بسم الله وحده والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده
ʿĀlimah Siddiqa al-Fārsiyyah
Student, Takhassus Fil Hadith
Checked and Approved:
Mufti Ismail Moosa
www.ulumalhadith.com
Title: az-Zuhd wa ar-Raqā’iq
Genre: Ḥadīth
Language: Arabic
Author: Imām ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak al-Marwazī
Tahqiq: Ahmad Farid
Publisher: Dār al-Mi’raj ad-Dawliyyah
Pages: approx. 900
Overview
Whilst materialism refers to being obsessed with the things of the world at the cost of the remembrance of the Afterlife, Az-Zuhd, in this sense, is the opposite of materialism, without neglecting one’s portion of the world. It refers to focusing on the Afterlife, detaching one’s heart from this world and its false impressions, and disciplining one’s soul. With 11 short volumes, and approximately 900 pages of content, Imām ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak’s (raḥimahu Allāh) book covers over 50 important topics related to the topic of ascetism (az-Zuhd) and heart softeners (ar-Raqa’iq). In this print of Dar al-Mi’rāj ad-Dawliyyah, the researcher, Ahmad Farid, dedicates the first 60 pages of the introduction for defining the term ‘az-Zuhd’ and discussing its practise in the time of the Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam), its various levels, books written on the topic, and more. In the last 40 pages of the introduction, he discusses the biography of the author at length, his books, and the profiles of the narrators who transmitted this copy of the az-Zuhd wa ar-Raqā’iq.
‘Abdullāh bin al-Mubārak (raḥimahu Allāh)
He is ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak ibn Wāḍiḥ al-Ḥanẓalī al-Marwazī. He was born in Marw, one of the prime cities of Khurasan, which is nowadays in the surroundings of Afghanistan and Central Asia, in the year 118 A.H. ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak (raḥimahu Allāh) was raised in a household known for its righteousness and nurtured by parents who were known for their piety, justice and humbleness. Many scholars praised him for his memory, ascetism, knowledge, among many other qualities:
Al-Ḥusain ibn ʿIsā (raḥimahu Allāh (reports from Sakhr, one of the friends of ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak, that he said: “We were youngsters when ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak and I passed by a man who gave a long sermon. When he finished, ʿAbdullāh said, “I have memorized it all.” A man heard him say this so he said, “Let me hear it” to which ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak repeated the complete sermon and he had memorized it.
Shaqīq ibn Ibrāhīm (raḥimahu Allāh (said: It was said to ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak, “When you pray with us, you do not sit with us after it for a while?” He replied: “I go and sit in the company of the Ṣaḥābah (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhum) and Tabiʿūn (raḥimahum Allāh)” They asked: “What do you mean you will sit with the Ṣaḥābah and Tabiʿūn?” He explained: “I will look into knowledge and understand their reports and actions. As for you all, you merely sit and gossip about people.”
The essence of az-Zuhd is detaching one’s heart from the world, and not simply detaching one’s hand. This was the case with ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak (raḥimahu Allāh); he was a merchant, however, he did not intend with his wealth except to provide aid to his brothers, to go to Ḥajj and participate in Jihād, and other virtuous deeds.
ʿAlī ibn al-Fuḍail reports (raḥimahu Allāh): I heard my father say to ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak: “You command us to ascribe to asceticism and contentment, but we see you returning with multifold of wealth from Khurasan to the Sacred Country, how is that?” ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak replied: “O Abu ʿAlī! I do that only so that I may protect my honour [from begging and the like], and take help from it for the obedience of my Lord. I do not see for Allāh a right except that I hasten towards it so that I may carry it out.”
Content of the Book
The Chapter of Seeking ʿIlm for Worldly Gain
Muʿāḏ ibn Jabal (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhu) said: “Learn whatever you wish to learn, for Allāh will not reward you with knowledge until you act upon it.”
ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “I have met 120 from the companions of the Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam) and there would not be a Muḥaddith except that he wished his brother narrated Ḥadīth for him, and there would be no Mufti except that he wished that his brother gave verdicts on his behalf [out of their fear of accountability].”
Imām ash-Shaʿbī (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “The people of Paradise will ask the people of the Hellfire, “What entered you into the Fire, whilst we have been admitted into Paradise due to your lessons and teachings?” They replied, “We would command good, but not act upon it ourselves.”
The Consequences of Sins
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhu) said: “Indeed a believer sees his sin as if he is standing beneath a boulder which is to fall upon him whilst a disbeliever sees his sin like a fly that flew before his nose.”
