Perennial Inspiration

Abu Dawud opened a letter he addressed to the people of Mecca with the following advice: “Peace upon you. Verily, I encourage you to praise Allah, the one besides whom there is no other God. And I beseech (God) that He sends His mercy upon Muhammad, peace upon him, every time he is mentioned. May Allah grant all of us a state of well being that will never be followed by any tribulation or torment.”

Imam Abu Dawud (Sulayman b. al-Asha‘ab b. Ishaq al-Azdi) was a master hadith scholar who collected many hadiths. He traveled in search of hadith throughout the Muslim world. He is the compiler of one of the seven major hadith collections, Sunan Abu Dawud.

“I utilized a small amount of a sort of learning, which is in fact closer to ignorance than knowledge, and accompanied it with a minimum amount of adab and yet it was enough to rescue us from death.”

Qadi Abu Bakr b. al-‘Arabi (Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. al-Mu’afiri) was a Maliki judge, hadith scholar, historian, and mujtahid; he traveled to the eastern Islamic world and studied with al-Ghazzali. His works include Awasim min al-qawasim and Aridat al-ahwadi, a commentary on Imam Tirmidhi’s book. His exegesis on the Qur’an is entitled Ahkam al-Qur’an. He is commonly confused with the Andalusian Sufi Muhyi al-Din ibn ‘Arabi.

“By the gate of your generosity stands a sinner, who is mad with love. O best of mankind in radiance of face and countenance!. Through you he seeks a means (tawassala), hoping for Allah’s forgiveness of slips; from fear of Him, his eyelid is wet with pouring tears. Although his genealogy attributes him to a stone (hajar), how often tears have flowed, sweet, pure and fresh!. Praise of you does not do you justice, but perhaps, In eternity, its verses will be transformed into mansions. My praise of you shall continue for as long as I live, For I see nothing that could ever deflect me from your praise.”

Imam Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (Ahmad b. Ali b. Muhammad) was originally from Asqalan (Palestine); early in his career he was interested in poetry and literature, later he turned to hadith and became a hadith scholar, encyclopedist, and historian. Though it was unusual at the time, his books became famous during his life. He was handsome, well to do, well traveled, and married scholarly women. He served as a judge in Egypt, and wrote a commentary on al-Bukhari, entitled Fath al-Bari, as well as histories and books on the hadith sciences, including biographies and assessments of accuracy of the chains of transmission. Al-Sakhawi, his student, wrote a grand biography of him, Jawahir wa durar.

“I used to earn five hundred silver coins a month and I spent them all seeking sacred knowledge. (This is because) what is with Allah endures.”

Imam al-Bukhari (Muhammad b. Ismail b. Ibrahim b. al-Mughira, Abu ‘Abd Allah) is the undisputed hadith master, compiler of the famed Sahih, and considered by Muslims to be the most authentic source for prophetic traditions. Many believe his work is second in importance only to the Qur’an. Al-Bukhari was an orphan; by the time of his death he had memorized hundreds of thousands of hadith and traveled throughout the Islamic world in his efforts to verify chains of hadith transmission. He is said to have prayed two rak’as for guidance before writing any hadith in the Sahih; he wrote many other books, including two well-known histories: al-Tarikh al-kabir and al-Tarikh al-saghir, and a work on literature: al-Adab al-mufrad.

“(Knowledge is) not the profusion of narration, but a light which God casts into the heart. Its condition is followership and the flight away from egotism and innovation.”

Imam Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (Muhammad b. Ahmad b. ‘Uthman, Abu ‘Abd Allah) was a historian, an expert in Qur’anic recitation, and a scholar of textual criticism of hadith. He wrote the twenty-three volume Siyar alam al-nubala’, which is known for its accurate descriptions of scholars, and a thirty-six volume history, Tarikh al-Islam al-kabir. Imam al-Dhahabi went blind seven years before his death.

“Knowledge without action is insanity, and action without knowledge is vanity. Know that knowledge today will not distance you from sin, nor bring you into obedience, nor distance you from the fire of Hell tomorrow. If you do not act today and do not derive lessons from your past days, you will say on the Last Day: ‘Return us to our previous life, and we will do good deeds,’ and it will be said to you: ‘O Fool, it is from there that you have come.”

Imam al-Ghazzali (Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Ahmad, Abu Hamid) traveled far and wide in search of knowledge. He was appointed professor in the prestigious Nizamiyah college in Baghdad, capital of Abbasid caliphate. He then left his teaching position for a life of asceticism. Al-Ghazzali was a Shafi‘i jurist and perhaps the Islamic world’s most famous Sufi author, popular until today for his very readable and clear works on Islam. His most famous work is Ihya ‘ulum al-din. He wrote Tahafut al-falasifah as a refutation of metaphysics.

