Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (19/123)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

concerning his integrity, chastity, scrupulousness, and single-minded devotion to knowledge, he composed Tārīkh al-Andalus (1).

Yaḥyā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Salamasī said: My father told me, “My eyes have never seen anyone the equal of al-Ḥumaydī in excellence and nobility, the vastness of his learning, and his eagerness to spread knowledge. He was pious and God-fearing, an authority in hadith, in its hidden defects and its transmitters, firmly grounded in the science of critical verification and in uṣūl according to the methodology of the people of hadith, in full conformity with the Book and the Sunnah. His diction was eloquent, and he was deeply versed in literature, Arabic, and the art of epistolary composition…”—until he said:

“Among his writings are: Kitāb Jumal Tārīkh al-Islām; Kitāb al-Dhahab al-Masbūk fī Waʿẓ al-Mulūk; Kitāb al-Tarassul (2); Kitāb Mukhaṭabāt al-Aṣdiqāʾ; Kitāb Ḥifẓ al-Jār; and Kitāb Dhamm al-Namīmah. He also authored dignified poetry devoted to exhortation and proverbial wisdom.”

Al-Silafī said: I asked Abū ʿĀmir al-ʿAbdarī about al-Ḥumaydī, and he replied, “The like of him is never seen, and of men such as he one does not even ask. He combined jurisprudence, hadith, and literature; he met the scholars of al-Andalus and was a ḥāfiẓ.”

I add: Al-Ḥumaydī was often sought out for the transmission of Kitāb al-Shihāb from—

(1) Its full title is Jadhwat al-Muqtabis; the work is in print and widely available. Composed in Baghdad, the author states in the preface that he wrote it entirely from memory. He opens with an extensive historical survey of the governors of al-Andalus from the Muslim conquest up to the period of the Hasanid dynasty, after which he records—alphabetically—the names of Andalusian hadith transmitters, jurists, littérateurs, distinguished scholars, poets, and other noteworthy figures, as well as anyone who visited or left al-Andalus in any field of learning, virtue, leadership, or warfare. Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Dhabbi (d. 599 AH) later appended a continuation to the book, entitling his supplement Bughyat al-Multamis fi Tarikh Rijal al-Andalus. (2) According to Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ, 18/285, and other sources, the title reads Tashil al-Sabil ila ʿIlm al-Tarsil; the terms tarassul and tarseel are identical in meaning.

فِي نَزَاهته وَعِفَّته، وَوَرَعه، وَتشَاغُلِهِ بِالعِلْمِ، صَنّفَ (تَارِيخ الأَنْدَلُس (١)) . وَقَالَ يَحْيَى بنُ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ السَّلَمَاسِي: قَالَ أَبِي: لَمْ تَرَ عَيْنَايَ مِثْلَ الحُمَيْدِيّ فِي فَضْلِهِ وَنُبْلِهِ، وَغَزَارَةِ عِلْمِهِ، وَحِرْصِهِ عَلَى نَشرِ العِلْم، وَكَانَ وَرِعاً تَقِيّاً، إِمَاماً فِي الحَدِيْثِ وَعِلَلِه وَروَاته، مُتَحقِّقاً بِعِلْمِ التَّحقيق وَالأُصُوْل عَلَى مَذْهَب أَصْحَابِ الحَدِيْث بِمُوَافِقَة الكِتَاب وَالسّنَّة، فَصيحَ العِبَارَة، مُتَبَحِّراً فِي علم الأَدب وَالعَرَبِيَّة وَالتَّرَسُّل ... ، إِلَى أَنْ قَالَ: وَلَهُ: كِتَابُ (جُمل تَارِيخ الإِسْلاَم) ، وَكِتَابُ (الذَّهب الْمَسْبُوكِ فِي وَعظِ المُلُوْك) ، وَكِتَاب (التَّرسُّل (٢)) ، وَكِتَاب (مُخَاطبَات الأَصْدِقَاءِ) ، وَكِتَابُ (حِفْظ الجَارِ) ، وَكِتَابُ (ذَمّ النَّمِيمَةِ) ، وَلَهُ شعرٌ رَصينٌ فِي الموَاعِظ وَالأَمْثَال. قَالَ السِّلَفِيّ: سَأَلتُ أَبَا عَامِرٍ العَبْدَرِي عَنِ الحُمَيْدِيّ، فَقَالَ: لاَ يُرَى مِثْلُه قَطُّ، وَعَنْ مِثْلِه لاَ يُسْأَل، جَمَعَ بَيْنَ الفِقْهِ وَالحَدِيْثِ وَالأَدبِ، وَرَأَى عُلَمَاء الأَنْدَلُس، وَكَانَ حَافِظاً. قُلْتُ: كَانَ الحُمَيْدِيّ يُقْصَدُ كَثِيْراً فِي رِوَايَة (كِتَاب الشِّهَاب) عَنْ

(١) واسمه (جذوة المقتبس) وهو مطبوع متداول ألفه في بغداد، وذكر في خطبته أنه كتبه من حفظه، افتتحه بمقدمة تاريخية ضافية عن ولاة الأندلس منذ الفتح حتى عصر الحسنيين، ثم أورد ما يحضره من أسماء رواة الحديث بالاندلس، وأهل الفقه والأدب، وذوي النباهة والشعر، ومن له ذكر منهم، أو ممن دخل إليهم، أو خرج عنهم في معنى من معاني العلم والفضل أو الرياسة والحرب، مرتبا على حروف المعجم، وقد ذيل عليه أحمد ابن يحيى الضبي المتوفي سنة ٥٩٩ هـ، وسماه (بغية الملتمس في تاريخ رجال الأندلس) . (٢) في معجم الأدباء: ١٨ / ٢٨٥، وغيره (تسهيل السبيل إلى علم الترسيل) ، والترسل والترسيل واحد.