Biography of Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad

114 - Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad ibn Mas'ud ibn Bishr al-Tamimi ** (Kh, M, D, S, T)

The imam, the model, the firm one, the sheikh of Islam, Abu Ali

al-Tamimi, al-Yarbu'i, the Khurasani, resident of the sacred precincts of Allah.

He was born in Samarkand, grew up in Abiward, and traveled in pursuit of knowledge.

He wrote in Kufa from: Mansur, al-A'mash, Bayan ibn Bishr, Husayn ibn Abd al-Rahman, Layth, Ata ibn al-Sa'ib, Safwan ibn Sulaym, Abd al-Aziz ibn Rufay', Abu Ishaq al-Shaybani, Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari, Hisham ibn Hassan, Ibn Abi Layla, Mujalid, Ash'ath ibn Sawwar, Ja'far al-Sadiq, Humayd al-Tawil, and many others, Kufans and Hijazis.

Those who narrated from him: Ibn al-Mubarak, Yahya al-Qattan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, Ibn Uyayna, al-Asma'i, Abd al-Razzak, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi ibn Hilal, a sheikh of Wasit; Husayn al-Ju'fi, Asad al-Sunna, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Yunus, Yahya ibn Yahya al-Tamimi, Ibn Wahb, Musaddad, Qutayba, Bishr al-Hafi, al-Sirri ibn Mugallis al-Saqati, Ahmad ibn al-Miqdam, Ubayd Allah al-Qawariri, Muhammad ibn Zunbur the Meccan, Luwayn, Muhammad ibn Yahya the Adenite, al-Humaydi, Abd al-Samad ibn Yazid Mardawayh, Abda ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Marwazi, and Muhammad ibn Abi al-Sari al-Asqalani,

Muhammad ibn Qudama al-Masisi, Yahya ibn Ayyub al-Maqabiri, and many people, the last of them to die being al-Husayn ibn Dawud al-Balkhi.

Sufyan al-Thawri narrated from him, and he is the most eminent of his sheikhs, and between them in death is one hundred and forty years.

Abu Ammar al-Husayn ibn Hurayth said, from al-Fadl ibn Musa, who said:

"Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad was a highwayman between Abiward and Sarakhs. The cause of his repentance was that he fell in love with a slave girl; while he was climbing the wall to reach her, he heard a reciter reciting: {Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should soften...}, Surah al-Hadid, 16. When he heard it, he said: Yes, my Lord, the time has come."

He turned back; the night gave him shelter in a ruin, in which there was a caravan. Some of them said: Let us move on.

Others said: "Until morning, for Fudayl is on the road and will waylay us."

He said: "I reflected and said: I run by night into acts of disobedience, while a group of Muslims here fear me; I see nothing but that Allah has driven me toward them so that I may be deterred. O Allah, I have repented to You, and I have made my repentance residence near the Sacred House."

Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Shafi'i said: "I heard Sufyan ibn Uyayna say: Fudayl is trustworthy."

Abu Ubayd said: "Ibn Mahdi said:"

"Fudayl: a righteous man, but he was not a hafiz."

Al-Ijli said: "A Kufan, trustworthy, devoted to worship, a righteous man; he resided in Mecca."

Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Ammar said: "Would that Fudayl would narrate to you what he knows." It was said to Ibn Ammar: "Do you regard his hadith as an authority?"

He said: "Glory be to Allah!"

Abu Hatim said: "Truthful."

Al-Nasa'i said: "Trustworthy, reliable, a righteous man."

Al-Daraqutni said: "Trustworthy."

Muhammad ibn Sa'd said: "He was born in Khurasan, in the district of Abiward; he came to Kufa as an old man and heard from Mansur and others; then he took to worship, moved to Mecca and settled there, until he died there at the beginning of the year 187, in the caliphate of Harun; he was trustworthy, noble, excellent, a worshipper, pious, and prolific in hadith."

Abu Wahb Muhammad ibn Muzahim said: "I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say:"

"I saw the most devoted worshipper of the people: Abd al-Aziz ibn Abi Rawwad; the most scrupulous of the people: al-Fudayl ibn Iyad; the most knowledgeable of the people: Sufyan al-Thawri; and the most versed in fiqh of the people: Abu Hanifa; I never saw his like in fiqh."

