Reports on weeping out of fear of Allah

Isma'il bin Abi Khalid (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Children of Israel were once afflicted by hunger. A man passed by another and said: "I wish this desert would turn into flour and I could feed all the Children of Israel." So Allah Almighty rewarded him according to his intention.

Sa'id bin Abi Burdah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is said that a word of wisdom is the lost property of the believer; wherever he finds it, he takes it.

Ibn Jurayj (may Allah have mercy on him), explaining the saying of Allah Almighty, "The reckoning of mankind has drawn near" [Al-Anbiya': 1], said: It is what they have been promised.

Sufyan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Renunciation (zuhd) in this world lies in shortening one's hopes, not in wearing woollen clothes.

It is mentioned that al-Awza'i (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say: Renunciation (zuhd) in this world is abandoning praise. He would say: You do a deed without wanting people to praise you for it.

It is mentioned that al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say: Renunciation (zuhd) in this world lasts so long as the unlawful does not overcome your patience and the lawful does not overcome your gratitude.

Ayyub said: It is fitting for a scholar to put dust on his head out of humility before Allah.

Thabit said: I have reports concerning concessions which, if I were to relate them to you, would make you slack in your deeds.

Thabit said: I saw some of the men of Banu Adi, one of whom would keep praying until he could reach his bed only by crawling.

Abdullah bin Malik said: Allah Almighty has certain vessels on the earth, of which Allah accepts only the firm, the tender and the pure, that is, those who are firm in obeying Him, tender at the mention of Him, and clean of filth.

Uthman bin Abdullah bin Aws (may Allah have mercy on him) said: One of the prophets used to pray: "O Allah, protect me as a child is protected." He said: This moved me to tears.

Abu Ayyub said: Whoever wishes that his forbearance should grow and his knowledge increase should sit with people other than his own tribe.

Al-A'mash said: We used to attend funerals, but because of the state of the people we could not tell whom to console.

Thabit al-Bunani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: We used to follow funeral processions, and around the bier we saw only people weeping with cloaks drawn over their heads, or someone deeply grieved, as though birds were perched on their heads.

Abu Qilabah said: Two men met in the market, and one said: "O my brother, come, let us pray to Allah and seek forgiveness while people are heedless; perhaps we will be forgiven." They did so. Then the decree came for one of them, and he died before his companion. He then came to the other in a dream and said: "O my brother, did you know that Allah Almighty forgave us on the night we met in the market?"

Abu Zaynab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Whoever comes to the market only to remember Allah in it is granted forgiveness equal to the number of all the people present in the market.

Malik bin Dinar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Al-Hajjaj made me weep in this mosque of yours while he was delivering a sermon. I heard him saying: "Some people prepare provisions for themselves, some admonish themselves, some do not trust themselves with their own souls, some take from themselves for their own sake, and some have a restrainer from Allah over their tongue and heart." He said: It made me weep.

Abu Abdullah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I came to Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) and asked permission to see him. A very old man came out to me, and I thought he was Tawus. I asked: "Are you Tawus?" He replied: "No, I am his son." I said: "If you are his son, then your father's mind must have gone." He replied: "My father says that a scholar's mind does not go." He said: I told him: "Ask permission for me from your father." He said: I was granted permission. So I went in to him, and he said: "Ask, and speak quickly and briefly." I said: "If you are quick in speaking, I will be brief as well." He said: "Do not ask. I will teach you the Qur'an, the Torah and the Gospel in this very sitting. Fear Allah Almighty so much that you have no fear of anyone besides Him. Have more hope in Him than fear of Him, and like for people what you like for yourself."

Abu Hurrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Al-Hasan loved constancy in deeds.

Abu Hurrah said: Muhammad asked: "What do you think if a man worships with energy and cheerfulness one night and with laziness the next?" He saw no harm in it.

Sayyiduna Zayd bin Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Worship Allah as though you see Him; if you do not see Him, He certainly sees you. Count yourself among the dead, and beware of the curse of the oppressed, for it is surely answered.

Abu Muslim al-Khawlani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Scholars are of three kinds: one who himself gained enlightenment from his knowledge and from whom people also benefited; another who benefited himself but from whom people did not benefit; and the third, those from whom people benefited but who themselves were ruined.

