Riyad us-Saliheen

Ibn Mas'ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) drew up a square and in the middle of it he drew a line, the end of which jutted out beyond the square. Further across the middle line, he drew a number of smaller lines. Then he (ﷺ) said, "The figure represents man and the encircling square is the death which is encompassing him. The middle line represents his desires and the smaller lines are vicissitudes of life. If one of those misses him, another distresses him, and if that one misses him, he falls victim to another."

Buraidah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "(In the past) I forbade you from visiting graves, but visit them now." In another narration Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Whoever wants to visit a graveyard, let him do so, because it reminds us of the Hereafter."

'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her): reported Whenever it was her turn to spend with Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he used to go to the Baqi' (graveyard in Al-Madinah) at the last part of night and say, "May you be safe, O abode of the believing people. What you have been promised has come to you. You are tarried till tomorrow and certainly we shall follow you if Allah wills. O Allah, forgive the inmates of the Baqi'-al-Gharqad."

Buraidah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) used to teach them (i.e., the Companions) whenever they came out to visit the graveyard to say: "As-salamu 'alaikum ahlad-diyyari minal- Mu'minina wal-Muslimina, wa inna in sha' Allahu bikum lahiqun. As 'alul-laha lana wa-lakumul- 'afiyyah (May you be safe, O inmates of the abodes of the believers and the Muslims, and if Allah pleases, we shall follow you, we pray to Allah for well-being for ourselves and for you)."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "None of you should wish for death. If he is righteous, perhaps he may add to (his) good works, and if he is a sinner, possibly he may repent (in case he is given a longer life)." . In Muslim, Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported : Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Let none of you wish for death, nor he ask for it before it comes to him, because when he dies, his actions will be terminated; certainly the age of a (true) believer does not add but good."

Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Let none of you wish for death on account of an affliction that befalls him. If he has no alternative, let him pray: 'Allahumma ahyine ma kanatil-hayatu khairan li, wa tawaffani idha kanatil-wafatu khairan li (O Allah! Give my life so long as the life is good for me, and take away my life if death is good for me)'."

Qais bin Abu Hazim (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I went to visit Khabbab bin Aratt (May Allah be pleased with him) during his illness. He had been cauterized in seven places. He said: "Our companions who have died have left (this world) without having enjoyed the pleasures of the world (in order to get a great full reward in the Hereafter) while we have amassed wealth exceeding our needs for which there is no place to keep except in the earth. Had Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) not prohibited us from longing for death, I would have prayed for it." Then we visited him again and he was building a wall. He said: "There is a reward in store for a Muslim in respect of everything on which he spends except for something he places in the earth (i.e., something exceeding our needs or essentials)."

An-Nu'man bin Bashir (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "What is lawful is clear and what is unlawful is clear, but between them are certain doubtful things which many people do not know. So he who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and his honour blameless. But he who falls into doubtful things falls into that which is unlawful, just as a shepherd who grazes his cattle in the vicinity of a pasture declared prohibited (by the king); he is likely to stray into the pasture. Mind you, every king has a protected pasture and Allah's involved limits is that which He has declared unlawful. Verily, there is a piece of flesh in the body, if it is healthy, the whole body is healthy, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Verily, it is the heart."

Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) found a dry date-fruit lying in the way and said, "Had it not been for fear of being from charity I would have eaten it."

An-Nawwas bin Sam'an (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Piety is good manner, and sin is that which creates doubt and you do not like people to know of it."

'Uqbah bin Al-Harith (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that he had married a daughter of Abu Ihab bin 'Aziz and a woman came to him and said she had suckled both 'Uqbah and the woman whom he had married, to which he replied: "I am not aware that you suckled me, and you did not inform me." So he ('Uqbah) rode to Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) in Al-Madinah and put the matter before him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "How can you continue (to be her husband) after what you have been told?" 'Uqbah (May Allah be pleased with him) therefore divorced her and she married another man..

'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) had a slave who brought him his earnings and Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) would eat from it. One day he brought him something and when Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) had eaten some of it, the slave asked him whether he knew where he had got that (food) from, Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) asked what it was, and he replied: I acted as a soothsayer for a man in the pre-Islamic period, and not being good at it, I deceived him; today he met me and he rewarded me for that soothsaying what you have eaten. Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) put his hand in his mouth and vomited up all that he had eaten..

Nafi' (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: 'Umar bin Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) fixed the payment amounting to four thousand dirhams for each of the early Emigrants, but for his son, he fixed only three thousand five hundred. He was asked: "He is also an (early) Emigrant, why have you fixed a lesser sum for him?" He said: "It was his father who took him along with him. He is not like one who emigrated by himself."

Sa'd bin Abu Waqqas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah loves a slave who is pious, free of all wants and the unnoticed."

Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Someone asked Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Who is the best man?" He (ﷺ) answered, "A believer who strives in the Cause of Allah with his life and his wealth." The man asked: "Who is the next?" He said, "One who retires into a narrow valley and worships his Rubb."Another narration is: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "One who fears Allah and safeguards people against his own mischief."

Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "The best possession of a Muslim will be a herd of sheep with which he retires to the top of a mountain or places where rain is expected to fall (pastures) so as to safeguard with his faith from tribulation."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Every Prophet has tended sheep". He was asked: "And did you?" He replied, "Yes, I tended them for a few carats for the Makkans."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "The best of people is a man who is holding his horse's rein in the way of Allah (in Jihad) and is galloping towards the place wherever he hears a call for war or detects a note of danger; he goes on proceeding, seeking martyrdom or death wherever it is expected. And a man who retires with some sheep in a mountainside or a valley. He performs Salat regularly and pays the Zakat, continues worshipping his Rubb, till death overtakes him. He does not interfere in the affairs of the people except for betterment."

'Iyad bin Himar (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah has revealed to me that you should humble yourselves to one another. One should neither hold himself above another nor transgress against another."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Wealth does not diminish by giving Sadaqah (charity). Allah augments the honour of one who forgives; and one who serves another seeking the pleasure of Allah, Allah will exalt him in ranks."