The Book of Zuhd and Softening of Hearts

كتاب الزهد والرقائق

Simak b. Barb reported

I heard Nu'man deliver an address in which he said that (Hadrat) Umar made a mention of what had fallen to the lot of people out of the material world and he said: I saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) spend the whole day being upset because of hunger and he could not get even an interior quality of dates with which he could fill his belly.

'Abd al-Rahman al-Hubuli reported

I heard that a person asked 'Abdullah b. 'Amr b. 'As and heard him saying: Are we not amongst the destitute of the emigrants? Abdullah said to him: Have you a spouse with whom you live? He said: Yes. Abdullah asked: Do you not have a home in which you reside? The man replied "Yes." Abdullah said: Then you are amongst the rich. He said: I have a servant also. Thereupon he (Abdullah b. 'Amr b. 'As) said: Then you are amongst the kings. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman reported that three persons came to 'Abdullah b. Amr b. 'As while I was sitting with him and they said: By Allah, we have nothing with us either in the form of provision, riding animals or wealth. Thereupon he said to them: I am prepared to do whatever you like. If you come to us, we would give you what Allah would make available for you. and if you like I would make a mention of your case to the ruler, and if you like you can show patience also. for I have heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: The destitute amongst the emigrants would precede the rich emigrants by forty years in getting into Paradise on the Day of Resurrection. Thereupon they said: We then, show patience and do not ask for anything.

Chapter 1: The Prohibition Of Entering Upon The People Of Al-Hijr (The Rocky Tract) Unless One Enters Weeping

Ibn Shihab reported, and he had been talking about the stony abodes of Thamud, and he said

Salim b. 'Abdullah reported that 'Abdullah b. Umar said: We were passing along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) through the habitations of Hijr, and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Do not enter but weepingly the habitations of these persons who committed tyranny among themselves, lest the same calamity should fall upon you as it fell upon them. He then urged his mount to proceed quickly and pass through that valley hurriedly.

Chapter 3: The Virtue Of Building Masajid

Mahmud b. Labid reported that 'Uthman b. 'Affan decided to rebuild the mosque (of Allah's Apostle in Medina) but the people did not like this idea and they wished that it should be preserved in the same (old) form. Thereupon he (Hadrat 'Uthman) said

I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: He who builds a mosque for Allah, Allah would build for him (a house) in Paradise like it.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Ja'far with the same chain of transmitters with this variation (that the words are)

" Allah would build for him a house in Paradise."

Chapter 4: The Virtue Of Spending On The Poor And Wayfarers

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Wahb b. Kaisan with the same chain of transmitters but with this change that he said

" I earmark one-third for the poor, the needy and the wayfarers."

Chapter 5: The Prohibition On Showing Off

Abu Sufyan reported like that as as-Saduq al-Amin al-Walid b. Harb narrated with the same chain of transmitters.

Chapter 7: About The One Who Enjoins Good But Does Not Do It, And Forbids Evil But Does It

Shaqiq reported that it was said to Usama b. Zaid

Why don't you visit 'Uthman and talk to him? Thereupon he said: Do you think that I have not talked to him but that I have made you hear? By Allah. I have talked to him (about things) concerning me and him and I did not like to divulge those things about which I had to take the initiative and I do not say to my ruler: "You are the best among people," after I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: A man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and thrown in Hell-Fire and his intestines will pour forth in Hell and he will go round along with them, as an ass goes round the mill stone. The denizens of Hell would gather round him and say: O, so and so, what has happened to you? Were you not enjoining us to do what was reputable and forbid us to do what was disreputable? He will say: Of course, it is so; I used to enjoin (upon people) to do what was reputable but did not practise that myself. I had been forbidding people to do what was disreputable, but practised it myself.

Chapter 9: Saying: "May Allah Have Mercy On You" To One Who Sneezes, And Yawning Is Disliked

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Anas through another chain of transmitters.

