Riyad as-Salihin

Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah, the Exalted, smiles at two men, one of them killed the other and both will enter Jannah. The first is killed by the other while he is fighting in the Cause of Allah, and thereafter Allah will turn in mercy to the second and guide him to accept Islam and then he dies as a Shaheed (martyr) fighting in the Cause of Allah."

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Purity is half of faith, and the praise of Allah fills the scale. Glorification and praise fill up what is between the heavens and the earth. Prayer is a light, charity is proof, and patience is illumination. The Quran is a proof for you or against you. All people go out early in the morning and sell themselves, either setting themselves free or ruining themselves."..

Certain people of the Ansar asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he gave them; then they again asked him and he gave them until all what he possessed was exhausted. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whatever wealth I have, I will not withhold from you. Whosoever would be chaste and modest; Allah will keep him chaste and modest and whosoever would seek self-sufficiency, Allah will make him self-sufficient; and whosoever would be patient, Allah will give him patience, and no one is granted a gift better and more comprehensive than patience"..

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "How wonderful is the case of a believer; there is good for him in everything and this applies only to a believer. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to Allah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is better for him"..

When the last illness of Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) made him unconscious, Fatimah (May Allah be pleased with her) exclaimed: "Ah, the distress of my dear father." He (ﷺ) said, "There will be no distress for your father after today". When he died she said: "My father, Allah has called you back and you have responded to His Call. O father! Garden of Firdaus is your abode. O father! We announce to Jibril your death." When he was buried, she said: "Are you satisfied now that you put earth over (the grave of) Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)?"

The daughter of the Prophet (ﷺ) sent for him as her child was dying, but the Prophet (ﷺ) returned the messenger and sent her good wishes saying, "Whatever Allah takes away or gives, belongs to Him, and everything with Him has a limited fixed term (in this world), and so she should be patient and anticipate Allah's reward." She again sent for him adjuring him for the sake of Allah to come. The Messenger of Allah, accompanied with Sa'd bin 'Ubadah, Mu'adh bin Jabal, Ubayy bin Ka'b, Zaid bin Thabit and some other men went to see her. The child was lifted up to the Messenger of Allah while his breath was disturbed in his chest. On seeing that, the eyes of the Prophet (ﷺ) streamed with tears. Sa'd said, "O Messenger of Allah! What is this?" He replied, "It is compassion which Allah has placed in the hearts of His slaves, Allah is Compassionate only to those among His slaves who are compassionate (to others)".Another version says: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah shows compassion only to those among His slaves who are compassionate"..

'I have grown old, so send me a young boy in order to teach him magic.' The king sent him a young boy to serve the purpose. And on his way (to the magician) the young boy met a monk to whom he listened to and liked it. It became his habit that on his way to the magician, he would meet the monk and sit there and would come to the magician (late). The magician used to beat him because of this delay. He complained about this to the monk who said to him: 'When you feel afraid of the magician, say: Members of my family detained me. And when you fear your family, say: The magician detained me.' It so happened that there came a huge beast and it blocked the way of the people, and the young boy said: 'I will know today whether the magician or the monk is better.' He picked up a stone and said: 'O Allah, if the way of the monk is dearer to You than the way of the magician, bring about death to the animal so that the people be able to move about freely.' He threw that stone at it and killed it and the people began to move about freely. He then came to the monk and told him the story. The monk said: 'Son, today you are superior to me. You have come to a stage where I feel that you would be soon put to a trial, and in case you are put to a trial, do not reveal me.' That young boy began to heal those born blind and the lepers and he, in fact, began to cure people from all kinds of illnesses. When a courtier of the king who had gone blind heard about him, he came to him with numerous gifts and said, 'If you cure me, all these things will be yours.' He said, 'I myself do not cure anyone. It is Allah, the Exalted, Alone Who cures; and if you affirm faith in Allah, I shall also supplicate to Allah to cure you.' This courtier affirmed his faith in Allah and Allah cured him. He came to the king and sat by his side as he used to sit before. The king said to him, 'Who restored your eyesight?' He said, 'My Rubb.' Thereupon he said, 'Do you have another lord besides me?' He said, 'My Rubb and your Rubb is Allah.' So the king kept torturing him untill he revealed the young boy. The young boy was thus summoned and the king said to him, 'O boy, it has been conveyed to me that you have become so much proficient in your magic that you cure the blind and the lepers and you do such and such.' Thereupon he said, 'I do not cure anyone; it is Allah Alone Who cures,' and the king took hold of him and began to torture him until he revealed of the monk. The monk was summoned and it was said to him: 'You should turn back from your religion.' But he refused. The king sent for a saw, placed it in the middle of his head and cut him into two parts that fell down. Then the courtier of the king was brought forward and it was said to him: 'Turn back from your religion.' He, too, refused, and the saw was placed in the midst of his head and he was torn into two parts. Then the boy was sent for and it was said to him: 'Turn back from your religion.' He refused. The king then handed him over to a group of his courtiers, and said to them: 'Take him to such and such mountain; make him climb up that mountain and when you reach its peak ask him to renounce his Faith. If he refuses to do so, push him to his death.' So they took him and made him climb up the mountain and he said: 'O Allah, save me from them in any way you like,' and the mountain began to shake and they all fell down (dead) and that young boy came walking to the king. The king said to him, 'What happened to your companions?' He said, 'Allah has saved me from them.' He again handed him to some of his courtiers and said: 'Take him and carry him in a boat and when you reach the middle of the sea, ask him to renounce his religion. If he does not renounce his religion throw him (into the water).' So they took him and he said: 'O Allah, save me from them.' The boat turned upside down and they all drowned except the young boy who came walking to the king. The king said to him, 'What happened to your companions?' He said, 'Allah has saved me from them,' and he said to the king: 'You cannot kill me until you do what I command you to do.' The king asked, 'What is that?' He said, 'Gather all people in one place and tie me up to the trunk of a tree, then take an arrow from my quiver and say: With the Name of Allah, the Rubb of the boy; then shoot me. If you do that you will be able to kill me.' 'The king called the people in an open field and tied the young boy to the trunk of a tree. He took out an arrow from his quiver, fixed in the bow and said, 'With the Name of Allah, the Rubb of the young boy,' he then shot the arrow and it hit the boy's temple. The young boy placed his hand upon the temple where the arrow had hit him and died. The people then said: 'We believe in the Rubb of this young boy.' The king was told: 'Do you see what you were afraid of, by Allah it has taken place; all people have believed.' The king then commanded that trenches be dug and fire lit in them, and said: 'He who would not turn back from his (the young boy's) religion, throw him in the fire' or 'he would be ordered to jump into it.' They did so till a woman came with her child. She felt hesitant in jumping into the fire. The child said to her: 'O mother! Endure (this ordeal) for you are on the Right Path"..

