The greatest test for good manners is one’s relationship with his relatives, because everyone can act like he has good manners with those distant (non-relatives).
أعظم اختبار لحُسن الخلق هو العلاقة مع الأقربين، لأن كل أحد يستطيع تصنّع الخُلُق مع الأبعدين
Shaykh Tarefe
Allah did not create the human intellect to disable it, and the revelation did not come down for the intellect to be given precedence over it. Use your intellect but do not use it to oppose He who created you and created your intellect.
لم يخلق الله عقل الإنسان ليُعطلِّه، ولم ينزل الوحي ليقدَّم العقل عليه، استخدم عقلك لكن لا تعارض به من خلقك وخلق عقلك
Shaykh Tarefe
Prolonged thinking does not benefit a person who follows his whims; he thinks he is looking for proofs for the truth, while in reality he is looking for proofs for his whims. Allah said about one of the heads of the disbelievers of Quraysh:
{ إِنَّهُ فَكَّرَ وَقَدَّرَ * فَقُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ }
“Indeed, he thought and deliberated. So may he be destroyed for how he deliberated.” [Al-Muddaththir 74:18-19]
طول التفكير لا ينفع صاحب الهوى، يظن أنه يبحث أدلةً للصواب وهو يبحث أدلةً لهواه، قال الله عن أحد رؤوس كفار قريش (إنه فكر وقدّر فقتل كيف قدر)
Shaykh Tarefe
A person is not taken to account for his thinking of committing sins until he acts. However, getting carried away in such thoughts drags the soul: first he stays away, then he hesitates, then he accepts, then he acts, then he bears sin. In order to prevent your feet from taking any steps, cut off the footsteps of your thoughts.
لا يؤاخذ الإنسان بتفكيره بالسيئات حتى يعمل ولكن الاسترسال بالتفكير يجر النفس: نفرة فتردد فقبول فعمل فإثم وحتى لا تخطو القدم اقطع خطى التفكير
SHAYKH TAREFE
When looking at the Qur’ān and Sunnah, one must seek what Allah intends, not what the inner-self desires. If a person was to search for what he desires, he would find it even in the Qur’ān, then attribute his desires to Allah!
يجب عند النظر في القرآن والسنة التماس ما يريده الله لا ما تهواه النفس، فإن الإنسان إذا بحث عما يهواه وجده حتى في القرآن، ثم ينسب هواه لله !
Shaykha Tarefe
Whoever does not recognize the capacity of his ignorance will be deceived by his knowledge. The most arrogant of those who learn are those who learn and then stop, while the most humble of them are those who continue in learning because they are ashamed at their ignorance that has no end.
من لم يعرف مساحة جهله اغتر بعلمه، وأكثر المتعلمين كِبراً من تعلّم وتوقف وأكثرهم تواضعاً من استمر في التعلّم لأنه يستحي من جهله الذي لا ينتهي
Shaykh Tarefe
If Shayṭān fails to make a person fall into riyā’ (showing-off), he makes him fall into self-admiration, to the extent that he does good without anyone seeing him and then becomes admired by it and looks down on those who are not like him!
إذا عجز الشيطان عن إدخال الرياء على الإنسان أدخل عليه العُجْب بنفسه، حتى يفعل الخير لا يراه أحد فيُعجب به ويحتقر الذين لم يكونوا مثله !
A faker is the most self-contradicting of people in his words and principles. His conviction doesn’t mean to him as much as the satisfaction of people does. He continues thinking that he is gaining their (hearts), while in reality he is only proving to them his self-contradiction.
المتصنّع أكثر الناس تناقضاً في الأقوال والمبادىء، لا تعنيه قناعته بقدر ما يعنيه رضا الناس عنه، يستمر ويتوهّم أنه يكسبهم وهو يبرهن لهم تناقضه
Shaykh Tarefe
Most people change as they get older, because having long hopes affect one’s convictions, whereas one who shortens his hopes sees things for what they really are.
أكثر الناس إذا كبروا تغيّروا، لأن طول الأمل يؤثر على القناعات، وإذا قصر الأمل رأى الأشياء على حقيقتها
Among the greatest forms of Tawakkul (reliance on Allah) is frequently remembering Him, for frequently remembering something is evidence of the heart’s attachment to it, and no one attaches himself except one who is in need. Whoever frequently remembers Allah will be sufficed by Him.
من أعظم صور التوكل على الله الإكثار من ذكره، فإن الإكثار من ذكر الشيء دليل على تعلّق القلب به ولا يتعلق إلا محتاج، ومن أكثر من ذكر الله كفاه
Shaykh Tarefe
HOW to LIVE the BEST LIFE. 