The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge by Abu Ghuddah

The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge by Abu Ghuddah

The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge by Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah is an inspiring Islamic work highlighting the dedication, sacrifices, and perseverance of the early Muslim scholars in their pursuit of sacred knowledge. Through authentic historical accounts and moving anecdotes, the author presents the extraordinary patience displayed by the Salaf in traveling long distances, enduring poverty, sacrificing comfort, and dedicating their lives to learning and preserving Islamic teachings. Translated and summarized by Suhaib Sirajudin, this book serves as a motivational guide for students of knowledge, educators, and seekers of Islamic scholarship. Its lessons on sincerity, discipline, humility, and perseverance remain deeply relevant for contemporary readers striving to strengthen their relationship with knowledge and worship. Ideal for Islamic study circles, schools, and personal libraries.

From Author:

Stories of the perseverance of scholars: this is a beautiful book Shaikh Abdul Fattah Abu Guddah authored about the struggles and sacrifices of scholars and their dedication to the pursuit of knowledge.

Content:

A Journey Through the Lives of Great Scholars

This book presents powerful stories from the lives of the pious predecessors and renowned Islamic scholars who travelled great distances, endured hardships, sacrificed comfort, and devoted their lives to seeking beneficial knowledge.

Readers will discover how these scholars:

Traveled for days and months to learn a single hadith
Sacrificed sleep, wealth, and personal comfort
Remained patient through hunger, poverty, and hardship
Dedicated themselves fully to learning and teaching
Valued books and knowledge above worldly possessions
Lessons in Dedication and Perseverance

The book beautifully demonstrates the extraordinary determination of scholars such as:

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Saeed ibn al-Musayyib
Imam Al-Sha'bi
Abu Hanifah
Ibn al-Jawzi

Their stories motivate students of knowledge to remain focused, sincere, and patient in their educational journey.

Practical Advice for Students of Knowledge

In addition to historical accounts, the book contains valuable guidance and advice for modern students. It discusses:

The importance of concentration and avoiding distractions
Proper etiquette in seeking knowledge
The value of time and youth
The importance of sincerity and consistency

The author emphasizes that true knowledge requires sacrifice, discipline, and dedication.

Suhaib Sirajudin

• Shaikh Abdul Fattah Abu Guddah

نقوم بشحن الطلبات مباشرة من مستودعاتنا في المملكة المتحدة والولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، ونقدم خيارات شحن متعددة لتناسب احتياجاتك. نحن نشحن بفخر إلى جميع أنحاء العالم.

عمليات التسليم في المملكة المتحدة (من مستودع المملكة المتحدة):

يصل الشحن القياسي عادةً في غضون 3-4 أيام عمل. يستغرق التسليم السريع 2-3 أيام عمل. نهدف إلى شحن الطلبات في نفس اليوم أو يوم العمل التالي، مع توفر خيارات التوصيل في اليوم التالي حيثما ينطبق ذلك.

عمليات التسليم في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية (من مستودع الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية):

تصل الطلبات عادةً في غضون 4-7 أيام عمل.

أوروبا (يتم الشحن من المملكة المتحدة):

يستغرق التسليم القياسي حوالي 6-10 أيام عمل، مع توفر خدمات الشحن السريع في غضون 3-5 أيام عمل.

كندا:

الوقت المقدر للتسليم هو 5-10 أيام عمل.

الشحن في جميع أنحاء العالم:

تصل الطلبات الدولية بشكل عام في غضون 5-20 يوم عمل، اعتمادًا على الوجهة وطريقة الشحن المختارة.

للحصول على جداول زمنية دقيقة للتسليم بناءً على موقعك، يرجى الاتصال بنا عبر البريد الإلكتروني وسيقدم فريقنا معلومات مفصلة ومخصصة لعنوانك.