Ibrahim ibn Shamas narrated, from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said:

"There remains with me upon the earth no one better than al-Fudayl ibn Iyad."

Nasr ibn al-Mughira al-Bukhari said: "I heard Ibrahim ibn Shamas say:"

"I saw the most versed in fiqh, the most scrupulous and the most memorizing of the people: Waki', al-Fudayl and Ibn al-Mubarak."

Ubayd Allah al-Qawariri said: "The best of the sheikhs I have seen: Bishr ibn Mansur, al-Fudayl ibn Iyad, Awn ibn Ma'mar and Hamza ibn Najih."

I say: "Awn and Hamza were scarcely known, and they were worshippers."

Al-Nadr ibn Shumayl said: "I heard al-Rashid say:"

"I never saw among the scholars anyone more awe-inspiring than Malik, nor more scrupulous than al-Fudayl."

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari narrated, from al-Haytham ibn Jamil: "I heard Sharik say:"

"Every people has always had an authority among the people of their era, and Fudayl ibn Iyad is the authority of the people of his era."

A young man stood up from the session of al-Haytham; when he had disappeared, al-Haytham said: "If this young man lives, he will be an authority for the people of his era."

It was said: "Who was the young man?"

He said: "Ahmad ibn Hanbal."

Abd al-Samad Mardawayh al-Sa'igh said: "Ibn al-Mubarak said to me:"

"Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad was truthful with Allah, so Allah made wisdom run upon his tongue; Fudayl is thus among those whom his knowledge has benefited."

Abu Bakr Abd al-Rahman ibn Affan said: "I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say to Abu Maryam the qadi:"

"There remains in the Hijaz no one of the abdal except Fudayl ibn Iyad and his son Ali, and Ali excels in fear; there remains no one in the lands of Syria except Yusuf ibn Asbat and Abu Mu'awiya al-Aswad; and there remains no one in Khurasan except an old weaver called Ma'dan."

Abu Bakr al-Maqaridi the admonisher said: "I heard Bishr ibn al-Harith say:"

"They were ten who ate of the lawful: they admitted into their bellies nothing but the lawful, even if they had to sift soil and ashes."

I said: "Who are they, Abu Nasr?"

He said: "Sufyan, Ibrahim ibn

Adham, al-Fudayl ibn Iyad, his son, Sulayman al-Khawwas, Yusuf ibn Asbat, Abu Mu'awiya Najih the servant, Hudhayfa al-Mar'ashi, Dawud al-Ta'i and Wuhayb ibn al-Ward."

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: "I never saw anyone in whose chest Allah was greater than al-Fudayl; whenever he mentioned Allah, or Allah was mentioned before him, or he heard the Qur'an, fear and grief would show upon him, his eyes would overflow and he would weep, until whoever attended him would have pity on him. He was constantly grieving, deeply preoccupied; I never saw a man who intended Allah in his knowledge and his deed, in his taking and his giving, in his withholding and his spending, in his hatred and his love, and in all his dispositions, other than him. Whenever we went out with him in a funeral, he would keep on exhorting, reminding and weeping, as though he were bidding his companions farewell and departing to the Hereafter, until he reached the graves; then he would sit in his place among the dead out of grief and weeping, until he stood up as though he had returned from the Hereafter, reporting on it."

Abd al-Samad ibn Yazid Mardawayh said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"People have never adorned themselves with anything better than truthfulness and the seeking of the lawful."

His son Ali said: "Father! The lawful is scarce."

He said: "My son, its little with Allah is much."

Al-Sirri ibn al-Mugallis said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"Whoever fears Allah, no one harms him; and whoever fears other than Allah, no one benefits him."

And Fayd ibn Ishaq said: "I heard al-Fudayl ibn Iyad, and Abd Allah ibn Malik asked him: Abu Ali, what is the deliverance from what we are in?"

He said: "Tell me: whoever obeys Allah, does the disobedience of anyone harm him?"

He said: "No."

