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Shaykh Bakr Aboo Zayd (rahimahullaah) writes in his book "The Etiquettes of Seeking Knowledge", page 147:

Our Shaykh Muhammad Al-Ameen ash-Shinqeetee who died on 17/12/1393H (rahimahullaah) took very little from this worldly life, and I used to see him and he could not differentiate between the values of different [notes within the same] currency, and he once said to me:

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لقد جئت الى البلاد - شنقيط - ومعي كنز قل أن يوجد عند أحد, وهو القناعة

ولو أردت المناصب لعرفت الطريق إليها ولكني لا اوثر الدنيا على الاخرة ولا ابذل العلم لنيل المآرب الدنيوية 

"I came from my country (Shinqeet [Mauritania]) and with me is a treasure that is very seldom found in the possession of anyone, and it is contentment, and if I wanted high status, I would have known the way to achieve it, but I chose not to exchange this worldly life for the hereafter, and I do not give my knowledge to attain worldly desires."

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen (rahimahullaah) commented on this and said:

"This is the words from Shaykh Shanqeetee (may Allaah have mercy upon him) resembling people of knowledge, they do not desire by that to give themselves credit but they want by it to benefit the creation, and the people to emulate them, and be upon this path. Because we know them, they were not looking for accrediting themselves rather they are the furthest people from that.

And he, may Allaah have mercy on him, was as Shaykh Bakr mentioned, from the Zuhhaad. If you saw him he would not say except that he was a man from the desert. Even the cloak, you find he wore a normal cloak it had no embroidery. Also you find he was not concerned about himself or his thawb being smart and neat, may Allaah have mercy on him."

Source: Explanation by Shaykh Al-Uthaymeen (rahimahullaah) of Hilyat Talib al-'Ilm (The Etiquettes of Seeking Knowledge) by al-Shaykh Baker Abu Zaid (rahimahullaah).

 

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