“Don’t worship Allah so He may give you. Rather, worship Him so He may be pleased. For when He is pleased, He will astonish you with His Gifts.”
By the dawn
And the ten nights
And the even and the odd
O you tranquil soul!
Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing
[al-Fajr: 1-3; 27-28]
Loftiness is attained in accordance to one’s struggles,
And whoever seeks nobility, remains vigilant by night.
Whoever wishes to achieve without due effort,
Will waste their life seeking what’s impossible.
You search for glory and yet you sleep at night,
It’s only the seeker of pearls who dives deep into the sea.
– Imam al-Shafi’i, al-Diwan
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Latest Post
New Book: The Life of ‘Abdullah Ibn al-Mubarak
Finally, after so many months 🙂 …
The Life of ‘Abdullah Ibn al-Mubarak
The Scholar of the East and the Scholar of the West
Based on the Arabic book, ‘Al-Imam al-Qudwah’ by Muhammad ‘Uthman Jamal
Book has been taken down for editing and publishing
_______________________________________________
“The lands of Khurasan have not brought out anyone like Ibn al-Mubarak.”
– Imam Ahmad
‘… The pages of our Islamic history and heritage are filled with the lives of men and women whose influence on our history can only be retold by history itself. They served as beacons of light, illuminating the path set by this Ummah’s Messenger (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam), and yet they were the heroes who protected this very path.
From amongst such figures are those who excelled in certain fields be they in leadership, scholarship, political thought, arts of war, business or literature to name but a few. However, rarely has history in the post-Prophethood era witnessed personalities who had gathered all these characteristics and succeeded across numerous fields and avenues. Rarely has it witnessed lives that were so enriched and yet enriching, so influential and inspiring, so powerful and empowering, so humble and yet so humbling.
One of these rarities lies in the very being of that scholar from Khurasan, the Mujahid between the army ranks, the faqeeh (jurist) and muhaddith (narrator) of his time, the righteous ‘aabid (worshipper) of his Lord, the successful merchant across cities, the well-known zahid (ascetic), the poet and writer, the grammarian and linguist, the respected and the leader of the Pious – ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak…’
But who was Ibn al-Mubarak?
‘I looked to the Sahabah and I looked to ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, but I didn’t see a virtue for them over him, except in their companionship of the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) and their battles with him.’
– Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah
‘There was no-one at the time of Ibn al-Mubarak who sought knowledge more than he did. He travelled to Yemen, Egypt, al-Sham, Basra and Kufa. He was from the narrators of knowledge and he was well-deserving of that; he wrote from the young and old, he wrote from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi and he wrote from al-Fizari… he has indeed gathered a great matter.’
– Imam Ahmad
‘He had gathered characteristics which were never before gathered in any scholar in his time in the entire world.’
– Ibn Hibban
‘He was the pride of the Mujahidin, the leader of the brave…’
– Imam al-Dhahabi