It is reported that ʿUmar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb – Allāh be pleased with him – wrote (by way of instructions):
Learn Sūrah Al-Barāʾah (At-Tawbah), and teach your women Sūrah Al-Nūr. And have them wear silver for adornment.
Saʿīd b. Manṣūr, Al-Sunan #1003; Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān #2213.
It is reported that ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
I do not like it that a day or night comes upon me without me looking at the speech of Allāh, meaning reading from the muṣḥaf.
Imām Aḥmad, Al-Zuhd #675.
It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
The true faqīh (scholar) is the one who the fear of Allāh makes talk and the fear of Allāh makes silent. If he speaks it is by the Book and the Sunnah, and if he is silent, it is by the Book and the Sunnah. And if something is confusing to him and unclear, he withholds judgement and refers it back to whoever knows about it.
Ibn Baṭṭah, Ibṭāl Al-Ḥiyal p18, 19.
It is reported that Imām Mālik said to one of his companions:
Do not leave your house a lot, except for something that you must do. And do not sit in a gathering in which you do not benefit some knowledge.
Al-Qāḍī ʿAyyāḍ, Tartīb Al-Madārik 2:63
ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
The worst of the worst (major) sins are: to associate partners with Allāh, to lose hope of the aid of Allāh, to despair of the mercy of Allāh, and to feel safe from the plans of Allāh.
Al-Ṭabarī, Al-Tafsīr (Qurān 4: 31). Graded ṣaḥīḥ by Ibn Kathīr in his tafsīr of the same verse.
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
People will remain upon good as long as they vary (some are more knowledgeable, righteous etc); when they become equal, that is when they are destroyed.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān #8664 (Al-Rushd ed.).
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
We used to narrate: Whoever faults his brother for a sin he has repented to Allāh from, Allāh will try him with that very sin.
Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Al-Zuhd p342 (Al-ʿIlmīyah ed., 1983).
It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
A person has not been true to Allāh, the mighty and sublime, if he loves recognition (fame).
Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Al-Zuhd article 2240.
It is reported that Masrūq – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Everyone should have times when they sit alone, remember their sins, and thus seek [Allāh’s] forgiveness for them.
Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Al-Zuhd article 2038.
It is reported that ʿIkrimah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Everyone gets happy and gets sad, but you should turn your happiness into gratitude (to Allāh) and your sadness into patience (ṣabr).
Ibn Kathīr, Tafsir of Al-Ḥadīd: 23.