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THE PATIENCE OF
THE PIOUS PREDECESSORS
IN SEEKING KNOWLEDGE
Shaikh Abdul Fattah Abu Guddah
صفحات من صبر العلماء على شدائد العلم والتحصيل لشيخ عبد الفتاح ابو غدة
TRANSLATED AND SUMMARIZED BY
SUHAIB SIRAJUDIN
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Acknowledgement
Chapters
Introduction
Chapter 1: Description of The Travelling Of The Scholars, And Their Long Journeys For Know
Chapter 2: Description of the scholars sacrificing their sleep, comfort and all of their pleasures and entertainment.
Chapter 3: Description of the scholars in their patience on poverty and their struggle.
Chapter 4: Description of the scholars' hunger and their thirst during the hot weather for hours and days..
Chapter 5: Stories of the scholars' wealth running out.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Allah for giving me the strength, knowledge, ability and opportunity to translate this beautiful work of Shaikh Abdul Fattah Abu Guddah, and to complete it satisfactorily. Without His blessings, this achievement would not have been possible. All the praises and thanks be to Allah. Secondly, I would like to thank those who assisted me throughout the project with the typing and pagemaking. Not to forget those who took the trouble of proof reading and correcting the early drafts. May Allah give them the best of rewards in both the worlds.
May Allah accept our humble efforts and make them a source of forgiveness in the hereafter. Ameen!
Chapter 6: Stories of the reaction of the scholars upon losing their books, selling them at the time of their hardships and buying them at the expense of selling their clothes.
Chapter 7: Stories of the scholars who gave preference to knowledge, being occupied in travelling, writing books and benefitting themselves and others, over marriage
Chapter 8: Stories of the scholars spending their wealth, selling their possessions to gain knowledge, travelling and meeting scholars, buying books, pen and paper, and writing books.
Chapter 9: Scattered pearls for students of knowledge.
Chapter 10: Four golden nuggets for every student of knowledge..
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Table Of Contents
Hafiz Imam Abu Abdullah ibn Mandah.
Hafiz Imam Shaikh Ubaydullah ibn Saeed ibn Hatim Abu Nasr Al Sijzee
Introduction
Hafiz Abu Sa'ad Al Samman Al Razis
Adam the first man to travel to seek knowledge
Hafiz Yunarti
Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal
Al Qazi Abu bakar Muhammed ibn Abdul Baqi Al Ansari Al Bazzaz
Imam Mahmood ibn Umar Al Khawarazmi Al Zamakhshari
Imam ibn Jamah
Masrooq ibn Ajda Hamdani
Abul Aliyaah..
Saeed ibn Musayyib
Imam Sha'abi
Abul Waqt Abdul Awwal ibn Al Shaikh Al Muhaddith Al Mu'ammar Abu Abdullah Isa ibn Shuaib ibn Ibrahim Al Sijzee, Al Harwi Al Maalinis.
Hafiz Muhammed ibn Tahir Al Maqdasi
Imam Abu Sa'ad Al Sama'ani
Abul Faraj Abdurrahman Ibn Jawzi
Abi Qilabah.
Lessons from these stories of the scholars who travelled long distances to seek
Makhool Al Shami.
knowledge.
Abdullah ibn Farrookh Al Farsee Al Qayrawani
Yahya ibn Abi Katheer.
Imam Abu Yaqoob Ishaq ibn Mansoor Al Kawsaj Al Marwazee (Ishaq ibn Mansoor)
Abi Ahmed Nasr ibn Ahmed Al lyazee Alfaqeeh Alsamarqandi
Imam Shubatu ibn Hajjaj Al Wasiti (Shubah).
Hafiz Shaykul Islam Baqiy ibn Makhlad Al Qurtubi
Abdullah Ibn Abbas
Imam Abu Hatim Muhammed ibn Idrees Al Razi.=
Urwah ibn Zubair.
Yaqub ibn Sufyans
Ata'a ibn Abi Rabah (Ata'a
Hafiz Fazal ibn Muhammed ibn Al Musayyib Al Bayhaqi Al Sharani.
Hafiz Muhammed ibn Shihab Al Zuhri
Muhammed ibn Musayyib ibn Ishaq Al Argiyani.
Imam Abul Hassan Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Salamah ibn Bahr Al Qazweeni (Abul Hassan).
Hafiz Abu Hisham Mugeerah ibn Miqsam Al Zabbii Al Koofi Abdullah ibn Shubrumah.
Ismaeel ibn Ayyash Al Himasee.
Muhammed ibn Ibrahim Al Asbahani (Ibn Al Muqri)
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The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge
knowledge from them, he also takes their character, and good morals that they have been blessed with."
Imam ibn Jamah
Imam ibn Jamah writes in his book 'Annafi Al Bade', discussing the etiquette of the seeker of knowledge:
"Make the most of your youth and your whole life by learning. Do not be deceived by procrastination and wishful thinking about the future. Every hour of your life that passes cannot be replaced. Abstain from whatever you can of distractions and obstacles which prevent you from striving your utmost to attain knowledge. Hence the righteous predecessors encouraged keeping away from one's family and keeping a distance from one's homeland because when a person is distracted he will not be able to focus and concentrate on knowledge and subtle issues."
Those Pious Predecessors! Their concentration was absolute: to the extent that if someone entered the room they would not notice. They would not even get distracted if the roof of the masjid fell upon them. This shows the level of their concentration during their lesson.