He said: "And whoever disobeys Allah, does the obedience of anyone benefit him?"

He said: "No."

He said: "That is the deliverance, if you wish deliverance."

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"A servant's awe of Allah is in proportion to his knowledge of Allah, and his asceticism in this world in proportion to his desire for the Hereafter. Whoever acts

upon what he knows is freed of what he does not know; and whoever acts upon what he knows, Allah grants him understanding of what he does not know; and whoever has a bad character has demeaned his religion, his standing and his manliness."

And I heard him say: "The most lying of people is the one who returns to his sin; the most ignorant of people is the one who makes light of his good deeds; and the most knowledgeable of people about Allah is the most fearful of them of Him. A servant is never complete so long as he prefers his religion to his desire, and a servant is never destroyed so long as he prefers his religion to his desire."

Muhammad ibn Abdawayh said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"Abandoning the deed for the sake of people is showing off, and doing the deed for the sake of people is associating partners with Allah; sincerity is that Allah protect you from both."

Salm ibn Abd Allah the Khurasani said: "I heard al-Fudayl say: Yesterday is a lesson, today is a deed, and tomorrow is a hope."

And Fayd ibn Ishaq said: "Al-Fudayl said:"

"By Allah, it is not lawful for you to harm a dog or a pig unjustly; how then do you harm a Muslim?"

And from Fudayl: "The servant is not among the God-fearing until his enemy feels safe from him."

And from him: "In proportion to how small the sin is in your sight, it is great with Allah; and in proportion to how great it is in your sight, it is small with Allah."

Muhriz ibn Awn said: "I came to al-Fudayl in Mecca, and he said to me: Muhriz, you too are with the people of hadith; what has the Qur'an done? By Allah, if a verse were to descend in Yemen, it would befit us to travel until we heard it; and by Allah, for you to be a donkey-herder while you stand firm upon what Allah loves is better for you than circumambulation while you stand firm upon what Allah hates."

Al-Mufaddal al-Jandi: "Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Tabari narrated to us, saying:"

"I never saw anyone more fearful for himself, nor more caring for the people, than al-Fudayl. His recitation

was sorrowful, delicious, slow, measured, as though he were addressing a human being; whenever he passed by a verse in which Paradise was mentioned, he would repeat it and ask; and his night prayer was more than that; he would sit, a mat would be spread for him in his mosque; he would pray the first part of the night for an hour, then his eyes would overcome him; he would throw himself on the mat, sleep a little, then rise; when sleep overcame him, he would sleep, then rise, like that until morning; his habit whenever drowsiness came was to sleep; and it is said: the strongest worship was not like this."

"He was sound in hadith, truthful of tongue, most awe-inspiring when he narrated hadith; the hadith weighed very heavily upon him; and he would sometimes say to me: Were you to ask me for dinars, that would be easier for me than your asking me for hadith."

I said: "Were you to narrate to me hadiths containing benefits I do not have, it would be dearer to me than your giving me their number in dinars."

He said: "You are infatuated; by Allah, were you to act upon what you have heard, you would have in it occupation from what you have not heard. I heard Sulayman ibn Mihran say:"

"When you have food before you that you eat, and you take the morsel and throw it behind your back, when will you be full?"

Ahmad ibn Salama informed us, from Abu al-Makaram al-Taymi; al-Haddad informed us; Abu Nu'aym informed us; al-Tabarani narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Ghalabi narrated to us; Abu Umar al-Jarmi the grammarian narrated to us; al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi' narrated to us, who said:

"The Commander of the Believers (meaning Harun) performed the pilgrimage and said to me: Woe to you! Something has troubled me; look for me a man that I may ask him."

I said: "Here is Sufyan ibn Uyayna."

He said: "Take us to him."

We went to him and I knocked at his door; he said: "Who is it?"

I said: "Answer the Commander of the Believers."

He came out hurriedly and said: "O Commander of the Believers, had you sent for me, I would have come to you."

He said: "Take what I came to you for."

He spoke with him for an hour, then said to him: "Do you have a debt?"

He said: "Yes."

He said to me: "Pay off his debt."

