Biography of Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak

112 - Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak ibn Wadh al-Hanthali * (peace be upon him)

The imam, the shaykh of Islam, the scholar of his time, the amir of the devout of his time,

Abu Abd ar-Rahman al-Hanthali, their freedman, the Turk, then of Merv, the hafiz, the warrior of the faith, one of the great men; and his mother was Khwarezmian.

The birth and the pursuit of knowledge of Ibn al-Mubarak

His birth: in the year one hundred and eighteen.

He sought knowledge at the age of twenty.

The first shaykh he met was ar-Rabi' ibn Anas al-Khurasani: he managed his way and entered into his record, and heard from him about forty hadiths; then he traveled in the year one hundred and forty-one, took from the remnants of the Successors, traveled much and roamed, until dying in pursuit of knowledge, on expedition, in trade, in spending on the brothers in Allah, and in equipping them to go with him on the pilgrimage.

He heard from: Sulayman at-Taymi, and 'Asim al-Ahwal, and Humayd at-Tawil, and Hisham ibn 'Urwah, and al-Jurayri, and Ismail ibn Abi Khalid, and al-A'mash, and Burayd ibn Abdallah ibn Abi Burdah, and Khalid al-Hadhdha', and Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari, and Abdallah ibn 'Awn, and Musa ibn 'Uqbah, and Ajlah al-Kindi, and Husayn al-Mu'allim, and Handhalah as-Sadusi, and Haywah ibn Shurayh al-Missiyyi, and Kahmas, and al-Awza'i, and Abu Hanifah, and Ibn Jurayj, and Ma'mar, and ath-Thawri, and Shu'bah, and Ibn Abi Dhi'b, and Yunus al-Ayli, and the two Hammads, and Malik, and al-Layth, and Ibn Lahi'a,

and Hushaym, and Ismail ibn 'Ayyash, and Ibn 'Uyaynah, and Baqiyyah ibn al-Walid, and many more people.

And he composed numerous useful compilations.

Those who transmitted from him: Ma'mar, and ath-Thawri, and Abu Ishaq al-Fazari, and a group of his seniors, and Baqiyyah, and Ibn Wahb, and Ibn Mahdi, and a group of his peers, and Abu Dawud, and Abd ar-Razzaq ibn Hammam, and al-Qattan, and 'Affan, and Ibn Ma'in, and Hibban ibn Musa, and Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, and Yahya ibn Adam, and Abu Usamah, and Abu Salamah al-Minqari, and Muslim ibn Ibrahim, and 'Abdan, and al-Hasan ibn ar-Rabi' al-Burhani, and Ahmad ibn Mani', and Ali ibn Hujr, and al-Hasan ibn 'Isa ibn Masrajis, and al-Husayn ibn al-Hasan al-Marwazi, and al-Hasan ibn 'Arafa, and Ibrahim ibn Mudajshir, and Ya'qub ad-Dawraqi, and multitudes whose counting would be an excuse and whose inventory would be burdensome.

And his hadith is proof by consensus, and it is in the Musnads and the Usul.

And his hadith comes to us elevated, and between him and me, through the elevated license, are six persons.

Ahmad ibn Salama and a group informed us, from Abd al-Mun'im ibn Kulayb; Ibn Bayan informed us, Ibn Makhlad informed us, Ismail as-Saffar informed us; Ibn 'Arafa narrated to us, Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us, from Yunus ibn Yazid al-Ayli, from az-Zuhri, from Sahl ibn Sa'd as-Sa'idi, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, who said: the license (the water of the water) was, in the first Islam, a dispensation, then it was forbidden.

At-Tirmidhi brought it out, from Ahmad ibn Mani', from Ibn al-Mubarak, and its narrators

are reliable, but it has a cause: Ibn Shihab did not hear it from Sahl.

Ibn al-Mubarak traveled to: the two sanctuaries, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, the Jazirah, Khurasan, and he transmitted hadiths in various places.

Qa'nab ibn al-Muharrib said: Ibn al-Mubarak is the freedman of Banu Abd Shams, of Tamim.

And al-Bukhari said: his affiliation goes to Banu Handhalah.

And al-Abbas ibn Mu'sab said, in the History of Merv: the mother of Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak was Khwarezmian, and his father Turkish; he was a slave of a merchant of Hamadhan, of Banu Handhalah; when Abdallah came to Hamadhan, he submitted himself to his parents and venerated them.

The accounts of Ibn al-Mubarak

Abu al-Ghana'im Muslim ibn Muhammad al-Qaysi and others informed us, by their own hands; Abu al-Yumn al-Kindi informed us, Abu Mansur ash-Shaybani informed us; Abu Bakr al-Khatib narrated to us: Abu Abdallah Ahmad ibn Ahmad as-Saybi narrated to me: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hammad ibn Sufyan narrated to me in Kufa: Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'id narrated to me: Abdallah ibn Ibrahim ibn Qutaybah narrated to me: Muhammad ibn Abd al-'Aziz ibn Abi Rizmah narrated to me: I heard my father say: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:

Abu Hanifah looked at my father and said: your mother

returned to you the deposit, and he was the most similar of people to Abdallah.

Abu Hafs al-Fallas and Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Ibn al-Mubarak was born in the year one hundred and eighteen.

As for al-Hakim, he transmitted from Abu Ahmad al-Hammadi: I heard Muhammad ibn Musa al-Bashani say: I heard 'Abdan ibn 'Uthman say:

I heard Abdallah say: I was born in the year one hundred and nineteen.

And al-Fasawi said: Bishr ibn Abi az-Zahar narrated to us, who said:

Ibn al-Mubarak said: Abdallah ibn Idris talked with me about the Sunnah, and I said: the Persians can scarcely retain it; but I remember that I wore black when I was small, when Abu Muslim came out: he had taken all the people, small and great, to wearing black.

Nu'aym ibn Hammad said: Ibn al-Mubarak would sit much in his house; it was said to him: do you not feel lonely?

He said: how could I feel lonely, when I am with the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and his Companions?!

Ahmad ibn Sinan al-Qattan said: it reached me that Ibn al-Mubarak came to Hammad ibn Zayd, looked at him, and his bearing amazed him, and he said: where are you from?

He said: from Khurasan, from Merv.

He said: do you know a man called Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak?

He said: yes.

He said: what has become of him?

He said: it is the one speaking to you.

He said: so he greeted him and welcomed him.

And Ismail al-Khatibi said: it reached me about Ibn al-Mubarak:

that he was sitting with Hammad ibn Zayd; the people of hadith said to Hammad: ask Abu Abd ar-Rahman to narrate to us.

He said: O Abu Abd ar-Rahman! Narrate to them, for they have asked me.

He said: glory be to Allah! O Abu Ismail, would I narrate while you are present?

He said: I make you swear to do it.

He said: take it: Abu Ismail Hammad ibn Zayd narrated to us: and he did not narrate a single word without attributing it to Hammad.

Abu al-Abbas ibn Masmuq said: Ibn Humayd narrated to us, who said:

a man sneezed beside Ibn al-Mubarak, and Ibn al-Mubarak said to him: what does a man say when he sneezes?

He said: praise be to Allah.

He said to him: may Allah have mercy on you.

The praise of the scholars for Ibn al-Mubarak

Ahmad al-'Ijli said: Ibn al-Mubarak is reliable, firm in hadith, a virtuous man, a speaker of poetry, and he was a gatherer of knowledge.

al-Abbas ibn Mu'sab said: Abdallah gathered hadith, jurisprudence, the Arabic language, the battle days of the people, courage, generosity, trade, and love in separation.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Farra' said: Khurasan has not produced the like of these three: Ibn al-Mubarak, an-Nadr ibn Shumayl and Yahya ibn Yahya.

'Uthman ad-Darimi: I heard Nu'aym ibn Hammad: I heard Yahya ibn Adam say:

when I sought the finest of questions and did not find it in the books of Ibn al-Mubarak, I grieved over it.

