Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (18/507)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

I add: He has also declared, in his celebrated Nuniyyah—whose opening verses run:

“Gray hairs have settled upon my forelock, showing me
how much of life has ebbed while time kept me its debtor. (1)

I am Hanbali for as long as I live; and if I should die,
that is the charge I leave to my brethren. (2)

His religion is my religion, and my religion is his;
never was I a tag-along who juggles two faiths. (3)”

Ibn Tahir went on: “I heard Abu Ismaʿil say: ‘I once set out to visit the Sufi master Abu al-Hasan al-Kharaqani, but then decided to turn back. It occurred to me instead to travel to al-Rayy and meet the hadith scholar Abu Hatim ibn Khamush. He was the leading champion of the Sunnah in al-Rayy. When Sultan Mahmud ibn Subuktigin entered the city and executed the Batini sect, he forbade everyone to preach except Abu Hatim. Anyone entering al-Rayy had to present his creed to him; if he approved, he gave the man permission to address the people, and if not, he barred him.’

‘As I drew near al-Rayy,’ he continued, ‘a local man was traveling with me. He asked about my legal school, and I replied, “Hanbali.” He exclaimed, “A school I have never heard of—this is an innovation!” He seized my cloak and said, “I will not leave you until we go to Shaykh Abu Hatim.”

I said, “As you wish. (4)” So he took me to the shaykh’s house, and he was granted that…’

= As for Qadi Iyad, he writes in the biography of Imam Malik b. Anas, vol. 8, no. 10: “Malik, the Elect, is surely the best of them, * Imam of the House of guidance, revelation, and sunan.” As for Abu Hanifa, someone once said about his school: “May our Lord’s curses, as countless as grains of sand, * fall upon whoever rejects the view of Abu Hanifa.” See, then, what every disciple says in praise of his own imam! What is required of a Muslim, however, is to be loyal to all of them, to acknowledge their merits, to deny them any claim to infallibility, and never to turn his imitation of one of them into partisanship or an excessive love that deviates from what is right. (1) Lisan al-Arab: arha ʿala nafsihi means “he treated himself gently and calmed himself”; the imperative is arhi ʿala nafsika, i.e. “be gentle with yourself.” (2) Tabaqat al-Hanabila reads: “to my brothers.” (3) The last two of the three cited verses appear in Tabaqat al-Hanabila 2/248. (4) In Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 3/1187 the word is erroneously written hiyra (with the letter ḥaʾ).

قُلْتُ: وَقَدْ قَالَ فِي قَصِيدَته النونِيَّة الَّتِي أَوَّلهَا: نَزَلَ المَشِيْبُ بِلَمَّتِي فَأَرَانِي ... نُقْصَانَ دَهْرٍ طَالَما أَرْهَانِي (١) أَنَا حَنْبَلِيٌّ مَا حَييتُ وَإِنْ أَمُتْ ... فَوَصِيَّتِي ذَاكُمْ إِلَى الإِخْوَانِ (٢) إِذْ دِيْنُهُ دِيْنِي وَدِيْنِي دِيْنُهُ ... مَا كُنْتُ إِمَّعَةً لَهُ دِيْنَانِ (٣) قَالَ ابْنُ طَاهِر: وَسَمِعْتُ أَبَا إِسْمَاعِيْلَ يَقُوْلُ: قصدتُ أَبَا الحَسَنِ الخَرَقَانِيّ الصُّوْفِيّ، ثُمَّ عزمتُ عَلَى الرُّجُوْع، فَوَقَعَ فِي نَفْسِي أَنْ أَقصدَ أَبَا حَاتِمٍ بنَ خَاموش الحَافِظَ بِالرَّيّ، وَأَلتقيه - وَكَانَ مُقَدَّم أَهْلِ السّنَّة بِالرَّيّ، وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ السُّلْطَان مَحْمُوْدَ بنَ سُبُكْتِكِينَ لَمَّا دَخَلَ الرَّيّ، وَقُتِلَ بِهَا البَاطِنِيَّة، منعَ الكُلَّ مِنَ الْوَعْظ غَيْرَ أَبِي حَاتِمٍ، وَكَانَ مَنْ دَخَلَ الرَّيّ يَعرضُ عَلَيْهِ اعْتِقَادَه، فَإِنَّ رضيَه، أَذن لَهُ فِي الكَلاَم عَلَى النَّاسِ، وَإِلاَّ فَمنعه - قَالَ: فَلَمَّا قَرُبْتُ مِنَ الرَّيّ؛ كَانَ مَعِي رَجُلٌ فِي الطَّرِيْق مِنْ أَهْلهَا، فَسَأَلنِي عَنْ مَذْهَبِي، فَقُلْتُ: حَنْبَلِيّ، فَقَالَ: مَذْهَبٌ مَا سَمِعْتُ بِهِ! وَهَذِهِ بِدعَة. وَأَخَذَ بِثَوْبِي، وَقَالَ: لاَ أَفَارقُك إِلَى الشَّيْخ أَبِي حَاتِمٍ. فَقُلْتُ: خِيْرَة (٤) ، فَذَهَبَ بِي إِلَى دَارِهِ، وَكَانَ لَهُ ذَلِكَ

= وأما القاضي عياض، فيقول في الامام مالك بن أنس كما في ترجمته، في الجزء الثامن رقم (١٠) : ومالك المرتضى لا شك أفضلهم * إمام دار الهدى والوحي والسنن وأما أبو حنيفة فقد قال بعضهم في مذهبه: فلعنة ربنا أعداد رمل * على من رد قول أبي حنيفة فانظر ما يقوله كل تابع لامام من الأئمة في حق إمامه! ! والحق الذي يجب أن يكون عليه المسلم أن يوالي الجميع، ويشيد بفضلهم، ولا يعتقد العصمة فيهم، ولا يتخذ من تقليده لواحد منهم وسيلة للتعصب، أو الإفراط في الحب الذي ينحرف به عن الصواب. (١) قال في " اللسان ": أرهى على نفسه: رفق بها وسكنها، والامر منه: أره على نفسك، أي أرفق بها. (٢) في " طبقات الحنابلة ": إلى إخواني. (٣) البيتان الاخيران من هذه الثلاثة في " طبقات الحنابلة " ٢ / ٢٤٨. (٤) تصحفت في " تذكرة الحفاظ " ٣ / ١١٨٧ إلى " حيرة " بالحاء المهملة.