With this same chain, Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī told us, from Qatādah, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, who said, “When a person raises his head from the final prostration and then breaks his state of purity, his prayer is already complete.” (1)

Abū Jaʿfar also related to us, from Qatādah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The people who will face the gravest predicament on the Day of Resurrection are those who plunged most deeply into falsehood.” (2)

128 – Fath ibn Muḥammad ibn Wishāḥ al-Azdī al-Mawṣilī

Fath ibn Muḥammad ibn Wishāḥ al-Azdī of Mosul, the ascetic of his era, was counted among the righteous.

He narrated from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, and was himself narrated from by al-Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṭufāwī, and others.

He possessed notable spiritual states and stations, with a firm footing in piety. Al-Muʿāfā said, “I have never seen anyone more intelligent than he.”

It is reported that he would fire up a kiln after spending the day catching fish, but when one fish once delayed him from the congregational prayer, he abandoned fishing altogether.

Al-Muʿāfā sent him one thousand dirhams; he returned the sum and accepted only a single dirham, despite his family’s poverty.

It is also said that he never slept except while sitting, and that he was given to weeping, fearful of Allah, and devoted to night prayer.

The governor of Mosul once came to visit him. His son met the governor and said, “He is asleep.” Fath cried out, “I am not asleep—what have I to do with you?” The governor said, “Here are ten thousand; take them,” but he refused.

He died in 170 AH; some say in 165 AH. This is the famous Fath the Elder of Mosul.