Scattered Pearls
Selected excerpts from the book
'Scattered Pearls' vol. 1
by Maulana Muhammad Yunus Palanpuri
Translated by Zahra Bainter
Published by Darul-Ishaat, Karachi, Pakistan
The amazing virtues of bidding good and forbidding evil.Sayyidina Anas (r.a.) said: ''Should I not tell you about people who are neither Prophets nor martyrs, but yet, on the Day of Judgement, their rank shall be so exalted that even the Prophets and martyrs will be astonished. They shall be on special pulpits, and they shall easily be recognised.' The Companions said: 'O Messenger of Allah! (s.a.w) Who are those people?' The Noble Prophet (s.a.w) said 'They are those who make Allah's servants dear to Allah, and who make Allah dear to His servants, they walk on the earth well- wisher of everyone.' I said 'I understand how they make Allah dear to His servants, but I can't understand how they make Allah's servants dear to Allah.' The Noble Prophet (s.a.w.) said: 'These people ask others to do such deeds which are dear to Allah, and they stop them from deeds which are disliked by Allah. So if they do deeds which are liked by Allah, then they will become dear to Allah.' '' (Hayatus-Sahabah 2/805)
A handful of dates, which the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.) gave to Sayyidina Abu Hurairah (r.a.) of which he and others ate for 27 years.Sayyidina Abu Hurairah (r.a.) related: ''After accepting Islam, I encountered three calamities, the like of which I never encountered before. One of them was the demise of the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.), for I was one of those people who would always stay with him. The second was the martyrdom of Sayyidina Uthman (r.a.), and the third was the loss of my food container.' The people asked 'O Abu Hurairah, what do you mean by the loss of your food container?' he said: 'Once we were on a journey, when the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.) said to me: 'Oh Abu Hurairah, do you have anything with you?' I said: I have dates in my food container.' He said: 'Bring it here.' I took out the dates and presented them to the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.), who passed his hands over them and prayed to Allah for blessing. Then he told me to call ten people. I called ten people, and they ate to their fill. Then came another group of ten, and another group, until the whole army had eaten to their fill, and yet there were dates left in the food-container. The Noble Prophet (s.a.w) said to me: 'Oh Abu Hurairah, when you want to have dates, then take them out with your hand, do not turn over this container.''
Sayyidina Abu Hurairah (r.a.) further narrated: ''Throughout the life of Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.), I had dates from this container, throughout the life of Sayyidina Abu Bakr (r.a.), I had dates from this container. Throughout the life of Sayyidina Umar (r.a.) I had dates from this container, and throughout the life of Sayyidina Uthman (r.a.) I had dates from this container. Then, when Sayyidina Uthman (r.a.) was martyred, my belongings were stolen too, and so was this food-container. Should I not tell you how many dates I took out from this container? I took out more than two hundred wasq (i.e. camel loads) of dates.'' (Hayatus-Sahabah 3/711)
Sayyidina Umar's (r.a.) questioning Munkar and Nakir in the grave.In one tradition comes that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said: ''By Him who sent me with the truth! Sayyidina Jibril (Angel Gabriel, alayhis salaam) just told me that Munkar and Nakir shall come to you in the grave and ask you: ''Oh Umar, who is your Lord?'' You shall then reply:
''My Lord is Allah, and who is your Lord?
Muhammad (s.a.w.) is my Prophet. Who is your Prophet?
And Islam is my religion. What is your religion?''
These two shall then say: ''How strange, we don't know whether we were sent to you, or you were sent to us.'' '' (Hayatus-Sahabah 3/99)
A most enviable personIt has been related from Sayyidina Abu Umamah (r.a.) that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said: ''The most enviable person among my friends, is such a believer who has the least liabilities (i.e. he does not have a large family or much wealth), he spends much of his time in prayer, and his worship bears the characteristic of Ihsan. He is obedient to Allah, and always conscious of Him. All this he does secretly and in solitude. No one knows who he is, no one points fingers at him. His livelihood barely suffices him, and he is patient and content with whatever he gets.'' Then the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) shipped his fingers (so as to express his amazement). Then he said: ''He dies an early death, and there are only a few women to cry for him, and he leaves behind only little.'' (Musnad Ahmad, Jami Tirmidhi, Sunnah Ibn Majah)
What Sayyidina Abu Ad-Dardaa said to his wife who desired affluenceIt has been related from Sayyidina Um Ad-Dardaa (r.a.) who was the wife of Sayyidina Abu Ad-Dardaa (r.a.) that once she said to her husband: ''Why don't you aspire for affluence and office like others do?'' He said: ''I heard the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) say: 'Ahead of you lies a valley which is indeed difficult to cross. People who have burdened themselves shall not be in a position to go through it easily.' This is why I prefer to remain unburdened, so that I can cross that valley without trouble.''(This is why I do not aspire for affluence and office.) (Baihaqi, Shuib -ul-Iman)
How Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.) exhorted his daughter to be patientSayyidina Usamah bin Zaid (r.a.) narrated that once Sayyidah Zainab (r.a.), the daughter of Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.) sent someone to her father to tell him that her child was about to breathe his last, and she also requested him to come. He conveyed his salaam to her as well as the following message: ''Daughter, no matter what Allah takes from someone, it is His alone, and whatever He gives to someone, it is His alone, and there is an appointed time for everything, so be patient and hope for reward.'' His daughter then again sent someone beseeching him to come, so he and some of his companions, namely Sayyidina Saad bin Ubadah (r.a.), Muadh bin Jabal (r.a.), Ubay bin Kaab (r.a.), Zaid bin Haritha (r.a.) and some other people got up and went there.
The child, whose breath was fast and irregular, was placed in the lap of Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.), who on seeing the child, began to shed tears. Sayyidina Saad bin Ubadah (r.a.) asked ''What is this, O Messenger of Allah?'' he said: ''This is the outcome of the compassion which Allah has kept in the hearts of his bondsmen, and Allah is compassionate only to those who are compassionate to each other.'' (Bukhari and Muslim)
