The Meaning of the Hadith (There is no envy except in two matters). And the Shaykh’s advice to students of knowledge to strive to earn a livelihood and not rely on others, as the Sufis do.

The questioner : Regarding the hadith , I mean, many of our brothers do not understand, they do not comprehend the jurisprudence of the hadith. They understand that a student of knowledge must be poor, and that his hand must always be the lower one, while the hands of people are the upper ones. And that the further he is from worldly matters, taking the Quranic verses and the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) , the more he is a student of knowledge. But I do not know, perhaps I am wrong or right in my understanding of the hadith. I want to hear the jurisprudence of the hadith, so that if Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) grants me the ability and I write a treatise on this topic, it will contain, if Allah wills, ... .

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good for your good opinion of your brother. But I, too, would like to hear your opinion and benefit from your knowledge.Those present : And I think that we will meet, if Allah wills, on the correct understanding. Present what you have and do not be shy, and you are successful, if Allah wills.

The questioner : I understand that just as knowledge is a blessing for its possessor if he is enabled to do righteous deeds and seeks thereby the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so too is wealth, if he gathers it and seeks to spend it in the path of Allah. So gathering wealth is like seeking knowledge. This is what I understand: that I should have the wealth with which I spend in the path of Allah, just as I have the righteous knowledge with which I teach people.

The Shaykh : Authentic

The questioner : So I do not know, I mean, some of the brothers said, "No, a student of knowledge should not sit in a place like the one you are sitting in, and this is not befitting for a student of knowledge."

The Shaykh : Excuse me, should he not sit in a place?

The questioner : The place I am sitting in, for example, in the library, where I sell to people and move around. They disapproved of that for me.

The Shaykh : Strange. May Allah help you.

The questioner : So I liked it, and this is something new in my life that I am not accustomed to, but I liked it, of course.The Shaykh : 'Abd al-'Azim said to me, "Since you are coming to the Shaykh today, let him speak to you about this matter."

The Shaykh : I think that the answer to this question, especially after I attached this appendix, is that they say, "You are sitting here in the library and you are a student of knowledge," so I took it as a loan. When I told you, "Yes, I did not do it," it is clear.

The questioner : Clear.

