Striving in Worship
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
by al-Jumu'ah Magazine
The Salaf have understood the Deen of Allah as well as the essence of this
life and its inescapable leading to the Hereafter, so they felt aversion for the
distractions and the tribulations of the world. They found no sleep and
their heart kept away from desires. They kept above the insignificant
concerns of life. Their biographies abound with stories that show their
striving in righteousness, repentance and their strong will in worship and
humbleness. Al-Hasan al-Basri said, "Whoever competes with you in the Deen then try to
surpass him, and whoever competes with you in the matters of this life then
throw it back at him." Whenever he missed a Salah in congregation, ibn
`Umar radhiallahu `anhu used to fast one day, pray for one whole night and free
a slave. Abu Musa al-Ash`ari used to apply himself so much in worship at the end of
his life that he was told, "Why don't you slow down and be gentle with
yourself?" He replied, "When the horses are released for a race and are
close to the finish line, they give all the strength they have. What is
left of my life is less than that." He maintained the same level of
devotion and worship until he died. Mawriq al-`Ajli said, "I did not find an example, for the believer in this
life, better than a man on a plank in the sea, imploring, 'O Lord, O Lord',
hoping that Allah would save him." Usamah said, "Whenever you see Sufyan ath-Thawri, it is as if you see someone
in a ship fearing to drown. One would often hear him say, 'O Lord save me,
save me!" Fatimah bint Abdil Malik, the wife of the Khalifah `Umar ibn
`Abdil-Aziz said, "I have never seen a person offering a salah or fasting more
than he did, or a person fearing the Lord more than him. After offering
Salat-ul-Isha, he would sit down and cry until he becomes sleepy, then he would
wake up again and continue crying until sleep overtakes him." Amir ibn Abdullah was once asked, "How can you tolerate being awake all
night, and thirsty in the intense heat of the day?" He replied, "Is it
anything more than postponing the food of the day to nighttime, and the sleep of
the night to daytime? This is not a big matter." When the night
came, he would say, "Remembrance of the heat of hellfire has taken sleepiness
from me." And he would not sleep until dawn. Ahmad ibn Harb said, "I wonder how the one who knows that above him, paradise
is being embellished, and below him, the hell-fire is being kindled, and yet
sleeps between them!" Waqi` said, "Al Amash was almost seventy years old
and he never missed the first takbirah (for salah in the masjid). I used
to visit him frequently for more than two years and never saw him make up for
even one rakah." Abu Hayan related that his father said, "Ar-Rabi` ibn Khuthaym was crippled
and used to be carried to the congregational salah. So people told him,
"You have an excuse (for not coming)." He said, "I hear 'hayya
`alas-salah', the call to salah; so if you can come to it even by crawling, do
so", paraphrasing a hadith. Abull-Mawahib ibn Sarsari said concerning Imam Abul-Qasim ibn Asakir, "I have
never seen the like of him, and none had encompassed as many good
characteristics as he did concerning his adherence to one way for forty years,
making salah in the first row unless he had an excuse, i`tikaf during Ramadan
and the ten days of Thul-Hijjah, and the lack of desire to accumulate properties
and build houses, as he forbade himself these. He turned away any position
of imam or speaker, though they were offered to him, and he devoted himself to
enjoin good and forbid evil, and he would not fear anyone in that."
Courtesy Of: Islaam.com