When we went out, he said: "Your companion did me no good at all."

I said: "Here is Abd al-Razzak."

He said: "Take us to him."

We went to him and I knocked at the door; he came out and spoke with him for an hour, then said: "Do you have a debt?"

He said: "Yes."

He said: "Abu al-Abbas, pay off his debt."

When we went out, he said: "Your companion did me no good at all; look for me a man that I may ask him."

I said: "Here is al-Fudayl ibn Iyad."

He said: "Take us to him."

We went to him, and he was standing in prayer, reciting a verse and repeating it; he said: "Knock at the door."

I knocked, and he said: "Who is this?"

I said: "Answer the Commander of the Believers."

He said: "What have I to do with the Commander of the Believers?"

I said: "Glory be to Allah! Do you not owe him obedience?"

He came down, opened the door, then climbed up to the chamber and put out the lamp, then took refuge in a corner. We entered and began groping toward him with our hands; Harun's palm reached him before mine, and he said: "What a palm, how soft it is! If it escapes the punishment of Allah tomorrow!"

I said to myself: "Tonight I will speak to him with pure words from a God-fearing heart."

He said to him: "Take what we came to you for, may Allah have mercy on you."

He said: "When Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz assumed the caliphate, he called Salim ibn Abd Allah, Muhammad ibn Ka'b and Raja ibn Haywa and said to them: I have been tried by this trial, so advise me."

"He counted the caliphate a trial, and you and your companions count it a blessing."

Salim said to him: "If you seek deliverance, fast from this world, and let your breaking of the fast from it be death."

Ibn Ka'b said to him: "If you seek deliverance from the punishment of Allah, let the eldest of the Muslims be to you as a father, the middlemost as a brother, and the youngest as a child: revere your father, honor your brother, and be tender toward your child."

Raja said to him: "If you seek deliverance from the punishment of Allah, love for the Muslims what you love for yourself, and hate for them what you hate for yourself; then die whenever you wish. I say this to you, and I fear for you the gravest fear, a day in which feet slip. Do you have, may Allah have mercy on you, anyone

who advises you like this?"

He wept profusely until he was overcome.

I said to him: "Be gentle with the Commander of the Believers."

He said: "O son of Umm al-Rabi', you and your companions are killing him, and I would be gentle with him?"

Then he came to, and he said to him: "Give me more, may Allah have mercy on you."

I said: "I was informed that a governor of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was denounced to him, and he wrote to him:

"O brother! I remind you of the long wakefulness of the people of the Fire in the Fire, along with eternal immortality; and beware lest you be dismissed by Allah, for that would be the end of the covenant and the cutting off of hope."

When he read the letter, he folded up the lands and came to him, who said: "What brought you?"

He said: "Your letter split open my heart; I will never return to a governorship until I meet Allah."

Harun wept profusely.

He said: "O Commander of the Believers, al-Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), came to him and said: Appoint me governor."

He said to him: "Governance is regret and remorse on the Day of Resurrection; if you are able not to be a governor, then do so."

Harun wept and said: "Give me more."

He said: "O you of the beautiful face, you are the one Allah will question about these creatures on the Day of Resurrection; if you can protect this face from the Fire, then do so; and beware of passing the morning and evening with deceit in your heart toward any one of your subjects, for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever spends the morning betraying them will not smell the fragrance of Paradise."

Harun wept and said to him:

"Do you have a debt?"

He said: "Yes, a debt to my Lord, who has not yet called me to account for it; so woe to me if He questions me, and woe to me if He disputes with me, and woe to me if my argument is not inspired to me."

He said: "I mean the debt owed to servants."

He said: "My Lord has not commanded me that; He commanded me to fulfill His promise and obey His command, and He, Mighty and Majestic, said: {I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me}, Surah adh-Dhariyat, 56, and the verses."

He said: "This is a thousand dinars; take it, spend it on your dependents, and be God-fearing with it in the worship of your Lord."

He said: "Glory be to Allah! I point you to the path of deliverance, and you reward me with this? May Allah keep you safe and grant you success."

Then he fell silent and did not speak to us.

