Some of our Salaf's Quotes on Hereafter...

It is reported that Ya’lā bin ‘Ubayd said,

“We entered upon Ibn Sūqah, who said: ‘O nephew, let me relate to you something that will hopefully benefit you; for it benefited me. ‘Atā b. Abī Rabāh once said to us:’” Those before you used to consider idle talk to be anything other than the Book of Allāh, or the enjoining of good, or the forbidding of evil, or speaking for the sake of your basic living needs. Do you deny that there are recording angels appointed over you? Sitting on your right and your left? Never is a word said except there is an observer prepared to record? Are you not afraid (ashamed) that your record of words and deeds be spread open only to discover that there is nothing of the hereafter in it?"

[Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 5:86]

It is reported that Mu’āwiyah b. Qurrah said:

"Those who will be taken to account most on the Day of Resurrection are those who were healthy and unoccupied."

[Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-’Ilm 4:152]

It is reported that ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib said:

"Mention what you will of the greatness of Allāh, but Allāh is greater than anything you say. And mention what you will of the Fire, but it is more severe than anything you say. And mention what you will of Paradise, but it is better than anything you say."

[Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-’Ilm article 853]

It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī said:

"How strange it is that a people whose departure (from this world to the next) has been announced, and whose predecessors have already departed, still play around!"

[Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-’Ilm article 843]

It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī once said during the funeral of a man: 

"May Allāh have mercy on the man who works for the likes of this day; for today you are able to do what these brothers of yours, the residents of these graves, cannot do. So make full use of your health and free time before the day of distress and accounts comes upon you."

[Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dhamm Al-Dunyā article 53]

It is reported that Yūnus bin ‘Ubayd said:

"I only liken the worldly life (dunyā) to a man who, whilst sleeping, sees in his dream things he likes and things he does not like. Then he wakes up (the world ends and the next life starts)."

[Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dham Al-Dunyā article 21]

It is reported that ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas’ūd said:

"This world (the dunyā) is [only taken as] a home by those who will have no real home [in Jannah], and it is the wealth of those who will have no real wealth, and it is gathered and collected for by those who have no real intelligence."

[Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Dhamm Al-Dunyā article 16]

It is reported that Khâlid b. Ma’dân said:

"There is not a person except he has four eyes: two in his head with which he sees the matters of this worldly life, and two in his heart with which he looks to the matters of the hereafter. So if Allâh wants good for his servant, He opens his heart’s eyes, and so he perceives what he has been promised in the unseen world. Thus he is saved from the unseen [punishment] through the unseen [reward for the obedient]."

[Al-Dhahabî, Siyar A’lâm Al-Nubalâ` 4:543]

It is reported that ‘Awn ibn ‘Abdillâh said:

"Those before you used to give to their worldly affairs what was left over from their pursuit of the hereafter. But today, you give to the matters of the hereafter the left-overs from your pursuit of worldly affairs."

[Abû Nu’aym, Hilyat Al-Awliyâ` 10:242]

It is reported that Imâm Al-Awzâ’î said:

"At the time of Fajr, or a while before it, the Salaf would be as if birds were sitting on their heads: (still ) concentrating on themselves [and their worship], so much so that even if one of their closest friends came to them after having been parted from them, they would not notice him. They would remain in this state until just before sunrise. Then, they would meet each other and sit in the circles. The first thing they would discuss is the matter of their afterlife and what would become of them in the hereafter. Then they would begin the circles of Quran and Fiqh study."

[Ibn ‘Asâkir, Târîkh Dimishq 35:184, 185]

It is reported that Wuhayb b. Al-Ward said:

"Verily, when Allâh the Exalted wants to honor a servant of His (for his righteousness), He afflicts him with a reduced means of living, illness in his body and a fearful life (all of which expiate his sins). Until death comes upon him, and he still has some sins, death is made hard upon him because of them, causing him to meet Allâh with no sins against him.  And when a person is of little value to Allâh (because of his disobedience), He makes his body healthy, broadens his means of living and makes him feel safe (the rewards for any good deeds he did are exhausted). Until death comes upon him, and he still has some good deeds, the experience of death is lightened for him because of them, and he meets Allâh with nothing."

[Abu Bakr Al-Daynûrî, Al-Mujâlasah wa Jawâhir Al-’Ilm article 2865]

It is reported that ‘Alî ibn Abî Tâlib wrote to Salmâm Al-Farsî saying:

"The likeness of this worldly life (dunyâ) is that of a snake: soft to the touch, it will kill you with its poison. So turn away from what impresses you of it, since what stays with you is so little. And do not be concerned about it, since you are certain about its parting. And be most happy in it when you are most heedful of it; for every time its companion takes solace in one of its delights, it gives way to one of its woes. Was-Salâm."

