Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (10/58)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

al-Azdiyy, who said: “I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—when he was asked about al-Shāfiʿī—reply:
‘Allah has indeed bestowed a great favour on us through him. We had studied the discourse of those people and copied their books until he came to us. Once we heard his words, we realised that he was more knowledgeable than anyone else. We sat with him day and night, and we never saw from him anything but the very best.’

Someone then said to him, ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh, Yaḥyā and Abū ʿUbayd were not pleased with him,’—hinting at the charge of Shiʿite leanings which they had attributed to him.

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal replied, ‘We do not know what they are talking about. By Allah, we saw nothing from him except good.’ (1)

I say: Whoever claims that al-Shāfiʿī inclined to Shiʿism is a calumniator who has no idea what he is saying.

Al-Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Istarābādhī said: Hamzah ibn ʿAlī al-Jawharī informed us; al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān narrated to us:
‘We performed the pilgrimage with al-Shāfiʿī, and he would never climb a rise or descend a valley without weeping and reciting:

O mounted traveller, pause at al-Muḥaṣṣab in Mina,
and call to the one who sits at our Khayf and to the one moving on.
At dawn, when the pilgrims surge toward Mina
like the swelling flood of the Euphrates in spate,
If loving Muhammad’s Household be dubbed “rejection,”
then let mankind and jinn alike bear witness that I am a rejecter.’ (2)

= Ibn Ahmad ibn al-Nadr al-Azdi was declared weak by al-Daraqutni, as reported in Tarikh al-Khatib, 11/316, and in Mizanu’l-muallif. Al-Bayhaqi also mentioned him in Manaqib, 2/259, citing his own teacher al-Hakim Abu Abd Allah, who related from Abu Ahmad Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Marwazi, the author of al-Kuna, from Ali ibn Ahmad ibn al-Nadr al-Azdi. (1) Al-Bayhaqi preserves an especially precious continuation of the report: Ahmad then said to those around him, “Know, may Allah have mercy on you, that when a scholar is granted some portion of knowledge by Allah which his peers and contemporaries are denied, they envy him and attribute to him what he does not possess. What a reprehensible trait this is among scholars.” (2) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, 2/71; al-Razi, Manaqib, 51; Ibn Asakir, Tarikh, 14/407; al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi iyya, 1/299; Ibn Abd al-Barr, al-Intiqa, 90–91; Yaqut, Mujam al-udaba, 17/320; Ibn al-Abi Shama, Uyoon al-tawarikh, 7/180.

الأَزْدِيَّ، سَمِعْتُ أَحْمَدَ بنَ حَنْبَلٍ - وَسُئِلَ عَنِ الشَّافِعِيِّ - فَقَالَ: لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللهُ عَلَيْنَا بِهِ، لَقَدْ كُنَّا تَعَلَّمْنَا كَلاَمَ القَوْمِ، وَكَتَبْنَا كُتُبَهُمْ، حَتَّى قَدِمَ عَلَيْنَا، فَلَمَّا سَمِعْنَا كَلاَمَهُ، عَلِمْنَا أنَّهُ أَعْلَمُ مِنْ غَيْرِهِ، وَقَدْ جَالَسْنَاهُ الأَيَّامَ وَاللَّيَالِيَ، فَمَا رَأَيْنَا مِنْهُ إِلاَّ كُلَّ خَيْرٍ. فَقِيْلَ لَهُ: يَا أَبَا عَبْدِ اللهِ، كَانَ يَحْيَى وَأَبُو عُبَيْدٍ لاَ يَرْضَيَانِهِ - يُشِيْرُ إِلَى التَّشَيُّعِ، وَأنَّهُمَا نَسَبَاهُ إِلَى ذَلِكَ -. فَقَالَ أَحْمَدُ بنُ حَنْبَلٍ: مَا نَدْرِي مَا يَقُوْلاَنِ، وَاللهِ مَا رَأَيْنَا مِنْهُ إِلاَّ خَيْراً (١) . قُلْتُ: مَنْ زَعَمَ أَنَّ الشَّافِعِيَّ يَتَشَيَّعُ، فَهُوَ مُفْتَرٍ، لاَ يَدْرِي مَا يَقُوْلُ. قَدْ قَالَ الزُّبَيْرُ بنُ عَبْدِ الوَاحِدِ الإِسْتِرَابَاذِيُّ: أَخْبَرَنَا حَمْزَةُ بنُ عَلِيٍّ الجَوْهَرِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا الرَّبِيْعُ بنُ سُلَيْمَانَ، قَالَ: حَجَجْنَا مَعَ الشَّافِعِيِّ، فَمَا ارْتَقَى شَرَفاً، وَلاَ هَبَطَ وَادِياً إِلاَّ وَهُوَ يَبْكِي، وَيُنْشِدُ: يَا رَاكِباً قِفْ بِالمُحَصَّبِ مِنْ مِنَى ... وَاهْتِفْ بِقَاعِدِ خَيْفِنَا وَالنَّاهِضِ سَحَراً إِذَا فَاضَ الحَجِيْجُ إِلَى مِنَىً ... فَيْضاً كَمُلْتَطِمِ الفُرَاتِ الفَائِضِ إِنْ كَانَ رَفْضاً حُبُّ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ... فَلْيَشْهَدِ الثَّقَلانِ أَنِّي رَافِضِي (٢)

= ابن أحمد بن النضر الأزدي ضعفه الدارقطني كما قال في " تاريخ الخطيب " ١١ / ٣١٦، و" ميزان المؤلف ". وأورده البيهقي في " المناقب " ٢ / ٢٥٩ من طريق شيخه الحاكم أبي عبد الله، عن أبي أحمد علي بن عبد الله المروزي صاحب " الكنى "، عن علي بن أحمد بن النضر الأزدي. (١) وللخبر تتمة غاية في النفاسة عند البيهقي، وهي: ثم قال أحمد لمن حوله: اعلموا رحمكم الله تعالى أن الرجل من أهل العلم إذا منحه الله شيئا من العلم، وحرمه قرناؤه وأشكاله، حسدوه فرموه بما ليس فيه، وبئست الخصلة في أهل العلم. (٢) " مناقب " البيهقي ٢ / ٧١، و" مناقب " الرازي: ٥١، و" تاريخ ابن عساكر " ١٤ / ٤٠٧، و" طبقات الشافعية " للسبكي ١ / ٢٩٩، و" الانتقاء ": ٩٠، ٩١، و" معجم الأدباء " ١٧ / ٣٢٠، و" عيون التواريخ " ٧ / ١٨٠.