Hilyat al-Awliya

The Salaf and Their Parents

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Abū Hurayrah (d. 59) saw two men and said to one of them, “Who is this to you?” He replied, “My father.” He said, “Do not call him by his name, do not walk in front of him, and do not sit before him.”

Abū Ḥāzim al-Ashjaʿī (c. 100) was a close companion of Abū Hurayrah and is said to have spent half a century with him. He said, “Abū Hurayrah did not perform Ḥajj until his mother passed away.”

ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar (d. 74) saw a Yemenī man going around the Kaʿbah while carrying his mother on his back, saying, “I am her humble camel, if her mount is frightened, I am not frightened.” He then said, “O Ibn ʿUmar! Do you think that I have repaid her?” He replied, “No! Not even one groan!”

Ḥafṣah bt. Sīrīn (c. 100), the sister of Muḥammad b. Sīrīn (d. 110) said, “When Muḥammad would enter upon his mother, he would not speak to her with his whole tongue out of shyness towards her.”

Ibn ʿAwn (d. 151) said, “When Muḥammad b. Sīrīn (d. 110) would be in the presence of his mother, he would lower his voice and speak gently.”

Hishām b. Ḥassān said that someone from the family of Sīrīn said, “I never saw Muḥammad b. Sīrīn talking to his mother except while (he seemed) abased.” [Ḥilyah (2: 273)].

A man entered upon Muḥammad b. Sīrīn while he was in the presence of his mother, so he said, “What’s the matter with Muḥammad, is he suffering from something?” They said, “No, this is just how he is when he is in the presence of his mother.” [Ḥilyah (2: 273)].

Bundār (d. 252) said, “I wanted to go travelling (to seek ḥadīth) but my mother prevented me so I obeyed her, and I was blessed due to that.” Allāh blessed him by making him the teacher of the authors of The Six Books: al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah.

al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110) was asked about being righteous towards one’s parents and he said, “That you spend on them from what you possess, and you obey them as long as it does not involve sin.”

ʿAṭāʾ was asked about a man whose mother made him swear he would not pray except the obligatory and not fast except the month of Ramaḍān. He replied, “He should obey her.”

Iyās b. Muʿāwiyah (d. 122) cried when his mother passed away. He was asked, “What makes you cry?” He replied, “I used to have two doors to Paradise open for me, but one of them has been shut.”

al-Ashjaʿī (d. 182) said, “We were with Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161) when his son Saʿīd came and said, ‘Do you see him (meaning his father)? I have never been harsh with him; indeed, he would call me whilst I would be praying an optional prayer, and I would cut it for him.’”

A man said to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110), “Indeed I performed Ḥajj (again) and my mother gave me permission for the pilgrimage.” He said, “Sitting with her at her dinner table is more beloved to me than your Ḥajj.”

A man said to ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn (d. 94), “You are the most righteous of people and yet we do not see you eat with your mother?” He said, “I fear my hand will go first to what her eyes had already reached, and thus I would be disobeying her.”

ʿUrwah b. al-Zubayr (d. 94) said, “He has not been dutiful to his parents the one who looks at them sharply.”

Manṣūr b. al-Muʿtamir (d. 132) said, “It used to be said that the mother is due three-fourths of kind treatment.” [Ḥilyah (5: 42)]

Saʿīd b. Jubayr (d. 95) said, “I was bitten by a scorpion, and my mother made me promise to seek ruqyah, so I gave the rāqī the hand which had not been bitten as I hated to break my promise to her.” He did this so he could be among the 70,000 who will enter Paradise without any account; one of their characteristics is that they do not seek ruqyah.

Ṭalq b. Ḥabīb (c. 100) used to help his mum with her chores.

Kahmas (d. 149) used to work in plastering every day for two small coins. When evening would come, he would buy fruits and take them to his mother.

ʿAwn b. ʿAbd Allāh reported that ʿAbd Allāh said, “Keep ties with those your father used to keep ties with, for indeed keeping ties with the deceased in his grave is that you keep ties with the one your father used to keep ties with.”

ʿAmr b. Maymūn b. Mihrān said, “I went out with my father guiding him through one of the streets of al-Baṣrah. We came across a streamlet and he was not able to cross it so I lay down and he walked over my back.” [ḤA (4: 82)].

ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAwn said that his mother called him once, and he responded but raised his voice; he then freed two slaves. [Ḥilyah (3: 39)].