We went out, and Harun said: "Abu al-Abbas, if you point me to someone, point me to one like this; this is the master of the Muslims."

One of his women entered upon him and said: "You see the straitness we are in; if only you would accept this wealth."

He said: "My likeness and yours is as the likeness of a people who had a camel from whose earnings they ate; when it grew old they slaughtered it and ate its meat." When Harun heard this speech he said: "We will go in; perhaps he will accept the wealth."

When al-Fudayl knew, he went out and sat on the rooftop at the door of the chamber; Harun came and sat beside him and began speaking to him, but he did not answer him; while we were like that, a black slave girl came out and said: "You there! You have hurt the sheikh since last night, so depart." So we departed.

A wondrous story, and al-Ghalabi is not trustworthy.

And others narrated it.

Aisha bint Isa informed us; Ibn Rajih informed us; al-Silafi informed us; al-Allaf informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Hammami informed us; Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hajjaj informed us in Mosul; Muhammad ibn Sa'dan al-Harrani narrated to us; Abu Umar the grammarian, who is

al-Jarmi, narrated from al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi', with this.

Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Shaqiq said: "Abu Ishaq narrated to us:

Al-Fudayl said: "If I were given the choice between living as a dog, dying as a dog, and not seeing the Day of Resurrection, I would choose that."

And Fayd ibn Ishaq said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"By Allah, to be dust is dearer to me than to be in the skin of the best of the people of the earth; and it would not please me to know the matter with its true knowledge, for then my intellect would wander."

And Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Tabari said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"If I said to you: you fear death, you would not accept it from me; were you to fear death, no food, no drink and nothing would benefit you; it would not please me to know the matter with its true knowledge, for then my intellect would wander, and I would benefit from nothing."

Abd al-Samad ibn Yazid: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"Do not make men the executors of your will; how can you blame them for losing your will when you have lost it yourself during your lifetime."

And I heard him say: "When Allah loves a servant, He increases his grief; and when He hates a servant, He expands for him his worldly lot."

And Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"Whoever loves to be mentioned will not be mentioned, and whoever hates to be mentioned will be mentioned."

And I heard him say: "By His might, if He admitted me into the Fire, I would not despair."

And I heard him, when we had come down from Arafat, say: "... and its disgrace, by Allah, from you, even if You forgive."

And I heard him say: "Fear is better than hope as long as the man is in good health; when death befalls him, hope is better."

I say: "That is according to his saying (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "None of you should die except while thinking well of Allah."

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Dawraqi narrated, from Ali ibn al-Hasan, who said:

"Al-Fudayl learned that Hariz intended to come to him, so he locked the door from outside; he came, saw the door locked, and returned; I came to him and said to him: Hariz (came)."

He said: "What would he do with me? He shows me the beauties of his speech and I show him the beauties of my speech; he does not adorn himself for me and I do not adorn myself for him; that is better for him."

Ali said further: "I never saw anyone more sincere to the Muslims, nor more God-fearing than he. And I saw him in a dream standing on a chest handing out mushafs, with the people around him, among them Sufyan ibn Uyayna and Harun the Commander of the Believers; I never saw him bid farewell to anyone but that he was able to complete his farewell."

Fayd ibn Wathiq said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"If you are able not to be a narrator of hadith, nor a reciter, nor a speaker... If you are eloquent, they say: What a transmitter he is! How fine his hadith! How fine his voice! You marvel at that and grow puffed up."

"And if you are not eloquent, nor fine of voice, they say: He does not narrate well, and his voice is not fine; that grieves you and weighs upon you, and you become a show-off."

"But when you sit and speak, not caring who blames you or who praises you, then speak."

Muhammad ibn Zunbur said: "Al-Fudayl said:"

"Your heart will not be safe until you cease to care who has devoured the world."

He was asked: "What is zuhd (detachment)?"

He said: "Contentment."

He was asked: "What is wara' (scrupulous piety)?"

He said: "Avoiding the prohibitions."

He was asked: "What is worship?"

He said: "Performing the obligations."

He was asked: "What is humility?"

He said: "That you submit to the truth."

He said: "The strongest scrupulous piety is in the tongue."