Ali ibn Zayd al-Fara'idi: Ali ibn Sadaqah narrated to us: I heard Shu'ayb ibn Harb, who said:

Ibn al-Mubarak would not meet a man without Ibn al-Mubarak being the better of him.

He said: and I heard Abu Usamah say: Ibn al-Mubarak, among the transmitters of hadith, is like the commander of the believers among the people.

'Umar ibn Mudrik: al-Qasim ibn Abd ar-Rahman narrated to us, Ash'ath ibn Shu'bah al-Massisi narrated to us, who said:

ar-Rashid came to al-Raqqah, and the people filed past behind Ibn al-Mubarak, sandals broke, dust rose; a freedwoman of the commander of the believers leaned out from a tower of the wooden palace and said: what is this?

They said: a scholar from Khurasan has arrived.

She said: this, by Allah, is sovereignty, and not the sovereignty of Harun, who gathers the people only with police and auxiliaries.

'Uthman ibn Khurrazadh said: Muhammad ibn Hayyan narrated to us, Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd al-Jahdami narrated to us, who said:

al-Awza'i said: have you seen Ibn al-Mubarak?

I said: no.

He said: had you seen him, your eye would have been refreshed.

And Abd al-'Aziz ibn Abi Rizmah said: Shu'bah said to me: never has there come to us from your region anyone like Ibn al-Mubarak.

ad-Daghuli: Abd al-Majid ibn Ibrahim narrated to us, Wahb ibn Zam'ah narrated to us, Mu'adh ibn Khalid narrated to us, who said:

I asked Ismail ibn 'Ayyash about Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak, and Ismail said: on the face of the earth there is none like Ibn al-Mubarak, and I do not know that Allah created a quality among the qualities of good without having placed it in Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak.

And my companions narrated to me that they traveled with him from Egypt to Makkah, and he fed them

on khabisa, while he himself fasted by day.

al-Hakim said: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn 'Umar informed me: Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir narrated to us: 'Umar ibn Sa'id at-Ta'i narrated to me: 'Umar ibn Hafs as-Sufi narrated to me in Manbij, who said:

Ibn al-Mubarak set out from Baghdad toward Massisah, and the sufis traveled with him;

he said to them: you have souls that are ashamed to be spent upon: O boy! Bring the basin.

He threw over it a handkerchief, then said: let each man of you throw under the handkerchief what he has.

One man threw in ten dirhams, another twenty; he spent on them until Massisah, then said: here is a land of departure: let us divide what remains; he began to give each man twenty dinars, and he was told: O Abu Abd ar-Rahman, you have given only twenty dirhams.

He said: and what does it matter to you that Allah bless the spending of the warrior of the faith?

al-Khatib said: 'Umar ibn Ibrahim and Abu Muhammad al-Khallal informed us; they said:

Ismail ibn Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Katib narrated to us: Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Qari' narrated to us: I heard Abdallah ibn Ahmad ad-Dawraqi: I heard Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq: I heard my father, who said:

when the time of the pilgrimage came, the brothers of Ibn al-Mubarak among the people of Merv would gather to him and say: we are going with you.

He said: bring your travel expenses.

He took their expenses, put them in a chest, locked it, then hired for them, brought them out of Merv toward Baghdad, never ceasing to spend on them and to feed them with the finest foods and the finest sweets; then he brought them out of Baghdad in the most beautiful clothing and the most perfect manly virtue, until they arrived at the city of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; he said to each one: what have your families instructed you to buy for them of the curiosities of Madinah?

He said: this and that. Then

he brought them out toward Makkah; when they had completed their pilgrimage, he said to each one: what have your families instructed you to buy for them of the goods of Makkah?

He said: this and that.

He bought for them, then brought them out of Makkah, never ceasing to spend on them until they arrived at Merv; he whitewashed their houses and their doors; after three days he prepared for them a feast and clothed them; when they had eaten and rejoiced, he called for the chest, opened it, and handed each man his purse, with his name on it.

My father said: his servant informed me that on his last journey he traveled for a year, presented to the people twenty-five tables of faludhaj, and it has reached us that he said to al-Fudayl: without you and your companions I would not have engaged in trade.

And he spent on the poor, each year, one hundred thousand dirhams.

Ali ibn Kashram: Salamah ibn Sulayman narrated to me, who said:

a man came to Ibn al-Mubarak and asked him to settle a debt upon him; he wrote for him to one of his agents.

When the letter reached him, the agent said to him: how much is the debt you asked him to settle?

He said: seven hundred dirhams.

But Abdallah had written to him to give him seven thousand dirhams; the agent returned the letter to him and said: the prices have vanished.

Abdallah wrote to him: if the prices have vanished, the lives have vanished too: so grant him what my pen has preceded.

Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir said: Ya'qub ibn Ishaq narrated to me, Muhammad ibn 'Isa narrated to me, who said:

Ibn al-Mubarak often came to Tarsus, and camped at al-Raqqah in a caravanserai; a young man would come to him, attend to his needs and hear hadith from him; Abdallah arrived once and did not see him; he departed in haste; when

he returned, he asked after the young man, and it was said: imprisoned for ten thousand dirhams.

He asked for the debtor, weighed out for him ten thousand, and made him swear to inform no one as long as he lived; the man was released and Ibn al-Mubarak departed; the young man caught up with him at two stages from al-Raqqah and said: O young man, where were you? I did not see you!

He said: O Abu Abd ar-Rahman, I was imprisoned for a debt.

He said: and how were you released?

He said: a man came and settled my debt, and I do not know who.

He said: then thank Allah. And the man only knew after the death of Abdallah.

Abu al-Abbas as-Sirraj: I heard Ibrahim ibn Bishr: Ali ibn al-Fudayl narrated to me: I heard my father say to Ibn al-Mubarak:

you command us renunciation, little and sufficiency, and we see you coming with merchandise: how is that?

He said: O Abu Ali, I only do this to preserve my face, honor my honor, and to be helped by it in obeying my Lord.

He said: O Ibn al-Mubarak, how beautiful that is, if it is so.

al-Fath ibn Sukhrif: Abbas ibn Yazid narrated to us, Hibban ibn Musa narrated to us, who said:

it was reproached to Ibn al-Mubarak what he scattered of wealth in lands other than his land; he said: I know a people who have merit and truthfulness: they have sought hadith and sought it well, through the need of the people toward them; they are in need: if we leave them, their knowledge is lost; and if we help them, they spread knowledge for the community of Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: I know of nothing, after prophethood, better than the spreading of knowledge.

Abbas ad-Duri: I heard Yahya say:

I have never seen anyone transmit for Allah except six persons, among them Ibn al-Mubarak.

Abu Hatim: Ibn at-Tabba' narrated to us, from Ibn Mahdi, who said: the imams are four:

Sufyan, Malik, Hammad ibn Zayd and Ibn al-Mubarak.

And it is transmitted from Ibn Mahdi, who said:

I have never seen a man more learned in hadith than Sufyan, nor of better understanding than Malik, nor frailer than Shu'bah, nor more sincere for the community than Ibn al-Mubarak.

And Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna said: I heard Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mahdi say:

my two eyes never saw the like of four: I have never seen one who memorized hadith more than ath-Thawri, nor one frailer than Shu'bah, nor one more intelligent than Malik, nor one more sincere for the community than Ibn al-Mubarak.

Abu Nashit: I heard Nu'aym ibn Hammad:

I said to Ibn Mahdi: which of the two is better, Ibn al-Mubarak or Sufyan ath-Thawri?

He said: Ibn al-Mubarak.

I said: the people contradict you.

He said: they have not experienced: I have never seen the like of Ibn al-Mubarak.

Nuh ibn Habib: Ibn Mahdi narrated to us, who said: Ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us, and he was unique in his kind.

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhriz: I heard Yahya ibn Ma'in say:

I heard Ibn Mahdi say: Ibn al-Mubarak is more knowledgeable than Sufyan ath-Thawri.