The Prophet (ﷺ) passed by a woman who was crying over a grave and said, "Fear Allah and be patient." She said, "Away from me! My calamity has not befallen you and you are not aware of it." The woman was later told that it was the Prophet (ﷺ) (who had advised her). She came to his door where she found no doorkeeper. She said, "(I am sorry) I did not know you." Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Patience is (becoming) only at the first (stroke) of grief"..

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Allah, the Exalted, says: 'I have no reward other than Jannah for a believing slave of Mine who remains patient for My sake when I take away his beloved one from among the inhabitants of the world"..

I asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about pestilence and he said, "It is a punishment which Allah sends upon whomsoever He wills, but Allah has made it as a mercy to the believers. Anyone who remains in a town which is plagued with pestilence maintaining patience expecting the reward from Allah, and knowing that nothing will befall him other than what Allah has foreordained for him, he would receive a reward of Shaheed"..

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying, "Allah, the Glorious and Exalted said: 'When I afflict my slave in his two dear things (i.e., his eyes), and he endures patiently, I shall compensate him for them with Jannah."..

Ibn 'Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) asked him whether he would like that he should show him a woman who is from the people Jannah. When he replied that he certainly would, he said, "This black woman, who came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, 'I suffer from epilepsy and during fits my body is exposed, so make supplication to Allah for me.' He (ﷺ) replied: 'If you wish you endure it patiently and you be rewarded with Jannah, or if you wish, I shall make supplication to Allah to cure you?' She said, 'I shall endure it.' Then she added: 'But my body is exposed, so pray to Allah that it may not happen.' He (Prophet (ﷺ)) then supplicated for her"..

I can still recall as if I am seeing the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) resembling one of the Prophets whose people scourged him and shed his blood, while he wiped blood from his face, he said: "O Allah! Forgive my people, because they certainly do not know"..

"Never a believer is stricken with a discomfort, an illness, an anxiety, a grief or mental worry or even the pricking of a thorn but Allah will expiate his sins on account of his patience"..

I visited the Prophet (ﷺ) when he was suffering fever. I said, "You seem to be suffering greatly, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "Yes, I suffer as much as two persons." I said, "Is that because you have a double reward?" He replied that that was so and then said, "No Muslim is afflicted by a harm, be it the pricking of a thorn or something more (painful than that), but Allah thereby causes his sins to fall away just as a tree sheds its leaves"..

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "He whom Allah intends good, He makes him to suffer from some affliction"..

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Let not one of you wish for death because of a misfortune which befalls him. If he cannot help doing so, he should say: 'O Allah, keep me alive as long as You know that life is better for me, and make me die when death is better for me"..

We complained to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) regarding the persecution inflicted upon us by the disbelievers while he was lying in the shade of the Ka'bah, having made a pillow of his cloak. We submitted: "Why do you not supplicate for our prevalence (over the opponents)?". He (ﷺ) replied, "Among those people before you, a man would be seized and held in a pit dug for him in the ground and he would be sawed into two halves from his head, and his flesh torn away from his bones with an iron comb; but, in spite of this, he would not wean away from his Faith. By Allah, Allah will bring this matter to its consummation until a rider will travel from San'a' to Hadramout fearing none except Allah, and except the wolf for his sheep, but you are in too much of a hurry"..

After the battle of Hunain, Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) favoured some people in the distribution of spoils (for consolation). He gave Al-Aqra' bin Habis and 'Uyainah bin Hisn a hundred camels each and showed favour also to some more honourable persons among the Arabs. Someone said: "This division is not based on justice and it was not intended to win the Pleasure of Allah." I said to myself: "By Allah! I will inform Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) of this." I went to him and informed him. His face became red and he said, "Who will do justice if Allah and His Messenger do not?" Then he said, "May Allah have mercy on (Prophet) Musa (Moses); he was caused more distress than this but he remained patient." Having heard this I said to myself: "I shall never convey anything of this kind to him in future"..

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "When Allah intends good for His slave, He punishes him in this world, but when He intends an evil for His slave, He does not hasten to take him to task but calls him to account on the Day of Resurrection.".