And through this same chain the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“Indeed, righteousness (birr) and maintaining family ties (ṣilah) lighten the reckoning on the Day of Resurrection.”
He then recited:
“Those who join together what Allah has commanded to be joined, who fear their Lord, and who dread an evil reckoning.” (Surah al-Raʿd, 13:21) (1)
There are other reports to the same effect.
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, known as al-Imām, oversaw the pilgrimage and the watering of the pilgrims for several years during the caliphate of al-Manṣūr. He died in Baghdad; al-Amīn led the funeral prayer over him in Shawwāl of this year, and he was buried in the ʿAbbāsiyyah cemetery.
Among the senior hadith scholars who died this year were:
• Tamām ibn Ismāʿīl;
• ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd;
• al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ziyād;
• and, according to one report, al-Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān;
• Yūsuf ibn al-Mājishūn;
• Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī (2), the foremost scholar of greater Syria after al-Awzāʿī in the fields of the Prophet’s expeditions, knowledge, and worship; and
• Rābiʿah al-ʿAdawiyyah (3)—Rābiʿah bint Ismāʿīl, the freedwoman of the family of ʿAtīk, of the ʿAdī clan of Basra, the renowned devotee.
“Al-birr (righteousness) and husn al-jār (good neighborliness) build up dwellings and lengthen lifespans.” He said: It was narrated by Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr from Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri as mauqūf (discontinued at the Companion), though some report it marfū‘ (raised to the Prophet). In al-Maqāṣid, quoting Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, he remarks: “It requires scrutiny.” Al-Dhahabi adopted this view, followed by our Shaykh. Al-Najm adds: In al-Daylamī from Ibn ‘Abbas: “Al-birr (righteousness) and ṣilat al-raḥim (kinship ties) prolong lives, build dwellings, enrich wealth, and lighten the Reckoning.” I say: In this wording it is weak, yet Aḥmad narrated it in his Musnad (6/159) from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Ṣilat al-raḥim (kinship ties), husn al-jār (good neighborliness), and husn al-khuluq (good character) build up dwellings and increase lifespans.” This is a sound (ṣaḥīḥ) hadith, and it was also narrated by al-Bāghundī in one of his compilations.
(1) Al-Khaṭīb recorded it in Tārīkh Baghdād (vol. 1, p. 386) and al-‘Ajlūnī cites it in Kashf al-Khafā’. See the previous note.
(2) The author will note his death in AH 188; see p. 200 of manuscript Q. His biography appears in Tabaqāt Ibn Sa‘d (vol. 7, p. 488), Tabaqāt Khalīfa (p. 317), al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (vol. 1, p. 321), al-Tārīkh al-Ṣaghīr (vol. 2, p. 217), al-Ma‘rifa wa’l-Tārīkh (vol. 1, p. 177), Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ (vol. 8, p. 253), Ma‘jam al-Udabā’ (vol. 1, p. 209), al-Mukhtār min Manāqib al-Akhiyār by Ibn al-‘Athīr (vol. 1, p. 269), al-Kāmil by Ibn al-‘Athīr (vol. 6, p. 174), Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Ibn ‘Asākir (vol. 4, p. 113), Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 2, p. 167), Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 8, p. 473 [or 539], entry no. 142), Tabaqāt ‘Ulamā’ al-Ḥadīth (p. 399), al-Wāfī (vol. 6, p. 104), Tabaqāt al-Ḥuffāẓ (p. 117), Shadharāt al-Dhahab (vol. 1, p. 307).
(3) His biography is given in Ṣifat al-Ṣafwa (vol. 4, p. 27), al-Mukhtār min Manāqib al-Akhiyār (vol. 5, p. 253), Wafayāt al-A‘yān (vol. 2, p. 285), and in Siyar …