Chapter 11: Mice Are A Transformed Race

Abu Huraira reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said

A group of Bani Isra'il was lost. I do not know what happened to it, but I think (that it 'underwent a process of metamorphosis) and assumed the shape of rats. Don't you see when the milk of the camel is placed before them, these do not drink and when the milk of goat is placed before them, these do drink. Abu Huraira said: I narrated this very hadith to Ka'b and he said: Did you hear this from Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)? I (Abu Huraira) said: Yes. He said this again and again, and I said: Have I read Torah? This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Ishaq with a slight variation of wording.

Chapter 13: The Believer's Affair Is All Good

Suhaib reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said

Strange are the ways of a believer for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer for if he has an occasion to feel delight, he thanks (God), thus there is a good for him in it, and if he gets into trouble and shows resignation (and endures it patiently), there is a good for him in it.

Chapter 14: The Prohibition Of Praising if It Involves Exaggeration And There Is The Fear That It May Be A Source Of Temptation (Fitnah) For The One Who Is Praised

Abd al-Rahman b. Abu Bakra reported on the authority of his father that a person was mentioned in the presence of Allah's Apostle (ﷺ), and a person said

Allah's Messenger, no person is more excellent than he after Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Thereupon Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) said: Woe be to thee, you have broken the neck of your friend, and he said this twice. Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: If anyone has to praise his brother at all, he should say: I think him to be so and so, and even on this he should say: I do not consider anyone purer than Allah (considers).

Abu Musa reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saw a person lauding another person or praising him too much. Thereupon he said

You killed him, or you sliced the back of a person.

Chapter 15: Showing Preference To The One Who Is Older

'Abdullah b. Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said

It was shown in a vision that I was rinsing my mouth with miswak and two persons began to contend with one another for getting that miswak. One was older than the other. I gave the miswak to the younger one amongst them, but it was said to me: (Let it be given) to the older one. So I gave it to the older one.

Chapter 16: Verification Of Hadith And The Ruling On Writing Down Knowledge

Abu Sa'id Khudri reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said

Do not take down anything from me, and he who took down anything from me except the Qur'an, he should efface that and narrate from me, for there is no harm in it and he who attributed any falsehood to me-and Hammam said: I think he also said:" deliberately" -he should in fact find his abode in the Hell-Fire.

