It is reported that Sufyān Al-Thawrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whoever takes leadership quickly (too early) will harm a lot of [his] knowledge (will not learn what he needs); and whoever does not take leadership can continue to seek knowledge until he reaches [where he needs to be].
Al-Dārimī, Al-Sunan #554.
It is reported from Ḥabīb Al-Jallāb that he asked ʿAbdullāh b. Al-Mubārak – Allāh have mercy on him:
“What is the best thing a person is ever given?” He replied, “Innate intelligence.” He then asked, “And if not that?” He replied, “Good conduct.” He then asked, “And if not that?” He replied, “A compassionate brother to consult.” He then asked, “And if not that?” He replied, “Long silence.” He asked, “And if not that?” Ibn Al-Mubārak replied, “Then an early death.”
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 8:397.
ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them – said:
A man from [the tribe of] the Anṣār once came to me during the caliphate of ʿUthmān. He spoke to me and I realised he wanted me to fault ʿUthmān; he spoke at length and he had some heaviness in his speech and could not finish speaking quickly. When he had finished, I said to him, “We used to say, while the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was still alive, the best of the Ummah of the Messenger of Allāh after him is Abū Bakr, then ʿUmar, then ʿUthmān. And by Allāh, we do not know that ʿUthmān has ever killed anyone without right or committed any major sin; but it is an issue of this wealth [with you people]: if he gives you, you are happy, and if he gives to his kin, you are angry. You only want to be like the Persians and Romans, who leave no leader of theirs without killing him.”
Then his eyes filled with tears and he said, “O Allāh, we do not want this.”
Imām Aḥmad, Faḍāʾil Al-Ṣaḥābah, article 64, except for the last sentence. Shaykh Waṣīyullāh ʿAbbās graded its chain of transmission ṣaḥīḥ in his study of the work.
The last sentence about the crying is in the Masāʾil of Ibn Hāniʾ 2:171.
Ayyūb Al-Sakhtiyānī reports that Abū Qilābah – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
O Ayyūb, when Allāh brings about knowledge for you, bring about worship of him, and do not let your [sole] concern be to narrate it.
Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān Al-ʿIlm, article 1279.
It is reported that the inscription on the ring of Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī – Allāh be pleased with them – read:
You know, so now act (علِمت فاعمل).
Op. cit. article 1280.
It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whoever seeks knowledge sincerely, for the servants of Allāh to benefit by and to benefit himself, then being hidden (from fame) is more beloved to him than seeking loftiness. He is the one who becomes more lowly to himself, strives more in worship, fears Allāh more, yearns for Allāh more, and becomes more humble amongst people. He cares not what he has of this dunyā night or day.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab Al-Īmān article 1653.
It is reported that Al-Zuhrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said to Yūnus b. Yazīd:
O Yūnus! Do not try to overcome knowledge, for verily knowledge is [like vast] valleys: whichever of them you take will stop you before you traverse it. Instead, take it over the days and nights. And do not take knowledge all at once, for whoever tries to take it all at once will lose it all at once. Rather take it bit by bit over the days and nights.
Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān Al-ʿIlm article 652.
It is reported that Abū Al-Dardāʾ – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
When you adorn your copies of the Qurān and embellish your mosques, destruction will be upon you.
Ibn Al-Mubārak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqāʾiq, article 746. Shaykh Al-Albānī stated that the chain of transmission of this narration consists of reliable reporters, except he did not know if the reporter Bakr b. Suwādah had heard directly from Abū Al-Dardāʾ. The narration corroborates a similar ḥadīth reported from the Prophet ﷺ himself. See Al-Ṣaḥīḥah ḥadīth 1351.
It is reported that Al-ʿAwwām b. Ḥawshab – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Boasting that you did a sin (when you did not) is worse than committing the sin.
Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm, article 3073.
Ibn Qutaybah, explaining what is meant by boasting here, said:
It is when a person says, ‘I fornicated’, when he did not, or to say, ‘I killed a man’, when he did not, boasting and showing off. This is worse upon a man than committing the sin because he did not avoid the sin except that he would have done it if able. He is therefore like the one who does it, by intention. He goes even further by removing the cover (of reputation) from himself, and by the depravity of his audacity to commit sin and his lack of concern.
Muʿāwiyah b. Khadīj (or Ḥudayj) reports that he once passed by Abū Ḏarr Al-Ġifārī – Allāh be pleased with him – while the latter was standing with a horse of his, so he asked:
“What are you doing with this horse of yours?” Abū Ḏarr replied, “I think this horse has had his supplication answered.” Muʿāwiyah asked, “And what supplication does a beast have?” He replied, “By him in whose hand is my soul, there is no horse except that it supplicates every twilight before the dawn: O Allāh, you have given me to a servant of yours and have put my provision at his hands, so make me more beloved to him than his wife, his property and his children.”
Imām Aḥmad, Al-Musnad, ḥadīth 21334.
Note: The report of this supplication as being from the Arabian horse is also related via Abū Ḏarr from the Prophet ﷺ himself in the Sunan of Al-Nasāʾī and elsewhere in the Musnad of Aḥmad, and has been graded Ṣaḥīḥ by Al-Albānī in Ṣaḥīḥ Susan Al-Nasāʾī ḥadīth 3581 and Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Tarġīb ḥadīth 1251, although scholars have differed on this. In any case, an authentic report from a Companion about matters of the unseen has the ruling of being from the Prophet ﷺ because the Companions did not speak about the unseen except after learning about it from the Prophet ﷺ.
It is reported that Bakr b. ʿAbdillāh Al-Muzanī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
When you see someone older than you, say: he has preceded me in īmān and righteous actions so he is better than me; and when you see someone younger than you, say: I have preceded him in sinning and disobedience so he is better than me. And when you see your brothers honouring and revering you, say: this is a virtue they have attained; and when you see them falling short (in their treatment of you) say: this is [because of] a sin I committed.
Ibn Al-Jawzī, Ṣifatu Al-Ṣafwah, article 505: Bakr b. ʿAbdillāh Al-Muzanī.