It is reported that al-Fuḍayl ibn ʿAyyād – rahimahullāh – said:

There is no one who loves authority (leadership, attention, power, praise),
except that he envies, transgresses, chases (and talks about) the faults of others and dislikes any person being mentioned in a good light.

[Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (rahimahullah), Jāmiʿ Bayān al-ʿIlm, article no. 971]

Door of Opportunity

Khalid bin Ma‘daan (rahimahullah) aid:

If one of you finds the door of goodness open, then hasten towards it (and seize the opportunity), for he does not know when the door will be closed for him.

[Siyar A’lam an-Nubala’a, 4/540, adh-Dhahabi (rahimahullah); Kitab az-Zuhd, pg. 311, Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (rahimahullah)]

A man said to Hasan al-Basri (Rahimahullah): Indeed, someone has backbitten you.

Hasan sent a dish of sweet dates to the backbiter saying: I heard that you have given me your good deeds as a gift, so I want to repay you for it, but please excuse me for I am unable to completely repay you.

[Source: Abu Sa’eed al-Khadimi (Rahimahullah), Tanbīh al-Ghāfilīn, 1/164]

The entire religion ultimately boils down to these three principles:

1. Performing what is commanded,

2. Abstaining from what is forbidden,

3. Being patient with what is inevitable (being patient with what has been decreed).

[Uddat as-Sabireen, by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (rahimahullah) (adapted), pg. 52]

If a man usually calls upon Allah in times of ease,

but then a calamity befalls him and he makes du'aa to Allah,

the angels say: “A known voice” (i.e. a voice that they recognize)

and so they intercede for him.

However, if he is not one who usually calls upon Allah in times of ease and a calamity befalls him and he makes du'aa to Allah,

the angels say: “An unknown voice”

and so they do not intercede for him.

[Salmaan al-Farisi (raḍiyAllāhu ‘anh), Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (rahimahullah), Jami’ al-‘Uloom wa’l Hikam - The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom, pg. 356]

Supplicating at the Rawdah Area

Sa'id ibn Musayyib (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) said:

“I heard someone supplicating between the grave and the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) (i.e., the Rawdah area)

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ عَمَلًا بَارًّا، وَرِزْقًا دَارًّا، وَعَيْشًا قَارًّا.

"O Allah, I ask You for righteous deeds, a secure provision, and a contented life."

I invoked with this supplication and I only saw good.

[Rawdal Akhyar, 1/216]

Narrated Abu Huraira (radiyAllahu ‘anhu), The Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, "There is a garden from the gardens of Paradise between my house and my pulpit, and my pulpit is on my Lake Fount (al-Kauthar).

[Sahih al-Bukhari, 1888, and Sahih Muslim, Book: The Book of Pilgrimage, Chapter 92: ‘The virtue of the area between the prophet's grave and his Minbar, and the virtue of the spot where his minbar is’, Hadith 1391, and Book 15, Hadith 574]

{قُلْ مَن رَّبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ قُلِ اللَّهُ قُلْ أَفَاتَّخَذْتُم مِّن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ لَا يَمْلِكُونَ لِأَنفُسِهِمْ نَفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الْأَعْمَىٰ وَالْبَصِيرُ أَمْ هَلْ تَسْتَوِي الظُّلُمَاتُ وَالنُّورُ أَمْ جَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ خَلَقُوا كَخَلْقِهِ فَتَشَابَهَ الْخَلْقُ عَلَيْهِمْ قُلِ اللَّهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُوَ الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ}

Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "(It is) Allah." Say: "Have you then taken (for worship) Auliya' (protectors, etc.) other than Him, such as have no power either for benefit or for harm to themselves?" Say: "Is the blind equal to the one who sees? Or darkness equal to light? Or do they assign to Allah partners who created the like of His creation, so that the creation (which they made and His creation) seemed alike to them." Say: "Allah is the Creator of all things, He is the One, the Irresistible."

[Surah ar-Ra’d, 13:16]

Ibn al-Jawzi (rahimahullah):

“… Where are those who fast by the day and where are those who pray by night?

Where are those who obey their Lord and where are those who work righteousness?

Where are those who are foremost (in good) and where are are the humble ones?

Where are those who remember (their Lord with lot of Dhikr) and where are those devoted to Him?

Where are the truthful and where are the patient?

Where are the charity givers?

Where are those who enjoin good, who save the troubled ones and who forbid the wrong?

Where are those who heed contemplation and who (humbly) listen to (heed to and accept) good advice and life-lessons?

By Allah, they have indeed gone with the Saliheen (righteous), returned with the Mu’minin (believers), settled with the Anbiya’ (Prophets - alayhimassalam) and taken residence with the Siddiqin (truthful ones).

But us,

we remain behind with the ignorant,
have settled with the wrong doers
and have taken the heedless ones as our guides…

… Where are you O’ fasting one, who prays by the night?

Come forth to goodness and you shall triumph with everlasting happiness!

Trade with your Lord and you shall profit,

work with Him and you shall be successful,

apologize and He shall accept your apology,

seek His forgiveness and He shall forgive your sins,

draw close to Him and He shall alleviate your suffering,

ASK Him from His Bounties and He shall expand your provisions,

repent to Him and He shall increase your portion (in life and the hereafter)….”

[Ibn al-Jawzi (rahimahullah), Bustan al-Wa’idhin wa Riyadh al-Sami’in, pg. 185-186]

The most harmful of people are those who overpower you until you disobey Allah. Such people only help you to harm yourself and weaken your morality.

