Inspiration from Past & Present
When you deal with people, in reality you are creating your own personality. You are the one drawing the image that they have of you in their minds. Based on this impression, they decide how to deal with you, and whether to respect you or not. Make sure that the tree is firmly grounded and is not uprooted by the winds, no matter how strong they may be. Just an hour of patience will result in victory. The more intelligent you become, the less ignorant you are. The more your worth increases, the less angry you become. Just like the seas that are not moved by anything. Be like a mountain and no wind will ever shake you!
—Dr. Muhammad ‘Abd Al-Rahman Al-‘Arifi
(Read on pg 338, Dr. Muhammad ‘Abd Al-Rahman Al-‘Arifi, Enjoy Your Life. Darussalam Publishers. Riyadh.)
Zuhd means to free the heart from always wanting.
—al-Junaid al-Baghdādī [d. 297 AH]
Madārij as-Sālikīn
Ibn `Aun (rah) said: “When Muhammad Ibn Sireen was in debt, he was overwhelmed with grief because of it, and said: ‘I know that this grief is because of a sin which I did 40 years ago.'”
Hilyatul Awliyaa (2/271), al-Jaami` li Ahkaam al-Qur’aan (16/31)
Muhammad Ibn Sireen (rah) said: “I know the sin because of which I fell in debt.”
It was asked: “What was it?”
He said: “40 years ago I called a man: Yaa muflis! (O bankrupted one)”
One of the sub-narrators, `Ubaidullaah bin al-Surree, said: “I informed this narration to Abu Sulaimaan al-Daaraanee (d. 205H). He said: ‘Because of their few sins they knew the reason for getting (the punishment); but because of our many sins, we do not know for which of our sins we are being punished.'”
Hilyatul Awliyaa (2/271), Taareekh Damishq (53/226)
There is no good in a person who does not love to earn money (lawfully) so that he can fulfill his obligations with it and have no need of his fellow humans.
—Sa’eed bin Al-Musayyab
Hilyah al-Awliya 2/173
(Read on pg 141, Salaahud-Deen ibn ‘Alee ibn ‘Abdul-Mawjood, Imam Sa’eed bin Al-Musayyab (Biography). Darussalam Publishers. Riyadh:2006.)