A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “If a heart is devoid of sadness, it will become desolate.   Just as a house becomes desolate if no one resides in it.”   Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “As much as you grieve for this world, the fear of the Day of Judgement leaves your heart.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a. ) wrote, in Thib ar-Ruhani , that the heart of a person of sound mind cannot be free of sadness, because he remembers his previous sins, therefore becomes saddened, he thinks about his negligence, reflects on what the scholars and the righteous have said, as a result he becomes sad for not taking heed.   Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “If a heart is devoid of sadness, it will become desolate.   Just as a house becomes desolate if no one resides in it.”   Shaykh Ibrahim ibn ‘Isa ( r.a. ) said, “I have not seen a person with as much sadness as al-Hasan; whenever I see him, I assume that he has just recently been afflicted with a trial.”   Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “As much as you grieve for this world, the fear of the Day of Judgement leaves your heart.”   Thus, as it is evident that sadness accompanies the heart of the righteou...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ A man visited Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ), who was sitting by himself.  A dog had sat down next to Shaykh Malik ( q.s. ), and had put its head on one of his knees.  When the visitor made to push the dog away, Shaykh Malik ( q.s. ) said, “Leave him be.  He neither harms nor annoys.  He is better than someone who is wicked.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ It is said that one night, Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ), who was then, the imam of the grand mosque of Baswra, was out late and on his way home.  He heard a man groaning, “Allah, Allah, Allah …”  It came from a drunkard, cuddled in a heap, in an alley.   Shaykh Malik ( q.s. ) wet his handkerchief, and wiped the man’s lips, saying, “The Divine Name should not come from two lips soiled with the impurity of alcohol.  O Allah, Guide this man’s heart.”   That night, Shaykh Malik ( q.s. ) dreamt, and a Voice Said, “You purified his lips for Our sake.  We have Purified his heart for your sake.”   Sometime later, at swubh , Shaykh Malik ( q.s. ) heard a man weeping through the entire prayer.  After the swalah , he heard him supplicate, “My Lord, Tell me, have You Accepted my repentance so that I may celebrate today, or have You Rejected it, so that I may console myself?”   “Who are you?” asked Shaykh...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “If dunya consisted of temporary gold, and the hereafter of eternal sand, then a smart person should choose the eternal sand, and ignore the temporary gold.  I say: Well, then how difficult can our choice really be, when we know that the dunya consists of temporary sand, and the hereafter consists of eternal gold?”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Farid ad-Din ‘Aththar Abu Hamid ibn Abu Bakr Ibrahim (q.s.) wrote, in his Tadzkirat al-Awliya’ , that Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) once went to visit a person who was close to his death.  Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) repeatedly advised him to recite the kalimah shahadah , the testification of faith, but he continued to say, “Ten, eleven!  Ten, eleven!”   When the man was asked as to why he continued to say this, he replied, “There is a mountain of fire in front of me; whenever I try to recite the kalimah shahadah , the mountain of fire approaches to burn me."   Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) then asked people as to what deeds the dying person used to do in the world.  They replied that he was an usurer, and would weigh things dishonestly.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “May Allah ( s.w.t. ) Grant Mercy to a servant who says to his self, ‘Are you not such and such?  Did you no do such and such?’  Then he rebukes it, and puts it in its place, and disciplines it, and restrains it in accordance with the Book of Allah ( s.w.t. ), and becomes its guide and master.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Abu Hatim Muhammad ibn Fayswal at-Tamimi ibn Hibban ( r.a. ) wrote, in Rawdhat al-‘Uqala’ , “It was said to Malik ibn Dinar, ‘There is a dog next to you.’   He replied, ‘Better than a wicked friend next to me.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “It is better for you to transport rocks for the righteous than to eat sweets with the wicked.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “I swear to you, no servant believes in this Qur’an, except that his heart is left aching.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( r.a. ) said, “Avoid every companion who does not bring a righteous benefit to you.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) said, “Start a business of worshipping Allah   ( s.w.t. ) , and all types of profits will come to you without needing any capital.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Muwaffaq ad-Din Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi ( r.a. ), the shaykh of Shaykh Taqi’ ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah ( r.a. ) and the main fiqh authority in the late Hanbali madzhab in his book, Kitab at-Tawwabin , narrated that when Imam Malik ibn Dinar ( q.s. ) was asked regarding the circumstances of his repentance he said the following.   “I was a policeman, and I was given to drinking.  I bought a beautiful slave who gave me a daughter.  I doted over my daughter and when she began to crawl on all fours, I grew even fonder of her.  Whenever I put a strong drink in front of me, she would come to me and pull me away from it, or she would spill it from me.  When she completed two years, she passed.  I became consumed with grief over her loss.   When the night of mid-Sha’ban came - it was the night before Juma’ah - I stayed home and drank.  I did not pray the ...