I say: "It is indeed so; you see a man scrupulous in his food, his clothing and his dealings; but when he speaks, the defect enters him from his speech: either he strives for truth and truth is not complete; or he speaks truth but embellishes his speech to be praised for eloquence; or he displays the best of what he has to be magnified; or he keeps silent where speech is due so that he may be celebrated; and the cure for all of that is severing oneself from people, except the congregation."

Abd al-Samad ibn Yazid said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"If I had a supplication that was answered, I would spend it on nothing but the imam, for the uprightness of the imam is the uprightness of the lands and the servants."

And I heard him say: "There are only two scholars: the scholar of this world, whose knowledge is displayed; and the scholar of the Hereafter, whose knowledge is veiled. Beware of the scholar of this world, lest he harm you in his drunkenness; the scholars are many, and the wise are few."

And from him: "The servant does not reach the reality of faith until he counts trial a blessing and ease an affliction, and until he does not love to be praised for the worship of Allah."

Al-Husayn ibn Ziyad al-Marwazi said: "I heard Fudayl say:"

"Were I to swear that I am a show-off, it would be dearer to me than swearing that I am not; and were I to see a man around whom the people gather, I would say: this one is mad; who is it around whom the people gather, yet he does not love that his speech be embellished for them?"

Fayd ibn Ishaq: "I heard Fudayl say:"

"This world is not a dwelling place; rather Adam was sent down to it as punishment; do you not see how He withdraws it from him and passes it over him with hunger,

with nakedness, with need, as a compassionate mother does with her child: she gives him to drink at times milk and at times patience, and she only intends by that what is better for him."

And from al-Fudayl: "It is forbidden for your hearts to taste the sweetness of faith until you detach yourselves from this world."

And from him: "If you are not able to stand in prayer at night and fast by day, know that you are deprived; your sin has fettered you."

And from Fudayl, who saw a group of the people of hadith merry and laughing, called out to them: "Gently, O heirs of the prophets, gently (three times), for you are imams who are followed."

Ibn Uyayna said: "I heard al-Fudayl ibn Iyad say:"

"Seventy sins of the ignorant one are forgiven that are not forgiven the scholar for a single one."

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: "Abu Ja'far al-Hadhdha narrated to us; I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"I took the hand of Sufyan ibn Uyayna in this valley and said to him: If you think that there remains upon the face of the earth anyone worse than me and you, then bad is what you think."

Abd al-Samad Mardawayh said: "I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"Whoever loves a proponent of innovation, Allah renders his deeds void and brings the light of Islam out of his heart; no deed rises to Allah from a proponent of innovation; the gaze of a believer upon a believer brightens the heart, and the gaze of a man upon a proponent of innovation causes blindness; whoever sits with a proponent of innovation is not given wisdom."

Abu al-Abbas al-Sirraj said: "Abu al-Nadr Isma'il ibn Abd Allah narrated to me; Yahya ibn Yusuf al-Zammi narrated to us, from Fudayl ibn Iyad, who said:

"When Harun the Commander

of the Believers entered upon me, I said: O you of the beautiful face! You have been charged with a momentous matter. I have never seen a face more beautiful than yours; so if you are able to keep this face from being blackened by a lash of the Fire, then do so."

He said: "Admonish me."

I said: "With what shall I admonish you? This is the Book of Allah between the two boards; look at what He did with the one who obeyed Him and with the one who disobeyed Him. I have seen the people plunging into the Fire with a fierce plunge, seeking it with eager pursuit; by Allah, if they sought Paradise with the like of that, or more easily, they would attain it."

He said: "Return to me."

He said: "If you do not send for me, I will not come; and if you benefit from what you have heard, I will return to you."

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: "I heard al-Fudayl say in his illness:"

"Have mercy on me out of my love for You, for nothing is dearer to me than You."

And I heard him say while complaining: "Harm has touched me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful."

And I heard him say: "Whoever feels lonely in solitude and seeks comfort in people is not safe from showing off; neither hajj nor jihad is harder than imprisoning the tongue; and no one bears greater sorrow than the one whose tongue is imprisoned."

