Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (12/61)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

so the governor put him to the test, but he would not answer. The governor, who thought well of him, said, “Just say it between you and me.”
He replied, “A hundred thousand people follow my lead, yet they do not understand the issue.”

Al-Rabīʿ added: The governor had already been instructed to send him off to Baghdad in chains weighing forty ratls of iron.

Al-Rabīʿ said: Al-Muzanī and Ḥarmalah were among those who informed against him.

Abū Jaʿfar al-Tirmidhī said: A trustworthy source told me, quoting al-Buwayṭī, that he said, “All people are acquitted of my blood except three: Ḥarmalah, al-Muzanī, and another.”

I say: Come to your senses—woe to you! Ask your Lord for well-being. The way contemporaries speak against one another is astonishing; even leading scholars fell into it. May Allah have mercy on them all.

Al-Rabīʿ said: Abū Yaʿqūb al-Buwayṭī wrote to me:
“Make yourself patient for the sake of the strangers and refine (1) your character toward the people of your circle, for I constantly heard al-Shāfiʿī often say and cite:
I humble myself before them so that they may honor it,
Yet a soul that will not humble itself shall never be honored. (2)”

Imām al-Buwayṭī died, still in his shackles, imprisoned in Iraq, in 231 AH.

I have a report in the Musnad of Abū Muḥammad al-Dārimī: “Abū Yaʿqūb al-Buwayṭī narrated to us; al-Shāfiʿī narrated to us (3)…,” and he mentioned the ḥadith.

(1) Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 4, p. 302, with the wording: *wa azunnu-ka khalaqa-ka li-ahli halaqati-ka* (“I suspect that He fashioned your character for the people of your study circle”). (2) Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 14, p. 302. The same couplet appears in Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 7, p. 64, with the wording: *uhinu lahum nafsi li-akramaha bihim / wa lan tukrama al-nafsu allati la tuhinuhā* (“I humble myself before them so as to ennoble it through them; a soul that will not humble itself can never be ennobled”). The report together with the couplet is also found in Tabaqat al-Shafiʿiyya, vol. 2, p. 165. (3) Sunan al-Darimi, vol. 1, p. 360; complete chain: narrated by Malik ibn Anas, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ata ibn Yasar, from Ibn Abbas, who said: “The sun was eclipsed, so the Messenger of Allah …”. The isnad is sound.

فَامْتَحَنَهُ فَلَمْ يُجِبْ، وَكَانَ الوَالِي حَسَنَ الرَّأْيِ فِيْهِ، فَقَالَ لَهُ: قُلْ فِيْمَا بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ. قَالَ: إِنَّهُ يَقْتَدِي بِي مائَةُ أَلْفٍ، وَلاَ يَدْرُوْنَ المَعْنَى. قَالَ: وَقَدْ كَانَ أُمِرَ أَنْ يُحْمَلَ إِلَى بَغْدَادَ فِي أَرْبَعِيْنَ رِطْلَ حَديدٍ. قَالَ الرَّبِيْعُ: وَكَانَ المُزَنِيُّ مِمَّنْ سَعَى بِهِ، وَحَرْمَلَةُ. قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ التِّرْمِذِيُّ: فَحَدَّثَنِي الثِّقَةُ، عَنِ البُوَيْطِيِّ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: بَرِئَ النَّاسُ مِنْ دَمِي إِلاَّ ثَلاَثَةً: حَرْمَلَةَ وَالمُزَنِيَّ وَآخَرَ. قُلْتُ: اسْتَفِقْ، وَيْحَكَ! وَسَلْ رَبَّكَ العَافِيَةَ، فَكَلاَمُ الأَقْرَانِ بَعْضُهُم فِي بَعْضٍ أَمْرٌ عَجِيْبٌ، وَقَعَ فِيْهِ سَادَةٌ - فَرَحِمَ اللهُ الجَمِيْعَ -. قَالَ الرَّبِيْعُ: كَتَبَ إِلَيَّ أَبُو يَعْقُوْبَ البُوَيْطِيُّ: أَنِ اصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ لِلْغُرَبَاءِ، وَحَسِّنْ (١) خُلُقَكَ لأَهْلِ حَلْقَتِكَ، فَإِنِّي لَمْ أَزَلْ أَسَمَعُ الشَّافِعِيَّ يَقُوْلُ كَثِيْراً وَيَتَمَثَّلُ: أُهِيْنُ لَهُم نَفْسِي لِكَي يُكْرِمُونَهَا ... وَلَنْ تُكْرَمَ النَّفْسُ الَّتِي لاَ تُهِيْنُهَا (٢) مَاتَ الإِمَامُ البُوَيْطِيُّ: فِي قَيْدِهِ، مَسْجُوْناً بِالعِرَاقِ، فِي سَنَةِ إِحْدَى وَثَلاَثِيْنَ وَمائَتَيْنِ. عِنْدِي حَدِيْثٌ فِي (مُسْندِ أَبِي مُحَمَّدٍ الدَّارِمِيِّ) : حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو يَعْقُوْبَ البُوَيْطِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا الشَّافِعِيُّ (٣) ... ، فَذَكَرَهُ.

(١) في " تاريخ بغداد ": ٤ / ٣٠٢: وأظنك خلقك لاهل حلقتك. (٢) البيت في " تاريخ بغداد " ١٤ / ٣٠٢ وهو في " وفيات الأعيان " ٧ / ٦٤، بلفظ: أهين لهم نفسي لاكرمها بهم * ولن تكرم النفس التي لا تهينها والخبر مع البيت في " طبقات الشافعية " ٢ / ١٦٥. (٣) هو في " سنن الدارمي " ١ / ٣٦٠، وتمام سنده: حدثنا مالك بن أنس عن زيد بن أسلم عن عطاء بن يسار عن ابن عباس، قال: خسفت الشمس فصلى رسول الله ... وإسناده صحيح.