Ibn Baaz and the Weak

Wafaa Muhammad al-Baaz said, “I asked that woman from Kosovo who called up to give condolences after Shaikh Ibn Baaz passed away, ‘How do you know Shaikh Ibn Baaz?’ So she said, ‘How can I not know him when my expenditure used to come from him.’”

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 183.

A Day in the Life of a Scholar: Imaam Ibn Baaz

Shaikh Muhammad al-Musaa said, “Once when we were in Makkah, the Shaikh was called to participate in a da’wah gathering in Jeddah by someone dear to him, and he insisted that his eminence be present immediately after maghrib prayer, so the Shaikh said, ‘Good, inshaa Allaah.’

When the Shaikh prayed maghrib he felt it difficult upon himself to leave his established sitting with the people from maghrib to Ishaa, so he said, ‘We won’t go now and leave the people.  I have to sit with them up until Ishaa and tend to their needs and their demands,’ so he remained with them [in his house].

Then the mu’adhhin pronounced the call to prayer for ishaa and he went to the mosque, and delivered his regular [short] lesson before ishaa [i.e., between the iqaamah and the adhaan] and answered some questions.  Then he prayed ishaa and headed to Jeddah, and he was overjoyed and pleased at having sat with the people and not having left them behind.

[When he got to Jeddah] he listened to a detailed explanation of the da’wah project and its activities and then entered the lecture hall which was teeming with people and listened to all of the speeches and poetry that was read.  He then gave a lecture and after that had dinner and returned to Makkah.

On our way to Jeddah and back to Makkah, I, Dr. ash-Shuwai’ir, and the brother Saalih took turns to read to him, with not a single minute wasted.

When we got to his house in Makkah it was midnight and it was from the Shaikh’s habits to stand to pray the night prayer at about three in the morning.  He would always wake me and Shaikh Abdul-Aziz ibn Naasir, wake us for the night prayer so that we could have our share of [prayer during] the night.  So this time [it having been a long day] we were sure that he would not wake up and would leave us to sleep.  Yet the set time for him to stand to pray hadn’t come except that he was there waking us up to stand for the night prayer.

He continued to pray, and supplicate and recite until the call to prayer for fajr and then went to the mosque, the al-Qattaan mosque which was next to us, and this was before the Shaikh’s own mosque was built.

The Imaam was late and so Shaikh Ibn Baaz led us in prayer with a voice more beautiful and more humble than which you will not have heard.  When he gave salaam he turned to face the people and thanked Allaah and extolled Him and then gave them a talk.  Upon finishing he went home and we said, ‘The Shaikh is exhausted and has been up all night, maybe he will not sit after fajr.’

He went to his sitting room, put his scarf and hat to the side, sat down and said, ‘Bismillaah.  What do you have?’  So I started to read the requests/matters he had to deal with to him, and I could see comfort, energy and joy in him that would cause one to wonder in amazement. I carried on reading to him until 7:20 a.m. approximately,  and thought that he would thereafter have a long sleep, when instead he said, ‘Set the alarm clock for 8:20.’

So we woke him up at 8:20 a.m. and took him to Raabita al-Aalam al-Islaamiyyah to attend some lengthy symposiums and meetings.  He got home at his regular time of 2:30 pm.

We were all about to fall on our faces out of exhaustion and fatigue but we didn’t notice any of that on him.  May Allaah, the Most High, have mercy on him.”

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 149.

Here is a recording of the Shaikh reciting:

Ibn Baaz and His Driver

The Shaikh’s driver, Shaaheen, said, “There were about three occasions when I was late in getting to the car to take the Shaikh for the morning prayer.  Each time he would smile and not say a single word about my lateness even though he would be standing there waiting by the car before me.  This was how he was with all of his workers, may Allaah have mercy on him, he would never complain about anyone.”

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 199.

Ibn Baaz and the Poor

Dr. Naasir ibn Misfir al-Zahraani said, ‘Two years ago in 1417ah [1996ce], when the Shaikh travelled to Taif from Makkah, he opened his house [to receive guests] as usual, but no guests, or poor or needy people came during the first few days and this pained the Shaikh.

The reason many of them didn’t come was because they didn’t know he had arrived.

So he said to those working with him, ‘What is wrong with the people, why aren’t they coming? Are you preventing them from coming or closing the doors in their faces? What is the reason?’

They replied, ‘O Shaikh, many of them don’t know that you have arrived, and some of them like that you rest during your first few days.’