Al-Husayn ibn Ziyad said: "I heard al-Fudayl say often:"

"Guard your tongue, attend to your own affair, know your era, and conceal your place."

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Dawraqi said: "Fayd ibn Ishaq narrated to us; I heard al-Fudayl say:"

"I wish it would fly among the people that I have died, so that I would no longer be mentioned; I hear the voices of the people of hadith and an urge to pass urine seizes me out of fear of them."

And al-Dawraqi said: "Al-Husayn ibn Ziyad narrated to us; I heard Fudayl say to the people of hadith:"

"Why do you force me upon a matter you know I do reluctantly (meaning narration)? If I were your slave and disliked you, my lot would be that you sell me; if I knew that when I handed you this cloak of mine

you would leave me, I would do it."

Al-Dawraqi: "And I heard Ishaq ibn Ibrahim say:"

"I heard al-Fudayl addressing himself: I do not see that He brought you out of the lawful and slipped you into the forbidden except to double your sin; are you not ashamed to mention the dinar and the dirham while you are around the House? It was visited only by the repentant and the one seeking refuge."

And from al-Fudayl, who said: "The believer envies (in a good way) and does not envy (with malice); good envy is of faith, and malicious envy is of hypocrisy."

I say: "This explains his saying (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "There is no envy except in two cases: a man to whom Allah has given wealth which he spends in truth, and a man to whom Allah has given the Qur'an, and he stands by it through the night and the edges of the day."

"So malicious envy here means good envy: that you envy your brother for what Allah has given him, not that you envy him in the sense of wishing the removal of that from him, for that is injustice and malice."

And from al-Fudayl, who said: "Among the characters of the prophets are forbearance, gentleness and standing in prayer at night."

Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami said: "Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ja'far informed us; al-Hasan ibn Abd Allah al-Askari informed us; the nephew of Abu Zur'a narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Rahawayh narrated to us; Abu Ammar narrated to us, from al-Fadl ibn Musa, who said:"

"Al-Fudayl was a highwayman," and he cited the account, which has already passed.

And Ibrahim ibn al-Layth said: "The hadith scholar Ali ibn Khashram narrated to us, saying:"

"A man from al-Fudayl's neighbors in Abiward informed me, saying:"

"Al-Fudayl used to waylay the road alone; one night a caravan came upon him, and some of them said: Do not camp at this village, for Fudayl waylays the road."

"He heard that and trembled, and said: O people, pass on; by Allah, I will strive not to disobey Allah."

"Its like is narrated by another route, but in the isnad is Ibn Jahdam, and he is unsound. In any case, polytheism is greater than waylaying, and people have repented from polytheism and become the best of the nation; and the hearts of the servants are in the hand of Allah, the Most High, and He leads astray whom He wills and guides to Him whoever turns back."

Ibrahim ibn Sa'd the jeweler said: "Al-Ma'mun said to me: al-Rashid said to me:

"My eyes never saw the like of Fudayl ibn Iyad; I entered upon him."

He said to me: "Empty your heart for sorrow and fear until they settle in it; then they will cut you off from acts of disobedience and keep you far from the Fire."

And from Ibn Abi Umar, who said: "I never saw after al-Fudayl a worshipper more devoted than Waki'."

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: "I saw Sufyan ibn Uyayna kiss the hand of al-Fudayl twice."

And from Ibn al-Mubarak, who said: "Whenever I looked at al-Fudayl, he renewed in me sorrow and contempt for myself, and then I wept."

Yahya ibn Ayyub said: "I entered with Zafir ibn Sulayman upon al-Fudayl ibn Iyad, and there was with him an old man; Zafir entered, and he seated me at the door."

Zafir said: "Al-Fudayl kept looking at me, then said: These hadith scholars delight in the closeness of isnads; shall I not inform you of an isnad about which there is no doubt:

the Messenger of Allah, from Jibril, from Allah: "a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are angels, harsh and severe," Surah at-Tahrim, 6. And you and I, Abu Sulayman, are among the people. Then

he was overcome, he and the old man; Zafir kept looking at the two of them; then al-Fudayl went out, we stood up, and the old man was still overcome.

