al-Dardāʾ and said, “Give me some advice.”
He replied, “Remember Allah in times of ease and He will remember you in times of hardship. When you call the dead to mind, regard yourself as one of them; and whenever your soul inclines toward anything of this world, reflect on what it is destined to become.” (1)

Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī narrated—through Hammām ibn al-Ḥārith—that Abū al-Dardāʾ was teaching a non-Arab man to recite the verse, “Indeed, the Tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the sinful” (Q 44:43). The man rendered it, “the food of the orphan.” Abū al-Dardāʾ corrected him, but he could not pronounce it, so he said, “Say: the food of the wicked,” and he taught him to recite it that way.

Manṣūr reported—on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn Murrah—that Abū al-Dardāʾ said, “Worship Allah as though you see Him; count yourself among the dead; beware the supplication of the wronged; and know that a little that suffices you is better than plenty that distracts you. Righteousness never wears out, and sin is never forgotten.” (2)

Shaybān related—from ʿĀṣim, from Abū Wāʾil, from Abū al-Dardāʾ: “Beware the prayers of the oppressed, for they rise up to Allah like sparks of fire.” (3)

Luqmān ibn ʿĀmir transmitted that Abū al-Dardāʾ said, “The wealthy eat and we eat, they drink and we drink, they dress and we dress, they ride and we ride. The only difference is that they have surplus wealth to look at—and we look at it along with them—yet they will be called to account for it, whereas we are free of that burden.” (4)

He also said, “Praise be to Allah who has made the rich long to be like us when—”