Quotes: A Lot

Category: SOUND

I got most of these from mutmainaa.


"A servant should overcome his soul,
And be continuous in the remembrance of his Lord,
Establishing the rights of his Lord,
Focusing upon Him with his heart,
The light of fear setting ablaze his heart,
Whilst drinking from the vessel of pure love,
And certain hidden realities being unveiled for him.
So when he talks, it is due to Allah,
When he speaks, it is from Allah,
When he moves, it is by the Command of Allah,
And when he is serene, then it is from Allah,
He belongs to Allah, is for Allaah and is with Allah."
-al-Junayd

"If the first inward thought is not warded off, it will generate a desire, then the desire will generate a wish, and the wish will generate an intention, and the intention will generate the action, and the action will result in ruin and divine wrath. So evil must be cut off at its root, which is when it is simply a thought that crosses the mind, from which all the other things follow on."
-Imam al-Ghazzali (ra) [Ihyaa Uloom al-Deen, 6/17]

"When someone criticises or disagrees with you, a small ant of hatred and antagonism is born in your heart. If you do not squash that ant at once, it might grow into a snake, or even a dragon."
-Jalaluddin al-Rumi (ra)

"And if Allah touches you with hurt, there is none who can remove it but He; and if He intends any good for you, there is none who can keep back His favour; He brings it to whom He pleases of His servants; And He is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."
-Qur'an (10:107)

"Intelligence is the shadow of objective truth.
How can the shadow vie with sunshine?"
-Jalaluddin al-Rumi (ra)

"Repel the thought, for if you don't, it becomes an idea. So repel the idea, for if you don't it will become a desire. So fight against that (desire), for if you don't, it will become a determination and a passion. And if you don't repel that, it will become an action. And if you don't replace it with its opposite, it will become a constant habit. So at that point, it will be difficult for you to change it."
-Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah [from al-Fawaa'id]

"Knowledge is not what is memorised.
Knowledge is what benefits."
-Imam Shafi' (ra)

"And We shall try you until We test those among you who strive their utmost and persevere in patience"
-Qur'an (47:31)

"The Qur'an guides you to the recognition of your illnesses and to their remedies.
Your illness are your sins, and your medicine is seeking Allah's Forgiveness."
-Qatadah

Abu Suhayb Sinaan (radiAllahu anhu) narrated that Rasulullah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said:
"How amazing is the case of a believer; there is good for him in everything,and this characteristic is exclusively for him alone. If he experiences something good he is thankful and that is good for him; and if he comes across some diversity,he is patient and that is good for him." [Muslim]

A leading scholar of Basra visited Rabi'a al-Adawiyya (ra) while she was ill. Sitting beside her pillow, the scholar spoke about how terrible the world was. In reply, Rabi`a told him: "You love the world very dearly. If you did not love the world, you would not mention it so much. It is always the purchaser who first disparages what he wants to buy. If you were done with the world, you would not mention it either for good or evil. As it is, you keep mentioning it because, as the proverb says, whoever loves a thing mentions it frequently."

Once Rabia al-Basri (Rabi'a al-Adawiyya) (ra) was sitting in company with some people who were talking of the world reproachfully. She said,
'Do not talk of the world. Do not talk of it even disparagingly. For, your talking of it shows that you consider it to be worth talking about, and something of consequence. If it were of no consequence in your sight, you would never have liked to make a mention of it. (For, who would talk about the filth that men excrete?)'
[Fazaile Sadaqaat, Ch.6]

"Intention is the measure for rendering actions true, so that, where intention is sound, action is sound, and where it is corrupt, then action is corrupt"
-Imam an-Nawawi (ra)

Why do you seek more knowledge when you pay no heed to what you already know?

"Remember your contemporaries who have passed away and were your age. Remember the honors and fame they earned, the high posts they held, and the beautiful bodies they possessed. Today all of them are turned to dust. They have left orphans and widows behind them, their wealth is being wasted, and their houses turned into ruins. No sign of them is left today, and they lie in dark holes underneath the earth. Picture their faces before your mind's eye and ponder."
-Imam al-Ghazali (ra)

"For those who realize that everything is from God, everything is the same."
-Jalaluddin al-Rumi (ra)

"If you knew what I know, you would go out to the jungle, weeping and crying and leave your property unguarded. But your hearts are heedless of the requirements of the Hereafter and you have, before you, worldly hopes and aspirations. That is why the world has become your master and all your activities are directed towards it; you have reduced yourself to a condition of stark ignorance."
-Abu Darda (radiAllahu anhu) [Fazaile Sadaqaat, Ch.6]

