Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (17/179)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

Abu Marwan Ibn Ḥayyān said: “Among those who were slain on the day Córdoba was taken was the jurist, eloquent littérateur Ibn al-Faradī. He was interred in a state of decay, without ritual washing, shroud, or funeral prayer. No one in Córdoba matched him for the breadth of his transmission, his memorization of hadith, his knowledge of the transmitters, his versatility in the sciences, and his polished literary style. He was born in 351 AH, performed the pilgrimage in 382 AH, and amassed more books than any other scholar of the region. During the ʿĀmirid period he was placed in charge of the public reading of books, and Muḥammad al-Mahdī appointed him judge in Valencia. His eloquence and calligraphy were remarkable (1).

Al-Ḥumaydī (2) said: ‘ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad, the ḥāfiẓ (3), narrated to us: Abu al-Walīd Ibn al-Faradī told me, “I clung to the curtains of the Kaʿbah and asked Allah, exalted is He, for martyrdom. Then I thought about the horror of being killed, regretted my request, and was about to retract it and ask Allah to release me from it, but I felt too ashamed.”’

The ḥāfiẓ ʿAlī continued: ‘Someone who saw him among the slain drew near and heard him saying in a faint voice, “No one is wounded in the path of Allah—and Allah knows best who is wounded in His path—without coming on the Day of Resurrection with his wound flowing with blood: its color the color of blood, its scent the scent of musk (4).” It was as though he were reciting the hadith to himself, and then he breathed his last—may Allah have mercy on him.’

He also composed exquisite poetry, among which is the following:

(1) Al-Sila, vol. 1, p. 253; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, vol. 3, p. 1077. (2) Mentioned in Jadhwat al-Muqtabis, p. 255. See also Al-Dhakhira, part 1, vol. 2, pp. 614–615; Bughyat al-Multamis, p. 335; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, vol. 3, pp. 1077–1078; Nafh al-Tib, vol. 2, p. 130; Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 3, p. 106; and Al-Maghrib, vol. 1, pp. 103–104. (3) The reference is to the great imam Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Saʿid ibn Hazm al-Zahiri, author of Al-Muhalla in jurisprudence, who died in 456 AH; his full biography will appear in volume 18, entry 98. (4) The hadith is transmitted from Abu Hurayra by Malik, 2/461 (Book of Jihad, chapter “The Martyrs in the Path of Allah”); by Ahmad, 2/231; and by al-Bukhari, no. 2803, and Muslim, no. 1876.

وَقَالَ أَبُو مَرْوَانَ بنُ حَيَّانَ: وَمِمَّنْ قُتِلَ يَوْمَ أَخذِ يَوْم قُرْطُبَة الفَقِيْهُ الأَدِيْبُ الفَصِيْحُ ابْنُ الفَرَضِيّ، وَوُورِي مُتَغَيّرَا مِنْ غَيْر غُسل، وَلاَ كَفَن وَلاَ صَلاَة، وَلَمْ يُرَ مثلُه بقُرْطُبَة فِي سعَة الرِّوَايَةِ، وَحفظِ الحَدِيْثِ، وَمَعْرِفَةِ الرِّجَال، وَالاَفتنَانِ فِي الْعُلُوم وَالأَدب البَارع، وُلِدَ سَنَةَ إِحْدَى وَخَمْسِيْنَ وَثَلاَثِ مائَةٍ، وَحَجَّ سَنَةَ اثْنَتَيْنِ وَثَمَانِيْنَ، وَجمعَ مِنَ الكُتُب أَكْثَرَ مَا يَجْمَعُهُ أَحَدٌ فِي عُلَمَاءِ البَلَد، وَتَقَلَّد قِرَاءةَ الكُتُب بِعَهْد العَامِرِيَّة، وَاسْتقضَاهُ مُحَمَّدٌ المَهْدِيُّ بَبَلنْسِيَة، وَكَانَ حَسَنَ البلاغَةِ وَالخَطِّ (١) . قَالَ الحُمَيْدِيّ (٢) :حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بنُ أَحْمَدَ الحَافِظُ (٣) ، أَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو الوَلِيْد بنُ الفَرَضِيّ قَالَ: تَعلَّقْتُ بِأَستَار الكَعْبَة، وَسَأَلتُ الله - تَعَالَى - الشَّهَادَةَ، ثُمَّ فكّرتُ فِي هَول القتلِ، فَنَدِمْتُ، وَهَمَمْتُ أَنْ أَرْجِعَ، فَأَستقيل الله ذَلِكَ، فَاسْتحييتُ. قَالَ الحَافِظُ عليّ: فَأَخْبَرَنِي مِنْ رَآهُ بَيْنَ القَتْلَى، وَدنَا مِنْهُ، فسَمِعَهُ يَقُوْلُ بِصَوْت ضَعِيْف: (لاَ يُكْلَمُ أَحَدٌ فِي سَبِيْلِ اللهِ، وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ يُكْلَمُ فِي سَبِيله إِلاَّ جَاءَ يَوْم القِيَامَةِ وَجُرْحُهُ يَثْعَبُ دماً، اللُوْنُ لُوْنُ الدَّمِ، وَالرِّيْحُ رِيْحُ المِسْكِ (٤)) كَأَنَّهُ يُعيدُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ الحَدِيْثَ، ثُمَّ قَضَى عَلَى إِثْرِ ذَلِكَ ﵀. وَلَهُ شعرٌ رَائِقٌ فَمِنْهُ:

(١) " الصلة " ١ / ٢٥٣، و" تذكرة الحفاظ " ٣ / ١٠٧٧. (٢) في " جذوة المقتبس " ٢٥٥. وانظر " الذخيرة " ق ١ / ج ٢ / ٦١٤، ٦١٥، و" بغية الملتمس " ٣٣٥، و" تذكرة الحفاظ " ٣ / ١٠٧٧، ١٠٧٨، و" نفح الطيب " ٢ / ١٣٠، و" وفيات الأعيان " ٣ / ١٠٦، و" المغرب " ١ / ١٠٣، ١٠٤. (٣) هو الامام الكبير أبو محمد علي بن أحمد بن سعيد بن حزم الظاهري، صاحب " المحلى " في الفقه، متوفى سنة ٤٥٦ هـ ستأتي ترجمته في الجزء الثامن عشر برقم (٩٨) . (٤) أخرجه من حديث أبي هريرة مالك ٢ / ٤٦١ في الجهاد: باب الشهداء في سبيل الله، وأحمد ٢ / ٢٣١، والبخاري (٢٨٠٣) ومسلم (١٨٧٦) .