Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (7/23)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

He narrated from Abū ʿAqīl Zuhrah ibn Maʿbad, Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿah, ʿUqayl ibn Khālid, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Maymūn, Kaʿb ibn ʿAlqamah, and others of their generation, and he was regarded as one of the great repositories of knowledge.

Among those who transmitted from him were Ibn Jurayj—who was older than he—Ibn al-Mubārak, ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muqriʾ, Rawḥ ibn Ṣalāḥ, and a number of others.

Yahyā ibn Maʿīn and others ranked him as reliable. He died in 161 AH.

7 – Abū Ayyūb al-Mūriyānī, Sulaymān ibn Abī Sulaymān al-Khuzāʿī *

Sulaymān ibn Abī Sulaymān al-Khuzāʿī (1), the vizier of the caliph al-Manṣūr, wielded an influence over him that could scarcely be surpassed. He had first served as secretary to the governor Sulaymān ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah, for whom al-Manṣūr acted as deputy in certain districts of Fārs, according to Ibn Khallikān. When al-Manṣūr later seized power, he confiscated the governor’s property and beat him; and once the caliphate came to al-Manṣūr, he had him executed.

Al-Mūriyānī had frequently defended al-Manṣūr in the presence of that governor, so the caliph appointed him vizier. In time, however, al-Manṣūr grew angry with him, accused him of embezzling funds, and nursed a secret grudge against him. Whenever he resolved to move against him, Abū Ayyūb would enter, having rubbed his eyebrows with a supposedly enchanted ointment, so that the common folk soon spoke of “Abū Ayyūb’s oil.”

At last the caliph eliminated him from office, tortured him, and stripped him of an enormous fortune.

(*) Al-Tabari, History, 8/42, 44; al-Wuzara wa-l-Kuttab, 97–140 (within the section “Reports from the Days of al-Mansur”); Yaqut, Muʿjam al-Buldan, 5/221; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil, 5/612; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Aʿyan, 2/410–414; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 6/188; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharat al-Dhahab, 1/236. (1) Wafayat al-Aʿyan, 4/210, records his full name as Abu Ayyub Sulayman b. Abi Sulayman Makhlad—others say Dawud—al-Muryani al-Khuzi.

وَحَدَّثَ عَنْ: أَبِي عَقِيْلٍ زُهْرَةَ بنِ مَعْبَدٍ، وَيَزِيْدَ بنِ أَبِي حَبِيْبٍ، وَجَعْفَرِ بنِ رَبِيْعَةَ، وَعُقَيْلِ بنِ خَالِدٍ، وَعَبْدِ الرَّحِيْمِ بنِ مَيْمُوْنٍ، وَكَعْبِ بنِ عَلْقَمَةَ، وَطَبَقَتِهِم. وَكَانَ مِنْ أَوْعِيَةِ العِلْمِ. حَدَّثَ عَنْهُ: ابْنُ جُرَيْجٍ - وَهُوَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْهُ - وَابْنُ المُبَارَكِ، وَعَبْدُ اللهِ بنُ وَهْبٍ، وَأَبُو عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ المُقْرِئُ، وَرَوْحُ بنُ صَلاَحٍ، وَطَائِفَةٌ. وَثَّقَهُ: يَحْيَى بنُ مَعِيْنٍ، وَغَيْرُهُ. تُوُفِّيَ: سَنَةَ إِحْدَى وَسِتِّيْنَ وَمائَةٍ. ٧ - أَبُو أَيُّوْبَ المُوْرِيَانِيُّ سُلَيْمَانُ بنُ أَبِي سُلَيْمَانَ الخُوْزِيُّ * وَزِيْرُ المَنْصُوْرِ، سُلَيْمَان بنُ أَبِي سُلَيْمَانَ الخُوْزِيُّ (١) ، تَمَكَّنَ مِنَ المَنْصُوْرِ تَمَكُّناً لاَ مَزِيْدَ عَلَيْهِ، وَكَانَ أَوَّلاً كَاتِباً لِلأَمِيْرِ سُلَيْمَانَ بنِ حَبِيْبِ بنِ المُهَلَّبِ بنِ أَبِي صُفْرَةَ، وَكَانَ المَنْصُوْرُ يَنُوبُ عَنْ هَذَا الأَمِيْرِ فِي بَعْضِ كُوَرِ فَارِسٍ - فِيْمَا نَقَلَهُ ابْنُ خَلِّكَانَ - فَصَادَرَه، وَضَرَبَهُ، فَلَمَّا صَارَتِ الخِلاَفَةُ إِلَى المَنْصُوْرِ، قَتَلَهُ. كَانَ المُوْرِيَانِيُّ قَدْ دَافَعَ عِنْدَ سُلَيْمَانَ كَثِيْراً عَنِ المَنْصُوْرِ، فَاسْتَوْزَرَهُ، ثُمَّ غَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ، وَنَسَبَهُ إِلَى أَخْذِ الأَمْوَالِ، وَأَضْمَرَ لَهُ، فَكَانَ كُلَّمَا هَمَّ بِهِ، دَخَلَ أَبُو أَيُّوْبَ وَقَدْ دَهَنَ حَاجِبَيْهِ بِدُهْنٍ مَسْحُوْرٍ، فَصَارَ فِي أَلْسِنَةِ العَامَّةِ: دُهْنُ أَبِي أَيُّوْبَ. ثُمَّ إِنَّهُ اسْتَأْصَلَه وَعَذَّبَهُ، وَأَخَذَ مِنْهُ أَمْوَالاً عَظِيْمَةً.

(*) تاريخ الطبري: ٨ / ٤٢، ٤٤، الوزراء والكتاب: ٩٧ - ١٤٠ ضمن أخبار أيام المنصور، معجم البلدان: ٥ / ٢٢١ الكامل لابن الأثير: ٥ / ٦١٢، وفيات الأعيان: ٢ / ٤١٠ - ٤١٤، تاريخ الإسلام: ٦ / ١٨٨، شذرات الذهب: ١ / ٢٣٦. (١) في الوفيات: ٤ / ٢١٠: أبو أيوب سليمان بن أبي سليمان مخلد، وقيل: داود، المورياني الخوزي.