Ruwaym ibn Ahmad (1)—others say he was Ruwaym ibn Muhammad ibn Ruwaym ibn Yazid (2)—whose kunya was Abu al-Hasan, though some called him Abu al-Husayn and others Abu Muhammad, was one of the eminent Sufi masters. He was well versed in the Quran and its meanings and pursued jurisprudence according to the school of Dawud ibn ‘Ali al-Zahiri (3).
Some related that Ruwaym concealed his love for the world for forty years: he spent forty years in the Sufi path, and when Isma‘il ibn Ishaq (4) was appointed chief judge in Baghdad, he made Ruwaym his agent at the court. Ruwaym then abandoned the Sufi life, donned khazz and qasab (5) as well as dabīqī (6) cloth, rode horses, enjoyed delicacies, and built houses.
Zuhayr ibn Salih, son of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (7), transmitted hadith from his father, and Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Salman (8) al-Najjad narrated from him. Al-Daraqutni said he was reliable and that he died while still a young man.
Abu ‘Ali al-Jubba‘i (9)—his full name is Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, Abu ‘Ali al-Jubba‘i—was the leading figure of the Mu‘tazilah in his day. Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari (10) studied under him and later disavowed his teachings. Al-Jubba‘i produced a lengthy, comprehensive Quranic commentary in which he advanced some singular interpretations; Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari refuted it, saying, “It is as though the Quran had been revealed in the dialect of the people of Jubba.” (11)
Shaykh Abu ‘Ali was born in 235 AH.
(1) Tabaqat al-Sufiyya (pp. 180–184); Hilyat al-Awliya (vol. 10, pp. 296–302); Tarikh Baghdad (vol. 8, pp. 430–432); al-Risalah al-Qushayriyya (pp. 20–21); al-Muntazam (vol. 6, pp. 136–137); Sifat al-Safwa (vol. 2, pp. 442–443); Sirat A‘lam al-Nubala (vol. 14, pp. 234–235); Tabaqat al-Awliya (pp. 228–231); Tabaqat al-Shahrani (vol. 1, p. 116).
(2) In Tarikh Baghdad (vol. 8, p. 430) he is listed as Ibn Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Ruwaim ibn Yazid; the same appears in Sirat A‘lam al-Nubala (vol. 14, p. 235).
(3) His biography has already appeared under the year 270 AH in Wafayat al-A‘yan of this work.
(4) His biography has already appeared under the year 282 AH in Wafayat al-A‘yan of this work.
(5) al-Qasab: garments made of fine, thin linen. See al-Lisan (s.v. qasab).
(6) In some editions it appears as al-Dibqi, a scribal error. The name derives from Dibiq, a village between al-Farma and Tinnis in Egypt, famed for its Dibqiyya textiles. See Mu‘jam al-Buldan (vol. 2, p. 438).
(7) al-Muntazam (vol. 6, p. 137).
(8) In some editions it is rendered Sulayman by mistake; his biography will appear under the year 348 AH in Wafayat al-A‘yan.
(9) Maqalat al-Islamiyyin (p. 522 and following); al-Farq bayn al-Firaq (pp. 167–169); al-Milla wa al-Nahl (vol. 1, pp. 78–85); al-Ansab (vol. 3, p. 176); al-Muntazam (vol. 6, p. 137); Wafayat al-A‘yan (vol. 4, pp. 267–269); Sirat A‘lam al-Nubala (vol. 14, pp. 183–184); Tabaqat al-Mu‘tazila (pp. 80–85); Tabaqat al-Mufassirin li’l-Dawudi (vol. 2, pp. 189–190).
(10) His biography will appear under the year 330 AH in Wafayat al-A‘yan.
(11) As noted in al-Usul and Mu‘jam al-Buldan (vol. 2, p. 97), the term “jubbā” is vocalized with a fatḥa on the jīm, followed by a shadda and a kasra. It denotes a locality on the border of Basra and Ahwaz. The original word is non-Arabic; by analogy the nisba would be jubbāwi, but it was irregularly formed as jubbā’i.