It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
It has reached me that the scholars of old would practice what they learned when they learned it, and through practicing they would become occupied, and because of being occupied, they would be missed, and when they were missed they were sought after, and when they were sought after they would flee.
Al-Dhahabi, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 8:439,440
It is reported that it was said to Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ – Allāh be pleased with him – during the time of fitnah:
Will you not fight? For you are one of the people of shūrā (to be consulted in these affairs), and you are more deserving of this matter (leadership) than others? So he replied:
I will not fight until you bring me a sword with two eyes and lips that recognizes the believer from the unbeliever, for I have done jihād and I know jihād.
Abū Nuʿaym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyāʾ 1:94
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
There is no comfort or rest for the believer until he meets Allāh.
Wakīʿ b. Al-Jarrāḥ, Al-Zuhd #86
It is reported that Masrūq – Allāh have mercy him – said:
There is no house better for the believer than the niche of his grave, for then he will rest from the worries of this world, and be secured from the punishment of Allāh.
Ibid. #87
It is reported that Al-Rabīʿ b. Khuthaym – Allāh have mercy him – said:
There is nothing that is away from the believer, and for which he waits, better for him than death.
Ibid. #88
It is reported that a man saw Ibn ʿAbbās – Allāh be pleased with them – holding the tip of his tongue saying:
Woe to you, say what is good and you will reap gain, and be silent from speaking evil and you will be safe.
The man asked him:
O Ibn ʿAbbās, what is the matter that I see you holding the tip of your tongue saying such-and-such?
He replied:
It has reached me that the servant of Allāh will not be as angry at anything on the Day of Resurrection as he will be at his tongue.
Imām Aḥmad, Al-Zuhd p236
Saʿīd b. Jubayr – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Tawakkul (reliance and trust in Allah) comprehends all of Īmān.
Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd #534.
It is reported that ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them – said:
Whoever tries to make people hear of his deeds, Allāh will make [some] of His creation hear of him (expose him), and belittle him. Ibn ʿUmar then began to cry.
Wakīʿ b. Al-Jarrāḥ, Al-Zuhd #308.
ʿAbd Al-Raḥmān b. Yazīd reports:
Al-Rabīʿ b. Khuthaym used to come to ʿAlqamah on the day of Jumuʿah and they would talk. They would call for me and I would come and talk with them. One day, they sent for me and I came. ʿAlqamah said to me,
Have you not heard what Al-Rabīʿ b. Khuthaym has come to us with?I replied,And what is that?He said,[Rabīʿ] said a man from the People of Scripture once said to us,I said,Do you not see how much people supplicate but how seldom their prayers are answered? That is because Allāh does not accept except what is sincere and purely for Him.Well ʿAbdullāh [b. Masʿūd] already said the same.He asked,What did he say?I replied,Haven’t you heard him say,He replied,By Him other than whom there is none worthy of worship, Allāh does not accept [the deed] of one who seeks to be heard of, or seen, and nor someone who is playing around, [He only accepts the supplication] of one who calls upon Him from the bottom of his heart.Indeed, [I have heard him say that].
Hunād b. Al-Sarī, Al-Zuhd #874.
Aḥmad b. Yūnus reports:
I saw Zuhayr b. Muʿāwiyah come to Zāʾidah b. Qudāmah (d.160H) and speak to him to get him to narrate ḥadīth to a man, so Zāʾidah asked,
Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah?Zuhayr replied,I do not know that he has any bidʿah.Zāʾidah said,No, that is another matter! Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah?Zuhayr said,Since when have people become like this?Zāʾidah replied,Since when did people curse Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?!
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #754.
It is reported that Ḥudhayfah – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
How will you be (in the end times) when you open up your religion like the woman who opens her legs to expose her qubul not stopping anyone from coming to her?
Abū ʿAmr Al-Dānī, Al-Sunan Al-Wāridah fī Al-Fitan #241
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Verily, you will find the believer (muʾmin) consistent time after time, upon one way, showing the same face; [whereas] you will find the hypocrite (munāfiq) changing colors, trying to be like everyone around him, running with every wind.
Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm #1936