Chapter 69: The Recommendation to Withdraw When People and Times Become Corrupt, or When One Fears Trial in Matters of Religion, Falling into the Unlawful, Doubtful Matters, and the Like.
Allah the Exalted says: “So flee to Allah; indeed, I am to you from Him a clear warner.” (Adh-Dhariyat 51:50)
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Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas—may Allah be pleased with him—reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “Allah loves the servant who is devout, self-sufficient, and inconspicuous.” Collected by Muslim.
The “self-sufficient” (ghaniy) here refers to richness of the soul, as stated earlier in an authentic hadith. -
Abu Saʿid al-Khudri—may Allah be pleased with him—reported: A man asked, “Messenger of Allah, which people are best?” He replied, “A believer who strives with his person and his wealth in the path of Allah.” The man asked, “Then who?” He said, “Then a man who withdraws to a mountain pass, worshipping his Lord.” In another wording: “He fears Allah and spares people from his harm.” Agreed upon.
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Abu Saʿid al-Khudri—may Allah be pleased with him—also reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The time is near when the best property a Muslim will possess is a flock of sheep with which he follows the crests of the mountains and the places where rain falls, fleeing with his religion from tribulations.” Collected by al-Bukhari.
Explanation
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—states in Riyad al-Salihin: This is the chapter on the recommendation of seclusion when people change, times grow corrupt, and there is fear of temptation and the like.
Know that the superior person is the believer who mingles with people and patiently endures their harm,