Quotes by Arab Authors

Your life is a sum of counted breaths.With each breath that passesa part of life is lost. That which gives life brings death every moment nearer,and your caravan is led by onewho will not jest with you.
Abu'l-'Atahiya
When a man dies, his wife is burned alive with him, but if the wife dies before her husband, the man does not suffer the same fate. If a man dies before marriage, he is given a posthumous wife. The women passionately want to be burned because they believe they will enter paradise.
Al-Mas'udi
If a man spreads his secret with his own tongue and blames another... then he is a fool. If his own breast is too narrow to conceal his own secret, then the breast of the one in whom he places it is even narrower.
Imam ash-Shafi`i
People are like waves of the ocean, some cover you with tides of refreshment, whilst others drown you in floods of turmoil
Ali ibn Abi Talib
The eyelids of the burdened clouds let fall cascadesOf rain, and the parterred garden is spattered with drops.
Abdullah Ibn al-Mu'tazz
Death is not scary enough and not so sweet life of the human foot leaves gentility.
Imam Ali (AS)
who accompany ignorants, lives in misery.
Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib
No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of worrying can change the future.
Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab
If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy hyacinths, for they would feed my soul.
Mohammad
whoever prolongs his desire ruins his actions
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Don´t count the days. Make the days count.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Half of wisdom is love and friendship with people.(the other half is to guard yourself against the evils of people)
Ali ibn Abi Talib
No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future
Umar ibn Al-Khattab
Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness.
Ibn Taymiyyah
O Alaah, i haven't worshiped you because of lusting of heaven or fearing of hill. I've worshiped you because you deserve to be worshiped.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Allaah has not bestowed any blessing upon His slaves then taken it away and replaced it with patience, but what He has compensated them with is better than what He has taken away.
Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez
If you desire the path of sincerity, develop a love for obscurity. Flee from the clatter and clinks of fame. Be like the roots of a tree; it keeps the tree upright and gives it life, but it itself is hidden underneath the earth and eyes cannot see it.
Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak
Reason forbade me many things which,Instinctively, my nature was attracted to;And a perpetual loss I feel if, knowing,I believe a falsehood or deny the truth.
Abul 'Ala' Al-Ma'arri
A man's measure is his will.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
We were the most humiliated people on earth and God gave us honour through Islam. If we ever seek honour through anything else, God will humiliate us again.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab
The real Muslim is the one who prefers speaking the truth even when it is ruinous to him over lying even when it benefits him, and who finds inner peace in doing so.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
That Muhammad could predict certain events does not prove that he was a prophet: he may have been able to guess successfully, but this does not mean that he had real knowledge of the future. And certainly the fact that he was able to recount events from the past does not prove that he was a prophet, because he could have read about those events in the Bible and, if he was illiterate, he could still have had the Bible read to him.
Muhammad al Warraq
The group with it's impurities is better than sectarianism with it's purity.
Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib
The heart is like a bird: love as its head and its two wings are hope and fear.
Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawzziya
Jesus, the son of Mary, peace be upon them, was accustomed to say, "O my God, surely I have entered into the morning unable to neither forestall what I fear nor hasten what I hope for. The whole affair is in another’s hand. I have arisen bound to my deeds. There is no one poorer than me. Do not make me the cause of my enemies being cursed, nor make me the reason any harm should come to a friend. Do not place tribulation in my spiritual path, nor empower anyone over me who shows me no mercy.""Walk on Water: The Wisdom of Jesus"From Traditional Arabic sources, translated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.
Ibn Abī al-Dunyā
Courtesy with them is tariqa and following them is haqiqa.
Imam Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ja'far
Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I have left two things with you. As long as you hold fast to them, you will not go astray. They are the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet.
according to the Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas
For this world has neither worth nor weight with God; so slight it is, it weighs not with God so much as a pebble or a single clod of earth; as I am told, God has created nothing more hateful to Him than this world, and from the day He created it He has not looked upon it, so much He hates it.
al-Hasan al-Basri
The most complete gift of God is a life based on knowledge.
Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib
Imam al-Dhahabi (Allah have mercy on him) points out to the signs of having a sincere intention or otherwise, He mentions that the one who seeks knowledge for the sake of Allah Most High, then that knowledge creates in him humility, humbleness and the fear of Allah. And the one who seeks knowledge for worldly gains, he becomes proud with his knowledge, thus argues and quarrels with other Muslims. (See: al-Muqizah, p. 65.)
Imam al-Dhahabi
Satan puts three knots at the back of the head of any of you if he is asleep. On every knot he reads and exhales the following words, ‘The night is long, so stay asleep.’ When one wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone; and when one performs ablution, the second knot is undone, and when one prays the third knot is undone and one gets up energetic with a good heart in the morning; otherwise one gets up lazy and with a mischievous heart.
Abu Huraira
When my prayers are answered, I am happy because it was my wish. When my prayers are not answered, I am even more happy because that was gods wish.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
If they don’t respect you, respect yourself and leave that situation.
Mohammad
Whoever believes in getting water feels no thirst.
Ali bin Abi Thalib a.s.
My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me.
Imam Al-Shafii an 18th century Muslim jurist
If one night you see someone committing a sin, tomorrow do not look at him as a sinner. He may have repented during the night and you did not know.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
No woman deserves to be disrespected; to be beaten up, to be called bitches or sluts. Assaulted or insulted. Even if she's a hooker.