Sahl ibn Rahawayh said: "I said to Ibn Uyayna:

"Do you not notice al-Fudayl? His tear scarcely ever dries for him."

He said: "When the heart is wounded, the eyes soften."

Al-Asma'i said: "Al-Fudayl looked at a man who was complaining to another, and said:

"You there! You complain of the one who has mercy on you to the one who has no mercy on you!"

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari said: "Abu Abd Allah al-Antaki narrated to us, saying:"

"Al-Fudayl and al-Thawri met and reminded one another, and Sufyan grew tender and wept, then said: I hope that this gathering will be for us mercy and blessing."

Al-Fudayl said to him: "As for me, Abu Abd Allah, I fear it will harm us more than it benefits us; did you not strive to display your finest hadith, and I to display my finest hadith, so that you adorned yourself for me and I adorned myself for you?"

Sufyan wept and said: "You have brought me to life; may Allah bring you to life."

And al-Fayd said: "Al-Fudayl said to me:"

"If it were said to you: Show-off! you would grow angry and it would weigh upon you, and perhaps what is said of you would be true: you have adorned yourself for this world, you have crafted an appearance, you have shortened your garments, you have beautified your gait, you have restrained your ear, until it is said: So-and-so is a worshipper, how fine is his gait! They honor you, look at you, frequent you, come to you, like the gold-plated dirham that everyone does not recognize; when its plating is stripped off, it shows up as copper."

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath: "I heard al-Fudayl say: I was informed that the scholars of the past"

"when they learned, they acted; when they acted, they were sought; when they were sought, they were missed; when they were missed, they were searched for; and when they were searched for, they fled."

And from him: "Suffices as a beloved one Allah, as a confidant the Qur'an, as a preacher death, as knowledge the fear of Allah, and as ignorance being deceived."

And from him: "Two traits harden the heart: much talk and much eating."

And from him: "What do you think of one whose sins have multiplied, whose knowledge has weakened, whose life has worn out, and who has not provisioned for his return?"

And from him: "Poor wretch! You do wrong and see yourself as doing good; you are ignorant and see yourself as knowledgeable; you are stingy and see yourself as generous; you are foolish and see yourself as sensible; your term is short and your hope is long."

I said: "Yes, by Allah, he spoke the truth; and you are an oppressor and see yourself as wronged; you eat the unlawful and see yourself as scrupulous; you are a sinner and believe yourself just; you seek knowledge for this world and see yourself as seeking it for Allah."

Abbas al-Duri: "Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Anbari narrated to us, saying:"

"I heard Fudayl say: When Harun al-Rashid arrived in Mecca, he sat in the Hijr, he and his sons and a group of

Hashimites, and they brought the sheikhs; they sent for me; I intended not to go and consulted my slave girl, who said: Go; perhaps he wants you to admonish him."

"I entered the mosque; when I reached the Hijr, I said to the nearest of them: Which of you is the Commander of the Believers?"

"He gestured toward him; I said: Peace be upon you, O Commander of the Believers, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings."

"He returned my greeting and said: Sit."

"Then he said: We called you only that you might narrate to us something and admonish us."

"I turned to him and said: O you of the beautiful face, the reckoning of all creation rests upon you."

"He began to weep and sob; I kept repeating before him while he wept, until the servant came; they carried me and brought me out; he said: Go in peace."

Muhriz ibn Awn said: "I was with al-Fudayl when Harun came, with Yahya ibn Khalid and his son Ja'far; Yahya said to him: Abu Ali, this is the Commander of the Believers, he greets you."

He said: "Which of you is he?"

They said: "This one."

He said: "O you of the beautiful face, you have been encircled by a momentous matter"; and he repeated it.

Then he said: "Ubayd al-Maktib narrated to me, from Mujahid, concerning His saying: {And the ties were cut asunder between them}, Surah al-Baqara, 166; he said: They are the attachments that were in the world," and he gestured toward them with his hand.

Abd Allah ibn Khubayq said: "Al-Fudayl said:

"Keep far from the reciters: if they love you, they praise you for what you are not; and if they become angry with you, they bear witness against you, and they are believed."