Source: Fiqh al-Awlawiyyat by Yusuf al-Qaradhawi. Second impression 1996. Maktabah al-Wahbah, Cairo.

“Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned the verse: "Do not follow what you do not know" (Quran 17:36) as evidence for rejecting and prohibiting imitation, and he said: "Imitation is separate from knowledge, by the consensus of the people of knowledge." And in his I`laam al-Muwaqqi`een he stated more than eighty viewpoints toward proving imitation to be an invalid practice and countering the misconceptions of its supporters.

Yusuf al-Qaradhawi

“And the sickness that many of those who have worked in the field of religion is this: They stayed on the surface and didn't dive to its depths, because they didn't have the necessary qualifications to swim in it and find its pearls. So appearances distracted them from the secrets and the purposes, and the branches took away their attention from the principles, and they presented the religion of Allah and the rules of its shariah as scattered groups without anything unifying them and without relating the rulings to purposes and end goals, and so the shariah ended up appearing on their tongues and pencils as if it was deficient at attaining what's beneficial to the creation. But the deficiency is not in the shariah, rather it is in their understanding.

Yusuf al-Qaradhawi

“You never speak to a group of people something (religious) they do not understand, except that it will become a cause of fitna (trials, confusion and misunderstanding) to some of them.

Abdullah ibn Masud

“The Prophet (saw) meant that we should be kind to those who are close to becoming Muslim, and to not make things difficult on them at the beginning. The same is true for discouraging people from sins, it should be done gradually, for when something is easy at the beginning, it will become beloved to those entering it, and they will easily take it to heart, and it often leads to an increase (in devotion) rather than a decrease.

al-Hafiz ibn Hajar al-Asqalani

“Ibn al-Musayyib, the preeminent tabi`i, rarely gave a fatwa without saying: "O God! Please make me safe, and make people safe from me!"

Ibn al-Musayyib

“Whoever gives fatwas (definitive answers) to every (religious) question people put to him is indeed a mad man. (i.e. people should acknowledge their limits of knowledge rather than behaving like they know everything)

Ibn Abbas

“The one who acts without knowledge is like a wayfarer without a way, and such a person ruins more than he fixes. Therefore seek knowledge, in a way that doesn't harm your worship, and seek worship, in a way that doesn't harm your knowledge seeking, for there was a nation that sought worship and neglected knowledge, until they went out with their swords against the ummah (nation) of Muhammad peace be upon him. Had they sought knowledge, it wouldn't have led them to what they did.

al-Hasan al-Basri

“When God intends good for someone He gives Him knowledge of the deen (religion).

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“Imam al-Bukhari titled a chapter in the Knowledge volume of his collection of sahih traditions "Knowledge Before Words and Deeds". The scholars who explained al-Bukhari's works say that by using this title he wanted to show that knowledge is a condition for the correctness of speech and actions, for these two cannot be judged without it, since knowledge is prior to them and determines the correctness of intentions and the correctness of actions. They said: This is what al-Bukhari wanted to say, so that it does not occur to people's minds--due to the common saying that knowledge is useless without action--that knowledge is of little value, and so that they may not neglect the importance of seeking it.

Yusuf al-Qaradhawi

“There is no good in you if you do not say it, and there is no good in us if we do not listen to it. (Umar ibn al-Khattab on advice and criticism directed at rulers and leaders)

Umar ibn al-Khattab

“Abu Ali Al-Fudhail ibn Iyaz was asked about "the best deeds" in "who among you have the best deed" (Quran 11:7). He said: "The best of deeds: the most sincere and most correct." They said: "What are the most sincere and most correct deeds?" He said: "Indeed God does not accept a deed if it is not sincere and correct, for if it is correct but insincere it won't be accepted, and if it is sincere but incorrect it won't be accepted, and sincerity is that the deed is done for Allah, and correctness is that it is upon the sunnah (traditions of the Prophet PBUH).

Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad (Al-Fozail ibn Iyaz)

“Whoever does not leave sinful words and acts [when fasting], God has no need for him to leave his food and drink.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“If you ask God for Paradise, ask Him for al-Firadaws, for it is at the central heights of Paradise, and above it lies the Throne of the Most Gracious.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“It is said about him [Umar ibn al-Khattab] that one day he was sitting with his friends in a large house and he said to his friends: "Make wishes." One of them said: "I wish I had the fill of this house silver dirhams so that I may spend it in the way of Allah." Another wishes that he had gold the fill of the house to spend for the sake of Allah. But Umar said: I wish I had the fill of this house men like Abi Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, Muadh ibn Jabal, and Salim the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifah, so that I may use them in the service of Allah.

Yusuf al-Qaradhawi

“Make things easy for people and not difficult. Give people good news and bring them joy, and do not turn them away.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“Faith is seventy-something categories. The highest in importance is "There is no God except Allah", and the lowest is the removal of harmful things from the road.

This hadith has been reported from Abu Huraira by Bukhari as "Sixty-something", by Muslim as "Seventy-something" and in another place as "Sixty-something", by Turmudhi as "Seventy-something". All of these versions have been reported in Nisaee's al-Iman, and in Abu Dawood's al-Sunnah, and Ibn Majah's al-Muqaddimah.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“The companions of the Prophet were extremely eager and insistent on knowing the best of deeds, so that they could become closer to Allah with these deeds, and for this reason their questions were in great numbers regarding the best among good deeds and the most loved actions to Allah, as in the questions of ibn Mas`ud, Abi Dhar, and others, and the Prophet's answer to their questions. For this reason in ahadith (the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) we read a lot of "the best of deeds is…" and "the most beloved deeds to Allah is this and this."

Yusuf al-Qaradhawi

“The most thieving among people: Those who steal their salah, not finishing its ruku`s and sujoods properly, and the most miserly of people: those who do not reply to a salam.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“I've never seen an act of israf [extravagance, wastefulness, or immoderacy and extremism], except with somebody's rights getting trampled beside it.

Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa`

“And I have seen sincere Muslim youth who studied at colleges of medicine, engineering, agriculture, or literature, or at other liberal arts and scientific colleges, and who were doing well and even very well, but then left to dedicate themselves to the work of dawah [calling people to Islam] and guiding others, even though their work in their specialties are of the foroodh al-kifayah [jobs that are obligatory on a certain percentage of every Muslim community according to Islamic law, for example every Muslim community should have enough physicians, engineers, etc.], jobs that if not done the entire community is harmed, even though they can make of their specialties an `ibadah (good deed) and jihad if done properly, with the right intent, and with regard to Allah's laws.

And if every Muslim left his or her job today then what would happen to Muslim interests? The Prophet ﷺ was sent when his Companions worked at various occupations, and he never asked anyone of them to leave his job to dedicate himself to dawah.

Yusuf al-Qaradhawi

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