ʿAbd Allāh b. Yūsuf said that Abū ʿAbd Rabb used to buy slaves and free them. One day he bought an old female Roman slave and freed her. She said, “I don’t know where I’m going to stay.” So, he sent her to his house. When he departed from the masjid, he brought some dinner on the way, invited her to eat, and she ate. He then spoke to her and it turned out she was his mother! He immediately invited her to Islām but she refused. Despite that, from that point onwards, he was kind and dutiful to her to the highest degree. One day, when he returned from the ʿAṣr prayer on the Day of al-Jumuʿah, he was informed that his mother had accepted Islam, he fell down in prostration and stayed there until the sun set. [Ḥilyah (5: 160)].

Sources:

Min Akhbār al-Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ by Abū Yaḥyá Zakariyyā b. Ghulām Qādir, pp. 396-400.

al-Tahdhīb al-Mawḍūʿī li Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ li Abū Nuʿaym Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Aṣbahānī, prepared by Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṣāliḥ al-Habdān, pp. 151-153.

The Salaf and Night Prayer (Qiyam al-Layl)

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al-Fuḍayl b. ʿIyāḍ (d. 187) said, “It was said: from the characteristics of the Prophets, the pure ones, and the chosen ones whose hearts are pure were three qualities: forbearance, deliberateness, and a share of the night prayer.” [Ḥilyah (8: 95)].

Whenever ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar (d. 74) would wake up at night, he would pray [Ḥilyah (1: 304)].

ʿĀṣim b. Bahdalah (d. 127) said, “I reached a people who used to take this night as a provision, from them was Zirr b. Ḥubaysh (d. 83).”

Abū al-Zinād (d. 130) said, “I used to go out from the pre-dawn meal to the masjid of Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ, and I would not pass by a single house except there was someone reciting in it.”

ʿAmr b. Qays said, “I never raised my head up at night except that I saw Mūsá b. Abī ʿĀʾishah standing in prayer.”

Thābit al-Bunānī (d. 127) said, “There is nothing I find in my heart, more delightful to me, than praying at night.”

Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161) said, “Indeed I rejoice at the night when it comes”, and this was because of his great love for the night prayer.

ʿAmr b. Khālid al-Khuzāʿī (d. 229) said, “Hārūn b. Riʾāb al-Usayyidī used to stand the night in tahajjud, and when he would get up for tahajjud he would do so happily.”

al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110) was asked why those who prayed tahajjud had the most beautiful of faces. He replied, “Because they secluded themselves with the light of the Most Merciful in the darkness, so He covered them with a light from His light.”

Ibrāhīm, the son of Wakīʿ, said, “My father used to pray (the night prayer), so there would not remain anyone in our house except that he would pray, even a black slave-girl of ours.”

Ṣafwān b. Sulaym (d. 132) used to pray in his house during the summer, and when it would be winter, he would pray on the roof so as not to fall asleep.

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Abī Rawwād (d. 159) said, “When al-Mughīrah b. Ḥakīm al-Ṣanʿānī (d. 111/120) wanted to pray tahajjud, he would wear his best clothes and apply some perfume of his family – and he was from those who prayed tahajjud.”

The wife of Masrūq used to say, “By Allāh, Masrūq (d. 63) never woke up on a night except that his legs were swollen from standing (in prayer), and I used to sit behind him crying out of mercy for him, and when the night would become long for him and he would tire, he would pray sitting.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī (33-127) said, “Masrūq (d. 63) performed Ḥajj and did not sleep except whilst prostrating.”

ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Mulaykah (d. 117) said, “I travelled with Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68) from al-Madīnah to Makkah; he used to pray half of the night.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī (33-127) said, “My health has deteriorated, I have become frail, and my bones have become brittle, and today I stand in prayer and only recite al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān.”

ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamshādh said, “I do not know my father to have ever left out the night prayer.”

Qatādah (d. 118) said, “It used to be said, ‘Seldom does the hypocrite spend the night awake (in prayer).’”

al-Ḍaḥḥāk (c. 102) said, “I reached a people who felt ashamed before Allāh, with respect to the night, from sleeping a long time.”

One of the scholars used to pray before dawn but he slept through some nights. He saw a dream in which two men stood over him and one said to the other, “This man used to be amongst those who sought forgiveness before dawn.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī (33-127) used to say, “O gathering of young men, take advantage of your youth, rarely does a night pass me by except that I recite a thousand verses in it.”

Ibrāhīm b. Shammās (d. 220/221) said, “I knew Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (d. 241) when he was a young boy and he would spend the night awake (in prayer).”

