Counsel in Fours

Counsel in Fours



The Messenger of Allah (swt) said to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (ra) “O Abu Dharr! *Mend the ship for the sea is deep, *take all of the provisions for the journey is long, “lighten the load for the obstacles are difficult. *and make sincere your actions for the Critic is All-Seeing.”

A poet said:
*It is an obligation (fard) upon people to repent (make tawbah) * but leaving sins is even more of an obligation.
*Patience (sabr) in the midst of hardships is difficult to bear
*but losing the opportunity for reward (thawab) is more difficult to bear *Time is indeed perplexing in the way it passes. *Yet people’s heedlessness (ghaflah) is even more perplexing. *everything that is due to arrive is indeed close, *Yet death (al-mawt) is closer than everything else.


A sage said: “Four things are good but four others are even better
*Hayaa (Chastity) is good in men, but in women it is even better
*Adl (justice) is good in lay people, but in umara’ (rulers) it is even better
*Tawbah (repentance) by an old man is good, but by a young man it is even better;
*and Sakhawah(generosity) by the rich is good, but by the poor it is even better”.

A wise man said,”Four things are bad but four others are even worse
*sinning is bad from a young man, but from an old man it is even worse
*busying oneself with the dunya is bad from an ignorant person, but from a scholar it is even worse;
*laziness in fulfilling religious obligations is bad from laymen, but from scholars and students of knowledge it is even worse;
*and kibr (pride) is bad from the rich, but from the poor it is even worse.’

Abu Bakr al-siddiq (ra) said, “Four things are completed by four others *a prayer with the two prostrations of forgetfulness (sajdatay al-sahwi), *fasting (of Ramadan) with sadaqat al-fitr (alms given at the end of Ramadan), *Hajj with Qurban (sacrificial slaughter),*and iman (faith) with jihad.

‘Abdullah ibn al-mubarak said,
*the one who prays twelve rak’ahs everyday has fulfilled the right of prayer
*the one who fasts three days every month has fulfilled the right of fasting;
*the one who recites one hundred verses everyday has fulfilled the right of the Qur’an;
*and the one who gives a dirham in charity every Friday has fulfilled the right of charity.”


‘Umar (ra) said, “There are four types of oceans
*Hawa (passion) is the ocean of dhunub (sins)
*the nafs is the ocean of desires,
*mawt (death) is the ocean of lives,
*and the qabr (grave) is the ocean of nadamat (regrets).”