[al-Fawāid: A Collection of Wise Sayings by Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullāh), pg. 318]

Giving Charity on Fridays

● Ka'b al-Ahbar (rahimahullah) said:

The sun has neither risen nor set on a day greater than the day of Friday,

and charity given on it is greater than on other days.

[Sahih Musannaf of 'Abd Ar-Razzaq (rahimahullah), 5558]

● al-A‘mash narrated from Mujahid, from ‘Abdullah ibn Damrah,

from Ka‘b (rahimahumullah) who said:

Charity is multiplied on Friday.

[Musannaf ibn Abi Shaybah, 2/57, no. 6, Maktabah Islamiyyah]

● Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) said:

Giving charity on Friday has a special merit compared to other days,

just as giving charity during the month of Ramadan has a higher merit compared to the rest of the year.

I witnessed Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah)

when he would go out for Jumuaah,

he would take whatever he found at home—be it bread or anything else—and give it as charity in secret on his way.

I heard him say:

“If Allah commanded us to give charity before consulting with the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) (58:12),

then giving charity before consulting with Allah is even more virtuous and deserving of merit.”

[Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah), Zaad al-Maad, 1/399]

● Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) said:

If the one giving charity

knew

that his charity landed in the Hand of Allah,

before the hand of the poor person,

the pleasure of the giver would be greater than the pleasure of the receiver.

[Ibn ul-Qayyim (rahimahullah), paraphrased from al-Wabil al-Sayyib, al-Madarij as-Salikeen, 1/26]

Abu Huraira (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) reported Allah's Messenger (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) as saying:

No one gives sadaqah (charity) of a date out of his honest earning, except that Allah accepts it with His Right Hand, and then fosters it as one of you fosters the colt or a young she-camel, till it becomes like a mountain or even greater.

[Sahih Muslim, 1014b, Book 12, Hadith 80]

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (radiyallahu ‘anhu) said:

“Charity (sadaqah) reaches (lit. falls into) the Hand of Allah before it falls into the hand of the one who asks for it.” (i.e., Allah Ta’ala accepts it), he (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) then recited the Verse:

{(Do they not know that Allah) accepts repentance from His servants and takes their charities”} — Surah Tawbah, 9:104

[Tafsir at-Tabari (rahimahullah); Jami’ul Bayan, Surah Tawbah, Verse: 104, vol. 11, pg. 666, see also: Majma az-Zawaid, vol. 3, pg. 111, Hadith: 4677]

Abu Hurairah (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) narrated that :

the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

"Indeed Allah accepts charity, and He accepts it with His Right (Hand) to nurture it for one of you, just like one of you would nurture his foal, until the bite (of food) becomes as large as Uhud."

[Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 662, Chapter 28: What Has Been Related About the Virtue of Charity, Graded: Hasan Sahih]

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (radiyAllahu ‘anhu):

"Indeed, charity* (sadaqah) reaches (lit. falls into) the Hand of Allah before it reaches the hand of the one who asks,"

then he recited:

{And He it is Who accepts repentance* from His servants} — ash-Shura: 25, the verse.

[al-Muj’am al-Kabir at-Tabarani (rahimahullah), 8571]

Imam Shafi’ee (rahimahullah) used to say,

I love to send plenty of salat (salutations) upon the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ʿalayhi wa ’aalihi wa sallam) all the time and I love it more so on the day of Jumu’ah.

[Kitabul Umm, ash-Shafe’e (rahimahullah), 1/546]

Ibrahim al-Harbi (rahimahullah) said,

I knew Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rahimahullah) for twenty years;

I was with him night and day,
summer and winter,
in the heat and in the cold,

and every day he outdid what he had done the day before.

[Abu Ya’laa (rahimahullah), Tabaqat al-Hanaabilah, 6/92, Ibrahim al-Harbi (rahimahullah)]

‘Abdullah Ibn Ahmed Ibn Hanbal (rahimahullah) said:

My father (Ahmad Ibn Hanbal - rahimahullah) used to pray 300 (three hundred) rakahs every day and night. But when he became ill from those lashes, he became weak, so he used to pray 150 (hundred fifty) rakahs every day and night, and (at that time) he was close to eighty (years in age).

[Madarij as-Salikeen (Ranks of the Seekers), 1/482, Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah)]

Being active and having high aspirations (in the practice of deen) in our time is very deficient when compared to that which the Salaf (rahimahumullah) were upon. Knowledge is present but it needs men to study the Book and the Sunnah deep into the night, morning and evening.

[Shaykh Hammaad al-Ansaaree (rahimahullah), al-Majmoo’ Fee Tarjama, vol. 2, pg. 582, no. 225]

Mujahid (rahimahullah) said:

The hardworker (seeking aakhirah) among you today, compared to the (people of the) times before, is working like the one who used to play around (was easygoing).

[Kitab az-Zuhd, al-Lauki’ee (rahimahullāh), 221]

Abu Hurayrah (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) reported:

A person sat late in the night with Allah's Apostle (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), and then came to his family and found that his children had gone to sleep.

His wife brought food for him. but he took an oath that he would not eat because of his children (having gone to sleep without food).

He then gave precedence (of breaking the vow and then expiating it) and ate the food.

He then came to Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) and made mention of that to him, whereupon Allah's Messenger (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “He who took an oath and (later on) found something better than that should do that, and expiate for (breaking) his vow.”

[Sahih Muslim, Book 15, Number 4052]

Allāh’s Way remains,

that one who derides His group and His army will be exposed.

[Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullāh), as-Ṣawāʾiq al-Mursalah, Shaikh Fawāz al-Madkhalī (rahimahullāh), pg. 341]