Al-Sufiy People’s Visiting Abu ‘Abd Allah, ‘Alayhi al-Salam

“Once, Sufyan al-Thawriy visited abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.). He saw the Imam wearing a cloth that was pure white like the membrane between an egg shell and its contents. He then said to the Imam, ‘This is not the kind of cloth you should wear.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Listen to me and pay proper attention to what I say; it is good for you now and in future if you like to die following the Sunnah and truth and not in heresy. I can tell you that the Messenger of Allah lived at a time when poverty was rampant. When living conditions improve the people most deserving to benefit from the worldly facilities are the virtuous people and not the sinful ones, the believing people and not the hypocrites, the Muslims and not those who reject Islam. What then is it that you, O Thawriy, dislike? When you see me in this condition, you must take notice that, I swear by Allah, from the time I reached the age of maturity, there has never been an evening or morning when Allah had a right in my properties that He had commanded me to payoff and I had not already paid it off.’ He (the narrator) has said that then a group of people who showed themselves to people to be abstaining from the worldly matters and called people to become like them in treating their bodies with harshness said to the Imam, ‘Our fellow companion has become tonguetied before you and is unable to present his argument properly.’ He (the Imam) then asked them, ‘What is the argument that you think you have?’ They replied, ‘It is from the book of Allah.’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘You then must present it; it is the most rightful fact to follow and upon which one must act.’ They said, ‘Allah, most Blessed, most High, speaking of a group of people of the companions of the Holy Prophet has said, “They give preference to others over their own-selves even though they particularly are in need of what they give away to the needy. Whoever controls the greed of his soul is of those who find true happiness.” (59:10) He has praised their deeds and in another passage He has said, “They offer food for His love to the destitute, the orphan and captives. . . .” (76:8) We think this much from the Holy Quran is enough to support our argument.’ A man from among the people present then said, ‘We know that you abstain from good food but at the same time ask people to give away from their properties so that you in turn benefit from such properties given away.’ “Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), then said, ‘You should leave alone the matters that do not benefit you. You however must tell me this. Do you have the knowledge of the abrogating and abrogated matters of the Holy Quran; what are the unequivocal and ambiguous matters in which strayed those who strayed and faced destruction, those who were doomed to face destruction of the members of this nation?’ They or certain ones among them replied, ‘We do not know all of such matters.’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘This is where you have difficulties. The same case applies to Ahadith of the Messenger of Allah. However, what you mentioned of the matters that Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, has spoken to us in His book about a people and their good deeds, you must take notice, such deeds were permissible and lawful. It was not prohibited for them, and their reward for such deeds is with Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious. (It was not obligatory on them) because Allah, most Holy, has commanded to do what is opposite to what they had done. Therefore, His prohibition was abrogating their practice; Allah, most Blessed, most High, out of His mercy toward the believing people, stopped them from harming themselves, their dependents, the weak ones, the small ones like children, the old men and women who are not able to bear hunger. If the loaf of my bread is given away while I have no other loaf of bread, then the lives of such ones (of my dependents) are jeopardized because of hunger. For this reason the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, has said, “If one has five dates in his possession or five loaves and he wants to give charity, the best charity to give is to spend it on one’s parents, then on his own self and dependents, thirdly on his relatives, fourthly on his neighbors, fifthly he should spend it in the way of Allah which is of the lowest degree of rewards.” The Messenger of Allah once, when one of the people of al-Ansar at the time of his death had set free five or six of his slaves and had no other possession and had left behind small children, said, “Had you informed me before about what he has done, I would not have given you permission to bury him in the graveyard of the Muslims due to his leaving behind small children with their hands spread before people for help.’” He (the Imam) then said, ‘My father has narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah has said, “Begin, when giving charity, with your dependents, the nearest ones first and so on.” Allah, most Majestic, most Wise, has also said, “. . . those who when giving charity do not exceed proper limits and nor do they act stringently, but give charity in a moderate manner.” (25:67) Is it not true that Allah, most Blessed, most High, has said what is other than what I see you call people to do and to give others preference over their own selves, while He has called what you want people to do as exceeding the proper limits in spending? In more than a verse of His book He says, “He does not love those who exceed proper limits in spending.” (6:141 and 7:31) He has prohibited from acting as exceeding proper limits in spending and acting very stringently. He has told them to act moderately in between the two manners of spending. One must not give away all of his belongings and then begin to pray to Allah to grant him sustenance. His prayer then is not answered as it is mentioned in a Hadith, narrated from the Holy Prophet (a.s.), that says, “The prayers of certain individuals of my followers are not answered. Of such people is one who prays against his parents, one who prays against his debtor who borrowed money without writing down for the record and appointing two witnesses for what he has borrowed, one who prays against his wife when Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, in His laws has already authorized him to dissolve the contract of his marriage and one who sits at home without work, then prays to Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, for sustenance but does not go out to work for a living. Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, says to him, “My servant, have I not made ways for you to seek means of living and go around in the land by the help of your healthy bodily abilities so that you would not leave any excuse between Me and yourself in matters of your seeking to make a living and in obedience to My command and to avoid becoming a burden on your family? Now you have no excuse. I may grant you sustenance or make you suffer stringent conditions.” Another person is a wealthy one who spends all of his wealth and then begins to pray to Allah for his sustenance. Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, says, “Had I not given you a great wealth? Why did you not act moderately as I had commanded you to do and avoid exceeding the proper limits of spending manners? I had already prohibited you to do so.” Yet there is another person who prays against good relationships with his relatives. Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, then taught his Prophet how to spend in charity. Once there were a few Awqiyyah (certain units of measurement) of gold and he did not like to keep them with him for the night while they are not given away to deserving people. So he gave them away and in the morning there was nothing left with him. A person came to him asking for help but he had nothing to give him. The person asking for help blamed him for his inability to provide any help and he became sad; nothing was left there with him to help and he was a very kindhearted person. Allah most High, disciplined His prophet, by means of commanding him, “You must not keep your hands tied up to your neck and you must not expand them altogether so much so that you then remain blamed and unable to provide any help.” (17:31) He says, “People ask you for help and they do not accept your excuses. If you give away all the properties you remain unable to help the needy.” These are of the Ahadith of the Messenger of Allah verified by the book which is confirmed by the believing people of the book. Abu Bakr at the time of his death, when asked to make a will, made a will about one-fifth of his legacy saying, “One-fifth is a great deal.” Allah, most High, has approved wills about one-fifth. So he made a will about one-fifth. Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, had given the right to make a will about one-third of one’s legacy at the time of one’s death. If he knew that one-third is better for him he would have made a will for one-third. People other than abu Bakr, as you know their excellence and restraint from the worldly matters, were Salman and abu Dharr, may Allah be happy with them. Salman’s manners were such that whenever he received a gift he would keep aside one year’s expenses thereof until receiving his gift of the coming year. It was said to him, “O abu ‘ Abd Allah, why is it that with all the restraint you exercise in the worldly matters and you do not know whether you will die today or tomorrow, you still keep one year’s amount of your expenses aside from the gift you receive?” His answer was as follows, “Why do you not wish for me one more year of living instead of fearing for my death within a year?”’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘O ignorant people, have you not noticed that one’s soul becomes lazy and weak (in worship) when he does not have dependable means of living but when he gains his means of living his soul gains comfort. Abu Dharr owned camels and sheep. He would get milk from them and also use their meat for food whenever he wanted for his family and for his guests or for the people from whom he received water. Whenever he thought they desired he would slaughter for them a camel for food or of the sheep to satisfy their desire for meat. He would distribute the meat among them and himself would get one share without anything more than others. Who is more restraining from the worldly matters than these people? The Messenger of Allah has said about them all that he has said but he has not mentioned anything about their dispossessing themselves altogether of their belongings by giving away everything in charity, just as you command people to give away all of their belongings to give preference to others over themselves and families. ‘O people, you must take notice that I heard my father narrating from his ancestors, ‘Alayhim al- Salam, from the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, who one day said, “No other thing is as astonishing to me as the condition of a believing person. If his body is cut into pieces by scissors, it is because it is for his good and if everything between the east and west is made to become of his belongings is because it is for his good. Everything that Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, does for him is for his good.” I like to know what I have said to you today had any effect on you or I increase my sayings. Have you not noticed that Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, at the beginning of Islam had made it compulsory on the Muslims to fight each one against ten pagans without turning his back to the enemy and those who did so would have filled his seat with hellfire. He then changed their condition out of mercy and kindness to them and told them to fight each one of them against two men of the pagans. It was a measure of relief in favor of the believers from Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious. This was an abrogation of one Muslims’ fighting against ten pagans. ‘You should tell me about the judges who rule against one of you to pay the expenses of his wife. Are they unjust judges if the defendant said, “I am a zahid (one who restrains from worldly matters) and I do not possess anything?” If you said such judges are unjust people, Islam will call you unjust, and if you said they are judges of justice, then you have defeated yourselves. By what means will you reject the validity of the will that leaves more than one-third for the poor out of the legacy of a deceased? You must answer to me about this. If all people were Zuhhad (restraining from worldly matters) as you like them to be without needing anything from the worldly matters, then who would receive the charities, expiation for disregard of one’s swearing and vows and charities like Zakat of gold, silver, dates, raisin and other items subject to Zakat like camel, cow, sheep and other goods? If it were as you say that no one should keep anything of the worldly things but instead send it as his supplies for the next life even though he may urgently need such items, what you maintain is bad and you have made people to follow what you follow due to ignorance of the book of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet of Allah and his Ahadith (sayings) which are verified by the divinely revealed book, and you have rejected them due to your ignorance and your disregard of the unique passages of the Holy Quran, the explanation of abrogating and abrogated matters, the unequivocal and ambiguous, the command and prohibitions therein. You must tell me if you know about Sulayman (the prophet) son of Dawud ‘Alayhi al-Salam, when he asked Allah to give him a kingdom which no one after him would ever have. Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, gave him such kingdom. He spoke the truth and acted thereupon. We do not find Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, blaming him for possessing such kingdom, neither any of the believing people have ever blamed him for possessing such a kingdom. Before him lived Dawud, the prophet with great kingdom and strong control. There is Joseph, the prophet (a.s.), who said to the king of Egypt, “Appoint me a supervisor of the treasures of the land; I am a knowledgeable keeper.” (12:56) He became the person in charge of the kingdom of the king up to Yemen. People would come for food supplies to him during food shortages and famine. We do not find any one to blame him for it. Dhul Qarnayn was a servant of Allah who loved Allah and Allah loved him. He prepared for him means and made him to possess the east and west of the land. He spoke the truth and acted thereupon. We do not find any one to blame him for it. You people must discipline yourselves by the disciplines of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, for the believing people. Follow the commands and prohibitions of Allah, and leave alone what has become confusing for you and you have no knowledge thereof. Leave issues of knowledge to the people of knowledge; you will be rewarded and excused before Allah, most Blessed, most High. You must seek to learn the knowledge of abrogating and abrogated matters of the Holy Quran, its unequivocal and ambiguous matters thereof. You must learn what Allah has made lawful and what He has made unlawful. This takes you closer to Allah and farther from ignorance. You must leave alone ignorance to its people. People of ignorance are many and people of knowledge are fewer. Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, has said, “Over every person of knowledge there is one more knowledgeable. ” (12: 76)’”