And Muhammad ibn A'yan said: I heard Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and the people of hadith had gathered to him, and they said to him: you have kept company with ath-Thawri, heard from him and from Ibn al-Mubarak: which of the two is the stronger?

He said: if Sufyan exhausted himself to be, for one day, like Abdallah, he would not attain it.

Ibn Abi al-'Awwam: my father narrated to us: I heard Shu'ayb ibn Harb say:

Sufyan said: all my life I desire to be for one year like Ibn al-Mubarak, and I cannot be it, not even three days.

Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir: Ibrahim ibn Bahr ad-Dimashqi narrated to us, 'Imran ibn Musa at-Tarsusi narrated to us, who said:

a man questioned Sufyan, and he said: where are you from?

He said: from the people of the East.

He said: do you not have among you the most knowledgeable of the people of the East?

He said: and who is he?

He said: Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak.

He said: and he is the most knowledgeable of the people of the East?!

He said: yes, and of the people of the West.

Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir said: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Qurashi narrated to me: Ahmad ibn 'Abdah narrated to us, who said:

al-Fudayl, Sufyan and the seniors were sitting in the Sacred Mosque; Ibn al-Mubarak appeared from the slope, and Sufyan said: this is the man of the people of the East.

al-Fudayl said: the man of the people of the East, of the West and of what is between them.

And Ali ibn Zayd said: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Jumayl narrated to me, who said:

We were around Ibn al-Mubarak in Makkah and we said to him: O scholar of the East, inform us, and Sufyan was near us, listening; he said: woe to you! The scholar of the East, of the West and of what is between them.

And Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Quhzadh said: I heard Abu al-Wazir say: I came to Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah, and it was said to him: this is the executor of the will of Abdallah.

He said: may Allah have mercy on Abdallah: he has not left in Khurasan anyone like him.

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari: Abu 'Ismah narrated to us, who said:

I was present with Sufyan and al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad; Sufyan said to al-Fudayl: O Abu Ali! What a man has departed!

He meant: Ibn al-Mubarak.

He said: O Abu Muhammad! And has there remained after Ibn al-Mubarak anyone of whom to be ashamed?!

Muhammad ibn Makhlad: Abd as-Samad ibn Humayd narrated to us: I heard Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abd al-Hakam say:

when Ibn al-Mubarak died, it reached me that Harun, the commander of the believers, said: the master of the scholars has died.

al-Musayyib ibn Wadh: I heard Abu Ishaq al-Fazari say: Ibn al-Mubarak is the imam of all the Muslims.

I say: this absolute statement of Abu Ishaq aims at the Muslims of his time.

al-Musayyib said: and I saw Abu Ishaq sitting before Ibn al-Mubarak, questioning him.

Abu Wahb Ahmad ibn Rafi', copyist of Suwayd ibn Nasr, said: I heard Ali ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim say:

Ibn 'Uyaynah said: I examined the matter of the Companions and the matter of Abdallah: I saw for them over him no superiority, except by their companionship of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and their expedition with him.

Mahmud ibn Walan said: I heard 'Ammar ibn al-Hasan praise Ibn al-Mubarak and say:

"When Abdallah leaves Merv by night ... it is his light and his beauty that leave"

"When the great tales are mentioned in every city ... they are its stars, and you are its crescent"

Hashim ibn Marthad: 'Uthman ibn Talut narrated to us: I heard Ali ibn al-Madini say:

knowledge reached two men: Ibn al-Mubarak, then Ibn Ma'in.

And Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn al-Jarud said: Ali ibn al-Madini said:

Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak is vaster in knowledge than Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mahdi and Yahya ibn Adam.

Abu Salamah at-Tubudhaki said: I heard Sallam ibn Abi Mu'ti' say: Ibn al-Mubarak did not leave in the East anyone like him.

Ibrahim ibn Abdallah ibn al-Junayd: I heard Yahya ibn Ma'in, and they mentioned Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak; a man said: he was not a memorizer.

Ibn Ma'in said: Abdallah, may Allah have mercy on him, was skillful, established, reliable, and he was knowledgeable, authentic in hadith, and his books from which he transmitted numbered twenty thousand, or twenty-one thousand.

Abu Ma'shar Hamdawayh ibn al-Khattab al-Bukhari said: I heard Nasr ibn al-Mughirah al-Bukhari: I heard Ibrahim ibn Shammakh say:

I saw Ibn al-Mubarak the most versed in fiqh of the people, al-Fudayl the most devout of the people, and Waki' ibn al-Jarrah the most memorizing of the people.

Ahmad ibn Abi Khaythamah: I heard Yahya ibn Ma'in say, and he mentioned the companions of Sufyan, and said:

five: Ibn al-Mubarak, and he began with him, and Waki', and Yahya, and Ibn Mahdi, and Abu Nu'aym.

Ja'far ibn Abi 'Uthman said: I said to Ibn Ma'in: do al-Qattan and Waki' differ?

He said: the word is the word of Yahya.

He said: and if Abd ar-Rahman and Yahya differ?

He said: there would need to be someone who decides between the two.

I said: and Abu Nu'aym and Abd ar-Rahman?

He said: there would need to be someone who decides between the two.

I said: al-Ashja'i?

He said: al-Ashja'i has died, and his hadith died with him.

I said: Ibn al-Mubarak?

He said: that one is the commander of the believers in hadith.

Mahmud ibn Walan: I heard Muhammad ibn Musa: I heard Ibrahim ibn Musa say:

I was with Yahya ibn Ma'in; a man came to him and said: who is the more established from Ma'mar, Ibn al-Mubarak or Abd ar-Razzaq?

Yahya was leaning on his elbow: he sat up and said: Ibn al-Mubarak was better than Abd ar-Razzaq, and of the people of his city: Abdallah was a master among the lords of the Muslims.

And Ibrahim al-Harbi was asked: if the companions of Ma'mar differ?

He said: the word is the word of Ibn al-Mubarak.

ad-Daghuli: Yahya ibn Zakariyya narrated to us, Muhammad ibn an-Nadr ibn Musawir narrated to us, who said:

my father said: I said to Ibn al-Mubarak: do you memorize hadith?

His color changed, and he said: I have never memorized a hadith: I take the book, look at it, and what I like clings to my heart.

al-Hasan ibn 'Isa said: Sakhr informed me, a friend of Ibn al-Mubarak, who said:

we were boys in the schools; I passed by, I and Ibn al-Mubarak, and a man was preaching; he gave a long sermon; when he finished, Ibn al-Mubarak said to me: I have memorized it.

A man of the people heard him and said: repeat it.

He repeated it, having memorized it.

The sayings and wisdom of Ibn al-Mubarak

Nu'aym ibn Hammad said: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak, who said:

My father said to me: if I find your books, I will surely burn them.

I said: I have none of that to reproach myself with, and they are in my chest.

And Abu Wahb Muhammad ibn Muzahim said: astonishing is the conduct of one who hears the hadith of Ibn al-Mubarak from the mouth of a man, then goes to that man to report it to him.

Ibn Kharash said: Ibn al-Mubarak is from Merv, he is reliable (thiqa).

al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abbad said: I heard Suwayd ibn Sa'id say:

I saw Ibn al-Mubarak in Makkah: he came to Zamzam, drank a draught, turned toward the qiblah and said: O Allah, Ibn Abi al-Mawwal narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jabir:

from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who said: the water of Zamzam avails for that for which it is drunk; and I, I drink it against the thirst of the Day of Resurrection. Then he drank it.

Such is the statement of Ibn Abi al-Mawwal, and the correct version is: Ibn al-Mu'ammal, Abdallah the Meccan; the hadith is known through him, but it is among the weak ones; he however transmits it from Abu az-Zubayr, from Jabir. In any case, the account of Ibn al-Mubarak is singular and objectionable: no one other than Suwayd has transmitted it. al-Mayanaji transmitted it from Ibn 'Abbad.

Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab said: I heard al-Khalil Abu Muhammad say:

When Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak set out toward Makkah, he would say:

"The weariness of life and the fear of Allah have made me go out ... I who sell my soul for what has no price"

"I have weighed what endures against its equivalent ... among what does not endure: by Allah, they never balanced"

Nu'aym ibn Hammad said: when Ibn al-Mubarak read the chapter of the softening of hearts (ar-riqaq), he became like a slaughtered bull or a slaughtered cow, weeping; none of us dared to ask him anything without his driving him away.

Abu Hatim ar-Razi said: 'Abdah ibn Sulayman al-Marwazi narrated to us, who said:

We were a band on expedition with Ibn al-Mubarak in the lands of the Byzantines, and we met the enemy. When the two ranks clashed, a man came out of the enemy ranks and called to single combat; a man came out to him, he killed him; then another, he killed him; then another, he killed him. Then he called again to single combat; a man came out to him, he chased him a while, then struck him and killed him. The people rushed toward him; I looked: it was Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak, covering his face with his turban. I took the edge of his turban and pulled it: it was indeed him. He said: and you

O Abu 'Amr, are you of those who cover us with reproach?!

al-'Abbas ibn Mu'sab said: one of our companions narrated to me, who said:

I heard Abu Wahb say: Ibn al-Mubarak passed by a blind man, who said to him: I ask you to invoke Allah for me, so that Allah may restore my sight.

He invoked Allah, and He restored his sight, while I was watching.

And Abu Hassan 'Isa ibn Abdallah al-Basri said: I heard al-Hasan ibn 'Arafa say:

Ibn al-Mubarak said to me: I had borrowed a reed pen (qalam) in the land of Syria, resolved to return it; when I came back to Merv, I looked: it was still with me; I set out again toward Syria until I returned it to its owner.

Aswad ibn Salim said: Ibn al-Mubarak was an imam taken as a model; he was among the firmest of the people in the Sunnah; if you see a man who disparages Ibn al-Mubarak, suspect his Islam.

Abu al-Ma'ali Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad the Egyptian informed us of it; al-Fath ibn Abdallah ibn Muhammad the secretary informed us in Baghdad; Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn 'Umar the qadi informed us, as did Abu Ghalib Muhammad ibn Ali ibn ad-Dayya and Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad at-Tara'ifi.

And Yahya ibn Abi Mansur informed us, as did Ali ibn Ahmad, by his own hand, and they said:

'Umar ibn Tabarzad informed us; Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik the muqri' informed us; Yahya informed us of it; 'Umar ibn Muhammad informed us; Yahya ibn Ali ibn at-Tarrakh informed us, as did Abd al-Khaliq ibn Abd as-Samad and Abu Ghalib ibn al-Banna'.

And Abu al-Murhaf al-Miqdad ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Qaysi informed us; Ibn Muhammad ar-Razzaz informed us.

And Musallam ibn Muhammad ibn 'Allan informed us in his book, among other things, that Dawud ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Wakil informed them of them; they said:

Abu al-Fadl al-Urmawi informed us, and the Fakhri Ali ibn al-Bukhari wrote to us, who said:

Ni'ma bint Ali ibn Yahya ibn Ali informed us; my grandfather informed us; she said: I heard them:

Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mu'addil informed us; Abu al-Fadl 'Ubaydallah ibn Abd ar-Rahman az-Zuhri informed us, who said:

Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Firyabi narrated to us: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Balkhi narrated to us in Samarkand, in the year two hundred and twenty-six: Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak informed us; Ibn Lahi'a informed us; Abu al-Mu'sab Mishrah ibn Ha'an narrated to us, from 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir al-Juhani, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: the greatest number of the hypocrites of my community are its reciters (qurra').

And by this route, up to al-Firyabi: Qutaybah ibn Sa'id narrated to us: Ibn Lahi'a narrated to us, from Mishrah: ... and he mentioned it.

And by this route, up to al-Firyabi: Abu Bakr Sa'id ibn Ya'qub at-Talqani narrated to me: Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us, from al-Awza'i, from Harun ibn Ri'ab:

that Abdallah ibn 'Amr, at the approach of death, said: seek such-and-such, a man of Quraysh: I have said to him, about my daughter, a word resembling the triple repudiation, and I do not want to meet Allah, the Most High, carrying the third of hypocrisy; I call you to witness that I have married her to him.

Harun is reliable (thiqa), but he did not meet Abdallah ibn 'Amr.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: in the time of Ibn al-Mubarak, no one sought knowledge more ardently than he.

And from Shu'bah, who said: never has anyone like Ibn al-Mubarak come to us.

And Abu Usamah said: I have never seen a man seek knowledge more than Ibn al-Mubarak; among the transmitters of hadith, he is like the commander of the believers among the people.

al-Hasan ibn 'Isa ibn Masrajis, freedman of Ibn al-Mubarak, said: a group gathered, such as al-Fadl ibn Musa and Makhlad ibn al-Husayn, and they said:

Come, let us enumerate the qualities of Ibn al-Mubarak among the doors of good. They said: knowledge, fiqh, culture (adab), grammar, language, renunciation, eloquence, poetry, standing at night, worship, pilgrimage, expedition, courage, knighthood, strength, leaving off talk that does not concern him, fairness, and the rarity of disagreements with his companions.

Nu'aym ibn Hammad said: a man said to Ibn al-Mubarak: last night I read the whole Quran in one rak'ah.

He said: as for me, I know a man who, last night, kept repeating {The rivalry for worldly gain distracts you} (Surah at-Takathur, verse 1) until morning, without managing to pass beyond it; he meant his own person.

al-'Abbas ibn Mu'sab said, from Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Bunani, from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said:

I gathered knowledge from four thousand shaykhs, and I transmitted from one thousand shaykhs.

Then al-'Abbas said: I searched for them one by one, and there fell into my hand eight hundred shaykhs of his.

Habib al-Jallab said: I asked Ibn al-Mubarak: what is the best gift given to a man?

He said: an innate intelligence.

I said: and if it is not there?

He said: fine conduct (adab).

I said: and if that is not there?

He said: a kind brother whom he takes as counselor.

I said: and if that is not there?

He said: a long silence.

I said: and if that is not there?

He said: a swift death.

And 'Abdan ibn 'Uthman transmitted, from Abdallah, who said:

When the qualities of a man outweigh his defects, his defects are not mentioned; and when the defects outweigh the qualities, the qualities are not mentioned.

Nu'aym said: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:

I am amazed at one who does not seek knowledge: how does his soul call him to nobility?!

'Ubayd ibn Jannad said: 'Ata' ibn Muslim said to me: have you seen Ibn al-Mubarak?

I said: yes.

He said: you have seen nothing, and you will see nothing like him.

'Ubayd ibn Jannad said: and I heard al-'Umari say:

I have not seen, in our era, anyone worthy of this office (he meant the imamate), except Ibn al-Mubarak.

Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman said: I have never seen the like of Ibn al-Mubarak: you find with him what you find with no one.

Shaqiq al-Balkhi said: it was said to Ibn al-Mubarak: when you have prayed, why do you not sit with us?

He said: I sit with the Companions and the Successors, I examine their books and their traditions: what would I do with you? You disparage the people.

And from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: let your support be the tradition (athar), and take from opinion (ra'y) what explains the hadith to you.

Mahbub ibn al-Hasan: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:

Whoever is stingy with knowledge is tried by three things: either a death that carries off his knowledge, or he forgets, or he attaches himself to the sovereign and his knowledge departs.

And from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: the first profit of knowledge is that some make others benefit from it.

al-Musayyib ibn Wadh: I heard it said to Ibn al-Mubarak: the man who seeks hadith for Allah must strengthen his chain of transmission.

He said: if it is for Allah, he is all the more worthy of strengthening his chain.