“Be humble for humility is the attribute of believers. Beware of pride for God does not like the proud. Those who humble themselves are raised up by God, and those who are proud are abased by Him.”

Imam al-Haddad (‘Abd Allah b. Alawi b. Muhammad) was a Sufi and author of many books, including poetry, and the following: Aqidat al-tawhid, Da‘wat al-tamma wa tadhkirah al-ammah, Tabsirat al-waliy, and Masa’ilat al-sufiyah. He was blinded by chicken pox in his childhood; later in life, when oppressed by rulers of Tarim, he moved to al-Hawi. One of his students, Ahmad b. ‘Abd al-Karim al-Shajjar, collected his sayings into a book entitled Tathbit al-fu’ad.

“The scholars occupy the position of the prophets in a noble station between God and humanity.”

Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (‘Abd al-Rahman b. Ahmad) was a hadith scholar and jurist. He wrote a commentary on Imam Nawawi’s al-Arba’in, making them fifty hadith and calling it Jami’ ‘ulum wa al-hikam. He also wrote important works on jurisprudence and an influential book on Hanbali methodology.

“O One striving assiduously to hide his whims! Verily, his strivings will only bring about more assiduousness. The true lover (of God) has a voice rooted in his subconscious, When it speaks his hidden whims will be known.”

Imam al-Isfahani (Abu al-Qasim al-Husayn b. Muhammad b. al-Mufaddal) was the author of al-Mufradat fi gharib al-Qur’an, a dictionary of uncommon terms in the Qur’an; he was known for his sharp intellect and quick mind.

“Nothing you seek relying on your Lord will ever be difficult, and nothing you seek relying on yourself will ever be easy.”

Imam Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah al-Iskandari (Ahmad b. Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Karim) was a Sufi imam and second in succession to al-Shadhili. He was the author of al-Hikam al-‘Ata’iyah, a significant work in the Shadhiliyah order. He adhered to the Maliki school with Shafi‘i leanings, and taught at al-Azhar.

“(In Sura al-‘Asr), God swears, glorified is He, that everyone is lost except one who buttresses his intellectual strength with faith, who buttresses his physical strength with righteous deeds, and who buttresses others by counseling them with truth and patience. Truth is faith and righteous deeds, and the two of them are incomplete without patience.”

Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah (Muhammad b. Abu Bakr b. Ayyub) was one of the most famous students of Ibn Taymiyah; he was imprisoned with his shaykh in the citadel of Damascus. He is the author of many works on theology, jurisprudence, and Sufism; he wrote Zad al-ma‘ad while traveling on pilgrimage. His work ‘Ilam al-muwaqqi'in is a book on the foundations of jurisprudence. He also wrote on many aspects of earthly life, such as love, and he authored a comprehensive work on the effects of Satan on human affairs (Ighathat al-lafhan).

“When the thankfulness of the servant is genuine, it is not only a matter of utterance by the tongue, but also the heart's acknowledgment of the Lord's bestowal of gracious favor.”

Imam ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (‘Abd al-Qadir b. Musa b. ‘Abd Allah, Abu Muhammad) was one of the great mystics of Islam and the founder of the Qadiri sufi order. He wrote al-Fath al-Rabbani, Futuh al-ghayb, Fuyudat al-Rabbani, and al-Ghunya li-talibi tariq al-haqq.

“I do not eat or sleep out of habit, but only if sleep overcomes me whether by night or by day, and only if I need to eat, whatever the time.”

Imam al-Juwayni was a Shafi‘i jurist and theologian; the Nizamiyah school in Nishapur was built for him by Nizam al-Mulk. He wrote al-Burhan (lit., the proof) and al-Waraqat (lit., paper sheets, a popular manual set to verse that many memorized); extensive commentaries; a work on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence; and many works on theology, among which is al-Irshad and al-Shamil. Imam al-Ghazzali was among his most famous students.

“I have been looking into al-Shafi’i’s Risala for fifty years, and I do not recall a single time I looked at it without learning some new benefit.”

Imam al-Muzni (Ismail b. Yahya b. Ismail, Abu Ibrahim) was a student of Imam Shafi‘i, and a Shafi‘i scholar in his own right. He was considered a key promoter of al-Shafi‘i’s school and wrote al-Mukhtasar, a summary of the school’s rulings.