Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (9/312)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

ibn Ziyad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Zuhayr ibn Nashirah al-Lakhmi, the Andalusian, and a close disciple of Malik.

He heard hadith from Muʿawiyah ibn Salih, the judge—whose daughter he married—and from Musa ibn ʿUlayy ibn Rabah, Yahya ibn Ayyub, al-Layth, Malik, Sulayman ibn Bilal, Abu Maʿshar al-Sindi, and a number of others.

Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi first studied jurisprudence under him.

He was an imam, a scholar, scrupulously pious, ascetic, awe-inspiring, and of great standing. Hisham, the ruler of al-Andalus, sought to appoint him as judge, but he refused and held back; nonetheless, Hisham honored him, secluded himself with him, and consulted him.

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Habib said: “We were with Ziyad when a letter arrived for him from one of the kings. He wrote his reply, sealed it, and then said to us, ‘He asked about the two pans of the balance: are they made of gold or of silver? So I wrote back to him: “Part of a person’s excellence in Islam is that he leaves alone what does not concern him.”’ (1)”

He died in 193 AH, though it is also said that he died in 199 AH.

(1) This sentence is taken from a sound (hasan) hadith transmitted by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2318 (Book of Zuhd), on the authority of Abu Hurayrah; by Malik in the Muwatta, 2/903, “Good Character”, chapter “On what has been reported concerning good character”; and by al-Tirmidhi again, no. 2319 (Book of Zuhd), as a mursal report from Ali ibn al-Husayn. It is also related by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat through Zayd ibn Thabit, by Ibn Asakir through al-Harith ibn Hisham, by al-Hakim in his Tarikh through Ali ibn Abi Talib, and by Abu Ahmad al-Hakim in al-Kuna through Abu Dharr. This is the twelfth hadith of al-Nawawi’s Forty. Hafiz Ibn Rajab gives an invaluable exposition of it in Jami al-Ulum wa-l-Hikam, pp. 105 and 111; consult it for details.

بنِ زِيَادِ بنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بنِ زُهَيْرِ بنِ نَاشِرَةَ اللَّخْمِيُّ، الأَنْدَلُسِيُّ، صَاحِبُ مَالِكٍ. سَمِعَ مِنْ: مُعَاوِيَةَ بنِ صَالِحٍ القَاضِي، وَتَزَوَّجَ بِابْنَتِهِ. وَمِنْ: مُوْسَى بنِ عُلَيِّ بنِ رَبَاحٍ، وَيَحْيَى بنِ أَيُّوْبَ، وَاللَّيْثِ، وَمَالِكٍ، وَسُلَيْمَانَ بنِ بِلاَلٍ، وَأَبِي مَعْشَرٍ السِّنْدِيِّ، وَعِدَّةٍ. وَبِهِ تَفَقَّهَ: يَحْيَى بنُ يَحْيَى اللَّيْثِيُّ أَوَّلاً. وَكَانَ إِمَاماً، عَالِماً، وَرِعاً، نَاسِكاً، مَهِيْباً، كَبِيْرَ الشَّأْنِ، أَرَادَهُ هِشَامٌ صَاحِبُ الأَنْدَلُسِ عَلَى القَضَاءِ، فَأَبَى، وَتَعَنَّتَ، وَكَانَ هِشَامٌ يُكْرِمُهُ، وَيَخلُو بِهِ، وَيَسْأَلُه. قَالَ عَبْدُ المَلِكِ بنُ حَبِيْبٍ: كُنَّا عِنْدَ زِيَادٍ، إِذْ جَاءهُ كِتَابٌ مِنْ بَعْضِ المُلُوْكِ، فَكَتَبَ فِيْهِ، وَخَتَمَهُ، ثُمَّ قَالَ لَنَا زِيَادٌ: إِنَّهُ سَأَلَ عَنْ كَفَّتَي المِيْزَانِ: أَمِنْ ذَهَبٍ أَمْ مِنْ فِضَّةٍ؟ فكَتَبتُ إِلَيْهِ: (مِنْ حُسْنِ إِسْلاَمِ المَرْءِ تَرْكُهُ مَا لاَ يَعْنِيْهِ (١)) . مَاتَ: سَنَةَ ثَلاَثٍ وَتِسْعِيْنَ وَمائَةٍ. وَقِيْلَ: مَاتَ سَنَةَ تِسْعٍ وَتِسْعِيْنَ.

(١) اقتباس من حديث حسن رواه الترمذي (٢٣١٨) في الزهد من حديث أبي هريرة، ورواه مالك في الموطأ ٢ / ٩٠٣ في حسن الخلق: باب ما جاء في حسن الخلق، والترمذي (٢٣١٩) في الزهد عن علي بن الحسين مرسلا، ورواه الطبراني في " الأوسط " عن زيد بن ثابت، وابن عساكر عن الحارث بن هشام، والحاكم في " تاريخه " عن علي بن أبي طالب، وأبو أحمد الحاكم في " الكنى " عن أبي ذر، وهو الحديث الثاني عشر من الأربعين النووية. وقد شرحه الحافظ ابن رجب شرحا نفيسا في " جامع العلوم والحكم " ص ١٠٥، ١١١ فراجعه.