The Shaykh : However, I am now explaining to these brothers that they must be affirmed in the correct opinion that I stated to them, using some of the legal texts, which, without a doubt, I believe are not hidden from you, and by citing some examples of people, both past and present, who are afflicted with fame among the people and have a good reputation among the masses, or perhaps the opposite in the case of others. As for the hadith, it is reported in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad and elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for 'Umar ibn al-'As, and he came to him and said: or as he (peace be upon him) said. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, I did not embrace Islam for the sake of wealth; I did not embrace Islam for the sake of wealth." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So, if a student of knowledge strives to earn wealth through lawful means, he is first performing a prescribed act, and sometimes an obligatory one, if he is not provided for by wealth in one way or another. This is because striving for lawful sustenance, in the understanding of the wise Shari'ah, is a form of jihad in the path of Allah, as reported in the Musnad of Ahmad and elsewhere, such as in the Sahih of Ibn Hibban, from the hadith of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting with his Companions around him when a young man passed by them, and they were pleased with his youth and strength, and they said: "If only this young man were in the path of Allah." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The reality behind that objection you mentioned from some of the students is that they follow the path of those who separate religion from the state, who separate religion from worldly life. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has made the world a farm for the Hereafter. As I said exactly, wealth is a means to obey Allah (Mighty and Majestic), a means, and any means. It is not hidden from all those present, if Allah wills, when the poor among them gathered and discussed their condition and sent a representative from among them to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: "O Messenger of Allah, the people of wealth have taken the rewards. They pray as we pray, they fast as we fast, they perform Hajj as we perform Hajj, and they give charity while we do not give charity." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So the messenger ran back to the poor, rejoicing and delighted, to convey to them the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And soon the messenger of the poor returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to say: "O Messenger of Allah, the rich have heard what you said to us, and they have done what we did." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: But it is not permissible for a student of knowledge to rely on others or to take as an example that which is narrated that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, whenever he entered the mosque and found him standing in prayer, would say to him: "Whenever I enter, I find you here. Do you not strive for sustenance? You know that the sky does not rain gold or silver." So, a student of knowledge should not rely on others or depend on them, but rather he should strive himself to be a provider for others, not to be one who is provided for by others. Here it is appropriate to cite an example from a story told about one of those called the ascetic Sufis, whose custom was that they would go out, claiming to rely on Allah, but in reality they relied on the rich. They would go out as ascetics, traveling and crossing deserts and wastelands, claiming to humble themselves and train their souls. They claimed that one of them went out one day and traveled as much as he wished until he was exhausted by fatigue. He climbed a hill and looked out from it at a ruined, dilapidated house. He saw something amazing: he saw there a blind, crippled dog, and a lion. From time to time, the lion would come and offer this dog food, a piece of meat, perhaps hunted from the wild, and this lion would bring a bone with meat on it for this dog, and the dog would eat. This man thought to himself, supporting his claimed Sufism and asceticism, and said: "What Allah willed! Why do these scholars say that you must take the means and rely on the Lord of Lords? This is our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) who has appointed this one to feed this dog. And your sustenance is in the sky, and what you are promised." He said he then heard a voice from within him saying to him: "Be a lion, and do not be a dog" (he laughs). Similarly, they tell about another who went out like this, wandering, until he was about to die of thirst and hunger. His eyes fell upon a village in the distance, so he headed toward it. It was Friday, so he entered the mosque early and hid himself under the pulpit, claiming to rely on Allah, wanting not to draw anyone's attention to him, because doing so would break his claimed reliance. The people began to gather, and the preacher gave the sermon to them, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) led them in prayer, and he performed the Sunnah prayers, and they began to leave. When the man felt that the mosque was almost empty and that no one had noticed him, he had no choice but to clear his throat. One of those present there said: "What is that strange sound? No one is left in the mosque." They searched for him, and when they found him, he was like a chick, poor, weak, and faint, about to die of hunger and thirst. So they took him out and helped him, and so on. They asked him: "Who are you, O man?" He said: "I am one who relies on Allah." They said to him: "If you truly relied on Allah, you would not have cleared your throat" (he laughs). The point is that Islam came with the good of this world and the Hereafter. So it is good for the Muslim to realize the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): The upper hand is the giving hand, and in Arabic dialect, it is the "manṭiyyah" instead of the "mu'tiyyah"; the upper hand is the "manṭiyyah," and the lower hand is the taking hand. In fact, I emphasize, specifically regarding this time, that a student of knowledge must have a profession and a craft in his hand, and not strive as the majority of students of knowledge do now. This compromises their sincerity in seeking knowledge when they seek it, and the majority of them intend by that to get a job, becoming, for example, in Syrian expression, if he hits the "Alawiyyah" level, he becomes a judge or a mufti; if he goes down a little, he becomes a clerk for the mufti, or finally, any employee in any position in the government. This is reliance on other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and it compromises the sanctity of knowledge and the sanctity of knowledge and its virtue, in which a student of knowledge must be sincere to his Lord (Mighty and Majestic), because knowledge is one of the greatest acts of worship. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: "And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, being sincere to Him in religion." So, if a student of knowledge seeks knowledge and does not have a profession or a craft in his hand, that means he is relying on the job. And the job, as we said at the beginning of this session, is a shackle around the neck of the student of knowledge. And so you will find that most preachers and most teachers are not free in their ideas, in their speech, in their preaching, because they are bound by the system established by the senior official. And the senior official in the Waqf (endowments) cannot go beyond the law established in any country of the Muslim lands in all his actions. So, what you did, O Abu Islam, is the good. And you must advise others and insist on advising them to combine knowledge with a profession. This is what relates to the texts I alluded to in the introduction. As for the examples, past and present, there is no imam among the imams of the Muslims who is cited as an example who did not have a profession; he had a profession, he had a job. Abu Hanifah, they say, for example, was a cloth merchant. Al-Shafi'i, and I forgot what his profession was, perhaps some of you remember that. And so, all the previous imams did not rely on the state, because if they relied on the state, it would mean they placed a shackle around their necks. So they were free, and therefore they had the boldness to speak the word of truth, and no one would take them to task for the sake of Allah. And I am pleased with this on this occasion, because it is a witness to what I am saying—and peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah—one of the scholars of the Hanbali school, known as Abu 'Abdullah ibn Battah, it is narrated from him that he considered the customary standing up for people to be forbidden. That is, if a man entered, the seated people would stand up for him, especially if he was from the people of knowledge and virtue and age. He considered that this standing up was not permissible. So he went out one day to the market and passed by a scholar sitting in his shop. Here is the point: when the scholar saw Ibn Battah, Abu 'Abdullah, he stood up for him in his shop out of reverence and respect. This is the point, and what indicates his knowledge is that first, he knows the fiqh of Ibn Battah regarding this standing up and that he dislikes it, and second, that he improvises poetry, saying to him spontaneously:
Do not blame me for standing up, for my right is clear when it appears that there is no hope of standing.
You are the most noble of creation in my eyes, and it is the truth that I honor the noble ones.
Ibn Battah, like the common scholars, does not master poetry nor does he engage in poetry; what he has of knowledge is sufficient for him. Therefore, he does not know how to respond in verse. But his companion was a poet and a jurist under the guidance of his Shaykh, Ibn Battah. So Ibn Battah said to him: "Answer for me in the meter and rhyme that he started with." So he said to him immediately:
If you were not, I would not miss you, seeing my right and showing great respect.
So you have the merit in advancing and in knowledge, and we do not want you to be reserved.
So forgive me now for this standing of yours first, for I will reward you with standing for standing.
And I hate that greatly, for in it there is flattery and sins.
Do not force your brother to receive you with what by which the forbidden is made lawful.
And if our hearts are sincere, we are content with not tiring our bodies.
We are all confident in the affection of our brother, so why are we agitated and for what?
This is how the scholars of the past used to combine knowledge with a profession. Therefore, it is a disgrace for students of knowledge to mock you for your free work, and the opposite is the correct view.