Muʿāwiyah b. Qurrah (d. 113) said, “We were with al-Ḥasan (d. 110) and we were discussing which deed was the best. They all agreed upon night prayer. I said, “Abandoning the prohibited.” al-Ḥasan noticed this and said, “The matter is settled, the matter is settled.” [Ḥilyah (2: 299)].

Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī (d. 131) would pray the whole night and conceal that, and then at dawn he would raise his voice as if he had just woken up at that hour. [Ḥilyah (3: 8)].

Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110) said, “Through night prayer the lowly are honoured and the contemptible are exalted; and through the fasting of the day, the desires of a person are cut off; and there is no rest for the believer without entry into Paradise.”

Sources:

Min Akhbār al-Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ by Abū Yaḥyá Zakariyyā b. Ghulām Qādir, pp. 92-97.

al-Tahdhīb al-Mawḍūʿī li Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ li Abū Nuʿaym Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Aṣbahānī, prepared by Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṣāliḥ al-Habdān, pp. 664-669.

A related article: The Salaf and the Qur’an

816 – Salam Before Kalam

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(( السَّلَامُ قَبْلَ السُّؤَالِ؛ فَمَنْ بَدَأَكُمْ بِالسُّؤَالِ قَبْلَ السَّلَامِ فَلَا تُجِيْبُوهُ ))

“Greeting with salām comes before asking a question; so, whoever begins with the question before greeting with salām, do not answer him.”

Source of the Ḥadīth

This ḥadīth is recorded by Ibn ʿAdī in al-Kāmil (2: 303) via al-Sarī b. ʿĀṣim who narrated to us: Ḥafṣ b. ʿUmar al-Aylī who narrated to us: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Abī Rawwād narrated to us: from Nāfiʿ: from Ibn ʿUmar who said: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said…” then he mentioned it.

Ibn Abī Rawwād

Ibn ʿAdī mentions this ḥadīth in the biography of Ibn Abī Rawwād, and says regarding him, “And in some of his transmissions [there is] that which is not followed up.”

al-Albānī says that this is soft impugnment of him, and that a group have declared him reliable, and Muslim utilised him as proof. So, if the chain did not contain other than him, it would have been good.

Ḥafṣ b. ʿUmar

However, al-Albānī notes, the defect lies in those lower than him, for indeed, Ibn ʿAdī said regarding Ḥafṣ b. ʿUmar: “His traditions – all of them – are rejected either in the text or the chain, and he is closer to weakness.”

Abū Ḥātim said, “He was a lying shaykh.”

al-Sarī b. ʿĀṣim

And al-Sarī b. ʿĀṣim was declared feeble by Ibn ʿAdī, and he said, “He steals traditions.”

Ibn Khirāsh declared him a liar.

al-Dhahabī cited some of his rejected traditions and said, “Indeed they are from his trials and afflictions.”

After citing these criticisms of al-Sarī, al-Albānī states that it would have been closer to correctness for Ibn ʿAdī to have cited the ḥadīth in the biography of one of them instead of including it in the biography of Ibn Abī Rawwād.

He then opines that perhaps Ibn ʿAdī only mentioned it in the biography of Ibn Abī Rawwād because the ḥadīth is recognised due to him.

Other Routes

Others, besides these two (Ḥafṣ b. ʿUmar and al-Sarī b. ʿĀṣim) have reported it from him:

Ibn Abī Ḥātim states in al-ʿIlal (2: 331): “Abū Zurʿah was asked about the ḥadīth reported by Abū Taqī who said: Baqiyyah narrated to me and said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Abī Rawwād narrated to me with it…then he mentioned it with the wording, “Do not initiate speech before extending salām, thus, whoever begins with speech before extending salām – do not answer him.” Abū Zurʿah said, ‘This ḥadīth does not have any basis; Baqiyyah did not hear this ḥadīth from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz – it is only from the people of Ḥimṣ, and the people of Ḥimṣ do not differentiate this [i.e., the mode of audition being ambiguous or explicit].”

al-Albānī notes that Abū Taqī’s name is Hishām b. ʿAbd al-Malik, and that Abū Nuʿaym reports it via him in his Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ (8: 199) and says at the end: “[It is] strange (gharīb); from the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, we did not write it except from the ḥadīth of Baqiyyah.”

al-Albānī then states that Abū Nuʿaym’s report does not contain explicit audition, but that it does in another transmission recorded by Ibn al-Sunnī in his ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah (210). The chain is: al-ʿAbbās b. Aḥmad al-Ḥimṣī informed us: Kathīr b. ʿUbayd narrated to us: Baqiyyah b. al-Walīd narrated to us: Ibn Abī Rawwād narrated to us in an abridged form with the wording:

“Whoever begins with speech before extending salām, then do not answer him.”