A mind cannot focus 100% on two different things. You can either focus 80/20 or 70/30 but your mind can never focus 100% on two different things. As a student of knowledge keep 100% focus on your lessons, avoiding all kinds of distraction. It is truly said that knowledge will not give you a part of it until you give it your all.
Masrooq ibn Ajda Hamdani
Timeline: died in the year 63 Hijri
The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge
Lesson: Imam Sha'abi says about him, 'I did not see anyone more of a seeker of knowledge than him.'
Hafiz ibn Abdul Barr narrates that "Masrooq travelled to acquire one letter. Meaning for the sake of one word." (Jami'e Bayanil ilm wa Fazlihi)
Abul Aliyaah
Timeline: died in the year 90 Hijri, it is also said 93 Hijri and it is also said sometime after that.
Student of: A student of Abu Hurayrah.
Lesson: A great Tabiee, he says: "We used to hear narrations from the companions of the Prophet and we were in the city of Basrah. And we will not be content until we travel to the city of Madinah and we listen to the Hadith directly from their mouths." (Al Bidayah Wa Nihayah).
Saeed ibn Musayyib
Timeline: died in the year 94 Hijri
Student of: Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman, 'Ali, Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas, Hakeem Bin Hizaam, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Umar, Ibn 'Amr Bin Al 'Aas, his father-Musayyib, Mu'ammar ibn 'Abdillah, Abu Dhar, Abu Darda (May Allah be pleased with them all) and many others.
Lesson: he says, "I used to travel days and nights to seek one Hadith." (Al Bidayah Wa Nihayah).
Imam Sha'abi
Timeline: died in the year 103 Hijri, it is also said 104 Hijri and it is also said 106 Hijri
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The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge
Student of: some of the great companions such as Ali ibn abi Talib, Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas, Ibn Abbas, Usamah ibn Zaid, Ibn Amar ibn Al A'as (May Allah be pleased with them all) and many others.
Lesson: Ibn Shubrumah says, I heard Imam Sha'abi say, that no one narrated a Hadith to me except that I memorized it, and I have forgotten from knowledge so much that if anyone was to memorize it (that portion which I have forgotten), he will become a scholar. (Tazkiratul Huffaz)
Abi Qilabah
(Abdullah ibn Zayd) Al Jarmi Al Basri
Timeline: died in the year 104 Hijri, it is also said 105 Hijri, it is also said 106 Hijri and it is also said 107 Hijri.
Student of: Anas ibn Malik, Thabit ibn Dahhak, Samurah ibn Jundub, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and many others.
Lesson: A great Tabiee, he says, "I stayed over in Madinah, having no other need except that I heard a man coming from whom I wanted a Hadith. So I stayed over until he arrived in the city, and he narrated the Hadith to me." (Ar Rihlah Fi Talabil Hadith) Makhool Al Shami
Timeline: died in the year 112 Hijri
Lesson: Ibn Ishaq narrates that I heard Makhool Al Shami (a scholar of the people of Al Shaam and their learned man) say, "I travelled the world to seek knowledge."
Abdullah ibn Farrookh Al Farsee Al Qayrawani
Timeline: died in Egypt in the year 176 Hijri
Student of: Imam Malik, Abu Hanifah and Imam Sufyan Thawree and others. Imam Malik mentions that he had travelled in the past and met with scholars and learned
The Patience of the Pious Predecessors in Seeking Knowledge
men, and he studied under Imam Abu Hanifah the rulings of many issues, it is said in the region of 10,000 Issues.
Lesson: He said: a brick fell from the house above, which was the house of Abu Hanifah, whilst I was in the house and I injured my head. So he (Abu Hanifah) said to me, you have a choice of either financial compensation or I narrate three hundred Hadith to you. I said, I choose the three hundred Hadith, so he narrated to me the Hadith.
Imam Abu Yaqoob Ishaq ibn Mansoor Al Kawsaj Al Marwazee (Ishaq ibn Mansoor)
Timeline: A scholar and an Imam, he died in the year 251 Hijri
Student of: Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal and a narrator of issues in the field of jurisprudence from him.
Lesson: He came from Marwa to Baghdad, and studied jurisprudence and Hadith under Imam Ahmed, then he returned to Khurasaan and remained in the city of Naysaboor.
Then he was told that Imam Ahmed
retracted and withdrew some of the rulings
on certain issues that he had studied from him. So he walked barefoot from Naysaboor to Baghdad to clarify those issues that he learnt from him.
"Ishaq ibn Mansoor Al Kawsaj was a great scholar and a learned man. And he is one who recorded the rulings of issues in jurisprudence. Hassan ibn Muhammed said, I heard our scholars mentioning that Ishaq ibn Mansoor was told that Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal retracted and withdrew in those issues which he learnt from him. So Ishaq ibn Mansoor collected those issues in a bag and carried it on his back and walked barefoot to Baghdad carrying the bag on his back. And he presented to him