Hazrat Rabi’ used to say: O Bakr bin Ma’az! Use your tongue for beneficial matters. Avoid harmful speech. I consider people to be unaware regarding my piety. Obey Allah in those matters which you know. Refer whatever reaches you to the one who knows about it. For knowingly making a mistake is more dangerous than an error. Not everything of yours is good, but it is better than evil. Not all the things given to the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم have reached you, and you do not understand everything you read. The things that are hidden from people are apparent to others. Seek a remedy for them. Then, addressing himself, he would say: Its cure is to repent in the court of Allah and then not to sin again.

Hazrat Bakr says that when Rabee’ bin Khuthaym went to the mosque of his people, the people said to him,“O Rabee’, sit with us today and talk.”Bakr says that when Rabee’ sat with them, a stone came from somewhere and injured his head, so he said, { فَمَنْ جَائَہُ مَوْعِظَۃٌ مِنْ رَبِّہِ فَانْتَہَی فَلَہُ مَا سَلَفَ } that when a person receives an admonition from his Lord and then refrains.

Hazrat Rabi’ bin Khuthaym used to say that there is no good in any speech except for nine things: declaring the oneness of Allah, glorifying Allah, proclaiming the greatness of Allah, praising Allah, your asking a good question, your seeking refuge from evil, your enjoining good, your forbidding evil, and your recitation of the Holy Qur’an.

Hazrat Bakr says that when Rabi’ was asked,“How did you spend your morning, O Abu Yazid?”he would reply,“We spent our morning like the weak and the sinners. We eat our sustenance and await our death.”

Hazrat Bakr narrates that Ibn al-Kawwa’ (may Allah have mercy on him) said to Rabi’ bin Khuthaym,“We see that you neither mention anyone’s faults nor do you find fault with anyone.”He replied,“Woe to you, O Ibn al-Kawwa’, I am not even pleased with my own self that, having become free from my own faults, I should begin to find faults in people. People fear Allah because of the sins of others, while remaining fearless of their own sins.”

Hazrat Rabi' says that people are of two types: believers and ignorant. Do not trouble the believer and do not act ignorantly towards the ignorant.

It is narrated from Hazrat Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) that when Rabi’ was asked why he did not use medicine, he replied: At first, I intended to do so, but then I remembered the people of ‘Ad and Thamud and the Companions of the Well, and many other nations in between. I realized that those people also had afflictions and there were healers among them as well. Yet, both the one who treated and the one who was treated have all passed away.

Hazrat Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says that Rabee’ bin Khuthaym used to say in the morning: Do good deeds and speak good words. And keep the company of righteous people regularly, and when you commit a sin, repent, and when you do a good deed, move forward even more. Remain steadfast in whatever action you do, and entrust to Allah whatever you are doubtful about. Do not harm a believer and do not act ignorantly with an ignorant person. And do not let your hopes become too long, otherwise your hearts will become hard. { ولا تکونوا … الخ } And do not be like those who said,“We have heard,”but they did not listen.

Hazrat Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says that Rabee’ (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say: Remember death frequently, by which you will not taste such hardship before.

Hazrat Umair bin Ishaq said that I have seen the companions (Sahabah) more than those who passed before me, and I have not seen any people more forbearing and gentle than them.