Kathīr b. ʿUbayd, al-Albānī says, is Ḥimṣī and reliable, and that he finds it difficult to agree with Abū Zurʿah that the mere fact he is Ḥimṣī – while being reliable – would necessitate him not making a distinction between Baqiyyah saying “from” (ambiguous audition) and “he narrated to us” (explicit audition)! This is the reason why al-Albānī remarks that he holds the view that the ḥadīth with this chain is, at a minimum, the level of ḥasan.

With regards to al-ʿAbbās b. Aḥmad al-Ḥimṣī, al-Albānī states that Ibn ʿAsākir included a biographical entry for him in his Tārīkh (8: 444: 21), but did not mention any validation or impugnment of him, although a group has narrated from him.

I (Salal) say: the point of al-Albānī mentioning that a group has narrated from him is to indicate that al-ʿAbbās is not an unknown narrator. One can also add to this, the fact that, Ibn Ḥibbān includes al-ʿAbbās in his Ṣaḥīḥ which is an indication of his validation of him. However, due to Ibn Ḥibbān’s leniency in validating transmitters, we would need to find another leading transmitter-critic, who grades this al-ʿAbbās reliable as well, in order for any validation of him to be accepted.

al-Albānī then goes on to mention other routes via which this report is transmitted via Nāfiʿ, however, he states that they are all weak.

Firstly: al-Ṭabarānī records in his al-Awsaṭ via Hārūn b. Muḥammad Abū al-Ṭayyib: from ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿUmarī. al-Haythamī (8: 32) states, “Hārūn b. Muḥammad is an inveterate liar.” According to al-Albānī, when Abū Zurʿah said that this ḥadīth has no basis, he was referring to this particular iteration of the report.

Secondly: al-Silafī records it in al-Ṭuyuriyyāt (manuscript, 1: 252) via al-Wāqidī. This al-Wāqidī, the Shaykh says, is accused of lying, and his name is Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Wāqid al-Aslamī.

In Summary

I (Salal) say: what is apparent from the above is that al-Albānī grades the ḥadīth ḥasan due to the following:

[1] Ibn Abī Ḥātim’s report in his al-ʿIlal: the only issue Abū Zurʿah had with the chain was Abū Ṭaqī stating that Baqiyyah reported the ḥadīth with explicit audition, which indicates he did not have an issue with the rest of the chain. al-Albānī disagrees with Abū Zurʿah’s view regarding the people of Ḥimṣ not differentiating between ambiguous and explicit forms of audition. Baqiyyah is mudallis and would do tadlīs via unknown and weak transmitters which is why Ibn Ḥajar includes him amongst the tadlīs practitioners whose reports are only accepted if they state explicit audition. See his Taʿrīf Ahl al-Taqdīs bi Marātib al-Mawṣūfīn bi al-Tadlīs, pages 14 and 49, ed. Dr. ʿĀṣim al-Qaryūtī.

[2] Abū Nuʿaym’s report in al-Ḥilyah: this chain does not contain explicit audition from Baqiyyah. But this is remedied by:

[3] Ibn al-Sunnī’s report which does contain explicit audition from Baqiyyah. The only issue is al-ʿAbbās b. Aḥmad al-Ḥimṣī who is ungraded. This is remedied by the above two chains which all indicate a fair basis for this report.

    The Shaykh did not base the authenticity of the ḥadīth on the extremely weak chains from:

    1. Ibn ʿAdī in al-Kāmil: two of its narrators are extremely weak (al-Sarī b. ʿĀṣim and Ḥafṣ b. ʿUmar al-Aylī).
    2. al-Ṭabarānī’s report in al-Awsaṭ as it contains a liar (Hārūn b. Muḥammad).
    3. al-Silafī’s report: it also contains a liar (al-Wāqidī).

    Further Notes

    • This ḥadīth indicates giving salām is obligatory.
    • Imām al-Albānī held the opinion it is obligatory to extend the greeting of salām: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wriEWtZoSDA
    • The opinion that it is obligatory is also indicated by the ḥadīth, “The right of a Muslim over another Muslim are 6…when you meet him extend the greeting of salām to him…” Reported by Muslim (2162).