is sufficient.

It is narrated from Hazrat Abdullah bin Saidan that he says: I was with Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), so he said to me, "Shall I not tell you about the day of my need?" Surely, the day of my need is when I will be placed in my grave. So this is the day of my need.

It is narrated from Hazrat Abdullah bin Khurash that he says: I saw Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) at the place of Rabdha, and with him was a Sahma’ or Shahba’ woman. The narrator says: Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) was in a black tent. The narrator says: It was said to Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), "If only you had kept a woman of higher status than this one." The narrator says: He replied, "By Allah! For me to keep a woman who lowers my status is more beloved to me than to keep a woman who raises my status." People said, "O Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him)! You are grieved because of your children; none of your children remain." The narrator says: Upon this, he said, "We praise and glorify Allah who takes our children from us in the abode of mortality and stores them for us in the abode of permanence." The narrator says: Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) used to sit on a mat made of sackcloth and hair. People said to him, "O Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him)! If only you made a bedding softer than this one of yours?" Upon this, he said, "Allahumma ghufran (O Allah! Grant forgiveness)." "Whatever is given to me, you may take it. For we have been created as workers for that house, and to it we must return."

It is narrated from Hazrat Abu’l-Ja’d that he says Hazrat Abu’d-Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) sent a messenger to Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him). The messenger came and said to Hazrat Abu Dharr, “Your brother Hazrat Abu’d-Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) sends you greetings of peace and says to you: Fear Allah and remain hidden from people.” Upon this, Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “What do I have to do with people? I have left their silver and gold for them.” Then he said to the messenger, “Come towards the house.” He walked along with him. When he entered Hazrat Abu Dharr’s house, there was a little food scattered in a cloak. The narrator says Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) began to gather it and collect it in the cloak. Then he said: “Indeed, part of a man’s understanding of religion is to deal gently with his livelihood.” Then a little food was brought and placed before them. He said to me, “Eat.” The man disliked putting his hand in that food because it seemed little. Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said to the man, “Put your hand (in it), by Allah! We are not as afraid of the scarcity of food as we are of its abundance.” Upon this, the man ate the food, then returned to Hazrat Abu’d-Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) and described the whole situation to him. Hazrat Abu’d-Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “O Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), no tree has ever shaded, nor any land given shelter, to a man more truthful than you.”

It is narrated from Hazrat Abu Bakr bin Munzir that he says Hazrat Habib bin Muslimah—he was the ruler over Syria—sent three hundred dinars to Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: Use this to help with your needs. Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Take them back. There is no one wealthier than us. All we need is a shade in which we can take shelter, a flock of goats that brings us comfort, and a free maidservant who serves us out of charity; then I fear anything more than this.

Hazrat Umm Taliq narrates that she went to Hazrat Abu Dharr and gave him some flour and sattu, so he tied them in the edge of his garment and said: "Your reward is with Allah." I (the narrator) said: "O Umm Taliq! How did you find the condition of Hazrat Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him)?" She replied: "O my son! I saw him with disheveled hair and in a sad state, and I saw spun wool in his hand, and there were two inverted sticks with which he used to spin the wool."

It is narrated from Hazrat Ahnaf bin Qais that he said: I was sitting in the Prophet’s Mosque when a man came from the front, and whichever gathering he approached, that gathering dispersed. Until that man came to the gathering in which I was sitting. The rest of the people fled, but I remained seated. I asked, “Who are you?” He replied, “I am Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), a companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” I asked, “Why do people run away from you?” He said, “I forbid them from hoarding treasures.” I asked, “(Is it that) our properties have become so elevated that you fear for us?” He said, “Today this is not the case, but soon it will be that your religion will be at stake, so leave them and beware of them.”