Chapter 18: The Lengthy Hadith Of Jabir And The Story Of Abu Al-Yasar

'Ubadah b. Walid b. Samit reported

I and my father set out in search of knowledge to a tribe of the Ansar before their death (i. e. before the Companions of the Prophet left the world) and I was the first to meet Abu Yasar, a Companion of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and there was a young man with him who carried the record of letters with him and there was a mantle prepared by the tribe of Ma'afiri upon him. And his servant too had a Ma'afiri mantle over him. My father said to him: My uncle, I see the signs of anger or that of agony on your face. He said: Yes, such and such person, the son of so and so, of the tribe of Harami owed me a debt. I went to his family, extended salutations and said: Where is he? They said: He is not here. Then came out to me his son who was at the threshold of his youth. I said to him: Where is your father? He said: No sooner did he hear your sound than he hid himself behind my mother's bedstead. I said to him: Walk out to me, for I know where you are. He came out. I said to him: What prompted you to hide yourself from me? He said: By God, whatever I would say to you would not be a lie. By Allah, I fear that I should tell a lie to you and in case of making promise with you I should break it, as you are the Companion of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). The fact is that I was hard up in regard to money. I said: Do you adjure by Allah? He said: I adjure by Allah. I said: Do you adjure by Allah? He said: I adjure by Allah. I said: Do you adjure by Allah? He said: I adjure by Allah. Then he brought his promissory note and he wrote off (the debt) with his hand and said: Make payment when you find yourself solvent enough to pay me back; if you are not, then there is no liability upon you. These two eyes of mine saw, and he (Abu'I-Yasar) placed his fingers upon his eyes and these two ears of mine heard and my heart retained, and he pointed towards his heart that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: He who gives time to one who is financially hard up (in the payment of debt) or writes off his debt, Allah will provide him His shadow. I said to him: My uncle, if you get the cloak of your servant and you give him your two clothes, or take his two clothes of Ma'afir and give him your cloak, then there would be one dress for you and one for him. He wiped my head and said: O Allah, bless the son of my brother. O, son of my brother, these two very eyes of mine saw and these two ears of mine listened to and this heart of mine retained this, and he pointed towards the heart that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Feed them (the servants) and clothe them (the servants) what you wear, and if I give him the goods of the world, it is easy for me than this that he should take my virtues on the Day of Resurrection. We went on till we came to Jabir b. Abdullah in the mosque and he was busy in observing prayer in one cloth which he had joined at its opposite ends. I made my way through the people till I sat between him and the Qibla and I said: May Allah have mercy upon you. Do you observe prayer with one cloth on your body whereas your mantle is lying at your side? He pointed me with his hand towards my breast just like this and he separated his fingers and bent them in the shape of a bow. And (he said): I thought that a fool like you should come to me so that he should see me as I do and he should then also do like it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to us in this very mosque and he had in his hand the twig of the palm-tree and he saw mucus towards the Qibla of the mosque and he erased it with the help of the twig. He then came to us and said: Who amongst you likes that Allah should turn His face away from him? We were afraid. He then again said: Who amongst you likes that Allah should turn His face away from him? We were afraid. He again said: Who amongst you likes that Allah should turn His face away from him? We said: Allah's Messenger, none of us likes it. And he said: If one amongst you stands for prayer, Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, is before him he should not spit in front of him, or on his right side, but should spit on his left side beneath his left foot and if he is impelled to do so all of a sudden (in spite of himself) he should then spit in his cloth and fold it in some part of it. (and he further said: ) Bring some sweet-smelling thing. A young man who belonged to our tribe stood up, went and brought scent in his palm. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took that and applied it to the end of that twig and then touched the place where there had been mucus. Jabir said: This is why you should apply scent to your mosques. It is reported on the same authority: We set out along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) on an expedition of Batn Buwat. He (the Holy Prophet) was in search of al-Majdi b. 'Amr al-Juhani. (We had so meagre equipment) that five. six or seven of us had one camel to ride and so we mounted it turn by turn. Once there wan. the turn of an Ansari to ride upon the camel. He made it kneel down to ride over it (and after having. mounted it), he tried to raise it up but it hesitated. So he said. May there be curse of Allah upon you! Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Who is there to curse his camel? He said: Allah's Messenger, it' is I. Thereupon he said: Get down from the camel and let us not have in our company the cursed one. Don't curse your own selves, nor your children. nor your belongings. There is the possibility that your curse may synchronies with the time when Allah is about to confer upon you what you demand and thus your prayer may be readily responded. It is reported on the same authority: We set out on an expedition along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) until it was evening, and we had been near a. water reservoir of Arabia. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Who would be the person who would go ahead and set right the reservoir and drink water himself and serve us with it? Jabir said: I stood up and said: Allah's Messenger, it is I who am ready to do that. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Who is the person to accompany Jabir? And then Jabbar b. Sakhr stood up. So we went to that well and poured in that tank a bucket or two of water and plastered it with clay and then began to fill it (with water) until it was filled to the brim. