Author’s Introduction
All
praise and thanks are due to Allaah. We praise and give thanks to Him. We seek
His aid and ask for His forgiveness, and we seek Allaah’s refuge from the evil
of ourselves and from our evil actions. Whomsoever Allaah guides then none can
misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides then none can guide him. I bear
witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, alone, having no
partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger – to
proceed:
This
is a concise book which contains forty authentic ahaadeeth[1]
from the fine sayings of the Chosen Prophet (
) which I gathered as a reminder
for myself and my brothers. They contain guidance for cultivation of souls,
purification of the hearts and refinement of character. I myself have added
nothing except a few words to explain and clarify anything unclear, to provide
chapter headings showing the connection between the ahaadeeth, and
further brief notes.
It
will not be unknown to any of the people that the noble Religion of Islaam has
given great importance, and directed full attention in many of the texts of the
Book and the Sunnah, to building the personality of the Muslim and
directing it in accordance with the essential teachings of Islaam and its
fundamentals and requirements.
The
major incentive which led me to compile and compose this work was that I saw
that many of those who attach themselves to Islaam, and call to Allaah, are
actually far removed from the Islâmic personality in both essence and outward
manner and appearance. We ask Allaah to protect and grant us safety. This being
the case I thought it was essential to compile this treatise so that it could be
a firm and strong nucleus for the Muslim to initiate his Islamic life, to know
the true way, follow it and call to it. Particularly since the Prophet () has
indicated this reality with his saying: For every action there is a period of enthusiasm/activity, and for every
period of enthusiasm/activity there is a period of rest/inactivity. So he whose
period of rest/inactivity is in accordance with my Sunnah then he is
rightly guided, but he whose period of rest/inactivity accords with other than
this, then he is destroyed.[2]
So
I write this book for the enthusiastic Muslim youth who does not find, whilst
swimming in the ocean of enthusiasm and excitement, the helping hand of one who
knows the poison and is aware of the cure, one who can guide him to the correct
way and correct thinking so that these youths can be with their minds and
thoughts like the Companions of the Prophet () since they were also youths,
but: They were youths, yet mature youths,
their eyes fresh and free of evil, their feet refrained from approaching
falsehood and futility. They sacrificed and expended themselves in worship and
in withholding themselves from sleep. They sold their souls which were to pass
away for souls which would never die. Allaah saw them in the latter part of the
night, bending their backs, reciting the Qur’aan. Whenever one of them came to
an Ayah mentioning Paradise, he would weep, longing for it. Whenever he came
upon an Ayah mentioning the fire he would groan out of fear, as if the Hell-fire
were directly in front of him. The earth devoured their knees their hands and
their foreheads. They joined exhaustion in the night with exhaustion in the day.
Their colour becoming yellowed and their bodies emaciated through standing long
in prayer and frequent fasting – whilst they regarded their own actions to be
negligible before Allaah. They fulfilled their covenant with Allaah and attained
Allaah’s promise.[3]
So let us all hasten to be like them, and to resemble them since the affair is
as it was said: We are not in comparison
to those who came before except like small herbs growing beside the trunks of
tall palm trees.[4]
And as Ibnul Mubaarak said: Do not mention
us whilst mentioning them, the fit and healthy when he walks is not like the
crippled.[5]
I
have sought in choosing these ahaadeeth to gather those which are the
most comprehensive, but the Islâmic Personality will not be completed until the
person follows and implements the Religion (Deen) of Allaah the One free
of all imperfections, and the Most High says:
“O you who
believe! Enter into Islaam perfectly (completely).”[6]
I
have strived to mention the source references for each hadeeth along with
a statement about its authenticity, as demanded by the science of hadeeth
whilst avoiding unnecessarily going into great length or falling short of what
is necessary. So I tried to be as brief as is fitting for a book of this size,
and only rarely speaking at more length when it was essential.
So if Allaah guides me to and grants me that which is
correct in what I intended then that is from the completeness of His blessings,
but if the result is otherwise and I hope it is not the case, then I ask Allaah
for His forgiveness and His Mercy. Indeed He is the One who hears and responds,
and our final call is that all praise and thanks are for Allaah, Lord of all the
worlds.
Written
by:
‘Alee
Hasan ‘Alee ‘Abdul-Hameed al-Halabee al-Atharee
11th
Rajab 1408H az-Zarqa (Jordan)
28
February 1988.
Notes:
[1]
There are some ahaadeeth reported about the excellence of gathering forty
ahaadeeth, however all of them are unauthentic as I briefly explained in
my introduction to Forty Hadeeth on the Call To Islam and the Caller
(Published by Al-Hidaayah, 1994)
[2] It is the
twentieth hadeeth of Forty Hadeeth on the Call to Islam and the Caller,
its source and explanation are quoted there.
[3]
Jamarah Khutabil ‘Arab (2/475) of Ahmad Zakiyy Safwat.
[4]
Al-Muwaddih li Awhaamil-Jam‘ wat-Tafreeq (1/5) of al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee.
[5] Ibn Rajab
quotes it from him in Fadl ‘Ilmus Salaf
‘alal Khalaf (page 59 of the edition with my checking).
[6] Soorah al-Baqarah (2):208.