Imam Shah
If someone's deeds lower his position, his pedigree cannot elevate it.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
The Prophet's character was termed tremendous because his concern was for God alone.
Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi
Love is an illness which doesn't have good nor recompense.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Do not take someone's silence as his pride,perhaps he is busy fighting with his self
Ali Ibn Abi Taleb
Get to know the right, then you would know the people of right. Right Is not measured by its men, but men are measured by their right.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
A moment of Patience in a moment of Anger saves a thousand moments of Regret.
Ali Ibn Abu Talib
I have read in some of the old histories that in early times the Greeks did not know how to write until two men, one of whom was called Cadmus (Qatmus) and the other Aghanūn, came from Egypt bringing sixteen letters with which the Greeks wrote. Then one of these two men derived four other letters, also used for writing. Later, another man named Simonides (Simūnidus) derived four additional ones, making twenty-four. It was in those days that Socrates (Suqrātīs) appeared
Ibn Al-Nadim
Two hungry wolves let loose among sheep are not more harmful then a person craving after wealth and status is to his Deen (Religion).
Al-Haafidh Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbalee
There is nothing more to chasing after wealth than the wastage of a person’s noble life for that which has no value. Instead he could have earned a high rank (in Paradise) and everlasting bliss, but he lost this due to his craving after provision – which had already been assured to him and allotted to him, and it was not possible for anything to come to him except what was decreed for him – then on top of this he does not benefit from that, but rather abandons it and leaves it for someone else.He departs from that and leaves it behind so that he will be the one held accountable for it, yet someone else benefits from it. So in reality he is only gathering it, yet someoneelse benefits from it. So in reality he is only gathering it for someone who will not praise him for that, whilst he himself goes on to One who will not excuse him for that – this itself would indeed be enough to show the blameworthiness of this craving.
Ibn Rajab The Evil of Craving for Wealth and Status
From the subtle afflictions caused by love of status is seeking after and aspiring positions of authority – this is something whose reality is hidden and obscure. It is not understood except by those who have knowledge of Allah, those who love Him and who are at enmity with those ignorant ones from His creation who desire to compete with Him with regard to His Lordship and Divinity and right to worship, despite their despicability and the contemptible position they have before Allah and in the eyes of His chosen servants who have knowledge of Him. Know that love of status attained by having one’s orders and prohibitions obeyed and enacted, and by merely the attainment of a position above the people and to have importance overthem, and that it be seen that the people are in need of him and seek their needs from him – then the soul of this person is seeking to compete with Allah in His Lordship and His Divinity and right to worship. Some such people may even seek to put the people into such a condition of need that they are compelled to request their needs from them, and to display their poverty before them and their need of them. Then he is inflated with pride and self-importance because of that, whereas this befits none except Allah alone.
Ibn Rajab The Evil of Craving for Wealth and Status
It was at this time that backgammon was invented and began to be popular. It is a kind of paradigm of how wealth is acquired, which in this world is not the reward of intelligence or ability, just as luck is not a product of skill... If luck favours the player, he gets what he wants; if it doesn't, a skilled and prudent man cannot win that which fortune only bestows on whom it likes. It is thus that the good things of this world are apportioned by chance.
Al-Mas'udi
Do not force your children to behave like you, for surely they have been created for a time which is different to your time
Ali ibn-e-Abu Talib
No amount of worrying can change the future. Go easy on yourself, for the outcome of all affairs is determined by God's decree. If something is meant to go elsewhere, it will never come your way, but if it is yours by destiny, from you it cannot flee.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab
Death and parting are the same.
Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf
And be aware that people fall under one of two categories: they are either your brother and sister in faith, or they are your counterpart in humanity.
Imam Ali bin abi Taleb
Merciful Father.... I have squandered my days with plans of many things.This was not among them. But at this moment, I beg only, to live the next few minutes well.For all we ought to have thought and have not thought... All we ought to have said and have not said. All we ought to have done and have not done. I pray thee, God for forgiveness.
Ahmed Ibn Fadlan
If what you achieve today is equal to what you achieved yesterday, then you are at a loss. And if what you have achieved today is less than what you achieved yesterday, then you are deprived from the Almighty's blessings. Anyone who is not progressing, is in fact regressing, and if you are regressing, then you might as well be dead.
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Be kind, for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it beautifies it. Whenever it is taken from something, it leaves it tarnished.
Mohammad PBUH
A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue, and a wise man's tongue is under the control of his mind.
-Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib AS
Knowledge is the life of the mind
Abu Bakr May Allah Pleased With Him
Only the sufferers of injustice can realize its intensity - Iman Musa Al-Kazim
Abu Mohammed Al H Bin Shu'ba Al Harrani
Over many a race the sun's bright net was spreadAnd loosed their pearls nor left them even a thread.This dire world delights us, though all sup—All whom she mothers—from one mortal cup.Choose from two ills: which rather in the mainSuits you? —to perish or to live in pain?
Abul 'Ala' Al-Ma'arri
He who has never left his hearth and has confined his researches to the narrow field of the history of his own country cannot be compared to the courageous traveller who has worn out his life in journeys of exploration to distant parts and each day has faced danger in order to persevere in excavating the mines of learning and in snatching precious fragments of the past from oblivion.
Al-Mas'udi