Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (18/510)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Naḍr al-Fāmī said: “Shaykh al-Islam Abū Ismāʿīl was the pride of his age, the thread that fastens the necklace of meanings, the very image of gracious acceptance in every branch of virtue and every form of excellence—among them the championing of the religion and the Sunnah—without flattery and without currying favor with any sultan or vizier. For that he continually tasted the spite of the envious; time after time they sought his life and plotted his destruction in various ways, yet Allah protected him from their harm and made their designs the strongest means for the elevation of his rank.(1)

I say: Many people benefited from him, while others remained unaware, for a faction of philosophizing Sufis and monists bow to his words in Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn, claim them as their own, and allege that he supports their views.

Not so! He was an atharī (staunch traditionalist), passionately committed to affirming the scriptural proofs for the divine attributes and vehemently opposed to kalām (speculative theology) and its partisans.(2) True, in his Manāzil (3) there are allusions to maḥw (obliteration) and fanāʾ (annihilation); but by that fanāʾ he intended only the loss of one’s awareness of anything siwā (other than Allah), not the actual elimination of created things outside the mind. If only he had never written on that subject! How sweet was the Sufism of the Companions and their Followers: they never plunged into such perilous notions and misgivings. Rather, they worshipped Allah, humbled themselves before Him, relied upon Him; they trembled in awe of Him, strove against His enemies, hastened to obedience, and turned away from idle talk. Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path.

He also compiled a single-volume biography of Imām Aḥmad; we heard it from Abū Ḥafṣ ibn al-Qawwās, who had authorization for it from al-Kindī. Al-Karūkhī related it to us, reporting from the compiler himself.

Ibn Ṭāhir said: “Our companions told me that the sultan Alp Arslan arrived in Herat…"

(1) Same source as the previous note. (2) A marginal annotation, written in a different hand, reads: “His words contain an explicit affirmation of ittihad (mystical union), especially in the three verses with which he concluded the book; the man has deviated from the Prophetic sunnah on both counts—may Allah pardon him.” (3) I.e., his book Manazil al-Sa’irīn (Stations of the Wayfarers).

قَالَ الحَافِظُ أَبُو النَّضْرِ الفَامِيّ: كَانَ شَيْخُ الإِسْلاَمِ أَبُو إِسْمَاعِيْلَ بِكْر الزَّمَان، وَوَاسطَةَ عِقد المَعَانِي، وَصُوْرَةَ الإِقبال فِي فُنُوْن الفضَائِل وَأَنْوَاعِ المَحَاسِن، مِنْهَا نُصْرَةُ الدِّيْنِ وَالسُّنَّة، مِنْ غَيْرِ مُدَاهنَة وَلاَ مرَاقبَةٍ لسُلْطَان وَلاَ وَزِيْر، وَقَدْ قَاسَى بِذَلِكَ قصدَ الحُسَّاد فِي كُلِّ وَقْتٍ، وَسعُوا فِي رُوحه مِرَاراً، وَعمدُوا إِلَى إِهَلاَكه أَطوَاراً، فَوْقَاهُ اللهُ شَرَّهُم، وَجَعَلَ قَصدهمْ أَقوَى سَبَبٍ لارتفَاع شَأْنه (١) . قُلْتُ: قَدِ انْتفع بِهِ خَلْقٌ، وَجَهِلَ آخرُوْنَ، فَإِنَّ طَائِفَةً مِنْ صُوْفَة الفلسفَة وَالاَتحَاد يَخضعُوْنَ لَكَلاَمه فِي (مَنَازِل السَّائِرِيْنَ) ، وَيَنْتَحِلُونه، وَيَزْعُمُوْنَ أَنَّهُ مُوَافِقهم. كلاَ، بَلْ هُوَ رَجُلٌ أَثرِيٌّ، لَهِجٌ بِإِثْبَات نُصوص الصِّفَات، مُنَافِرٌ لِلْكَلاَمِ وَأَهْلِهِ جِدّاً (٢) ، وَفِي (مَنَازِله (٣)) إِشَارَاتٌ إِلَى الْمَحْو وَالفنَاء، وَإِنَّمَا مُرَادُه بِذَلِكَ الفَنَاءِ هُوَ الغَيْبَةُ عَنْ شُهُوْد السِّوَى، وَلَمْ يُرِدْ مَحْوَ السِّوَى فِي الخَارِج، وَيَا ليتَه لاَ صَنَّف ذَلِكَ، فَمَا أَحلَى تَصُوفَ الصَّحَابَة وَالتَّابِعِيْنَ! مَا خَاضُوا فِي هَذِهِ الخَطَرَاتِ وَالوسَاوِسِ، بَلْ عبدُوا اللهَ، وَذَلُّوا لَهُ وَتَوَكَّلُوا عَلَيْهِ، وَهم مِنْ خَشيته مُشفقُوْنَ، وَلأَعدَائِهِ مُجَاهِدُوْنَ، وَفِي الطَّاعَة مُسَارعُوْنَ، وَعَنِ اللَّغو مُعرضون، وَاللهُ يَهدي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَى صرَاط مُسْتَقِيْم. وَقَدْ جمع هَذَا سيرَةً لِلإِمَامِ أَحْمَدَ فِي مُجَلَّد، سمِعنَاهَا مِنْ أَبِي حَفْصٍ ابْنِ القوَّاس بِإِجَازته مِنَ الكِنْدِيّ، أَخْبَرَنَا الكَرُوخِيّ، أَخْبَرَنَا المُؤَلّف. قَالَ ابْنُ طَاهِر: حَكَى لِي أَصْحَابُنَا أَنَّ السُّلْطَان أَلب آرسلاَن قَدِمَ هَرَاةَ

(١) المصدر السابق. (٢) جاء في الحاشية بخط مغاير ما نصه: بل في كلامه صريح الاتحاد، لا سيما في الابيات الثلاثة التي ختم بها الكتاب، والرجل منحرف عن السنة في الطرفين عفا الله عنه. (٣) إي كتابه: " منازل السائرين ".