Zurayt bin Abi Zurayt (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I heard al-Hasan saying: "O son of Adam! Place your foot on your land, and bear in mind that after a little while it will be your grave."

Al-Hasan said: O son of Adam, you are looking at your deeds, so weigh the good and the bad in them. Do not regard any good as insignificant, even if it is small, for when you see its rank you will be pleased; and do not regard any evil as insignificant, for when you see its place you will be grieved. May Allah Almighty have mercy on the person who earned lawfully, spent moderately and directed the surplus aright. Direct this surplus where Allah has directed it, and place it where Allah has commanded it to be placed. For those before you used to buy themselves from Allah with the surplus. And this death has drawn very close to the world and disgraced it. By Allah, no possessor of intellect has found any joy since then.

Abu al-Ubaydayn (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If people withhold the broad flat loaf (mufaltahah) from you, then take your own loaf, go down to your river and keep hold of your religion.

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: It is forbidden for every soul to leave the world until it knows what its end will be.

Adi bin Artah (may Allah have mercy on him) reports about a man from the early period of this Ummah that when people praised him and he heard it, he would supplicate: O Allah, do not hold me to account for what they say, and forgive me what they do not know.

Muhammad bin Ali Ibn al-Hanafiyyah said: He is not wise who does not live on good terms with the person whose company he cannot avoid, until Allah grants him relief and a way out.

Sayyiduna Mahmud bin Labid (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whomever Allah Almighty loves, He protects from the world just as one of you protects his sick person from water." Tirmidhi 2036. Ahmad 427.

Husayn (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from Hilal bin Yasaf that there is no harm for a believer in being alone.

Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The world is the home of the one who has no home and the wealth of the one who has no wealth, and only the one who has no sense works for this world.

Isa bin Maryam (peace be upon him) said: My house is the mosque, my perfume is water, my condiment is hunger, my distinguishing mark is the fear of Allah and my mount is my feet. The place where the sun rises in summer is my place for warming myself in winter. My lamp is the moon, and my companions are the weak and the poor. I reach the evening having nothing and I reach the morning having nothing, and I am perfectly well. So who could be richer than me?

Habib bin Abi Thabit (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), we do some deeds in secret, then we hear people talking about them, and we like being mentioned favorably?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) answered: "You have two rewards: the reward of secrecy and the reward of openness."

Al-Hasan said: Of two Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), one died a week before the other. The people gave preference to the one who died, having in mind that he was better than the other. This was then mentioned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Did not the other live one week longer than the first, and offer so many and so many more prayers?" It was as though he (peace and blessings be upon him) was preferring the other over the first.

Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Seek refuge with Allah Almighty from the humility of hypocrisy. It was asked: "O Abu al-Darda, what is the humility of hypocrisy?" He answered: "That you see humility in the body while there is no humility in the heart."

Zayd al-Ammi said: When it was said to Dawud (peace be upon him), "You have been forgiven," he said: "What then of the man?" It was said to him: "We will ask him to give you up to Us, and he will give you to Us." This is something greatly to be hoped for in religion.

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Hanzalah al-Abshami (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whenever a people gather for the remembrance of Allah, a caller calls from the sky: "Rise, you have been forgiven, and your misdeeds have been replaced with good deeds."

Abdullah bin Ubayd bin Umayr said: It used to be said: Knowledge is the lost property of the believer. He goes out in the morning seeking it, and when he obtains some of it, he gathers it.

Abd al-Aziz bin Abi Rawwad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Some joking and laughter began to appear in the habits of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, revealed this verse: "Has the time not come for those who believe that their hearts should fear at the remembrance of Allah?" [Al-Hadid: 16], to the end of the verse.

Ibn Abi Rawwad said: A group of people accompanied Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him), and he said: Fear only the One Allah, who has no partner, and keep yourselves away from joking, for it gives rise to ugly talk and breeds rancor. Hold gatherings of the Qur'an and talk about matters connected with it. If this becomes heavy for you, then have some talk from among the talk of people. Go forth on the earth with the name of Allah.