And from him, who said: the love of the world is in the heart, and sins have wrapped it around: when could good reach it?

And from him, who said: if a man fears Allah in a hundred things and does not fear one single thing, he is not among the fearful; and if he avoids a hundred things, except one, he is not scrupulous; whoever possesses a share of ignorance is among the ignorant. Have you not heard Allah say to Nuh, upon him be peace, about his son: {I advise you not to be among the ignorant} (Surah Hud, verse 46).

Its isnad is not authentic.

And there has already passed, from Ibn al-Mubarak, a statement contrary to this one: attention goes to the majority; and he means, by "a share of ignorance", the persistence in keeping it.

It has come that Ibn al-Mubarak was asked: who are the people?

He said: the scholars.

It was said: and who are the kings?

He said: the renunciants.

It was said: and who are the people of the rabble?

He said: Khuzaymah and his companions (he meant certain amirs among the oppressors).

It was said: and who are the vile?

He said: those who live off their religion.

And from him, who said: let your place be with the poor, and beware of sitting with the man of innovation.

And from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: when a man knows his own worth, he becomes in his own eyes humbler than a dog.

And from him, who said: neither the seeking of gain, nor jihad in the path of Allah, harms the family.

And he said: many a small deed that intention multiplies, and many an abundant deed that intention diminishes.

Ahmad ibn Salama informed us by license, from Abd ar-Rahim ibn Muhammad al-Kaghidi; Abu Ali al-Haddad informed us; Abu Nu'aym the hafiz informed us; Ibrahim ibn Abdallah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Ishaq narrated to us; Ahmad ibn Sa'id ad-Darimi narrated to us; Abu Ishaq at-Talqani narrated to us, who said:

I asked Ibn al-Mubarak about the man who performs the funeral prayer over his two parents. He said: who transmits it?

I said: Shihab ibn Kharash.

He said: he is reliable (thiqa). From whom?

I said: from al-Hajjaj ibn Dinar.

He said: he is reliable (thiqa). From whom?

I said: from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

He said: between him and the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, there are deserts where the necks of she-camels break.

Bibars ibn Abdallah al-Majdi informed us; Hibatallah ibn al-Hasan ad-Dawami informed us; Tajanni, freedwoman of Ibn Wahban, informed us; Ismail ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Mardawi informed us; the imam Abu Muhammad ibn Qudamah informed us; Abdallah ibn Ahmad the khatib informed us, as did Tajanni the Wahbaniyyah and the Fakhri of women, Shuhdah.

And Abu al-Husayn Ali ibn Muhammad informed us, as did Ahmad ibn Taj al-Umana', and they said: Muhammad ibn Ibrahim informed us.

And Sitt al-Ahl bint an-Nasih informed us; al-Baha' Abd ar-Rahman informed us; they said:

Shuhdah informed us; they said:

Tirad ibn Muhammad az-Zaynabi informed us.

And Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Aghlabi informed us; Ali ibn Mukhtar informed us; Ahmad ibn Muhammad the hafiz informed us; al-Qasim ibn al-Fadl informed us; they said:

Hilal ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Haffar informed us; al-Husayn ibn Yahya al-Qattan narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn Mudajshir narrated to us; Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak informed us, from Sufyan, from

'Asim, from Ubayd ibn Abi Ubayd, from Abu Hurayrah, who said (I was passing with him on a bare ground), he said:

I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say: many an oath does not rise to Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic, on this ground.

Abu Hurayrah said: and I saw there the brokers.

And by this route, up to Ibn al-Mubarak: Ibn 'Ajlan informed us, from Nafi', from Ibn 'Umar:

from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who said: every intoxicating drink is unlawful, and every intoxicating drink is wine (khamr).

Ishaq ibn Tariq al-Asadi informed us; Ibn Khalil informed us; Abd ar-Rahim ibn Muhammad al-Kaghidi informed us; Abu Ali the muqri' informed us; Abu Nu'aym the hafiz informed us; Ibrahim ibn Abdallah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Ishaq narrated to us: I heard Ibn Abi Rizmah: I heard Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq: I heard Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak say:

We transmit the sayings of the Jews and the Christians, but we cannot transmit the sayings of the Jahmiyyah.

And by this route, up to Muhammad ibn Ishaq as-Sarraj: I heard Abu Yahya say:

I heard Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq say: I said to Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak: how is our Lord, the Mighty and the Majestic, to be known?

He said: in the heaven, upon the Throne.

I said to him: those are the sayings of the Jahmiyyah.

He said: we do not say what the Jahmiyyah say; He is with us, here itself.

I said: the Jahmiyyah say that the Creator, the Most High, is in every place; the Forebears say that the knowledge of the Creator is in every place, and they cite His word: {And He is with you wherever you are} (Surah al-Hadid, verse 4), that is, by His knowledge; and they say that He established Himself upon His Throne, as the Quran and the Sunnah have stated.

And al-Awza'i (he was the imam of his time) said: we, in the time when the Successors were many, used to say:

Allah, the Most High, is above His Throne, and we believe in the attributes with which the Sunnah came; and the people of knowledge of the various currents know that the way of the Forebears is to let pass the verses of the attributes and the hadiths pertaining to them as they came, without interpretation (ta'wil), without distortion, without comparison and without how; for the discourse on the attributes follows from the discourse on the Essence sanctified.

And the Muslims know that the Essence of the Creator exists in reality, without anything resembling Him; likewise, His attributes, the Most High, exist, without anything resembling them.

Yahya ibn Abi Mansur the faqih informed us by license; Abd al-Qadir the hafiz informed us; Muhammad ibn Abi Nasr informed us in Isfahan; Husayn ibn Abd al-Malik informed us; Abdallah ibn Shuhayb informed us; Abu 'Umar as-Sulami informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Lubnani informed us; Abu Abd ar-Rahman Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us in his book "The Refutation of the Jahmiyyah"; he said: Ahmad ibn Ibrahim

ad-Dawraqi narrated to us; Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq narrated to us, who said:

I asked Ibn al-Mubarak: how does it befit us to know our Lord?

He said: in the seventh heaven, upon His Throne; and we do not say what the Jahmiyyah say: that He is here below on the earth.

And Abdallah ibn Ahmad transmitted in this book, by his isnad, from Ibn al-Mubarak:

that a man said to him: O Abu Abd ar-Rahman, I fear Allah, the Most High, given the amount of my invocations against the Jahmiyyah.

He said: do not fear: they claim that your Godhead which is in the heaven is nothing.

Abdallah ibn Idris said: every hadith that Ibn al-Mubarak does not know, we disavow it.

And from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: the authentic hadith occupies the one who is ill.

Yahya ibn Ahmad al-Jawzami informed us; Muhammad ibn 'Imad informed us; Ibn Rif'ah informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Khil'i informed us; Ibn al-Hajj informed us; Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman ar-Ramli informed us; al-'Abbas ibn al-Fadl al-Asfati narrated to us; Ahmad ibn Yunus narrated to us:

I heard Ibn al-Mubarak read a passage of the Quran, then say: whoever claims that this is created has disbelieved in Allah, the Immense.

Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq said: I rose to go out with Ibn al-Mubarak from the mosque, on a cold night; at the door he exchanged hadith with me, or I with him; we did not cease exchanging it until the muezzin of dawn came.

And Fadalah an-Nasa'i said: I kept company with these people in Kufa; when they quarreled over a hadith, they said: lead us to this physician so that we may consult him (he meant Ibn al-Mubarak).

Wahb ibn Zam'ah al-Marwazi said: Jarir ibn Abd al-Hamid transmitted a hadith from Ibn al-Mubarak, and it was said to him: O Abu Abd al-Hamid, you transmit from Abdallah, when you met Mansur ibn al-Mu'tamir?!

He became angry and said: am I like Abdallah? I carry the knowledge of the people of Khurasan, that of the people of Iraq, of the Hijaz, of Yemen and of Syria.

