Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (11/303)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

and he said: the Throne has bearers. Whoever claims that our articulation of the Quran and our recitation of it are created—while the Quran itself is the speech of Allah—is a Jahmi; and whoever does not declare him an unbeliever is the same as he. Allah spoke to Moses with direct speech, from His very mouth.

He then cited other items of this same disreputable mold—matters that, by Allah, the Imām never uttered; may Allah curse the one who forged them.

Among the most repugnant of them is his statement: “Whoever alleges that he rejects taqlid and follows no one at all in his religion has uttered the words of a sinful enemy of Allah.” Consider, then, the ignorance of certain hadith-transmitters: how they narrate this fantasy and keep silent about it (1).

al-Darqutni said: Jaʿfar al-Khuldī (2) told us; al-ʿAbbās ibn Yūsuf informed us; my uncle Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to me; my father narrated to me: “Rizq Allah ibn al-Kalwadhānī invited me, and set before us a great quantity of food. Present were Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, and Abū Khaythama. A dish of lauzīnuj was brought in on which he had spent eighty dirhams.

Abū Khaythama remarked, ‘This is extravagance.’

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal replied, ‘If the entire world were no more than a single mouthful, and a Muslim then took it and placed it in his brother’s mouth, he would not be extravagant.’

Yahyā said to him, ‘You have spoken the truth.’

This report is unacceptable.

Hanbal ibn Isḥāq said: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allah about the hadiths transmitted from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—concerning: ‘Allah descends to the lowest heaven of the world (3).’ He said, ‘We believe in them and affirm

(1) May Allah have mercy on the author and reward him well for his service to Islam. As his student Salah al-Safadi notes (2/163), he was free from the rigidity often associated with muhaddithun (hadith specialists) and the dull literalism of mere transmitters. Instead, he was a jurist thoroughly familiar with people’s opinions, the doctrines of the early imams, and the views of later theologians. Hardly a hadith passed before him—if its chain showed weakness or its wording contained an anomaly—without his annotating it and clarifying the issue in a balanced, scholarly manner. (2) Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad ibn Nasir ibn al-Qasim al-Khawwas al-Khalidi, Abu Muhammad, was a Sufi shaykh known for his spiritual states, rigorous ascetic practices, and manifest miracles. He died in Ramadan 348 AH. For his biography and lineage, see al-Samani, al-Ansab, 5:161–162. (3) Reported by al-Bukhari, 3:25, Book of Night Prayer, Chapter: Supplication and Prayer in the Last Part of the Night; and by Muslim, no. 758, Book of the Prayer of the Traveller, Chapter: Encouragement to Supplicate and Remember Allah in the Last Part of the Night, through the chain of Malik.

أَنْ قَالَ: وَللعرشِ حَمَلَةٌ، وَمَنْ زَعَمَ أَنَّ ألفَاظَنَا بِالقُرْآنِ، وَتلاَوتَنَا لَهُ مَخْلُوْقَةٌ، وَالقُرْآنَ كَلاَمُ اللهِ، فَهُوَ جَهْمِيٌّ، وَمَنْ لَمْ يكفِّرْه، فَهُوَ مِثْلُهُ، وَكَلَّمَ اللهُ مُوْسَى تكليماً مِنْ فِيْهِ. إِلَى أَنْ ذَكرَ أَشْيَاءَ مِنْ هَذَا الأُنموذجِ المُنْكَرِ، وَالأَشْيَاءَ الَّتِي -وَاللهِ- مَا قَالَهَا الإِمَامُ، فَقَاتلَ اللهُ وَاضعَهَا. وَمِنْ أسمجِ مَا فِيْهَا قَوْلُه: وَمَنْ زَعَمَ أَنَّهُ لاَ يَرَى التَّقليدَ، وَلاَ يُقلِّدُ دينَه أَحَداً، فَهَذَا قَوْلُ فَاسقٍ عدوٍّ للهِ، فَانْظُرْ إِلَى جهلِ المُحَدِّثِيْنَ كَيْفَ يروُونَ هَذِهِ الخُرَافَةَ، وَيسكتُوْنَ عَنْهَا (١) . الدَّارَقُطْنِيُّ: حَدَّثَنَا جَعْفَرٌ الخُلْدِيُّ (٢) ، أَخْبَرَنَا العَبَّاسُ بنُ يُوْسُفَ، حَدَّثَنِي عمِّي مُحَمَّدُ بنُ إِسْمَاعِيْلَ بنِ العَلاَءِ، حَدَّثَنِي أَبِي، قَالَ: دعَانِي رِزْقُ اللهِ بنُ الكَلْوَذَانِيِّ، فَقَدَّمَ إِلَيْنَا طعَاماً كَثِيْراً، وَفِينَا أَحْمَدُ، وَابْنُ مَعِيْنٍ، وَأَبُو خَيْثَمَةَ، فَقُدِّمَتْ لَوْزِينَجُ أنفقَ عَلَيْهَا ثَمَانِيْنَ دِرْهَماً. فَقَالَ أَبُو خَيْثَمَةَ: هَذَا إِسرَافٌ. فَقَالَ أَحْمَدُ بنُ حَنْبَلٍ: لَوْ أَنَّ الدُّنْيَا فِي مِقْدَارِ لقمَةٍ، ثُمَّ أخذهَا مُسْلِمٌ، فَوَضَعهَا فِي فمِ أَخِيْهِ لمَا كَانَ مُسْرِفاً. فَقَالَ لَهُ يَحْيَى: صدقتَ. وَهَذِهِ حِكَايَةٌ مُنْكَرَةٌ. قَالَ حَنْبَلُ بنُ إِسْحَاقَ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللهِ، عَنِ الأَحَادِيْثِ الَّتِي تُرْوَى عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ: (إِنَّ اللهَ يَنْزِلُ إِلَى سَمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا (٣)) . فَقَالَ: نُؤْمِنُ بِهَا، وَنُصدِّقُ

(١) رحم الله المؤلف، وجزاه عن الإسلام خيرا، فهو كما وصفه تلميذه الصلاح الصفدي ٢ / ١٦٣ بأنه لم يكن عنده جمود المحدثين، ولاكودنة النقلة، بل هو فقيه، له دربة بأقوال الناس، ومذاهب الأئمة من السلف، وأرباب المقالات فهو لا يكاد يمر على حديث أو خبر في سنده ضعف أو في متنه نكارة حتى يعلق عليه، ويبين ما فيه بأسلوب علمي متزن. (٢) هو جعفر بن محمد بن نصير بن القاسم الخواص الخلدي، أبو محمد، أحد المشايخ الصوفية، صاحب الأحوال والمجاهدات والكرامات الظاهرة. توفي في رمضان ٣٤٨ هـ. انظر ترجمته ونسبته في " الأنساب " للسمعاني ٥ / ١٦١، ١٦٢. (٣) أخرجه البخاري ٣ / ٢٥ في التهجد: باب الدعاء والصلاة من آخر الليل، ومسلم (٧٥٨) في صلاة المسافرين: باب الترغيب في الدعاء والذكر في آخر الليل، من طريق مالك، =