Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (16/123)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

the prompter kept saying to him, “Would you like to begin dictating?” and he would answer, “Not until al-Ṭabarānī arrives.”

After about an hour Abū al-Qāsim appeared, girded with one wrapper and cloaked in another, carrying several fascicles. Roughly twenty strangers from various lands trailed behind him so that he might impart ḥadith to them.

Abū Bakr ibn Mardawayh records in his History: When al-Ṭabarānī made his second entry into Isfahan in 310 AH, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Rustum, the governor, welcomed him, embraced him, lodged him in the city, treated him generously, and assigned him a fixed stipend from the tax office, which he continued to receive until his death.

He gave his son Muḥammad the kunya Abū Dharr, the same kunya borne by his own father Aḥmad.

Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Manda said: I heard our trustworthy shaykhs say that Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī dictated ʿIkrimah’s ḥadith on the Beatific Vision (1). Ibn Ṭābāṭabā al-ʿAlawī protested, picked up the inkwell in front of him and hurled it at him. When al-Ṭabarānī saw this, he confronted him with some words that I have abridged, and in the course of his speech he said, “How can you keep silent and occupy yourselves with what you are doing so that no one even mentions what happened on the Day of al-Ḥarrah?”

When Ibn Ṭābāṭabā heard that, he rose, apologized to him, and regretted his action.

Ibn Manda added: It has reached me that al-Ṭabarānī had a pleasant presence and agreeable conversation. One day Abū Ṭāhir ibn Luqā read before him the ḥadith, “He used to wash the pebbles of his jamarāt” (2), but mis-read it as, “He castrated his donkey.” Al-Ṭabarānī asked, “What did he mean by that, Abū Ṭāhir?” He replied, “Humility,” but the man was rather simple-minded.

On another day al-Ṭabarānī said to him, “You are my son.” He replied:

(1) Reported by Ahmad in al-Musnad, 1:285 and 290, through two chains going back to Hammad b. Salama, from Qatadah, from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stated, “I saw my Lord.” All the transmitters are reliable. Al-Haythami cites it in Majmaʿ al-zawaʾid, 1:78, observing: “Ahmad transmitted it; its narrators are those of the two Sahihs.” The report is understood as a vision in a dream and not as part of the israʾ, as explained in Ibn al-Qayyim’s Zad al-maʿad, 3:37-38 (critical edition). (2) I know of no marfuʿ (prophetic) version of this report. In Ibn Abi Shaybah’s Musannaf, 4:27, Wakiʿ relates—from Zamʿah, from Ibn Tawus, from his father—that he would wash the pebbles used for the jamarat (stoning rite).

المُسْتَمْلِي يَقُوْلُ لَهُ: إِنْ رَأَيْتَ أَنْ تُملِي؟ فَيَقُوْلُ: حَتَّى يحضرَ الطَّبَرَانِيُّ. قَالَ: فَأَقبلَ أَبُو القَاسِمِ بَعْدَ سَاعَةٍ متَّزِراً بِإِزَارٍ مُرتدياً بآخرَ، وَمَعَهُ أَجْزَاءٌ، وَقَدْ تبعَهُ نَحْو مِنْ عِشْرِيْنَ نَفْساً مِنَ الغرباءِ مِنْ بلدَانٍ شَتَّى حَتَّى يُفيدهُم الحَدِيْث. قَالَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ بنُ مَرْدَوَيْه فِي (تَارِيْخِهِ) :لَمَّا قَدِمَ الطَّبَرَانِيُّ قَدْمَتَهُ الثَّانيةَ سَنَةَ عَشْرٍ وَثَلاَثِ مائَةٍ إِلَى أَصْبَهَانَ قبَّلَهُ أَبُو عَلِيٍّ أَحْمَدُ بنُ مُحَمَّدِ بنِ رُسْتُمَ العَاملُ، وضمَّهُ إِلَيْهِ، وَأَنزلَهُ المدينَةَ، وَأَحسنَ معونَتَهُ، وَجَعَلَ لَهُ معلوماً مِنْ دَارِ الخَرَاجِ فَكَانَ يَقْبِضُهُ إِلَى أَنْ مَاتَ. وَقَدْ كنَّى وَلدَهُ مُحَمَّداً أَبا ذرٍّ، وَهِيَ كنيَةُ وَالدِهِ أَحْمَدَ. قَالَ أَبُو زَكَرِيَّا يَحْيَى بنُ مَنْدَةَ: سَمِعْتُ مشَايخنَا مِمَّنْ يُعتمدُ عَلَيْهِم يَقُوْلُوْنَ: أَملَى أَبُو القَاسِمِ الطَّبَرَانِيُّ حَدِيْثَ عِكرمةَ فِي الرُّؤْيَةِ (١) ، فَأَنكرَ عَلَيْهِ ابْنُ طَباطبا العَلَوِيُّ، وَرمَاهُ بدَاوَةٍ كَانَتْ بَيْنَ يَديهِ، فَلَمَّا رَأَى الطَّبَرَانِيُّ ذَلِكَ وَاجَهَهُ بكلامٍ اختصرْتُهُ، وَقَالَ فِي أَثنَاءِ كلاَمِهِ: مَا تسكتُوْنَ وَتشتغلُوْنَ بِمَا أَنْتُم فِيْهِ حَتَّى لاَ يُذْكَرَ مَا جَرَى يَوْمَ الحَرَّةِ. فَلَمَّا سَمِعَ ذَلِكَ ابْنُ طَباطبا، قَامَ وَاعْتَذَرَ إِلَيْهِ وَنَدِمَ. ثُمَّ قَالَ ابْنُ مَنْدَةَ: وَبلغنِي أَنَّ الطَّبَرَانِيَّ كَانَ حَسَنَ المشَاهدَةِ، طيِّبَ المُحَاضَرَةِ، قرأَ عَلَيْهِ يَوْماً أَبُو طَاهِرٍ بنُ لُوقَا حَدِيْثَ: كَانَ يغسلُ حَصَى جِمَارِهِ (٢) فصحَّفَهُ، وَقَالَ: خُصِي حمَارِهِ، فَقَالَ: مَا أَرَادَ بِذَلِكَ يَا أَبا طَاهرٍ. قَالَ: التَّواضعَ، وَكَانَ هَذَا كَالمُغَفَّلِ. قَالَ لَهُ الطَّبَرَانِيُّ يَوْماً: أَنْتَ وَلدِي، قَالَ:

(١) أخرجه أحمد ١ / ٢٨٥ و٢٩٠ من طريقين عن حماد بن سلمة، عن قتادة، عن عكرمة، عن ابن عباس قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: " رأيت ربي ﵎ " ورجاله ثقات، وذكره في " المجمع " ١ / ٧٨، وقال: رواه أحمد، ورجاله رجال الصحيح. وهو محمول على رؤيته في المنام وفي غير الاسراء كما هو مبين في " زاد المعاد " ٣ / ٣٧، ٣٨ بتحقيقنا. (٢) لا أعلمه في المرفوع، وفي " مصنف ابن أبي شيبة " ٤ / ٢٧: حدثنا وكيع، عن زمعة، عن ابن طاووس، عن أبيه أنه كان يغسل حصى الجمار.