The Book of Miscellany
كتاب المقدمات
Chapter 54: Excellence of Leading an Ascetic Life, and Virtues of Simple Life
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Three (things) follow a dead person: Members of his family, his property and his deeds. Two of them return; and one remains with him. The people and his wealth return; his deeds remain with him".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Among the inmates of Hell, a person who had led the most luxurious life in this world will be brought up on the Day of Resurrection and dipped in the Fire and will be asked: 'O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any comfort? Did you happen to get any luxury?' He will reply: 'By Allah, no, my Rubb.' And then one of the people of Jannah who had experienced extreme misery in the life of this world will be dipped in Jannah. Then he will be asked: 'O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any misery? Did you ever encounter difficulty?' He will say: "By Allah, no my Rubb, I neither experienced misery nor passed through hardship".[Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "This world (i.e., its pleasures and duration) in comparison with the Hereafter is (similar to the amount of water) one gets when he puts his finger in the sea. Let him then see what it returns with".[Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was passing through the bazaar with his Companions on his both sides, when he saw a dead skinny lamb. He held its ear and said, "Who of you would like to have it for a dirham". They replied, "We do not like to get it for nothing, and what shall we do with it?". Then he (ﷺ) asked, "Would you like to have it for nothing?". They replied, "Had it been alive, it would have been defective because it is skinny; but when dead it is of no use". Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Truly, the world is more contemptible to Allah than this (the dead lamb) is to you".[Muslim].
I was walking with the Prophet on the stony ground in Al-Madinah in the afternoon when Uhud Mount came into sight. Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "O Abu Dharr!" I said, "O Messenger of Allah, here I am responding to you". He said, "If I had as much gold as the weight of Uhud, it would not please me to have a single dinar out of it with me after the passage of three days, but I would hold back something for the repayment of a debt. I would distribute it among the slaves of Allah like this and like this and like this." And he (ﷺ) pointed in front of him, and on his right side and on his left side. We then walked a little further and he (ﷺ) said: "The rich would be poor on the Day of Resurrection, except he who spent like this and like this and like this,". and he pointed as he did the first time. "But such persons are few". Then he said, "Stay where you are till I come back to you". He (the Prophet (ﷺ)) walked ahead a little further in the darkness of the night and disappeared from my sight. I heard a loud voice. I said (to myself): "The Messenger of Allah might have met (mishap or an enemy)". I wished I could go after him but I remembered his commanding me to stay till he came back. So I waited for him; and when he came, I made mention of what I had heard. He asked, "Did you hear it?". I said, "Yes". Then he said, "It was Jibril (Gabriel), who came to me and said: 'He who dies among your Ummah without having associated anything with Allah (in worship) will enter Jannah.' I said: 'Even if he committed illicit sexual intercourse or steals?' He (Jibril) said: 'Even if he has committed illicit sexual intercourse or steals".[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "If I had gold equal to Mount Uhud (in weight), it would not please me to pass three nights and I have a thing of it left with me, except what I retain for repayment of a debt".[Al- Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Look at those who are inferior to you and do not look at those who are superior to you, for this will keep you from belittling Allah's favour to you."This is the wording in Sahih Muslim.[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].The narration in Al-Bukhari is: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "When one of you looks at someone who is superior to him in property and appearance, he should look at someone who is inferior to him".
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "May he be miserable, the worshipper of the dinar and dirham, and the worshipper of the striped silk cloak. If he is given anything, he is satisfied; but if not, he is unsatisfied".[Al-Bukhari]
I saw seventy of the people of the Suffah and none of them had a cloak. They had either a lower garment or a blanket which they suspended from their necks. Some (cloaks) reached halfway down to the legs and some to the ankles; and the man would manage to keep it in his hand to avoid exposing his private parts.[Al- Bukhari].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "The world is the believer's prison and the infidel's Jannah".[Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took hold of my shoulders and said, "Be in the world like a stranger or a wayfarer".Ibn 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) used to say: "When you survive till the evening, do not expect to live until the morning; and when you survive until the morning, do not expect to live until the evening; (do good deeds) when you are in good health before you fall sick, and (do good deeds) as long as you are alive before death strikes".[Al- Bukhari].
A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, guide me to such an action which, if I do Allah will love me and the people will also love me." He (ﷺ) said, "Have no desire for this world, Allah will love you; and have no desire for what people possess, and the people will love you."[Ibn Majah, Hadith Hasan].
'Umar bin Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) spoke at length regarding the worldly prosperity that people had achieved and said: "I saw that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would pass his days in hunger and could not get even degraded dates to fill his stomach".[Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) died when my house was void of any edible thing except for a small quantity of barley I had on a shelf and from which I kept eating it for a long time. Then when I measured what was left of it, it soon finished.[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
(When he died) Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) left neither a dinar nor a dirham nor a male slave nor a female slave, nor anything else except his white riding mule, his weapons and his land which he had given in charity to wayfarers.[Al- Bukhari].
We emigrated with Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) seeking the pleasure of Allah and expecting our reward from Him. Some of us died without enjoying anything of it. Among them was Mus'ab bin 'Umair (May Allah be pleased with him), who was killed in the battle of Uhud, leaving only a small coloured sheet of wool (which we used as his shroud). When we covered his head with it, his feet were exposed, and when we covered his feet with it, his head was uncovered. So the Prophet (ﷺ) told us to cover his head and to put some Idhkhir (i.e., fragrant grass) over his feet. Others among us enjoy prosperity.[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Were this world worth a wing of mosquito, He would not have given a drink of water to an infidel."[At- Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan Sahih].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Verily! The world is accursed and what it contains is accursed, except remembrance of Allah and those who associate themselves with Allah; and a learned man, and a learning person."[At-Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan].
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Do not crave for property lest you should be absorbed in the desire of worldly life."[At- Tirmidhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan].
We were repairing our thatchy hut when Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed by and asked us, "What are you doing?" We said, "The thatch had gone weak and we are repairing it." He (ﷺ) said, "I see the sure thing (death) approaching sooner than this."[Abu Dawud and At-Tirmdhi, who classified it as Hadith Hasan Sahih].