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was the first who appeared before us, and he said: Do you (both) permit me to drink water out of it? We said: Yea, Allah's Messenger. He led his camel to drink water and it drank. He then pulled its rein and it stretched its legs and began to urinate. He then took it aside and made it kneel down at another place and then came to the tank and performed ablution. I then got up and performed ablution like the ablution of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and Jabbar b. Sakhr went in order to relieve himself and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) got up to observe prayer and there was a mantle over me. I tried to invert its ends but it was too short (to cover my body easily). It had its borders. I then inverted it (the mantle) and drew its opposite ends and then tied them at my neck. I then came and stood upon the left side of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). He caught hold of me and made me go round behind him, until he made me stand on his right side. Then Jabbar b. Sakhr came. He performed ablution and then came and stood on the left side of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) caught hold of our hands together, pushed us back and made us stand behind him. Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) began to look upon me with darting looks, but I did not perceive that. After that I became aware of it and he pointed with the gesture of his hand that I should wrap my loin-cloth. When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had finished the prayer, he said: Jabir! I said: Allah's Messenger, at thy beck and call. He said: When the cloth around you is inadequate, then tie the opposite ends but when it is small, tie it over the lower body. Jabir reported: We set out on an expedition with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and the only means of sustenance for every person amongst us was only one date for a day and we used to chew it. And we struck the leaves with the help of our bow and ate them until the sides of our mouths were injured. It so happened one day that a person was overlooked and not given a date. We carried that person and bore witness to the fact that he had not been given that date so he was offered that and he got up and received that. Jabir reported: We set out on an expedition along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) until we got down at a spacious valley and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went to relieve himself. I followed him with a bucket full of water and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) looked about and he found no privacy but two trees at the end of the valley and Allah's Messenger (may. peace be upon him) went to one of them and took hold of one of its twigs and said: Be thou under my control by the permission of Allah, and so it came under his control like the camel who has its nosestring in the hand of its rider, and then he came to the second tree and took hold of a twig and said: Be thou under my control with the permission of Allah, and it came under his control, and when he came in the middle of the two trees he joined together the two twigs and said: join with the permission of Allah. Jabir said: I was afraid lest Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) should be aware of my nearness and go still farther. And Muhammad b. Abbad has used the word" faitab'd" and I began to talk to myself. And as I saw, I suddenly found Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) before me and the two trees were separated and each one of them was standing at its place. I saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) standing for a short time, nodding his head towards right and left. Isma'il pointed towards the right and left with the help of his head (in order to demonstrate how the Prophet had pointed). Then he (the Holy Prophet) came to me and said: Jabir did you see my place where I was standing? I said: Allah's Messenger, yes. He then said: Then you should go to those two trees and cut a twig from each of them and go to that place with them where I was standing and stand there where I was standing and place a twig on the right and a twig on the left. Jabir said: I set out and took hold of a stone and broke it and sharpened it and then I came to those trees and cut a twig from each one of them. I then came dragging them until I stood at the place where Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had been standing and placed a twig on the right and a twig on the left. Then I met him and said: Allah's Messenger, I have done that, but (kindly) explain to me the reason for it. Thereupon he said: I passed by two graves the occupants of which had been undergoing torment. I liked to make intercession for them so that the might be relieved of this torment y as long as these twigs remain fresh. Jabir said: We came back to the (camp of the) army and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Jabir, call people for per- forming wudu. I cried: Come and perform wudu, come and perform wudu, come and perform wudu. I said: Allah's Messenger, there is not even a drop of water in the army camp, and there. was a person who used to cool the water for Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in the old water-skin which kept hanging by the twig. He asked me to go to such and such Ansari and ask him to see if there was any water in that skin. I went to him and cast a glance in it but did not find anything but a drop in the mouth of that water-skin and if I were to draw that, the water-skin's,. dried part would suck it up. I came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said: Allah's Messenger, I have not found anything in it but a drop of water in the mouth of the water-skin and now if I were to draw that, it would be absorbed. He said: Go and bring that to me. I brought that to him. He took hold of it -and began to utter something which I could not understand and then pressed it with his hand and gave that to me and said: Jabir, announce for the tub to be brought. So I announced that the tub of the army (be brought). It was brought accordingly and I placed it before him (the Holy Prophet). Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) placed his hands in the tub like this: with his fingers stretched out, and then he placed his fingers at the bottom of the tub and said: Jabir, take it (that waters-skin) and pour water over me, by reciting Bismillah, and I poured water and I said: Bismillah, and found water sprouting out between the fingers of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Then that tub gushed forth until it was filled up and the Messenger (ﷺ) said: Jabir, make an announcement to the effect: He who needs water should take that. Jabir said: The people came and got water until they were all satiated. I said: Is there anyone left who wants to get it? And Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) then lifted up his hand from that tub and it was still full. Then the people made a complaint to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about hunger and he said: May Allah provide you food! We came to the bank of the ocean and the ocean was tossing and it threw out a big animal and we lit fire and cooked it and took it until we had eaten to our heart's content. Jabir said: I and such and such five persons entered Its socket and nobody could see us until we had come out, and we took hold of one of its ribs and twisted it into a sort of arch, then we called the tallest of the persons of the army and the hugest of the camels of the army and it had the big saddle over it, and it could easily pass through it without the rider having need to bend down.