Instead of Becoming a Hermit…

Wuhaib ibn Al-Ward said, “I told Wahb ibn Munabbih, ‘I want to go into solitude away from people.’ “He said:

You can’t escape people, nor people escape you. You have needs [to be taken care of] by them, and they have needs [to be taken care of] by you.

But be among them [as] one who is deaf [at times and at times] listening, blind [at times and at times] seeing, silent [at times and at times] speaking.

Al-Khaṭṭāb reported it in Al-ʿUzlah, p. 98, and Abū Nuʿaim in Al-Ḥilyah, vol. 8, p. 144. Also see Al-Siyar, vol. 4, p. 550.

قال وهيب بن الورد:قلت لوهب بن مُنبّه:
إنّي أُريد أن أعتزل النّاس؟
فقال لي:
لابُدّ لك مِنَ النّاس،وللنّاس منك؛ لك إليهم حوائج، ولهم إليك حوائج، ولكن كن فيهم:
أصمّ سميعاً،أعمى بصيراً، سكوتاً نطوقاً"
أخرجه الخطّاب في(العزلة)(ص٩٨) وأبو نعيم في(الحلية)(٨/ ١٤٤).
وينظر(السير)(٤/ ٥٥٠)

— أ.د. عبدالله البخاري (@dr_albukhary) December 18, 2020

Translated by Mikail ibn Mahboob Ariff