"Whoever is not made glorified by taqwa can find no glory."
-Imam Shafi'i (ra)

"Shall I tell you who is kept away from Hell and from whom Hell is kept away? From everyone who is gentle and kindly, approachable and of an easy disposition."
-Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) [Tirmidhi, Hadith 1315]

"You are not aware of the consequences that would result (if you were granted what you desire) because what you seek might be to your detriment. (O soul) be conscious that your Master is more aware about your well-being than you are."
-Ibn Al-Jawzi

"Whoever travels without a guide, needs two hundred years for a two-day journey."
-Jalaluddin Rumi (ra)

"Your souls are precious and can only be equal to the price of Paradise, therefore sell them only at that price."
-Hazrat Ali ibn abu-Talib (radiAllahu anhu)

"Whoever determines the truth from people alone will remain lost in the plains of bewilderment. Rather, know the truth, and you will know its people."
-Imam al-Ghazali (ra) [Ihya Ulum al-Din, 'The Book of Knowledge']

"Two kinds of people live a life without care: one kind are extremely worthy of praise, the other kind are extremely worthy of criticism. The first are those who care nothing for the pleasures of the world and the second (i.e. those who are deserving of criticism) care nothing for haya or modesty."
-Ibn Hazm [Kitab al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar fi Mudawat al-Nufus]

"The Holy Prophet is dearer to us than our wealth, our children, our fathers, our forefathers, our mothers and cool water at the time of severe thirst."
-Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib (radiAllahu anhu)

"Whoever builds his faith exclusively on demonstrative proofs and deductive arguments, builds a faith on which it is impossible to rely. For he is affected by the negativities of constant objections. Certainty (al-yaqin) does not derive from the evidences of the mind but pours out from the depths of the heart."
-Ibn Arabi (ra)

"Sometimes in order to help He makes us cry
Happy the eye that sheds tears for His sake
Fortunate the heart that burns for His sake
Laughter always follow tears
Blessed are those who understand
Life blossoms wherever water flows
Where tears are shed divine mercy is shown"
-Jalaluddin Rumi (ra)

"Better to look at the defects hidden within you than to look for the unseen worlds that are veiled from you."
-Shaykh Ibn Ata'illah

"Toward the latter days of indiscriminate violence, be like the first and better of the two sons of Adam who said, 'If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you; surely I fear God, the Lord of the worlds.'"
-Prophet Muhammad (saw) [Tirmidhi]

"There are two kinds of Riya - Showing off - Ostentation ie pure ostentation and adulterated ostention. In pure ostentation 'Riya' a man does a good deed only for worldly benefit. In adulterated ostentation, a man does a good deed with the intention of reaping the benefits of the world as well as of the Hereafter."
-Imam al-Ghazali (ra)

"The sincere person is the one who hides his good deeds just like he hides his evil deeds."
-Ya'qub al-Makfoof

"By Allah, whenever I endure any adversity I gain four blessings of Allah in exchange. The first of them is, when the adversity is not caused by my sin (virtue is earned). The second, when the adversity is not greater than my sin (virtue is earned). The third, when I am not deprived of contentment (virtue is earned). And the fourth, I hope for virtues thereby."
-Hazrat Umar ibn Al-Khattab (radiAllahu anhu)

"Believers see their sins as if they were sitting at the foot of a mountain and feared that it may fall on them, while the corrupt see their sins as if they were a mere fly that flew by their nose."
-Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) [Bukhari] [Muslim]

"Only someone who is sincere recognizes what showing off is."
-Imam Shafi'i (ra)

"Had there not been five bad qualities, all the people would have been righteous. Contentment with ignorance; love for worldly life; miserliness inspite of much wealth; ostentation in (good) deeds; and pride in their own intelligence."
-Hazrat Ali ibn Abu Talib (radiAllahu anhu)

"Do not try to run away from trials and tribulations, but endure them with patience. They cannot be avioded, and there is nothing for it but to endure them with patience, How can you expect the whole of this world, and all that has been created therein, to undergo change and transformation just to suit your convenience? The Prophets are the best of all creatures, yet they have always had to suffer afflication and so it is for their followers, those who tread in their footsteps as they walk along their highway, emulating their example."
-Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani (ra)

"True knowledge is not measured in relationship tohow much you memorize and then narrate, but rather, true knowledge is an expression of piety."
-Ibn Mas'ud (ra)

