Imam al-Fudayl ibn Eyad [AAH]

Imam al-Fudayl ibn Eyad [AAH]

He is ibn Mas'oud ibn Beshr the Imam the role model the stratified the sheikh of Islam, Abo-Ali at-Tamimy al-Yarbo'i who grew up in Kharasan. Who stayed by the Sacred House of Allah [Ka'ba]. He was born in Samarqand and grew up in Apyord from the side of Marw from a village known as Qandin, and he travelled seeking knowledge.

Mohamed ibn Saad said: he was born in Kharasan in the district of Apyord, and he cam to Koufa when he was old. He heard from Mansour and others, then devoted himself to worship and he moved to Mecca and stayed there until he died there.

Of the wonderful parts of his biography is his repentance story:

Imam Zahaby said in Syrat Aalam an-Nobalaa: al-Fadl ibn Musa said: al-Fudayl ibn Eyad used to be a shrewd who waylays between Apyord and Sarkhas. The reason for his repentance is that he adored a woman slave. And one day he was climbing the wall to get to her, the he heard someone reciting [Is not the time ripe for the hearts of those who believe to submit…] al-Hadid :16. when he heard that he said: Yes, o, Lord, it is time. He returned and night got him to some ruins, which had some passers-by one of them said: let us leave. Others said: Let us wait until morning as Fuday is on the road and he will cut it on us. Al-Fudayl thought: I go at night with the wrongdoing and some people from the Muslims here are fearing me. I do not think that Allah brought me here to them except to be deterred. O, Allah, I repent to you, and my repentance will be the staying by the Sacred House. Imam az-Zahaby commented on this story as: Anyway, polytheism is greater than waylaying and many people repented from polytheism and became the best of the nation. So the forelocks of the servents are in the hands of Allah. He strays whom He wills and guides to Him whoever repents.

Who wrote about him and narrated from him [AAH]:

In Koufa Mansour, al-Aamash, Bayan ibn Beshr, Hasein ibn Abdel-Rahman, Layth, Ataa ibn as-Sayeb, Safwan ibn Salym, Abdel-Aziz ibn Rafie, Abo-Ishaq ash-Shaybany, Yahya ibn Saied al-Ansari, Hisham ibn Hassan, ibn Abo-Layla, Mugalid, Ash'ath ibn Sawwar, Gafar as-Sadiq, Hamid at-Tawiel, and many others from Koufa and Hijaz.

Those who narrated from him were ibn al-Mubarak, Yahya al-Qattan, Abdel-Rahman ibn Mahdy ibn Helal, ibn Oyaynah, al-Asma'y, Abdel-Razeq, sheikh Wasety, Husain al-Gaafy, Asadu-es-Sunna ash-Shafeyi, Ahmed ibn Yunis, Yahya ibn Yahya at-Tamymy, ibn Wahb, Musadad, Qutayba, Beshr al-Hafy, Sarey ibn Mughlis as-Saqaty, Ahmed ibn al-Muqaddam, Ubaid-Allah al-Quwairy, Mohamed ibn Zanbour al-Makky, Luwayn, Mohamed ibn Yahya al-Adany, al-Hamidy, Abdel-Samad ibn Yazid Mardawiah, Abdah ibn Abdel-Rahim al-Marzawy, Mohamed ibn Abo-as-Sarey al-Asqalany, Mohamed ibn Qudamah al-Massysy, Yahya ibn Ayyoub al-Muqabery, and many others, the last of them to die was al-Husain ibn Dawoud al-Balkhy. Of his best sheikhs Sufyan ath-Thawry also narrated from him, while there is a hundred and forty year between their deaths.

Of his words [AAH]:

He said [AAH]: the people of virtue are the people of virtue unless they see their virtue. He also said: who loved to hear his saying when he speaks, is not an ascetic one. He said also: If an enemy backbites you, then he is more beneficial to you than a friend, as whenever he backbites, you get from his good deeds. He [AAH] also used to say: the master of the tribe at the end of time would be its hypocrite. And there he was warning from them as they are an illness with no cure.

He used to say [AAH]: this is not a time of delight; rather it is a time of worries. He also said: everything has a preamble and the preamble of the readers -of Qur'an- is leaving the backbiting. He used to hate meeting the brothers for fear of embellishment from them and from him.

He [AAH] used to work as water carrier for always, and he spent on himself and his children. He used to say if Allah loved some servant, He would make him sad in this worldly life, and if He despites some servant, He would make him rich and makes it easy for him in this worldly life. He [AAH] also said: the carrier of Qur'an should not have any need from any of the princes or the rich people. Rather the need of all creatures should be to him. He [AAH] also said: get away from the readers as much as you can, as if they love you they praise you with what you do not have, and if they were angry they will falsely testify against you and it will be accepted from them.

