The Shaykh’s explanation of the athar of Muhammad ibn Sirin, who said: “We were with Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), and he was wearing two garments dyed with red clay, and he spat into one of them, then he said, ‘Bakh, bakh…’”

The Shaykh : The following hadith is also authentic. It is narrated from Muhammad ibn Sirin, who said: “We were with Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), and he was wearing two garments dyed with red clay, and he spat into one of them, then he said, ‘Bakh, bakh! Abu Hurayrah is spitting into the linen.’ I have seen myself, and I was lagging behind between the minbar of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the chamber of A’ishah from hunger, fainting. A person would come and put his foot on my neck, thinking that I was insane, but it was nothing but hunger.” It was narrated by al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidhi, and al-Tirmidhi graded it as authentic. *Mishq* (with a kasrah on the mim) is a type of red clay, and a *mumshaq* garment is one dyed with it. This *maghr* (red clay) is one of the wonders we hear about; it is red earth. They used to dye their clothes with red earth, which was a type of craft at that time. It seems that this color was beautiful, and therefore Abu Hurayrah said, “Yes, bakh, bakh! Abu Hurayrah is spitting into the linen.” Abu Hurayrah was seen wearing two garments dyed red with linen, and then he spat and wiped his mouth in one of his garments. Then he remembered how his condition was in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “Bakh, bakh,” congratulating himself and marveling at his previous condition and his current condition. He said, “Abu Hurayrah is spitting into the linen,” indicating that Abu Hurayrah’s material circumstances had changed from what they were in the era of Prophethood and the Message. He had become an emir and a governor in some places, and the Islamic conquests had increased, which was the cause of much good coming to the Muslims, especially the governors among them. So 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) and the other Caliphs would give the governor a salary greater than what any other individual received. Thus, Abu Hurayrah was seen wearing two garments of linen dyed red, and then he spat and wiped his mouth in one of his garments. Then he remembered how his condition was in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “Bakh, bakh,” congratulating himself and marveling at his previous condition and his current condition. He said, “Abu Hurayrah is spitting into the linen.” He described how it was after mentioning what he was wearing: “I have seen myself, and I was lagging behind between the minbar of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the chamber of A’ishah from hunger, fainting. There was no food to be found to satisfy his hunger. A person would come and put his foot on my neck, thinking that I was insane, but it was nothing but hunger.”
This hadith contains nothing new except for one aspect that comes to my mind, which is that if a Muslim directs his ambition to religion and away from this world, then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sends the world to him in a humble state. From this type of hadith, some of the Salaf took the saying: “If you want the Hereafter, then seek knowledge; and if you want this world, then seek knowledge”. Of course, this does not mean that one of us should take knowledge as a profession to earn a living from, for as we all know, this is not permissible in Islam, because knowledge is worship, and no worship that a Muslim performs for his Lord is acceptable unless he is sincere to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in it, as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: and he does not associate anyone with the worship of his Lord, meaning he does not seek in any worship of his Lord anything other than the Face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is a long discussion that we have touched upon repeatedly, especially in the beginning of our book *Targhib wa Tarhib*, which has a specific chapter on sincerity to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). What the one who said, “And whoever wants this world, let him seek knowledge,” means is that knowledge, in its capacity as knowledge, is the cause of all good, whether immediate or delayed. In summary, if a Muslim seeks knowledge for the Face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will reward him for that in this world before the Hereafter, because he sought good to please Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) pleases him by giving him from this world what makes him independent of people. As for the Hereafter, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: .