Allaah did not raise the status of [‘Abdullaah] Ibn al-Mubaarak except for the secret hoard [of his righteous deeds] he had.
Tag: sincere
Therein is iniquity
It used to be said: ‘For him whose secret hoard [of deeds] is superior to his open hoard [of deeds] – therein is much excellence; and for him whose secret hoard [of deeds] are worse than his open hoard [of deeds] – therein is iniquity.
A secret hoard of righteous deeds
They would yearn that a man [from amongst them] would have a secret hoard of righteous deeds that neither his wife nor any other would know about.
Never once saw him praying a voluntary prayer
I accompanied Muhammad ibn Aslam for more than 20 years, and never once saw him praying a voluntary prayer except on the day of Jumu’ah; [I understood why, when] I once heard him saying: ‘If I was able to pray a voluntary prayer such that my two angels could not see me, I would have done so – out of fear of showing off’.
The sincere and humble Shaykh
May Allaah have mercy upon whoever indicates to me a mistake or defect of mine; for certainly, from that which is easy for me – by the Permission of Allaah – is to retract my mistakes once the error has been pointed out to me.
Sincere in his worship
If any member of the household entered upon ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Abee Laylaa while he was [standing the night] praying, he would immediately jump into bed [out of humility, and remaining sincere in his worship to Allaah, and being far removed from showing off].
Lower our gazes
‘Indeed, the first thing we shall start with on this day of ours is to lower our gazes.’
How many beautiful women did you look at today?
‘Woe be to you! I did not look at anything other than my two thumbs from the moment I left [home], until I returned back [home] to you.’
Leading the prayer
The time for prayer entered upon a group of scholars; So it was said to one of them to lead [the prayer], but he declined.
Answering the call to prayer
If the call to prayer was made and Ibraaheem ibn Maymoon al-Marwazee had raised his hammer, he would not strike with it (i.e. he would immediately stop work), [and instead go and answer the call to prayer].