Shafi’i on Popularity: You cannot please everyone, benefit yourself instead

Yunus ibn ‘Abd al-‘Ala reported: Al-Shafi’i, may Allah be pleased with him, said to me, “Pleasing people is a goal you can never achieve, and I know of no way to be safe from them, so you must be concerned with what benefits you and hold onto it.”

Source: Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 9/122

عَنْ يُونُس بْن عَبْدِ الْأَعْلَى قَالَ قَالَ لِي الشَّافِعِيُّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ النَّاسُ غَايَةٌ لَا تُدْرَكُ وَلَيْسَ لِي إِلَى السَّلَامَةِ مِنْ سَبِيلٍ فَعَلَيْكَ بِمَا يَنْفَعُكَ فَالْزَمْهُ

9/122 حلية الأولياء وطبقات الأصفياء

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