[Ibn Abî Al-Dunyâ, Kitâb Al-Zuhd article 164]

It is reported that ‘Abd Al-Rahmān b. Mahdī said,

“If it were not for the fact I hate that Allah is disobeyed, I would have wished that no one remain in this city except that he had spoken ill of me and backbitten me; for what is nicer than a good deed a man finds in his records on the Day of Resurrection without having done a thing or even having known?”

[Abū Nu’aym, Hilyatu Al-Awliyā` 4:45]

Ibrâhîm Al-Taymî reports from his father that Abû Dharr [Al-Ghifârî] said,

“A person possessing two dirhams will have a harsher reckoning (on the Day of Judgment) than a person who possesses just one dirham, and a person who possesses two dinars will have a harsher reckoning than someone who possesses only one.”

[Ibn Al-Mubârak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqâ`iq article 555. Shaykh Al-Albânî graded this narration’s chain of transmission sahîh is Al-Da’îfah Vol. 8 p117]

It is reported that the last sermon ‘Umar bin ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz delivered was as follows: He praised Allâh and said,

“You were not created in vain, nor will you be left without purpose. Verily, you have an appointed time in which Allâh – the Most High – will come down to judge you. Wretched and ruined will he be who leaves the mercy of Allâh and is denied a Garden whose width is that of the heavens and Earth. Know you not that no one will be safe tomorrow save one who is wary of today and fears it; and sells the transitory for what will remain, and the little for the plenty, and fear in exchange for security [in the hereafter]? See you not that you are in the loins of the dead, to be taken by those who remain after you, until all matters return to the Best of Inheritors? Every day, [in the funerals] you accompany those returning to Allâh the Mighty and Sublime, having spent their time, until you hide them in a crevice in the ground, in the belly of a bare and unfurnished hole, having parted from their loved ones, stroking the dirt and facing their accounts. Now, they are dependent on their deeds, free of what they left behind, in need of [the deeds] they put before them. So fear Allâh before the time He appointed is up and death descends upon you. This is what I have to say.” He then lifted the edge of his garment over his face and wept profusely, and made everyone around him weep.

[Abû Bakr Al-Daynûrî, Al-Mujâlasah wa Jawâhir Al-‘Ilm Vol. 3 p343]

It is reported that Abû Ayyûb Al-Ansârî said,

“A person might do a single good deed, rely on it and forget sins that he regards insignificant, but then meet Allâh (on the Day of Judgment) with those sins surrounding him. And a man might commit a sin, but never stop fearing its consequences, until he meets Allâh safe and sound.”

[Al-Hâfidh Ibn Hajr, Fath Al-Bârî, references this narration to Asad b. Mûsâ’s Al-Zuhd. A slightly different wording is reported by Ibn Al-Mubârak in Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqâ`iq Vol.1 p170]

It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrî often used to say,

“O youth! Seek the hereafter, for we often see people pursuing the hereafter and finding it as well as the dunyâ (worldly wellbeing), but we have never seen anyone pursue the dunyâ and gain the hereafter as well as the dunyâ.”

[Al-Bayhaqî, Al-Zuhd Al-Kabîr, article 12]

It is reported from the famous worshipper Râbi’ah that she said:

"I have never heard the adhân except that I remember the caller who will announce the Day of Resurrection, and I never see the falling snow except that I imagine the flying pages of the records of peoples deeds (on that day), and I never see swarms of locusts except that I think about the Great Gathering on the Last Day."

[Ibn Al-Jawzî, Sifah Al-Safwah Vol. 2 p433]

It is reported from ‘Alî bin Abî Tâlib that he said:
"The thing I fear for you most is following desires and having extensive hopes (about this worldly life). Following one’s desires blocks you from the truth, and having extensive hopes makes you forget the hereafter. Verily, this worldly life is departing and the hereafter is approaching and each of them has its children. So be children of the hereafter, not children of this world, for today there are (opportunities to do) deeds and there is no reckoning, but tomorrow there will be reckoning and no deeds."

[Quoted by Al-Bukhârî, Al-Sahîh, The Book of Raqâ`iq without the first sentence. Reported in its entirety by Abû Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyâ` Vol.1 p40, and others]