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari said: a man of Banu Hashim came to Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak to hear him, and he refused to narrate to him.

The nobleman said to his servant: rise, for Abu Abd ar-Rahman does not see fit to narrate to us.

When he rose to mount his horse, Ibn al-Mubarak came to hold his stirrup, and he said: O Abu Abd ar-Rahman, you do this, and you do not see fit to narrate to me?

He said: I lower to you my body, but I do not lower to you the hadith.

al-Musayyib ibn Wadh transmitted that he heard Ibn al-Mubarak (a man had asked him from whom one should take), and he said:

It happens that a reliable man (thiqa) transmits from a man who is not, and that a man who is not transmits from a reliable man; but it is proper that it be: a reliable one from a reliable one.

'Uthman ibn Sa'id ad-Darimi: I heard Nu'aym ibn Hammad say: I never saw

Ibn al-Mubarak ever say: he narrated to us (haddathana); he held "he informed us" (akhbarana) to be broader; and he never corrected anyone's word when he recited.

And Nu'aym said: I never saw anyone more intelligent than Ibn al-Mubarak, nor more assiduous in worship.

al-Hasan ibn ar-Rabi': Ibn al-Mubarak said about the hadith of Thawban:

from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: be upright toward Quraysh as long as they are upright toward you; the hadith of Umm Salamah explains it: do not kill them as long as they pray.

And Ibn al-Mubarak argued on the question of irja and on the fact that faith is unequal, by what he transmitted from Ibn Shawdhab, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from Huzayl ibn Shurahbil, who said:

'Umar said: if the faith of Abu Bakr were weighed against the faith of the people of the earth, it would outweigh it.

I say: 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, meant the people of the earth of his time.

Nu'aym ibn Hammad: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:

The sword that fell between the Companions is a trial (fitna), and I do not say of any of them that he was seduced.

And from Ibn al-Mubarak: he was asked: who are the vile?

He said: the one who prowls around the qadis in quest of attestations.

And from him, who said: clear-minded people are not safe from four things: a past sin of which one does not know what the Lord, the Mighty and the Majestic, will make of it; a life that remains, of which one does not know what ruin it contains; a favor granted to the servant, which may be trickery and trapping; an embellished misguidance, which he takes for guidance; and the turning astray of a heart for an instant: a man can be stripped of his religion without perceiving it.

Mansur ibn Dinar, companion of Ibn al-Mubarak, said:

Abdallah, during his stay in Baghdad, gave each day one dinar in alms.

And from Abd al-Karim as-Sukkari, who said: when Abdallah completed the Quran, he liked his invocation to be in prostration.

The jihad, the ribat and the final years of Ibn al-Mubarak

Ibrahim ibn Nuh al-Mawsili said: ar-Rashid arrived at Ayn Zarbah and ordered Abu Sulayman to bring him Ibn al-Mubarak.

He said: I said: I do not trust that Ibn al-Mubarak answers what he hates, and that he kills him. Then I said:

O commander of the believers! He is a man of harsh, coarse character.

Ar-Rashid left him alone.

al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ash-Sha'rani: 'Abdah ibn Sulayman narrated to us, who said:

I heard a man ask Ibn al-Mubarak about the man who fasts one day and breaks one day.

He said: he is a man who loses half of his life without knowing it.

He meant: why does he not fast that half?

I say: I believe Ibn al-Mubarak did not mention then the hadith: the best of fasts

is the fast of Dawud, nor the hadith that forbids perpetual fasting.

Abu Wahb al-Marwazi said: I asked Ibn al-Mubarak: what is pride (kibr)?

He said: to despise the people.

I asked him about self-satisfaction ('ujb)?

He said: to believe that you possess something that the others do not have. I know of nothing worse, among those who pray, than self-satisfaction.

Hatim ibn al-Jarrakh said: I heard Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak, to whom a man was asking about a sore that had appeared on his knee seven years before: I have treated it with all the remedies, I have consulted the physicians, without deriving benefit from it.

He said to him: go, dig a well in a place where water is needed: I hope a spring will gush there, and that the blood will be restrained.

The man did so and was healed.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Ibn al-Mubarak transmitted from his books: he did not have many errors; and Waki' transmitted from memory: he had as many errors as the memory of a man can have.

More than one transmitter transmitted that it was said to Ibn al-Mubarak: until when will you write knowledge?

He said: perhaps the word from which I will draw profit is not yet written.

'Amr an-Naqid said: I heard Ibn 'Uyaynah say:

Never has anyone come to us who resembled Ibn al-Mubarak and Yahya ibn Abi Zaydah.

And Makhlad ibn al-Husayn said: I kept the company of Ayyub and Ibn 'Awn, and I found in them no one whom I preferred to Ibn al-Mubarak.

'Abdan said: Ibn al-Mubarak mentioned tadlis (concealing intermediaries) and spoke severely about it, then he recited:

"He conceals from the people his hadiths ... and Allah does not accept concealment"

From Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: whoever despises the scholars loses his hereafter, whoever despises the amirs loses his this-world, and whoever despises his brothers loses his manly virtue (muru'ah).

We have already mentioned for Abdallah what indicates his knighthood.

And Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna said: Abdallah ibn Sinan narrated to us, who said:

I was with Ibn al-Mubarak and Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman in Tarsus, when the people cried out: to battle (an-nafir)!

Ibn al-Mubarak went out, and the people with him. When the two hosts deployed, a Roman ('ilj) came out and called to single combat; a man came out to him, and the infidel struck him and killed him; he thus killed six Muslims, and strutted between the two ranks in quest of single combat, and no one came out to him. Ibn al-Mubarak turned to me and said: O so-and-so! If I am killed, do such and such.

Then he advanced his mount and presented himself to the infidel; he wrestled with him a while, then killed the infidel, and called to single combat; another infidel came out to him, he killed him, until he had killed six infidels; then he called to single combat, and it was as if they had poured out of him,

he whipped his mount and ran between the two ranks, then vanished, without our perceiving it; and here I am with him at the place where he was, and he said to me:

O Abdallah! If you tell this to anyone while I live ... , and he quoted a word.

Abu Salih al-Farra' said: I asked Ibn al-Mubarak about the putting of knowledge into writing; he said: without writing, we would have retained nothing.

And I heard him say: the ink on the garment is the perfume of the scholars.

And he said: that neighbors agree on something is dearer to me than the testimony of two equitable witnesses.

It is transmitted that Ibn al-Mubarak passed by a monk, near a cemetery and a refuse dump, and said to him:

O monk, you possess the treasure of men and the treasure of goods, and in both there is a lesson to draw.

Ibn al-Mubarak studied fiqh with Abu Hanifah, and he is counted among his disciples.

Abdallah was rich and thankful; his capital amounted to about four hundred thousand (dirhams).

Hibban ibn Musa said: I saw the tablecloth of the meal of Ibn al-Mubarak carried by four porters.

And Abu Ishaq at-Talqani said: I saw two camels loaded with roasted chickens for the meal of Ibn al-Mubarak.

And Abdallah ibn Abd al-Wahhab transmitted, from Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sahm, who said:

I was with Ibn al-Mubarak: he ate every day; a kid was roasted for him, and faludhaj was prepared for him; it was reproached to him, and he said:

I handed to my agent one thousand dinars, and I ordered him to be generous toward us.

al-Hasan ibn Hammad said: Abu Usamah entered upon Ibn al-Mubarak and found on

the face of Abdallah the mark of smallpox; when he went out, he sent him four thousand dirhams and wrote to him:

"A young man whose fortune is empty ... but whose nobility of soul is not"

"The one who gave you before your asking ... spared you the dishonor of asking"

And al-Musayyib ibn Wadh said: Ibn al-Mubarak sent to Abu Bakr ibn 'Ayyash four thousand dirhams and said: with this, turn away the temptation of the people about you.

Ali ibn Kashram said: I said to 'Isa ibn Yunus:

in what has Ibn al-Mubarak surpassed you, when he was not older than you?