So he said, ‘Go and tell the people, and inform the neighbours–tell them the Shaikh invites you to come, and that his house is open for you!’

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 172.

A Scholar’s Open Heartedness: Ibn Baaz and the Bottle of Aloeswood Oil [Oud]

Shaikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Hamad said, ‘He was once given a bottle of premium aloeswood oil [Oud] as a gift and then someone asked him for it and the Shaikh happily gave it to him–for he would take pleasure in giving more then he would in receiving.’

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 218.

Ibn al-Qayyim on Repentance and Arrogance

Ibn al-Qayyim said, “Indeed when Allaah intends good for a servant, He strips away sight of his good deeds from his heart, and their mention from his tongue, and causes him to become preoccupied with his sins, and they continue to be before his eyes until he enters Paradise. For indeed, those actions which have been accepted–the sight of them is removed from the heart and their remembrance from the tongue.

And one of the Salaf said, ‘Indeed the servant commits a mistake by which he enters Paradise.  And he performs a good deed by which he enters the Fire.’

They said, ‘How so?’

He said, ‘He commits a mistake and so it remains before his eyes.  When he recalls it he regrets it, resigns [himself to] and earnestly implores Allaah, and hastens to erase it, and he becomes broken and humble before his Lord, and his self-amazement and arrogance disappears.  And he will perform a good deed and it will remain before his eyes, he sees it and uses it as a favour, and becomes self-conceited because of it, becomes arrogant because of it, until he enters the Fire.’”

Ar-Risaalah at-Tabukiyyah, vol. 1, p. 74.

Ibn al-Qayyim on An Easy, Beneficial Gift

Ibn al-Qayyim said, “The beneficial gift is a statement a man gifts to his Muslim brother.”

Ar-Risaalah at-Tabukiyyah, vol. 1, p. 74.

One

Explaining the aayah:

“And those who say, ‘Our Lord, grant us from among our wives and offspring comfort to our eyes and make us a leader for the righteous.’” [Furqaan: 25:74]

Ibn al-Qayyim said, ‘And Al-Farraa said, ‘He [i.e., Allaah, the Most High] said, ‘a leader’ and didn’t say, ‘leaders’ in the same way that He said, “[Both of you, i.e., Musaa and Haroon] Go to Pharaoh and say, ‘We are a messenger of the Lord of the worlds,’” [Shu’araa 26:16] and He didn’t say, ‘two messengers,’ and this is the singular through which the plural is meant.’’

Ibn al-Qayyim, commenting on this explanation of al-Farraa went on to say, ‘And this is the best of the sayings [explaining this point], except that it needs further elucidation.

And that [elucidation] is that the believers, all of them, are on one path, and their deity is one, and they are the followers of one Book, and one Prophet, slaves of One Lord, so their religion is one, and their Prophet is one, and their Book is one, and their deity is One–so it is as though all of them are one Imaam for those who come after them.’

Risaalatu Ibn al-Qayyim Ilaa Ahad Ikhwaanihi, [Ibn al-Qayyim’s Letter to One of His Brothers], pp. 14-15.

A Scholar’s Humility: ‘My back is halaal for every Muslim.’

Abdur-Rahmaan al-Hirfi said, ‘And it is not known that the Shaikh [i.e., Ibn Baaz] ever sought revenge for himself. In fact, I heard a man say to him, ‘O Shaikh! I’ve backbitten you, so free me from it [i.e., forgive me].’ So the Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, said, ‘My back is halaal for every Muslim.’ Indeed, in one of his general talks it was said to him, ‘Shaikh so and so says you are an innovator. What do you say?’ So he said, ‘He is a mujtahid scholar!’

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 116.

A Scholar’s Humility: Ibn Baaz and His Guest

Shaikh Abdullaah ibn Ibrahim al-Fantukh said, ‘From that which is relevant to mention is that a guest, one of the Shaikh’s noble students, from Africa but who had acquired Saudi nationality, spent the night in the Shaikh’s house.

His eminence, the Shaikh, got up during the last part of the night to pray the night prayer.  The guest’s room was far from the place where the water was, and at that hour it was rare for anyone to be awake and the Shaikh disliked disturbing anyone [by asking them to get water for the guest].

So he went himself to where the water was with a jug, even though he was blind, filled it and brought it to the door of the guest’s room, then woke him gently [from outside] because he knew the guest wanted that.

Then he went away from the door so that the guest would not feel embarrassed, who came out quickly and saw that the Shaikh had turned away and left the jug outside his door.  And this guest is trustworthy, from the people of knowledge.’

Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 232.