Whenever someone came to consult al-Rabiʿ ibn Khuthaym, he would say, “Fear Allah concerning what you already know, and whatever knowledge has been kept from you, entrust it to the One who knows it. I am more anxious for you about deliberate sins than about mistakes. The best of you today are not really good, yet they are still better than those who will come later and be worse than they. You do not pursue righteousness as it deserves to be pursued, nor flee from evil as it deserves to be fled. You have not grasped everything that Allah sent down to Muhammad ﷺ, nor do you fully understand all that you recite.”

He would then add, “The hidden sins, the hidden sins—those people conceal, yet, by Allah, they are plainly evident (1). Seek a remedy for them, and their only remedy is to repent and never relapse (2).”

Mansur narrated from Ibrahim, who said: So-and-so remarked, “I have not seen al-Rabiʿ ibn Khuthaym utter a single word in twenty years except a word that ascends [to Allah].”

One of his associates said, “I accompanied al-Rabiʿ for twenty years and never heard from him a single blameworthy word (3).”

Al-Thawri narrated—through a man, from his father—who said: “I sat with al-Rabiʿ ibn Khuthaym for years, and he never asked me about any of the matters that preoccupy people; the only thing he ever asked me, once, was: ‘Is your mother still alive?’ (4)”

Al-Thawri also narrated from his father: Whenever al-Rabiʿ ibn Khuthaym was asked, “How are you this morning?” he would reply, “Weak and sinful, eating our provision and awaiting our appointed end (5).”

And from him: “Everything that is not intended for Allah’s sake will perish (6).”

Al-Aʿmash narrated from Mundhir al-Thawri that al-Rabiʿ set about feeding a man who was afflicted