He also said: the readers of ar-Rahman are with humility and shriveling, and the readers of the worldly life are with pride, conceit, and despite for the public. He [AAH] said also: Backbiting is the fruit of the readers. One day he met Shwayb ibn Harb in the circumambulation, so he said: O, Shwayb, if you think that this situation and time was attended by who is worst than me and you, then what a bad thought! He said also: he is not a brother for you, who gets angry with you if you prevent him something he asked. He used to say: Loqman was a judge on the sons of Israel while he was a Habashian slave, because he was honest in his speech and he left what does not concern him. He also used to say: the straight path is fifteen leagues long, so look my brother what kind of men you want to be.

Ishaq ibn Ibrahim asked him to tell him Hadith, so al-Fudayl [AAH] said to him: if you have asked me dinars it would have been easier than Hadith. If you, o, infatuated one, have worked with what you knew it would have made you busy from hearing Hadith. He used to say also: the scholar of the hereafter, his knowledge is hidden. And the scholar of the worldly life, his knowledge is spread. So follow the scholar of the hereafter and avoid the scholar of the worldly life do not sit with him, as he would deceive you with his pride and ornament, and his calling for working without work or working without sincerity. He [AAH] also said: if the people of knowledge abstained from the worldly life, the heads of the tyrants would bow for them and the people would be driven to them. But they spent their knowledge to the people of the worldly life to some of what is in their hands, so they were humiliated and trivialized for people. It is the sign of the ascetic ones to be happy if they were described with ignorance for the princes and the ones around them.

Abdel-Samad ibn Yazid Mardawiah said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: people did not decorate with anything better than honesty and seeking the lawful provision. His son said: O, father, the lawful is very rare. He said: O, son, and its few is plenty for Allah.

Sarey ib al-Mughlis said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: whoever fears Allah, no one would harm him, and whoever fears Allah, no one would benefit him.

Fayd ibn Ishaq said: I heard al-Fudayl ibn Eyad when was asked by Abdullah ibn Malik: O. Abo-Ali what is the salvation from what we have? He said: Tell me, whoever obeys Allah, would he be harmed with the disobedience of any one else? He said: No. al-Fudayl said: then whoever disobeys Allah, would he benefit from the obedience of any one else? He said: No. al-Fudayl said: That is the salvation if you want salvation.

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: the fear of the servant from Allah is as much as he knows Allah. And his being ascetic in the worldly life is as much as he wants the hereafter. Whoever works with what he knows, he would not need what he does not know. And however works with what he knows, Allah would support him in what he does not know. Whoever had bad manners, he would disgrace his religion, his relations, and his chivalry.

I also heard him saying: the worst liar of all people is the one who goes back to his sin. And the most ignorant of all people is the one who brags of his good deeds. The most knowledgeable of all people is the one who fears Allah the most. No servant will be completed unless he prefers his religion to his desire. No servant would bearish until he prefers his desire to his religion.

Mohamed ibn Abdawyah said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: leaving work for people is hypocrisy, and doing work for people is polytheism, and sincerity is when Allah relieves you from both of them.

Salam ibn Abdullah al-Kharasani said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: yesterday is an example, today is work, and tomorrow is hope. Fayd ibn Ishaq said that al-Fudayl said: by Allah, it is never lawful for you to hurt a dog or a pig without right, so how can you hurt a Muslim. Also from Fudayl: a servant is not pious unless his enemy feels safe with him. He also said: As small the sin is for you as it is big for Allah, and as big it is for you as small it is for Allah.

From al-Mufaddal al-Gendy: Ishaq ibn Ibrahim at-Tabary said: I have never seen anyone more fearful for himself, and more hopeful for the people, from al-Fudayl. His reading was sad, pleasant, slow, and flowing as if he is talking to someone. If he passes by a verse mentioning paradise, he repeats it and asks. His prayers at night was mostly sitting, they throw the straw mat for him in his mosque, he prays in the first of the night an hour, then his eyes overcome him so he throws himself on the mat and sleeps a little, then he wakes up. And if the sleep overcomes him again, he sleeps, then wakes up again, and so on until morning. He used to sleep if he gets sleepy. It was said that this is the best worship.

