the hadiths of al-Fadl ibn ʿĪsā are among the weakest and least reliable. The leading scholars agree that they cannot be relied upon or cited as evidence, for their weakness is evident, even if he did not deliberately lie. Indeed, the hadiths of many jurists cannot be cited as evidence because of their poor memory, not because they deliberately lied. The scholars unanimously regarded this al-Raqāshī as weak, as the leading authorities in this field know.

Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī went so far as to say: “It would have been better for him had he been born mute.” Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna said: “He is of no account.” Imam Ahmad and al-Nasāʾī said: “He is weak.” Yahyā ibn Maʿīn said: “An evil man.” Abū Hātim and Abū Zurʿa said: “His hadith are objectionable.”

The same applies to the reports he cited. He included good reports with good chains of transmission, such as the saying he related from Shaykh Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī:

“When a servant is free of longing for pleasures, he is content.”

He transmitted this through his teacher, Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī, with the latter’s chain of transmission. Shaykh Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān devoted considerable attention to collecting the sayings and accounts of these shaykhs. Among his works arranged by individual were Tabaqāt al-Sūfiyya (Generations of the Sufis), Zuhhād al-Salaf (The Ascetics of the Early Generations), and others. Among his works arranged by topic were Maqāmāt al-Awliyāʾ (The Stations of Allah’s Friends) and others. His writings contain all three categories.

It is also related from Shaykh Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān that he said: “I heard al-Nasrābādī say: ‘Whoever wishes to attain the station of contentment should adhere to that in which Allah has placed His pleasure.’”

These are excellent words, for whoever adheres to what pleases Allah by obeying