Become A Scholar If You Are Able

‘Umar ibn Abdil-‘Aziz said:

Become a scholar if you are able.
If you are not able, then be a student.
If you can not,then show love for them.
If you are unable to do that,then (at least) do not hate them.

[Ibn Abdil-Barr in Jaami’u Bayaanil-‘Ilmi wa Fadhlihi, #143]

Likewise Fudail Ibn Iyyad was asked: “Until when one should seek knowledge?”

He said: “Until the inkwell is emptied in his grave.“

If You Can’t Become A Scholar Then Do This…

If You Can’t Become A Scholar Then Do This…

Umar ibn Abdul Azeez (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ فَكُنْ عَالِماً

Become a scholar if you are able.

فَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَكُنْ مُتَعَلِّماً

If you are not able, then be a student.

وَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَأَحَبَّهُمْ

If you can not, then show love for them.

وَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَلا َتَبْغَضُهُمْ.

If you are unable to do that, then (at least) do not hate them.

(جَامِعُ ْبَيَانِ الْعِلْم وَ فَضْله #١٤٣)

The Fear Of The Taabi’een And Those After Them

The Fear Of The Taabi’een And Those After Them

Haram bin Hiyaan said, “I wish, by Allah, that I was a tree that a camel would eat and discharge as droppings, and that I would not endure the reckoning of the Day of Resurrection; verily, I fear the Great Calamity.”

And Ali bin al Hussain would turn yellow when he made wuduu’ and [his appearance would] change. So it would be said to him, “What is it?” He would say, “Do you know before Whom I will stand?”

And Muhammad bin Waasi’ would cry for most of the night and would not let up.

And Umar bin Abdul-Azeez, if death was mentioned, would quiver the way the birds quiver, and cry until his tears wet his beard.

And one night he cried, and those in his house wept [with him]. Faatimah [his wife] said, “What is with you o Ameerul-Mu’mineen? From what are you weeping?” He said, “I remembered the departure of the people before Allah ta’aala, a party in Paradise, and a party in the Blazing Fire.” Then he shrieked and [had to be] covered up.

And when al-Mansoor sought Jerusalem, he stopped at a monastery Umar bin Abdul-Azeez would stay at. So he said, “Inform me about the strangest thing you saw from Umar.” [It was replied], “He spent one night on the roof of this room of mine and it is made of marble. So I found water dripping from the roof [gutter]. I went up and [found him] prostrating, and the tears from his eyes were flowing down the gutter.” ALLAAHU-AKBAR!!!

And we narrated about Umar bin Abdul-Azeez and Fat’h al-Mousalee that they would cry [tears of] blood.

And Ibrahim bin Isa al-Yashkaree said, “I entered upon a man in Bahrein who had withdrawn from the people and gave all his time to himself. He remembered something from the affairs of the aakhirah and he remembered death. He began to sob until his soul left him.”

And Masma’ said, “I witnessed Abdul-Waahid bin Zayd when he was exhorting the people, and four people died that day in the gathering.”