al-Jaʿd, who fixed his gaze upon him as though displeased. Al-Maʾmūn then took him aside and said, “Shaykh, what kept you from rising?”
He replied, “Out of reverence for the Commander of the Faithful, on account of a ḥadīth we transmit from the Prophet ﷺ.”
Al-Maʾmūn asked, “And what is that ḥadīth?”
He said, “I heard Mubārak ibn Faḍālah relate that he heard al-Ḥasan say that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Whoever likes people to stand up for him, let him prepare his seat in the Fire.’ (1)”
Al-Maʾmūn lowered his head, then raised it and said, “Buy only from this man.” So that very day they purchased from him for thirty thousand dinars.
Al-Baghawī said: He died six days before the end of Rajab in the year 230 AH, having completed ninety-six years of age. (2)
Abū Bakr ibn Khaṭīb Bayt al-Ābār (3) and several others told us: Ibn al-Lattiyy informed us; Abū al-Waqt narrated to us; Abū ʿĀṣim informed us; Ibn Abī Shurayḥ informed us; al-Baghawī informed us; ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd informed us; Shuʿbah informed us, on the authority of Ibn al-Munkadir,
(1) The report is cited in Tarikh Baghdad 11/361 and in Tahdhib al-Kamal, fol. 960. Although the chain there is mursal, the hadith is authenticated through another route: it is related by al-Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 977), Ahmad 4/93 and 100, Abu Dawud (5229), al-Tirmidhi (2753), al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar 2/40, Abu Nuaym in Akhbar Asbahan, and al-Baghawi in the Musnad of Ali ibn al-Jaʿd 7/69/2. All transmit it through Habib ibn al-Shahid, from Abu Majliz Lahik ibn Humayd, from Muʿawiya, who said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Whoever likes people to stand up for him should prepare his seat in the Fire.’” The isnad is sound, as affirmed by the hadith scholar al-Mundhiri.
Al-Munawi comments that the warning concerns anyone who compels others to stand in ranks before him out of pride and ostentation, or who leaves someone standing over his head while he himself remains seated.
Ibn al-Athir explains in Jamiʿ al-Usul 6/537 that people “standing for the amir” means they rise and remain positioned before him and at his sides while he is seated—a practice forbidden because it stems from arrogance and degrades others.
(2) Tarikh Baghdad 11/366; Tahdhib al-Kamal, fol. 960.
(3) Bayt al-Abar—literally “wells,” plural of biʾr—is a village that gives its name to a district of the Ghuta of Damascus, comprising several villages.
Abu Bakr referred to here is Abu Bakr ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn Yusuf ibn Yahya, Shaykh Muhyi al-Din, son of al-Khatib Najib al-Din al-Maqdisi, later known as al-Abari, the mosque-caller (muʾadhdhin). Born in 624 AH/1227 CE, he studied with his father and uncle, and transmitted hadith from Zaynab bint Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn al-Latti, and al-Arbili. He died in Shaʿban 699 AH/1300 CE.
Source: the author’s Mashyakhat, fol. 185/2.