A stance for al-Fudayl with Haroun ar-Rashid:

Al-Fadl ibn Rabie said: the prince of believers –he meant Haroun- did Hajj he said to me: Hay! You, I have some thing in my mind so seek me a man I ask. I said: there is Sufyan ibn Oyayna. He let us go to him. We came to him and knocked the door. He said who is that? I said: answer the prince of believers. He came out soon and said: O, prince of believers, if you have sent to me, I would have come to you. He said to him: take for what I came to you. He talked to him for an hour, and then he said: do you have debts? He said: Yes. Ar-Rashid said to me: pay his debt. When we went out, ar-Rashid said: your friend did not help much. I said: there is Abdel-Razeq. He said let us go to him. We came to him and knocked the door, and he came out and talked to him for an hour, and then ar-Rashid said: do you have debts? He said: Yes. Ar-Rashid said: Abo-Abbas, pay his debt. When we went out ar-Rashid said: your friend did not help much. Fetch me a man I can ask him. I said: there is al-Fudayl ibn Eyad. He said: Let us go to him.

We came to him an there he was standing praying, reading a verse and repeating it. Ar-Rashid said: knock the door. So I did, and he said: who is this? I said: answer the prince of believers. He said: what do I have to do with the prince of believers? I said: Subhan-Allah! do not you have to obey? He came down and opened the door then he went up to the room, put off the lantern and went to a corner. We entered and searched for him with our hands. Ar-Rashid's hand got to him before me. He said: what a hand! How soft it is if it survived tomorrow from Allah's torture. I said to myself: he will talk to him today with a pure talk from a pure heart. Ar-Rashid said to him: take for what we came to you – may Allah give you mercy. Al-Fudayl said "Omar ibn Abdel-Aziz, when he became cliph, called for Salim ibn Abdullah, Mohamed ibn Ka'b, and Ragaa ibn Haywa, and said to them: I was afflicted with this affliction, so counsel me". -So he considered the caliphate as affliction while you and your companions consider it as grace- "Salim said to him: if you want to survive you should fast all the worldly life, and let you fast breaking be the death. Ibn Ka'b said to him: if you want to be saved from Allah's torture, let the old Muslims be as fathers for you, their middle aged one be as brothers, and their young ones as sons. So you honor you fathers, be generous to your brothers, and be kind to your sons. Ragaa said to him: if you want to be saved from Allah's torture, then like for the Muslims what you like for yourself, and hate for them what you hate for yourself, then die if you want to". I also say to you this, and I fear for you the utmost fear from the day when the feet slip. So do you have – may Allah give you mercy – anyone to counsel you like this?

When he heard that, ar-Rashid cried very deeply until he fainted. I said to al-Fudayl: Easy on the prince of believers. He said: O, ibn Om-ar-Rabie. You and your fellows kill him and you want me to go easy with him? Then ar-Rashid woke up and said to him: Tell more, may Allah give you mercy. He said: I heard that an employed prince for Omar ibn Abdel-Aziz was complained to him. So Omar wrote to him: "O, brother, I remind you of the long waking of the people of hell in hell the ever lasting. Beware, it would get you away from Allah, then it would be the last of that and the end of hope". When the prince read the letter, he got himself out and travelled to Omar. Omar said to him: what made you come? He said: you got my heart out with your letter. I will never hold a position of a prince until I meet Allah. ar-Rashid cried very deeply. Al-Fudayl said: O, prince of believer. Al-Abbas the uncle of the Prophet [PPBUH] came to him and said: make me a prince. The Prophet [PPBUH] said to him (Principality is heartbreak and regret on the day of resurrection. So if you can avoid being a prince then do it). Ar-Rashid cried again, then he said: tell me more. He said: O, you, good looking face, you are the one that Allah asks on the resurrection day about all these creatures. So if you can protect this face from hell, then do. Beware to get in the morning and the evening while you have in your heart cheating for any of your subjects. As the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] said (whoever became cheating for them, will not smell the scent of paradise). Ar-Rashid cried, then he said: Do you have debts? Al-Fudayl said: Yea a debt to my Lord. He did not account me for it yet. Woe to me if He discusses me. Woe to me if I was not inspired my argument. Ar-Rashid said: What I meant, is the debt to anyone? Al-Fudayl said: My Lord did not order me to do that. He ordered me to keep His promise. Allah said [I have not created the jinn and humankind except that they might worship Me] az-Zaryat 51:56. Ar-Rashid said: this is a thousand dinars to spend on your children and to help you in your worship. Al-Fudayl said: Subhan-Allah! I show you the way to be saved, and you reword me with this. May Allah save you and support you. Then he silenced, and did not talk to us. So we went out and ar-Rashid said to me: O, Abo-Abbas, if showed me any one again let be like this one. This is the master of Muslims.