The questioner: May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : And in you, and on the occasion of standing, I mention an anecdote. We had a friend, may Allah have mercy on him, in Damascus named Hamdi 'Ubayd. He was the owner of a large library in Damascus called the Hashimi Arab Library.

Another questioner : Where is its location in Damascus?

The Shaykh : May Allah keep the fire away from you.

Another questioner : At Abu Ahmad's.

The Shaykh : This is a district called al-Hariqah in our region of the Levant. The French, during the time of the Syrian revolution, shelled it with cannons and burned it, so it was named al-Hariqah. Later, the buildings were renewed there, and the name stuck to it. The point is that this Hamdi 'Ubayd has brothers, and praise be to Allah, he responded to the call of truth, the Salafi call. And naturally, I used to frequent this library in the beginning of my scholarly journey. I was in my profession, and this example we are presenting to your group is that...The Shaykh : My hours, and until now, I work on many, many things at home. Perhaps I rarely need to bring in a person as long as I am able to do it myself.

Another questioner : May Allah give you health.

The Shaykh : Yes, and for example, this friend of ours helps us a lot in what we are dealing with. But I think he does not know that the chair that is here outside was previously here. But when it was hindering us because when we take a book, it needs to be moved, and that requires strength, so...The Shaykh : He no longer had that strength, so we took it out from here and put it there in the living room. Then I thought that I need this chair because when people like our brothers come now, we have to move chairs, and this moving may tire us or tire others. So we must combine bringing benefit and repelling harm. Bringing benefit: this chair must be returned here. But this blocks the books behind the chair. So we must install wheels. Look at the installed wheels. This is Al-Albani's installation. Of course, I do not have a carpenter, I do not have such things. So I plan and specify, and this brother, may Allah reward him with good, directed us to a blacksmith. We went to him and said, "Do this, cut this, measure this, and so on." I bought the wheels and we brought them. We put them here. We pushed them. Now, if we want to take a book, with a simple push, the wheel moves. A student of knowledge must not need people for anything if possible. But what cannot be achieved is not left entirely. So when I first started seeking knowledge, I did not have a library. I used to suffice with the books I needed and could not afford financially from the Zahiriyyah Library. You know my residence there. But sometimes some books are not found in the Zahiriyyah Library, despite its size. So I would frequent some old libraries, including this one. And with frequenting, one must perform the duty of da'wah. This Hamdi responded to the Salafi call, following the Book and the Sunnah. And he knew that this standing means, at the very least, that it is disliked. So the point is, he told me the following story, and here is the lesson and the anecdote. He says: "They invited us to a large banquet. We sat and they seated us in the front rows. He says: 'We had not yet settled when a rumor spread that such-and-such a prince is coming.' The chairs were like this, the big door is here. Eyes turned, and the prince entered. We stood up and remained standing until the prince sat down."