the humility of our salaf

[abu Hasan]

-----
the great dawud at-Ta'yi disliked people visiting him and honoring him. this short anecdote is narrated about him:

a man visited dawud at-tayi and he asked him why he had come.

the man replied that he came to visit him (dawud).

imam dawud at-Tayi said: as for your visiting me, you did a good thing by visiting (a muslim) only for the sake of Allah. but when i look at what will befall me on the morrow (the day of judgement), and if i am asked:

'(o dawud) who are you, that people visit you?
are you an ascetic? no, by Allah.
are you a worshipper? no, by Allah.
are you a righteous person? no, by Allah...'

dawud at-Tayi counted other noble virtues and negated them for himself and scolded his nafs and said: "o dawud! you were a transgressing sinner in your youth; and in your old age, you became a show-off. [kunta fi'sh shabibati fasiqa; falamma shibta Sirta murayi-ya]. and a show-off is worse than a sinner."

-----
muHammad ibn al-Waasi`y would say: 'if sins had stench, nobody could sit with me.'

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ibrahim an-nakhayi would hide the mus'Haf he was reading from if somebody approached him. (as if he was not reading anything lest they think that he is busy in worship).

----
many of our salaf like umar ibn al-khaTTab and hudhayfah ibn al-yaman raDiyallahu anhuma would reply when requested to do dua: 'me? and do dua (for you)?'

[AbdalQadir]

Subhan Allah ... and here we have us worthless fools gloating over completing basic faraaid with barely 1/10th of the correct methodology, let alone perfection, thinking we have become overnight awliyaa attending an ijtima'a and listening to a few na'ats, which we attend with mixed intentions

Perhaps we need to frame this couplet of Ala Hazrat and hang it some place we can see it a lot

koi kyun poochey teri baat Raza
tujh se kuttey hazaar phirtey hain!

[naqshbandijamaati]

beautiful anecdotes...and agree 100% with AQ too. But we shouldn't hang that couplet though; that is just Ala Hazrat's humility as he too was a wali.

But another one...and its slipped my mind just now!!

[abu Hasan]

mujrim ko na sharmaO aHbaab kafan DHak do
munH dekh ke kya hogaa pardey meiN bhalayi hai

---
un ke aagey da'awa e hasti raza?
kya bakey jaatey ho ye har baar hum

---
kareem apney karam ka sadqa, layeem e bey qadr ko na sharma
tu aur raza sey hisaab lenaa? razaa bhi koyi hisaab meiN hai?

---
bad-kar raza khush ho, bad-kaam bhaley hongey
woh ach'chey miyaN pyara, ach'choN ka miyaN aaya

---
maana key sakht mujrim o naa-karah hai razaa
teraa hi to hai bandah e dargaah ley khabar

---
pretty much all maqta'as of alahazrat end that way.

[Aqdas]

perhaps this is why the wise amongst us are adamant that one learn adab al-ilm before beginning to seek knowledge itself. adab al-ilm may be interchangeable with epistemology.

before learning, we must know why we are learning and be sure that it's for the right reasons. inshaAllah, this will bring humility and modesty and remove pride and haughtiness.

[Qasim Hanafi Ridwi]

Shaykh ul Islam Mujaddid Imam Ahmad Rida rahimahullahu Ta'ala:

kaam woh lelijeye tum ko jo raazi kare
theek ho naam e Raza tum peh karoroun Durud

sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wasallam

[Mohammad Hassan Raza]

Assalaamu 'Alaykum

The Humility of our Aslaaf cannot be compared and that is why they are Faayaz on the Darjaah of Wali

Atlast revealing a truth which none can deny

Daal di Qalb mein 'Azmat-e-Mustafa ( Sallallahu 'Alayhe Wasallam )
Saayyidi A'ala Hazrat pe Laakhon Salaam ...

ALLAH HAAFIZ