Yaḥyá bn Salām (d. 200H) said in his tafsīr (2/632):
And Abū al-Ashhab narrated to me, from al-Ḥasan (al-Baṣrī), he said:
Remembrance is of two types, one of them is better than the other:
Remembering Allāh upon the tongue is good.
And better than it is remembering Allāh at the point of what He prohibited you from.
And patience is of two types, one of them is better than the other:
Being patient upon an affliction is good.
And better than it is being patient from (engaging in) what Allāh prohibited you from.
And something similar to it was reported from Bilāl bn Saʿd (d. 120H) by Ibn Abī ad-Dunyá in at-Tawbah (127):
“Remembrance is of two types, remembering Allāh upon the tongue is good and beautiful. While the servant’s remembrance of Allāh at the point of what He (Allāh) permitted and forbade is better.”
And likewise from Maymūn bn Mihrān (d. 117H) as reported by Ibn Abī ad-Dunyá in al-Waraʿ (49):
“Remembrance is of two types:
Remembering Allāh upon the tongue is good. And better than that is for a servant to remember Allāh at the point of disobedience, hence he refrains from it.”
Post Translated From Shaykh ʿArafāt bn Ḥasan al-Muḥammadī’s Official Telegram Channel (read arabic here)