He said: he would arrive with the money of Khurasan and the fine clothing, came to the aid of the scholars and gave to them; we, we were not capable of that.

Nu'aym ibn Hammad said: Ibn al-Mubarak arrived at Aylah at Yunus ibn Yazid's, with a servant assigned to the preparation of faludhaj, which he destined for the transmitters of hadith.

Ibn Abi al-Khayr informed us in his book, from Abd ar-Rahim ibn Muhammad; al-Hasan ibn Ahmad informed us; Abu Nu'aym informed us; Abdallah ibn Ja'far narrated to us; Ismail ibn Abdallah narrated to us; Nu'aym ibn Hammad narrated to us; al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us; Ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us, from Khalid al-Hadhdha', from Ikrimah, from Ibn 'Abbas, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: the blessing is with your elders.

I said to al-Walid: where did you hear that from Ibn al-Mubarak?

He said: on the expedition.

From Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: let your place be with the poor, and beware of sitting with the man of innovation.

al-Hasan ibn ar-Rabi' said: when Ibn al-Mubarak was dying on a journey, he said: I desire some sawiq (roasted flour).

We found none of it except with a man who worked for the sovereign, and who was with us on the ship; we spoke of it to Abdallah, who said: leave it.

He died without having drunk of it.

al-'Ala' ibn al-Aswad said: Jahm was mentioned before Ibn al-Mubarak, and he said:

"I am amazed at a demon who came calling men ... to the Fire, and whose name was torn from Hell"

Ishaq al-Asadi informed us; Ibn Khalil informed us; Abd ar-Rahim ibn Muhammad informed us; Abu Ali al-Haddad informed us; Abu Nu'aym the hafiz informed us; Sulayman ibn Ahmad narrated to us; Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Hulwani narrated to us; Sa'id ibn Sulayman narrated to us, from Ibn al-Mubarak, from Ma'mar, from Muhammad ibn Hamzah, from Abdallah ibn Salam, who said:

The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, when worry fell upon his family, ordered them the prayer, then recited: {Command your family the prayer, and be constant in it: We ask you not for provision, it is We who provide you} (Surah Ta-Ha, verse 132).

This is a mursal: the chain is interrupted between Muhammad and the grandfather of his father, Abdallah.

Ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him, was a poet, excellent, speaking the truth.

Ahmad ibn Jamil al-Marwazi said: it was said to Ibn al-Mubarak:

Ismail ibn 'Ulayyah has been appointed to the judiciary. He wrote to him:

"You who have made of knowledge a falcon ... that hunts the goods of the poor"

"You have schemed for the this-world and its pleasures ... by a ruse that carries off religion"

"You have become mad, after having been ... the remedy of the mad"

"Where are your transmissions, at the recitation ... of Ibn 'Awn and of Ibn Sirin?"

"Where are your transmissions of old ... on abandoning the doors of the sultans?"

"If you say: I was coerced, so what? ... the donkey of knowledge has slid into the mud"

And Abdallah ibn Muhammad, qadi of Nisibin, transmitted: Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abi Sukaynah narrated to us, who said:

Ibn al-Mubarak dictated to me, in the year one hundred and seventy-seven, and he sent it with me to al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad from Tarsus:

"O you who worship the two sanctuaries, if you saw us ... you would know that you are playing in your worship"

"The one who dyes his neck with his tears ... as for us, our necks are dyed with our blood"

"Or the one who wearies his horses in vanity ... our mounts, at the morning of battle, grow weary"

"For you the breeze of amber; our amber ... is the dust of lances and the purest dust"

"And indeed, from the word of our Prophet there has come to us ... an authentic word, truthful, that cannot be denied:"

"The dust of the horses of Allah in the nose of a man ... does not compare with the smoke of a blazing fire"

"This is the Book of Allah speaking between us ... what bore witness has not died so as to be denied"

I met al-Fudayl with his letter in the sanctuary; he read it, wept, then said: Abu Abd ar-Rahman spoke truly and counseled sincerely.

Ibn Sahm the Antiochian said: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak recite:

"How could the eyes of the people of knowledge know rest ... taste the sweetness of sleep or slumber?"

"And the Fire is manifest: no doubt one reaches it ... and they do not know who will be saved and who will fall"

"And the leaves fly between the hands, unfolded ... in them are the secrets, and the Almighty sees all"

"Either a bliss and a life without end ... or Hell, which spares and leaves nothing"

"It casts down its inhabitants at times, and raises them at times ... whenever they hope for an outlet from its affliction, there they are overwhelmed"

"May knowledge profit its scholar before death ... people have gone to the final return, and never came back"

And Ishaq ibn Sunayn transmitted, from Ibn al-Mubarak:

"I am a man whose religion admits no leniency ... for its mockers, and I was never a detractor of Islam"

"I do not insult Abu Bakr nor 'Umar ... and never, Allah keep me, will I insult 'Uthman"

"And never will I outrage the cousin of the Messenger of Allah ... until I am wrapped, under the earth, in my shroud"

"Nor az-Zubayr, the disciple of the Messenger ... and to Talhah I will offer no insult, noble or vile"

"And I will not say: Ali is in the clouds ... I would then have said, by Allah, injustice, then iniquity"

"And I do not hold the saying of Jahm, who has ... words equaling, at moments, those of association"

"And I will not say: the Lord of the servants has stripped Himself ... of His creation, and entrusted the matter to a demon"

"The Pharaoh of Musa himself, in his rebellion ... did not say that, nor Haman in his tyranny"

"Allah turns away, through the sovereign, the hardship ... of our religion: mercy from Him and good pleasure"

"Without the imams, no way would be safe for us ... and the weakest of us would be the prey of the strongest"

It is said that ar-Rashid admired this poem; when the death of Ibn al-Mubarak at Hayt reached him, he said:

We belong to Allah and to Him we return. O Fadl! Allow the people to present their condolences to us for Ibn al-Mubarak.

And he said: as for the one who said:

"Allah turns away, through the sovereign, the hardship ... ..."

Who hears this from Ibn al-Mubarak and does not recognize our right?

al-Kudaymi said: 'Abdah ibn Abd ar-Rahim narrated to us, who said: I was with al-Fudayl

ibn 'Iyad, and Ibn al-Mubarak was at his place. A man said: your family and your dependents are exhausted, in need of this wealth; fear Allah, and take from these people.

Ibn al-Mubarak rebuffed him and began to recite:

"Take jarush, and ... rice, and barley bread"

"And hold that for lawful ... and you will escape the heat of the furnace"

"And flee, as much as you can, what ... Allah keep far, the abode of the amir"

"Do not visit it, avoid it ... it is the worst of places to visit"

"It gnaws at religion and makes you ... fall into the immense sin"

"Before you fall, O ... deceiver, into the pit of the well"

"And be content (woe to you!) for your ... this-world, with a meager provision"

"For it is the abode of trial ... of decline and of illusion"

"Do you not see that perished before you ... the masters of palaces?"

"How many, in the bosom of the earth, lie ... noble buried ones and viziers?"

"And how many slaves of humble condition ... without renown and despicable?"

"If you leafed through the faces ... of the people on a resplendent day"

"You would not distinguish them, and you would not ... recognize the rich from the poor"

"They have been extinguished: there they are struck down ... under the gleams of the rocks"

"And they appear before a King ... Who knows all their deeds"

"Fear the fall, O ... wretched one, before a brutal time"

"Where is Pharaoh, where is Ha ... man, where is Nimrod the eagle?"

"Do you not fear that it ... strike you with a destructive death?"

"And do you not guard against a ... sullen day, pouring the downpour?"

"Evil pours there in torrents ... with the punishment of the icy cold"

He said: al-Fudayl was seized with faintness; he refused that and did not take it.

