An Islamic Treasury of Virtues
5. Piety
~ 138 ~
TRUE KNOWLEDGE IS FEAR OF GOD
According to Abdullah ibn Masud “Knowledge
does not consist of the memorizing of large
numbers of traditions: Knowledge is to fear God.”
LOST TO THE WORLD
“I have seen people among the Prophet’s
companion to whom the world meant less than the
dust under their feet.” Thus spoke Hasan Basri to
his awed contemporaries. He was well qualified to
judge, for he had met a large number of them,
seventy of whom had fought at Badr. He told them
of how they wore simple, homespun camel hair
garments, and were so preoccupied with righteous
living that they seemed lost to the world. “Were
they to see the best among you, they would think:
“These people do not believe in the Day of
Judgement.”
CONCEIT: THE MOST EVIL TRAIT
Speaking of three saving graces and three
destructive traits, the Prophet observed that the
former were “fear of God both in public and in
