The Poem that made Imaam Ahmad (رحمه الله) Cry

إذا ما قال لي ربي ..... أما استحييت تعصيني                               
وتخفي الذنب عن خلقي .. وبالعصيان تأتيني                                                                       

If my Lord asks me
“Have you no shame in disobeying Me?
You hide your faults from My creation
yet full of sin you come to Me.”

فكيف أجيب يا ويحي .. ومن ذا سوف يحميني

So what will I answer? O’ Woe to me,
and who shall protect me do you see?

أسلي النفس بالآمال .. من حين إلى حين

I keep forestalling my soul
with thoughts of hope from time to time

وأنسى ما وراء الموت .. ماذا بعد تكفيني

And forgetting what is to come after death,
and after I am warped in the sheets of the dead

"....... How does one humiliate oneself ? "

Imaam Ahmad recorded that Hudhayfah said that the Prophet [sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam] said:

لاَ يَنْبَغِي لِمُسْلِمٍ أَنْ يُذِلَّ نَفْسَهُ

“It is NOT required of the Muslim that he humiliates himself.”

They said, “How does one humiliate himself?”

He [sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam] said:

يَتَعَرَّضُ مِنَ البَلاَءِ لِمَا لا يُطِيقُ

“He takes on trails that he is NOT capable of enduring!”


Recorded by Ahmad 5:1405, this was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi & Ibn Majah & At-Tirmidhi said, “This hadith is Hasan Sahih Gharib.” In Tuhfat Al-Ahwadhi 6:531, Ibn Majah 2:1332

Imaam Ahmed was asked: How are you today?

 

 

It was related from Al-Marroodhee that he asked (Al-Imaam) Ahmad:

How are you today (lit. How is your morning)?

He replied: 

How can one’s day be while he is required by his Lord to perform obligatory acts of worship?

(How can one’s day be while) his Prophet is calling him to practice the Sunnah?

(How can one’s day be while) two angels are requiring from him to correct his deeds?

(How can one’s day be while) his nafs urges him to follow its desires?

(How can one’s day be while) Iblees is beckoning him to commit all types of indecent, evil deeds?

(How can one’s day be while) the Angel of Death is observing him (waiting) to take his soul?

(How can one’s day be while) his dependents are asking him to provide them with maintenance?

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Taken from Siyaar A'laamin Nubalaa by Al-Imaam adh-Dhahaabee; volume 11/227

Translated by Dawud Adib

Impossibility of Adequate Gratitude

 

 "Oh Allaah, do not demand from us that we thank You adequately for the Blessings You give to us...”

Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal

[Manaqib Al-Imam Ahmad by ibn al-Jawzi, pp. 394-395]

The Truth Shines Forth

 Imaam Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahhaab (Rahimahullaah)

 

“Know first that if the truth shines forth & is clear, it is not harmed by the large numbers who oppose it & the small numbers who agree with it. You know how some aspects of Tawheed have become strange, although they are clearer than the prayer & fasting; & that [strangeness] does not harm it at all.”

Source:  Muallifaat al-Shaykh al-Imaam Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, vol. 3,

 section on  Fatawa, p. 88.