And from Ibn al-Mubarak:

"I tested my soul and found in it, ... after the fear of Allah, nothing like decorum"

"In all its dispositions, even if it loathes ... nothing equals its silence, far from lying"

"Or the backbiting of the people: their backbiting ... the Holder of Majesty forbade it in the Scriptures"

"I say it to her willingly, and I compel her: ... clemency and knowledge adorn the man of lineage"

"If your speech, O my soul, is of silver ... silence, it, is of gold"

Abu al-'Abbas as-Sarraj said: Ya'qub ibn Muhammad recited to me, from Ibn al-Mubarak:

"By what leave have you descended upon me, O old age? ... What life can be sweet, you having descended?"

"The white hair suffices as preacher, except that ... I, I still hope to live, and death is near"

"How often I call youth, when it has gone far from me ... and my call, in regret, receives no answer"

And by this same route:

"O you who blame poverty, do you not hold back? ... the defects of wealth are more numerous, if you ponder"

"Of the nobility of poverty and of its superiority ... over wealth, if your gaze is sound"

"You disobey to acquire wealth ... and you do not obey Allah, so as not to grow poor"

Hibban ibn Musa said: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak recite:

"How to remain still, how would a Muslim calm himself ... and the Muslim women, before the aggressor enemy?"

"They strike their cheeks crying out ... they call upon their Prophet Muhammad"

"They say, when they fear the unspeakable ignominy ...: would that we had never been born!"

"They have no power, no ruse ... except to cover the face with the hand, before their brother"

Abu Ishaq at-Talqani said: we were with Ibn al-Mubarak when the Qahandaz (earthquake) burst; he brought out two tusks, and one weighed several manad; Abdallah said:

"I brought out two tusks cast forth ... from the fortress, when they laid bare what was buried in it"

"Each of the weight of two manad; one of them ... makes something heavy bend in the hand"

"Thirty years, as it appears, she lived ... Blessed be You, O best of creators!"

"What then sufficed its mouths ... and filled those bellies?"

"When I remember their bodies ... my soul shrinks until it becomes humble"

"And all tasted death thereon ... they perished all together, and there they are effaced"

And it has come, by several routes, from Ibn al-Mubarak (and it is said: no, it is from Hamid the grammarian):

"Seize two rak'ahs drawing near to Allah ... when you are delivered and at rest"

"And when you think to utter the false ... put in its place the glorification"

"For drawing profit from silence is better ... than venturing into it, even if you were eloquent"

And one of them heard Ibn al-Mubarak recite on the rampart of Tarsus:

"The trial, and the trial, has as its sign ... that no flight is seen in you before your passion"

"The slave is the slave of his soul in its passions ... the free man eats his fill once, and hungers"

Abu Umayyah al-Aswad said: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:

I love the righteous without being of them, and I hate the perverse while being worse than they. Then he began to recite:

"Silence adorns the young man more ... than a speech out of season"

"And truthfulness is, in my eyes, more beautiful in the young man ... in the word than his oath"

"And the young man, by his dignity, bears ... a sign that shines on his brow"

"Who then can hide from ... you, when you look at his like?"

"Many a man convinced ... that misfortune prevailed over his certainty"

"And it turned him from his opinion ... and he bought his this-world with his religion"

Ahmad ibn Abdallah al-'Ijli said: my father narrated to me, who said:

When Ibn al-Mubarak was dying, a man began to make him repeat: say: there is no god but Allah.

He insisted, and he said to him: you are not doing well; I fear that you offend a Muslim after me. When you make me repeat, I say: there is no god but Allah, and I then add no word; leave me, and if I say other words, make me repeat until it be my last word.

It is transmitted that ar-Rashid, when the death of Abdallah reached him, said: there died today the master of the scholars.

The death of Ibn al-Mubarak and the tears of the scholars

'Abdan ibn 'Uthman said: Ibn al-Mubarak died at Hayt and 'Anata, in the month of Ramadan, in the year one hundred and eighty-one.

al-Hasan ibn ar-Rabi' said: Ibn al-Mubarak said to me before dying: I am sixty-three years old.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: I went to hear Ibn al-Mubarak, but I did not reach him: he had come to Baghdad, then had left for the thaghr (the frontier of combat), and I did not see him.

Muhammad ibn al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad said: I saw Ibn al-Mubarak in a dream and said to him: what is the best deed?

He said: the thing to which I was devoting myself.

I said: the ribat (the guarding of the frontiers) and the jihad?

He said: yes.

I said: what has your Lord done with you?

He said: He has forgiven me with a forgiveness beyond which there is no forgiveness.

Two men transmitted it, from Muhammad.

And al-'Abbas ibn Muhammad an-Nasafi said: I heard Abu Hatim al-Firabri say:

I saw Ibn al-Mubarak standing at the door of Paradise, a key in his hand; I said to him: what do you await here?

He said: this is the key of Paradise; the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, handed it to me, saying: until I visit the Lord, be my depositary in the heaven, as you were my depositary on the earth.

And Ismail ibn Ibrahim al-Massisi said: I saw al-Harith ibn 'Atiyyah in a dream and questioned him; he said: He has forgiven me.

I said: and Ibn al-Mubarak?

He said: well done, well done! That one is in the heights ('illiyyin), among those who seek refuge in Allah twice a day.

And from Nawfal, who said: I saw Ibn al-Mubarak in a dream and said to him: what has Allah done with you?

He said: He has forgiven me for my travels in hadith. To you the Quran! To you the Quran!

Ali ibn Ahmad as-Sawwaq said: Zakariyya ibn 'Adi narrated to us, who said:

I saw Ibn al-Mubarak in a dream and said to him: what has Allah done with you?

He said: He has forgiven me for my travels.

An-Nasa'i said: the firmest of the people in the hearing of al-Awza'i: Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak.

al-Fasawi said in his History: I heard al-Hasan ibn ar-Rabi' say:

I was present at the death of Ibn al-Mubarak: he died when ten days of Ramadan had passed, in the year one hundred and eighty-one; he died by night, and we buried him at Hayt.

And from one of the people of merit:

"I passed in the morning by the grave of Ibn al-Mubarak ... it exhorted me to ease, without uttering a word"

"I had believed, by the knowledge lodged in my heart ... to be rich, and by the white hair bordering my temples"

"But I see that the reminder awakens the wise man ... when it comes from men of truth"

I read before Abu Hafs 'Umar ibn Abd al-Mun'im at-Ta'i: the qadi Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Hibatallah ibn Mumayyil the Shafi'i informed us of it, in the year six hundred and thirty-six, at his residence; Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ali al-Kharaqi informed us; Nasr ibn Ahmad as-Susi informed us; Sahl ibn Bishr informed us; Ali ibn Munir al-Khallal informed us; my maternal uncle Ahmad ibn 'Atiq al-Khashshab narrated to us; Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abi al-Asbagh narrated to us; Hashim ibn Marthad narrated to us: I heard Abu Salih al-Farra': I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:

"Man resembles a crescent at its first sight ... he appears small, then grows"

"Until you see him again, then he follows his decline ... repeating his first days in diminishing, then he fades away"

From the History of Abu 'Umar Ahmad ibn Sa'id as-Sadafi: Muhammad ibn Waddah, from Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, who said:

We were at Malik's; permission was asked for Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak to enter, and he allowed him; we saw Malik shift in his seat for him, then seat him beside himself; I never saw Malik shift in his seat for anyone else. The reader was reading before Malik; sometimes he passed over something, and Malik asked him: what is your doctrine on this? Or: what do you have on that?

I saw Ibn al-Mubarak answer him, then rise and go out; Malik admired his decorum, then Malik said to us: this is Ibn al-Mubarak, the faqih of Khurasan.

From al-Musayyib ibn Wadh, who said: Ibn al-Mubarak sent to Abu Bakr ibn 'Ayyash forty thousand dirhams and said: with this, turn away the temptation of the people about you.

And Ibn al-Mubarak was questioned, in the presence of Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah, on a question, and he said:

It is forbidden to us to speak in the presence of our elders.