Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (22/38)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

—one of those absorbed in worldly pursuits, preferring the company of people of that stripe, yet he was trustworthy in ḥadīth and Qurʾānic readings—may Allah pardon him—(1).

Shaykh al-Muwaffaq (2) said: “Al-Kindī was an authority in Qurʾānic recitation and Arabic; the loftiest chains of transmission ended with him. He adopted his school of law for worldly gain (3), but he remained upon the Sunnah. He instructed me to perform the funeral prayer for him and to attend his burial, and I carried that out.”

Al-Qifṭī (4) said: “The last time al-Kindī was in Baghdad was in the year 563 AH (5). He then resided for a period in Aleppo, where he associated with the emir Ḥasan ibn al-Dāyah al-Nūrī (6), its governor. He used to buy khalīʿ—cast-off garments—and trade them in the lands of the Byzantines. Afterwards he settled in Damascus, journeyed with Farrukhshāh to Egypt, and purchased books from its royal libraries when they were sold off …” until he said:

“He was lax in transmitting reports, self-admiring in what he cited and narrated; when challenged, he would respond with unbecoming words. He was not successful with the pen—I have seen some insipid pieces of his (8)—and it became widely said that his creed was unsound.”

I say: We have known nothing but good of him. He loved Allah, His Messenger, and the people of virtue,

(1) May Allah pardon him for keeping the company of worldly people and favouring them. (2) Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (d. 620/1223). (3) That is, he is said to have moved to the Hanafi school. There is, however, no proof that he did so for worldly gain; we have already noted that he had studied that school for several years in his early youth at Hamadhan under Saad al-Razi in Sultan Tughril’s madrasa. It seems, therefore, that he simply judged it worth following. Everyone adopts what he deems correct, and beyond that—in shaa Allah—lies only sound Islam; so what of it? (4) Inba al-ruwat, vol. 2, p. 11. (5) i.e. in the year 505 AH. (6) In Inbaʾ al-Qifti the name is corruptly written “al-Nawawi.” (7) For clothing, al-khaliʿ means “worn-out.” (8) The base manuscript reads nadira (“anecdote”); the correction is taken from al-Dhahabi’s own hand in Tarikh al-Islam. Al-Qifti’s original phrase reads: “…things he mentioned that are not free from insipid wording, faulty meaning, and haste in reporting.”

مِنْ أَبْنَاءِ الدُّنْيَا المُشْتَغِلينَ بِهَا، وَبإِيثَارِ مُجَالَسَةِ أَهْلِهَا، وَكَانَ ثِقَةً فِي الحَدِيْثِ وَالقِرَاءاتِ - سَامَحَهُ اللهُ - (١) . وَقَالَ الشَّيْخُ المُوَفَّقُ (٢) : كَانَ الكِنْدِيُّ إِمَاماً فِي القِرَاءةِ وَالعَرَبِيَّةِ، وَانْتَهَى إِلَيْهِ عُلُوُّ الإِسْنَادِ، وَانْتَقَلَ إِلَى مَذْهَبِهِ لأَجْلِ الدُّنْيَا (٣) ، إِلاَّ أَنَّهُ كَانَ عَلَى السُّنَّةِ، وَصَّى إِلَيَّ بِالصَّلاَةِ عَلَيْهِ، وَالوُقُوْفِ عَلَى دفنِهِ، فَفَعَلتُ. وَقَالَ القِفْطِيُّ (٤) : آخرُ مَا كَانَ الكِنْدِيُّ بِبَغْدَادَ فِي سَنَةِ ثَلاَثٍ وَسِتِّيْنَ (٥) ، وَسَكَنَ حَلَبَ مُدَّةً، وَصَحِبَ بِهَا الأَمِيْرَ حسنَ ابْنَ الدَّايَةِ النُّوْرِيَّ (٦) وَالِيَهَا، وَكَانَ يَبتَاعُ الخليعَ (٧) مِنَ الملبُوسِ، وَيَتَّجِرُ بِهِ إِلَى الرُّوْمِ، ثُمَّ نَزلَ دِمَشْقَ، وَسَافَرَ مَعَ فَرُّوخشَاه إِلَى مِصْرَ، وَاقتنَى مِنْ كُتُبِ خَزَائِنهَا عِنْدَمَا أُبِيعَتْ ... ، إِلَى أَنْ قَالَ: وَكَانَ ليِّناً فِي الرِّوَايَةِ، مُعْجَباً بِنَفْسِهِ فِيمَا يذكرهُ وَيَرْوِيْهِ، وَإِذَا نُوظِرَ جَبَهَ بِالقبيحِ، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ موفَّقَ القلَمِ، رَأَيْتُ لَهُ أَشيَاءَ بَارِدَةً (٨) ، وَاشْتُهِرَ عَنْهُ أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ صَحِيْحَ العقيدَةِ. قُلْتُ: مَا علمْنَا إِلاَّ خَيراً، وَكَانَ يُحبُّ اللهَ وَرَسُوْلَهُ وَأَهْلَ الخَيْرِ،

(١) سامحه الله بسبب مجالسته لاهل الدنيا وإيثارهم. (٢) موفق الدين ابن قدامة المقدسي المتوفى سنة ٦٢٠. (٣) يعني إلى مذهب الحنفية، ولم يثبت أنه انتقل إليه لاجل الدنيا فقد مر أنه درسه في أول شبيبته بهمذان مدة سنين على سعد الرازي بمدرسة السلطان طغرل، فكأنه رآه الاحق بالاتباع، وكل إنسان يرى ما يرى وما وراء ذلك إن شاء الله إلا حسن إسلام، فكان ماذا؟ (٤) إنباه الرواة: ٢ / ١١. (٥) وخمس مئة. (٦) تحرفت في إنباه القفطي إلى: " النووي ". (٧) الخليع من الثياب: الخلق. (٨) في الأصل: " نادرة " والتصحيح من خط الذهبي في " تاريخ الإسلام "، وأصل كلام القفطي: " ... أشياء قد ذكرها لا تخلو من برد في القول وفساد في المعنى واستعجال فيما يخبر به ".