Sulaimān ibn Ḥabīb (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “Indeed, when Allāh Ta’ala wishes goodness for his servant, He makes the sin heavy upon him [due to which he makes repentance]. And when Allāh wishes bad for someone, He makes it light upon him.”
Bilāl ibn Sa’d (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “Do not look at the trivialness of the sin, rather look at the One you have disobeyed.”
ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhu ) said: “All people speak good. It is only those whose statements match their actions who receive their share [of reward], and he whose actions contradict his statements, then he is to blame himself [when he is punished].”
Imām Sufyān ath-Thawrī (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “A man said to al-Ḥasan [al-Baṣrī] (raḥimahu Allāh), ‘Advise me.’ He said: ‘Honour the laws of Allāh [by acting upon them], and Allāh will honour you.”
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (raḥimahu Allāh) said, whilst reflecting upon the period of the pious predecessors: “A man would truly seek knowledge until it would quickly become apparent in his character, his speech, his salah, and in his asceticism. If a man learns even a chapter of knowledge, and acts upon it, it is far better for him from the world and whatever is it in, and he keeps it for the Hereafter.”
Regarding the calamity of forgetting the Qur’an, Imām aḍ-Ḍaḥḥāk (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “No one learns the Qur’an and the forgets it, except that he forgets it due to a sin that he commits, as Allāh Ta’ālā has mentioned: {And whatever strikes you of disaster – it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much.} [Shura verse 30], and forgetting the Qur’an is from the greatest of calamities.
Pious Companionship
Luqmān (al-Ḥakīm) (‘Alayhi as-Salām) would seek refuge from those who were heedless, and supplicated: “O Allāh! Do not grant me companions those who are heedless [of your remembrance]; those who, when I remember you, they do not join me, and when I forget to remember you, they do not remind me, when I command good, they do not obey me, and when I remain silent, they put me in grief.”
ʿUbaid ibn ʿUmair (raḥimahu Allāh) said: “It has reached me that Dāwūd (ʿalayhi as-salām) supplicated: ‘O Allāh, do not put me in the company of the evil, and thus I also become an evil person.”
Abu Saʿīd al-Khudrī (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) reported: The Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam) said: “Keep only a believer for a companion and let only a pious eat your food.” [Jamiʿ at-Tirmiḏī 2395]
Protecting the Tongue
The Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam) said: “He who believes in Allāh and the Last Day let him not harm his neighbour; and he who believes in Allāh and the Last Day let him show hospitality to his guest; and he who believes in Allāh and the Last Day let him speak good or remain silent”. [Muttafaq ʿalaih]
ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) is reported to have said regarding one’s fate in the Afterlife being contingent on how he makes use of his tongue: “Indeed, the right or left of a man is in between his beard, meaning his tongue.”
Abū Hurayrah (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) is reported to have said: “Whoever says to his child ‘hāh – come’ as if he is intending to give them something [but in reality, is not], will have one lie written [in his book of deeds].”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) is reported to have said: “Beware of excessive chitchat, it is enough for a man to say that much that will fulfill his needs.”
It is also reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) that he said: “It is enough for a man to prove himself a liar when he goes on narrating whatever he hears.” — This Ḥadīth has also been reported marfūʿan by Abu Hurayrah (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh).
Another report from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) that he said: “The thing that is the most deserving of being imprisoned is the tongue.”
The Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam) has said: “Whoever remains silent, has been saved.” [Jamiʿ at-Tirmiḏī 2501].
Concluding Thoughts
Imām ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak’s (raḍī Allāhu ʿanh) Az-Zuhd wa ar-Raqā’iq is exactly what the title mentions, a book filled with thought-provoking and compelling narrations on various topics related to asceticism, worship and heart-softeners. One of the enjoyable features of this book is that there are many topics, but the chapters themselves are quite short and effective. One is prompted to reflect on many spiritual illnesses and weaknesses without the chapters being long-drawn and technical. One learns that az-Zuhd is not wearing scruffy clothing, and abandoning marriage and the company of dear people, rather it is focusing on the Afterlife, self-denial, renouncement of pleasures and temptations, detaching one’s heart from this world and its false impressions, and disciplining one’s soul. This book serves as a spiritual guide, especially for students of ʿIlm, who are constantly targeted by Shaytān and his army, and put in doubt regarding so many issues. It not only expounds on ridding the illnesses of the heart, rather it also guides one on how to develop Khushu’ (veneration) in Salah, humility and Tawakkul, among other essential qualities.