بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Why is it that some students love for people to sit under them and don’t want to be the one seated and have expectations that they must be given a position. Even if it be handed to them from Ahlul Bidah?
Abdullah bin Muhayriz (from the Tabi’īn) said: "I accompanied Fudālah bin Ubayd, May Allāh be pleased with him, the companion of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ). I said to him:
'Advise me, may Allāh have mercy upon you.' He said: 'Memorise three characteristics from me, may Allāh benefit you with them. If you are able to know and not be known, then do so. If you are able to listen and not speak, then do so. If you are able to sit (in the circles of knowledge) and not have people come to you to sit, then do so.'"(1)
Abu Bakr Al-Marūthī (d. 275H) said:
"Imaām) Ahmad bin Hanbal (d.241H) said to me: 'Tell Abdul Wahhāb [al-Warrāq (d. 251H)]: (Prefer to) have no fame, for indeed, I have become trialled with fame.'" (2)
Look at the status of Sufyān Ath-Thawrī (d.161H):
Sufyān Ath-Thawrī was an imam of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jamā'ah. It was said about him:
"The people of Hadith are three, Abdullah ibn Abbās (d.68H) in the era of the Sahābah, Ash-Sha’bi (d.100H) in the era of the Tabi’ūn, and Sufyān (Ath-Thawrī) in the era of the Atbā' at-Tabi’īn." (3)
Sufyān Bin 'Uyaynah (d.191H) said to Imām Ahmad:
"You will never with your eyes see the likes of Sufyān Ath-Thawrī up until you die." (4)
Yet look at how Ath-Thawrī saw himself:
Khalfah bin Tamīm (d. 213H) said:
"I saw Ath-Thawrī in Makkah, and many had gathered around him. So he said: 'Indeed to Allāh we belong. I fear that Allāh will cause this ummah to be in a state of loss, when the people are in need of the likes of me.'" (5)
And he said:
"If it was not that I saw it as something lowly, I would live amongst a people who did not know me." (6)
And he likewise said:
"Safety is in not loving to be known!" (7)
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• (1) Hilyah al-Awliyah 5/141
• (2) Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 11/226
• (3) Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 7/240
• (4) Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 7/238
• (5) Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 7/275
• (6) Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 7/275
• (7) Siyar A’lam An-Nubala 7/258
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