The compositions of Ibn Thābit al-Khaṭīb are sweeter than the fresh, dewy morning breeze (1);
when the one who possesses them recites them, he beholds in them gardens for the wakeful, sharp-witted youth (2).
The beauty he has cast into them seizes the heart of every discerning ḥāfiẓ.
So what ease or blissful life can equal his books (3)? Rather, what fragrance could rival them?
Al-Samʿānī transmitted these verses in his History, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿdūn, from al-Silafī.
Abū’l-Ghanāʾim al-Musallam ibn Muḥammad and Muʾammal ibn Muḥammad wrote to inform us, saying:
Zayd ibn al-Ḥasan told us; Abū Manṣūr al-Qazzāz told us; Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb told us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Ahwāzī told us; Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Muṭayrī narrated to us; al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah told us; Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah narrated to us, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, from Usāmah ibn Zayd, from ʿIrāk ibn Mālik, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“There is no zakāh on horses or slaves, except that slaves are liable for the charity of Fiṭr.” (4)
(1) In al-Irshad the word has been misread and appears as “al-ghusn”.
(2) Yaqut transmits this hemistich in the form: taraha idh hawaha man rawaha / riyadan tarakaha ras al-dhunub (“You behold it—when the collector compiles it—as gardens left behind by the foremost of sins”).
(3) Yaqut’s version has: yuwazi kutubahu (“to match his books”).
(4) The chain of transmission is sound (hasan); all its transmitters are trustworthy. It is cited in Tarikh Baghdad, 14/114, and also recorded by Abu Dawud (1594) through two routes via Abd al-Wahhab → Ubayd Allah → an unnamed man → Mak-hul → Irak b. Malik → Abu Hurayra. Muslim (982/10, Zakat, “No zakat on a Muslim’s slave or horse”) reports it through several routes: Ibn Wahb → Mukhrima → his father → Irak b. Malik → Abu Hurayra, with the wording: “There is no charity on a slave except the zakat al-fitr.” Malik (1/277) – and from him Muslim (982) and Abu Dawud (1595) – relate it via Abd Allah b. Dinar → Sulayman b. Yasar → Irak b. Malik → Abu Hurayra: “There is no zakat on a Muslim for his slave or his horse.” Al-Bukhari (1463) also transmits it through Adam → Shuba → Abd Allah b. Dinar, and elsewhere as well.