Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (19/347)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

and Aḥmad ibn Sālim the Qur’an reciter, Yaḥyā ibn Hibat Allah al-Bazzāz, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Ḥasan al-Faraḍī (expert in the laws of inheritance), Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allah ibn Manṣūr al-Bāqillānī the Qur’an reciter, and others.

Al-Salafī spoke highly of him, saying, “He was a scholar, trustworthy, and whenever I asked him about a transmitter he would dictate from memory, yet people paid him little heed.”

In his Muʿjam al-Safar, al-Salafī relates: “Khumays the ḥāfiẓ narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Bāqī ibn Muḥammad and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAlī al-Anmāṭī informed us; they said: al-Mukhlis informed us …,” whereupon he quoted a hadith.

Al-Salafī then remarked, “Khumays was among those of outstanding literary merit.” (1)

Ibn Nuqtah said: “Al-Ḥawz is a village to the east of Wāsiṭ, and he had proficiency in hadith and literature.”

He was born in Shaʿbān, 442 AH, and he died—also in Shaʿbān—in 510 AH.

Al-Dashtī informed us; Ibn Rawāḥah informed us; al-Salafī narrated to us; Khumays narrated to us a fascicle of his collected benefits.

(1) Among his verses are the following, which were recited on his behalf: “By the sanctity of what bears the heavy weight of your love, and by the noblest thing upon which one may swear—the sanctity of love—it is you. Even if time begrudges me your nearness, that distance is still sweeter to my heart than cool, fresh water. So do not think that when the lover is far away and hidden from the eyes, he is also absent from the heart.” (2) The work also records the answers that Khamis al-Hawzi gave in 500 AH/1107 CE to the questions of Abu Tahir al-Salafi concerning a number of scholars from Wasit and other scholars who had come there—people who were either contemporaries of Khamis al-Hawzi, his teachers, or the teachers of his teachers. This text was published by the Arab Academy of Damascus in 1976, edited by Muta al-Tarabishi.

وَأَحْمَدُ بنُ سَالِمٍ المُقْرِئ، وَيَحْيَى بنُ هِبَةِ اللهِ البَزَّاز، وَعَبْدُ الوَهَّابِ بن حَسَنٍ الفَرَضِيّ، وَأَبُو بَكْرٍ عَبْدُ اللهِ بنُ مَنْصُوْرٍ البَاقِلاَّنِيّ المُقْرِئ، وَآخَرُوْنَ. وَكَانَ السِّلَفِيّ يُثنِي عَلَيْهِ، وَقَالَ: كَانَ عَالِماً، ثِقَةً، يُمْلِي مِنْ حِفْظِهِ كُلَّ مَنْ أَسْأَله عَنْهُ، وَكَانَ لاَ يُؤْبَهُ لَهُ. وَفِي (مُعْجَم السَّفَرِ) لِلسِّلَفِيِّ: حَدَّثَنَا خَمِيْسٌ الحَافِظُ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ البَاقِي بنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، وَعَبْدُ العَزِيْزِ بنُ عَلِيٍّ الأَنْمَاطِيُّ، قَالاَ: أَخْبَرَنَا المُخَلِّص ... ، فَذَكَرَ حَدِيْثاً. ثُمَّ قَالَ السِّلَفِيّ: كَانَ خَمِيْسُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الأَدبِ البَارعِ (١) . قَالَ ابْنُ نُقْطَةَ: وَالحَوزُ: قَرْيَةٌ بِشَرْقِيِّ وَاسِطَ، وَكَانَ لَهُ مَعْرِفَةٌ بِالحَدِيْثِ وَالأَدبِ. وَمَوْلِدُهُ: فِي شَعْبَانَ، سَنَةَ اثْنَتَيْنِ وَأَرْبَعِيْنَ وَأَرْبَعِ مائَةٍ، وَفِي شَعْبَانَ مَاتَ سَنَةَ عَشْرٍ وَخَمْس مائَة. أَخْبَرَنَا الدَّشتِي، أَخْبَرْنَا ابْنُ رَوَاحَة، حَدَّثَنَا السِّلَفِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا خَمِيْسٌ بِجزء مِنْ فَوَائِده.

(١) ومن شعره ما أنشده له: وحرمة ما حملت من ثقل حبكم * وأشرف محلوف به حرمة الحب لانتم وإن ضن الزمان بقربكم * ألذ إلى قلبي من البارد العذب فلا تحسبوا أن المحب إذا نأى * وغاب عن العينين غاب عن القلب (٢) وهو يتضمن ما أجاب به خميس الحوزي عن سؤالات أبي طاهر السلفي في سنة ٥٠٠ هـ عن جماعة من أهل واسط ومن الغرباء القادمين إليها مما عاصر خميسا الحوزي أو كان من شيوخه، أو من شيوخ شيوخه. وهو من مطبوعات المجمع العلمي العربي بدمشق سنة ١٩٧٦ بتحقيق مطاع الطرابيشي.