The words of the scholars about him:

Ibrahim ibn Mohamed ash-Shafiey said: I heard Sufyan ibn Oyayna saying: Fudayl is trustworthy. Al-Agaly said: He is a Kufi trustworthy worshiper. He is a righteous man, who lived in Mecca. Mohamed ibn Abdullah ibn Ammar said: I wish that Fudayl would tell us what he knows. Ibn Ammar was asked: Do you see that his Hadith is a proof. He said: Subhan-Allah! -he meant: of course. Abo-Hatim said: He is truthful. An-Nasa'I said: He is assured trustworthy, and a righteous man. Ad-Darqatny said: He is trustworthy.

Abo-Wahb Mohamed ibn Muzahem said: I heard ibn al-Mubark saying: I saw the most worshiper of the people: Abdel-Aziz ibn Abo-Rawwad. And the most pious of the people: al-Fudayl ibn Eyad. And the most knowledgeable of the people: Sufyan ath-Thawry. And the best in Fiqh of the people: Abo-Hanifa, I have not seen in Fiqh anyone like him.

Ibn al-Mubarak said: For me, there is no one left on earth better that al-Fudayl ibn Eyad.

An-Nudar ibn Shamil said: I heard ar-Rashid saying: I have never see of the scholars anyone more reverent or more pious than al-Fudayl.

Al-Haytham ibn Gamil said: I heard Shuraik saying: every people have an argument for the people of their time, and Fudayl ibn Eyad is an argument for the people of his time. Then a youth stood up and left. When he was away, al-Haytham said: if this youth lived, he will be an argument for the people of his time. They said: who was the youth? He said: Ahmed ibn Hanbal.

Abdel-Samad Mardawyah the jewler said that ibn al-Mubarak said: al-Fudayl ibn Eyad was truthful to Allah, so He put the wisdom on his tongue. Al-Fudayl is one of those who benefited from his knowledge.

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: I have never seen anyone in whose chest Allah was great more than al-Fudayl. When he heard Dhikr Allah or Allah was mention in front of him or even heard some Qur'an, then fear and sadness would show on him, his eyes would water, and he would weep until every one pities him. He was always sad with deep thought. I have never seen a man who means Allah with his knowledge and work, his give and take, his spend and prevent, his love and hate, and all his merits. We used, if went out with him in a funeral, to watch him keep preaching, doing Dhikr, and weeping as if he is leaving his friends, until he reaches the cemetery, then he sit in his place among the dead of sadness and weeping, until he stands and goes back as if he is coming back from the hereafter telling about it.

Fayd ibn Ishaq said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: By Allah, if I were dust is more likeable for me than to be in the skin of the best man on earth. And it would not please me to know the matter in truth, as my mind would be mad.

Ibrahim ibn al-Ash'ath said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: fear is better than hope as long as the man is sound, but the death comes then hope is better. I said: that is because of the saying of the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] (No one of you should die unless he thinks positively of Allah).

Ahmed ibn Hanbal said from Abo-Gafar al-Hazzaa: I heard al-Fudayl saying: I took the hand of Sufyan ath-Thawry in this valley and said to him: If you think that there is anyone left on this earth worst than me and you, then what an evil thought!

Abdel-Samad Mardawyah said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: whoever loves a man of heresy; Allah will make his work futile and will take the light of Islam out of his heart. The work of the one with heresy will not be raised to Allah. the look of a believer to a believer glazes the heart, and the look to the one of heresy inherits blindness. Whoever sits with a man of heresy will not be given wisdom.

Al-Fudayl said: a believer envies [loves to be like someone in goodness] but not grudge [Loves that the goodness of someone goes away]. Envy is from believing, but grudge is from hypocrisy. I say: this explains the Hadith of the Prophet [PPBUH] (no envy except in two: a man Allah gave him money and he spends it rightly, and a man Allah gave him the Qur'an so he recites it some hours of the night and at the two ends of the day). The envy here is the desirable one as you do not want the grace to be taken from your brother which is evil and dirty.

His passing away [AAH]:

Mohamed ibn Saad said: he moved to Mecca and stayed there until he passed away in the Sacred House at the beginning of the year 187H, in the time of the caliphate of Haroun ar-Rashid. And he was trustworthy, noble, virtuous, worshiper, pious, and had a lot of Hadith.

Edited by G. Salah
Translated by Ahmed
http://almagalla.info/2012e/jun4.htm
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