Jewels of Wisdom

from the Shaykh Mahmoud Sulaimon

by Ibrahim S.*

Shaykh Mahmoud(May Allah preserve him) once informed me about his studies of the madhab of Imam Ash-Shafi’i(raheemahullaah) at Al-Azhar University in Egypt and how he became Hafiz ul Qur’an( A Memorizer of the Qur’aan) at the age of 9 and he studied books on Shafi’i fiqh(which are thick in volume) for 7 years; I once asked him, “ Shaykh, do you still study?” He said, “ Yes I study. I sometimes study from 11pm till Fajr Time.” I then asked, “ What do you study?” He said, “ Hadith, fiqh, tafseer(etc).” Yet he will not say “ Yes I am a learned one.”

Shaykh Mahmoud is very humble, known for his knowledge and piety who speaks as if he is in pain. He noticed that now a days people(i.e. the laymen) would read books(small ones at that) then think that they are part of the Ulema(Scholars) Of the Ummah(Nation) of Rasulullah(peace and blessings be upon him). I have noticed this as well and I, myself had to avert this thought. Most of these people(including myself) don’t even know the Arabic language. Subhan’Allah( Glory be to Allah). Allah says in Surah #39 Az-Zumar( The Groups) verse 9,

“Say: Are those who know equal to those who know not? It is only those men of understanding who will remember.”

The shaykh informed me of great jewels that would make a woman who loves this duniya(world) jealous because of their shine, glimmer and attractive beauty which throws humbleness upon a sincere heart when heard. When he noticed my zeal for seeking beneficial ilm(In Islam) and seeing the state of the arrogant ones he gave me some jewels to dwell upon. He said,

“ Ibrahim, if you want to learn Islam, first learn humbleness.”

“A man can have a lot of knowledge yet he lacks wisdom, therefore he can be a sword to the community.”

“Be humble. Walk like an Old man. The Malikah(angels) look at an arrogant person who thinks he knows everything( and/or thinks himself to be better than others) to be as small as an ant; and if the man is humble they(i.e.The Angels) enjoy being around him.”

“ You won’t know everything in Islam…”
( Someone will always know something that you didn’t know)

“Allah does not like the arrogant ones. The only reason why one has been given knowledge is because Allah gave it to him. It was not acquired by himself.”

(May Allah The Exalted have Mercy on Brother Faiz. Once he pointed out to me a while ago regarding Qarun(one of Fir’aun’s{Pharoah} advisors when he said after Allah gave him an abundance of wealth, “ This has been given to me only because of the knowledge I possess...” Allah put an end to his arrogance in the land, “ So We caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling place..”(Surah{Chapter}#28, Al-Qasas-The Narration- ayat(verses) 78 and 81)

Subhan’Allah! These are gems that cannot be priced and never neglected by anyone; especially by the students of Knowledge and the laymen. May Allah bless Shaykh Mahmoud and increase him in beneficial knowledge and grant him Jannah Firdaows for his efforts ameen.


Insha’Allah (God-Willing) I will support the Shaykh with excerpts taken from the book “ The Heirs of the Prophets” by Imam Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali(May Allah have mercy upon him) section: “Paths leading to Sacred Knowledge”translated by Zaid Shakir(May Allah reward him) page 10-11. The Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him) is related to have said in a sound hadith,

“Allah does not withdraw knowledge by extracting it from the hearts of the men, rather He takes away the religious scholars. When no religious scholar remains, people take the ignorant as their leaders; these ignorant ones are questioned and give religious verdicts without knowledge. They are astray and lead others astray.”

{Bukhari, hadith no. 100, 7307}

Tirmdhi relates from Jubayr ibn Nufayr(May Allah be pleased with him), on the authority of Abu Darda:

“We were with the Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him) and he said, “ There {will be} a time when knowledge will be snatced from the people until they will be unable to benefit from it.” Ziyad ibn Lubayd said, “ O Messenger of Allah, how will Allah seize knowledge from us when we recite the Qur’an.” I swear by Allah, we recite it and teach it to our women and children!” He said, “ May your mother be bereaved of you, Ziyad. I used to consider you one of the learned people of Madinah! The Torah and the Gospel are with the Jews and the Christians, yet do they benefit from them in any way?”

{Tirmdhi no. 2653}

Jubayr Ibn Nufayr said:

“I met ‘Ubada ibn al-Samit and said to him, “ Will you not listen to what Abu Darda’ is saying?” I then informed him of what he said concerning the loss of knowledge. He said, “ Abu Darda’ has spoken truthfully. If you wish I will inform you of the FIRST KNOWLEDGE to be removed from people. It is HUMILITY(Khushu’). You will enter the central masjid and hardly find a single humble person!”

Nasa’i relates a similar hadith from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, on the authority of ‘Awf ibn Malik(May Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him). He says in this hadith,

“The Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the straying of the Jews and the Christians despite their possessing scriptures. {Al-Nasa’i , al- Sunan al-Kubra(Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi), 8:211; al-Musnad, 6-26-27; al Hakim, al-Mustadrak(Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1990), 1:99-100}

Jubayr ibn Nufayr also related:

“ I met Shaddad ibn Aws and I informed him of the hadith of ‘Awf ibn Malik, and he said, “ He has spoken the truth. Shall I not inform you about the first occurrence of the lifting of knowledge? Humility will be lifted to the point you will not see a single humble person.”

Imam Ahmad(May Allah have mercy on him) relates in a hadith in which Ziyad ibn Lubayd(May Allah be pleased with him) mentioned something, whereupon the Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him) said,

“ That will be in the time when knowledge is gone”
{Imam Ahmad, al-Musnad, 4: 218-19; Ibn Majah, hadith no. 4048}

“ All of these narrations relate that the departure of knowledge resides in the failure to act on it. The Companions( May Allah be pleased with all of them) explained that the reason for this is the passing of inner knowledge from the hearts- with inner knowledge referring to humility. In this vein, Hudhayfa(May Allah be pleased with him) relates,

“Surely, humility will be the first knowledge to be lifted.”
{ Related with a similar wording in al-Hilya, 1: 281; al Zuhud, 2 : 135.}


Now I will also quote from “Reliance of the Traveller by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, a Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law” page 806, section t3.17 A Pure Heart,


“ Do not seek exaltation on earth, but have humility in whatever degree Allah has raised you to. For Allah has brought you forth from earth, your mother, and it is unseemly to exalt yourself above her. As the Hadith says, “Allah has charged Himself to raise nothing in this world, save that He will lower it again.” So If you are such a thing, you may expect to be lowered by Allah.”


May Allah The Exalted aid us in striving to be like those who have good manners(akhlaq), character, humbleness and among those who hate pride and arrogance ameen.

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*Brother Ibrahim converted to Islam two and a half years ago, when he was 19, and since then has spent most of his time and energy in learning Islam and trying to practice it. InshaAllah I will also post the story of his conversion written by himself. May Allah keep him on the straight path always, aameen. May Allah guide us all and make it easy for us to stay strong in our faith, and be pleased with us, aameen.