Al-Uqud al-Durriyya - Ibn Abd al-Hadi - (الكتاب/20)

Al-Uqud al-DurriyyaIbn Abd al-Hadi

and for assigning every statement exactly the degree of preference, weakening, or dismissal it deserved, and for his forays into every branch of knowledge. Those who attended could not but marvel at him. All this was coupled with his devotion to asceticism and worship, his constant preoccupation with Allah Most High, his detachment from worldly causes, and his summons of creation to Allah.

Each Friday morning he would sit before the people and exegete the Glorious Quran. Many benefited from his gathering, from the blessing of his supplication, the purity of his breath, the sincerity of his intention, the clarity of his outward and inward states, and the harmony of his words with his deeds; multitudes turned back to Allah. He adhered to a single path (1), opting for poverty and taking only a little (2) from this world, refusing whatever worldly openings presented themselves to him.

In another place he (the author) said: In his youth he composed a small amount of poetry, which I copied from him at the time; thereafter he abandoned and turned away from verse.

He was asked about the matter of divine decree in poetic form, so he replied to it likewise in verse (3), which was read before him and heard from his own lips.

He also solved the riddle of al-Rashid al-Farqi with verses comprising roughly one hundred lines, in the same metre as the riddle. This took place during his father’s lifetime—may Allah have mercy on him—when he was about twenty years old,

(1) MSS F and K read: “tariq.” (2) MS F reads: “wal-taqlil” (“and the reduction”). (3) He is referring to the verses composed in the voice of a dhimmi who rejects qadar (divine decree); they begin: Ya ulama al-din, dhimmi dinakum … tahayyara dulluhu bi a‘zami hujja (“O scholars of the religion, your dhimmi is perplexed—guide him with the strongest proof.”) The poem is printed in Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 8:245–255. The poet ʿIsa ibn Ibrahim al-Mardi later put to Shaykh al-Islam a rhymed question on predestination in several lines, to which the Shaykh replied in prose; see Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 8:448–516, and al-Durar al-Kamina, 3:200–201.

وإعطائه كلَّ قولٍ ما يستحقّه من الترجيح والتضعيف والإبطال، وخوضه في كلِّ علم. كان الحاضرون يقضون منه العجب، هذا مع انقطاعه إلى الزّهد والعبادة والاشتغال بالله تعالى، والتجرّد من أسباب الدنيا، ودعاء الخلق إلى الله تعالى. وكان يجلس في صبيحة كلِّ جمعة على الناس يُفَسِّر القرآن العظيم، فانتفع بمجلسه، وبركة دعائه، وطهارة أنفاسه، وصدق نيته، وصفاء ظاهره وباطنه، وموافقة قوله لعمله، وأنابَ إلى الله خلقٌ كثير. وجرى على طريقة (١) واحدة من اختيار الفقر والتقلُّل (٢) من الدنيا، وردّ ما يُفْتَح به عليه. وقال في موضع آخر: كان قد نظم شيئًا يسيرًا في صغره وكتبت عنه إذ ذاك، ثم إنه ترك ذلك وأعرض عنه. وسُئل عن مسألةِ القَدَر بنظمٍ، فأجاب فيها بنظم (٣)، وقد قُرئ عليه وسُمِع منه. وحلّ لُغز الرّشيد الفارقيّ بأبيات تشتمل على نحو مائة بيت على وزن اللغز، وذلك في حياة والده رحمه الله تعالى، وله نحو العشرين من العمر،

(١) (ف، ك): «طريق». (٢) (ف): «والتقليل». (٣) يعني الأبيات التي نُظِمت على لسان ذمّي في إنكار القدر، ومطلعها: أيا علماء الدين ذِمّي دينكم ... تحيَّر دلّوه بأعظم حجة وهي في «مجموع الفتاوى»: (٨/ ٢٤٥ ــ ٢٥٥). وقد سأل شيخَ الإسلام عيسى بن إبراهيم الماردي الشاعر سؤالًا منظومًا في القدر في عدة أبيات، فأجاب عنه الشيخ نثرًا. انظر «مجموع الفتاوى»: (٨/ ٤٤٨ ــ ٥١٦)، و «الدرر الكامنة»: (٣/ ٢٠٠ ــ ٢٠١).