The words of al-Dahhak bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him)

Sayyiduna al-Dahhak bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O people, do your deeds for Allah, for Allah Almighty accepts only sincere deeds. Let none of you forgive someone's wrong, saying: This is for Allah and for you. Such a deed is not for Allah; that deed is only for you. Let none of you maintain ties of kinship with someone, saying: This is for Allah and also for my relatives. This deed is only for the relatives. Whoever does a deed should do it purely for Allah and should associate no one in it, for on the Day of Resurrection Allah Almighty will say: Whoever associated anyone with Me in any of his deeds, that deed belongs to that partner; nothing of it is for Me.

Sayyiduna al-Dahhak bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O people, teach your children and your families the Qur'an, for when Allah Almighty has written entry into Paradise for a Muslim, two angels will come to him and surround him, and then those angels will say to that man: Keep reciting and keep climbing the steps of Paradise, until they descend at the place where his deed of the Qur'an comes to an end.

Sayyiduna al-Dahhak bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Remember Allah Almighty in ease, and He will remember you in hardship. Thus Yunus (peace be upon him) was a righteous servant who remembered Allah, and when he went into the belly of the fish, Allah Almighty said: "Had he not been of those who glorify Allah, he would have remained in its belly until the Day they are raised" [Al-Saffat: 143-144]. And Pharaoh was a rebellious servant who forgot the remembrance of Allah, and when he began to drown, he said: "I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims. Now? When you disobeyed before, and you were of those who spread corruption!" [Yunus: 90-91].

Khalid bin Umayr al-Adawi said: Sayyiduna Utbah bin Ghazwan (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed us (Abu Na'amah said: on the pulpit; Qurrah did not say this) and said: Indeed, this world has announced its end and has turned away swiftly, and nothing remains of it except a last drop like the last drop in a vessel. You are in an abode from which you will move on, so move on with the best of those present with you. I saw myself as the seventh of seven with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and we had no food to eat except the leaves of trees, until the corners of our mouths became sore. (Qurrah said:) I found a cloak (and Abu Na'amah said: I picked up a cloak), and I split it into two halves; I wore one half and gave the other half to Sayyiduna Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him). None of those seven is alive today except that he is over one of the cities. You will surely experience the rulers who come after me. By Allah, there has never been a prophethood except that it was transformed until it became kingship and tyranny. It was mentioned to me (Qurrah said: that the stone, and Abu Na'amah said: that the rock) is thrown from the edge of Hell and falls toward its bottom (Qurrah said: I think he said seventy; and Abu Na'amah said: seventy autumns), and it will surely be filled. Between the two door-leaves of the gates of Paradise there is a journey of forty years, and a day will surely come upon the gates of Paradise when every one of them is crowded. I seek refuge with Allah from being great in my own eyes and small in the sight of Allah.

It is narrated from al-Majishun bin Abi Salamah that he said: Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Apart from three things, I am still weak. I never heard anything from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) except that I knew it to be true. I never prayed any prayer during which anything distracted me from it until I finished the prayer. And I never followed a funeral with anything in my heart other than what it is saying or what is being said to it, until we finished with it.

Muhammad (bin Amr), the narrator, said: I mentioned this to al-Zuhri, and he said: May Allah Almighty have mercy on Sayyiduna Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him). He was indeed trustworthy, and I did not think that anyone could be like this except a prophet.

It is narrated from Ibn Abi al-Hudhayl that he said: Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) built a room of mud bricks in his house. Then he called Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) and asked: O Abu al-Yaqzan, how does it seem to you? He said: I think you have built a strong house and have set your hopes far ahead, and soon you will die.