"What hurts the soul? To live without tasting the water of its own essence."
-Jalaluddin al-Rumi (ra)

"Absorption in worldly affairs breeds darkness in the heart, and absorption in the affairs of the next world enkindles light in the heart."
-Hazrat Uthman ibn Affan (radiAllahu anhu)

When Umar bin Al-Khattab (radiAllahu anhu) despatched the army of Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas (radiAllahu anhu) to the Battle of Al-Qadisiyyah, he advised him:
"Fear your sins more than you fear the enemy as your sins are more dangerous to you than your enemy. We Muslims are only victorious over our enemy because their sins outnumber ours, not for any other reason. If our sins were equal to those of our enemy, then they would defeat us due to their superior numbers and resources."

"None in this age will amass wealth except those having five traits of character. High hopes; abnormal greediness; excessive miserliness, lack of fearing Allah; and forgetfulness of the coming world."
-Sufyan ath-Thawri (ra)

"The finest of the believers conduct themselves with honorable bearing. And the finest of the finest are those who treat their mates with affection."
-Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) [as reported by Abu Hurairah]

"Five are the marks of Allah-fearing people. They do not associate with people other than those with whom they can maintain terms on a religious basis; they restrain their private parts and their tongues; when they make any large temporal gain, they take it as a curse, and when they gain even a little piety, they consider it precious; they do not eat to their full even of what is permitted for fear that anything forbidden might be mixed with it, they consider all people pious and pardoned, but consider themselves as sinners."
-Hazrat Uthman ibn Affan (radiAllahu anhu)

"Be content with what you have. Be satisfied with your dwelling place to accommodate your enterprise, Restrain your tongue, And shed tears of regret regarding past sins you committed knowingly, and those you do not recognize."
-Abdullah bin Mas'ud (ra)

"My father died, and for an entire year I did not ask Allah for anything except that He forgive my father."
-Amir ibn Abd Allah ibn Az-Zubayr (radiAllahu anhu)

Iyyadh bin Ghanam narrated that God’s messenger (peace be upon him) said: “I was informed by the heavenly hosts of angels that the most dignified among my followers are people who rejoice in public when they ponder the vastness of Allah’s all-encompassing mercy and compassion, and they weep privately when they contemplate rigorous punishment He reserved for the sinners and the deniers of the truth. They sit in His blessed mosques morning and evening worshipping Him and celebrating His praises inwardly, and they implore Him with their tongues outwardly with reverence and awe. They pray to Him with their hands raised as well as lowered, and they yearn for Him unceasingly. They take little from people, and yet, it bears heavily on their hearts. They walk barefooted, humble, unpretentious, and unnoticed, just like ants, without finery; and they are free of self-adulation. They walk with dignity and serenity, and they rise to the nearness of their Lord through their link to His messenger (saws). They wear the garment of good conduct and follow the clear proof. They read the Qur’an regularly, take their daily guidance from it, and they happily make the necessary personal sacrifices to meet its requirements. Almighty Allah has surrounded them with distinguished witnessing angels, and faithful guardians, and He has illumined their faces with effulgence as a sign of His blessings upon them and as a demostration of His satisfaction with them. When they look at His servants, they anticipate promising signs. They often contemplate the vastness of Allah’s creation. Their bodies dwell on earth, and their eyes are anchored upon the heavens. Their feet stand on earth, and their hearts dwell in the heavens. They breath on earth, and yet, their spirits are connected to the divine Throne. heir souls live in this world, and their thoughts are focused on the hereafter. hey only worry about what may come. Their graves are in this world, and their ranks are exalted in Allah’s sight.” God’s messenger (saws) then recited: “Such is the reward of one who reveres My Majesty, and fears My warning.” (Qur’an, 14:14)
[From: The Beauty of the Righteous and the Ranks of the Elite, by Imam Abu Na'eem al-Asfahanee]

"I complained to Waki' about the weakness of my memorisation, so he instructed me to abandon disobedience; He informed me that knowledge is a light, and the light of Allah is not given to a sinner."
-Imam Shafi'i (ra)

"Yearning for Allah and His meeting is like the gentle breeze blowing upon the heart, extinguishing the blaze of the Dunya. Whosoever caused his heart to settle with his Lord shall be in a state, calm and tranquility, and whosoever sent it amongst the people shall be disturbed and excessively perturbed."
-Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

"The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say."
-Khalil Gibran

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution."
-Khalil Gibran