In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The best of generations in their conduct and example,
Following the Messenger whenever he strove or spoke.
A collection of affection,
Proceeding.
Portraits from the lives of the Tabi'un,
By Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
May Allah have mercy upon him.
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays,
May Allah have mercy upon him.
Damascus was smiling at the gentle spring,
Proud of its lush, verdant thickets,
Vain of its fragrant gardens.
The palace of the Commander of the Faithful,
Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan,
Had prepared itself to receive those arriving to see him.
No sooner had the first visitor been granted permission to enter upon the Caliph,
Than his sister, Umm al-Hakam bint Abi Sufyan, hurried,
Taking her place behind the curtain,
To listen to what was being narrated in the Caliph’s assembly
From the hadiths of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
And to delight in what the companions of the Commander of the Faithful scattered
Of rare anecdotes,
Magnificent poetry, and profound wisdom.
For she was a woman of sound judgment and high ambition,
Aspiring toward noble pursuits.
She knew that her brother granted people permission to enter
According to their status:
He would prioritize the Companions of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, over all others,
Followed by the senior Tabi'un,
Then the scholars and those of noble lineage.
However, Umm al-Hakam
Found her brother receiving his first visitor with a reception
Tinged with a certain coldness.
She heard him say to him:
"By Allah, O Ahnaf, I have never recalled the day of Siffin,
And remembered your siding against us,
And your standing on the side of Ali ibn Abi Talib,
Without it leaving a bitterness in my heart until I die."
The man countered him, saying:
"By Allah, O Mu'awiyah,
The hearts with which we hated you are still within our chests,
And the swords with which we fought you have not ceased to be in our hands.
If you draw a span closer to war, we will draw a span closer to it,
And if you walk toward it, we will hasten toward it at a run.
By Allah, it was not a desire for your gifts that brought us to you,
Nor a fear of your rejection;
Rather, we came to you to mend the rift, unite the ranks,
And gather the community of the Muslims."
Then he turned and left from whence he came.
Umm al-Hakam could not help
But pull back the edge of the curtain
To see this man who returned the stone to the Caliph from where it came,
And measured out to him two measures for every one.
She saw a man of short stature and slight build,
Bald-headed, with crooked teeth,
A receding chin, and sunken eyes,
With bowed legs.
There is no human defect
But that he had a share of it.
She turned to her brother and said:
"O Commander of the Faithful,
Who is this man who threatens the Caliph and warns him in his own palace?"
Mu'awiyah sighed and said:
"This is the one who, if he becomes angry,
One hundred thousand of the Banu Tamim become angry for his sake,
Without even knowing why he is angry.
He is Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays,
The leader of the Banu Tamim,
And one of the unique individuals of the Arabs and their conquering heroes."
So let us review the life story of Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays from the beginning.
In the third year before the Hijrah,
A son was born to Qays ibn Mu'awiyah al-Sa'di,
A newborn he named al-Dahhak.
However, it was not long before people
Nicknamed him 'Al-Ahnaf' (the Bow-legged),
Because of the curvature in his legs.
Eventually, the nickname overshadowed his given name.
Qays, the father of Al-Ahnaf, was not among the elite of his people,
Nor among their inner circle;
He was merely among the common folk.
Al-Ahnaf was born in the dwellings of his people,
West of al-Yamamah in the lands of Najd.
The young man grew up an orphan,
For his father was killed while he was still a child who had not yet begun to walk.
Then the lights of Islam flooded his heart
While he was still a boy whose mustache had not yet grown.
For the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had sent,
A few years before his passing,
A caller from among his Companions to the tribe of Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays,
Inviting them to Islam.
The caller gathered the notables of the tribe,
And began urging them toward faith,
Presenting Islam to them.
The people remained silent,
And some began to look at others.
Al-Ahnaf, who was present, stepped forward and said:
"O my people,
Why do I see you hesitating,
Taking one step forward and one step back?
By Allah, this person who has come to you
Is a caller to goodness.
He invites you to noble character,
And forbids you from base ones.
By Allah, we have heard nothing from him but good.
So answer the caller to guidance,
That you may attain the best of this world and the Hereafter."
It was not long before they embraced Islam,
And the young man embraced it with them.
Then the leaders of the tribe went to the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
But Al-Ahnaf did not go with them due to his young age,
And thus he was deprived of the honor of being a Companion.
However, he was not deprived of the pleasure of the noble Messenger, peace be upon him, with him,
Nor of his supplication for him.
Al-Ahnaf narrated, saying:
"While I was circumambulating the Ancient House during the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him,
A man I knew met me,
He took my hand and said:
'Shall I not give you glad tidings?'
I said: 'Yes.'
He said:
'Do you remember the day the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sent me to your people to invite them to Islam?
I began calling them and presenting the entry into the religion of Allah to them,
And you said what you said that day.'
I said: 'Yes.'
He said:
'I returned to the Prophet, peace be upon him,
And informed him of your words,
And he said:
"O Allah, forgive Al-Ahnaf."'"
Al-Ahnaf used to say:
"There is no deed of mine that I have more hope in on the Day of Resurrection
Than the supplication of the Prophet, peace be upon him."
When the noble Messenger, peace be upon him, joined the Highest Companion,
And Musaylimah the Liar emerged to the people with his falsehood,
And those who apostatized from Islam did so because of him,
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays went to him
With his uncle, al-Mutashammis,
To meet him and hear from him.
Al-Ahnaf was in the early bloom of his youth at that time.
When they left him, al-Mutashammis said to his nephew:
"How did you find the man, O Ahnaf?"
He replied:
"I found him to be a fabricator, inventing lies against Allah and the people."
His uncle said to him, joking:
"Do you not fear for yourself if you tell him of your denial of him?"
Al-Ahnaf replied:
"At that point, I will swear to you that he is a liar."
"Will you swear that you did not believe him as he believed him?"
The young man and his uncle laughed,
And they remained steadfast in their Islam.
It is no wonder if you are filled with amazement,
And overcome with astonishment at these firm and decisive stances
That Al-Ahnaf took in momentous affairs,
Despite his young age.
But your amazement will pass,
And your astonishment will vanish,
When you know that the youth of Banu Tamim
Was a rarity among the rarities of the age in sharpness of mind,
Brilliance of intelligence,
Truthfulness of insight, and purity of nature.
And that he was, from his earliest youth,
Sitting with the elders of his people,
Attending their gatherings and witnessing their conferences,
And learning at the hands of their wise and forbearing men.
He narrated about himself, saying:
"We used to frequent the gatherings of Qays ibn Asim al-Minqari
To learn forbearance from him,
Just as we frequented the gatherings of scholars
To receive knowledge from them."
It was said to him:
"And who reached the height of his forbearance?"
He said:
"I came to him once and saw him sitting in the courtyard of his house,
Wrapped in his cloak, leaning on his sword,
Speaking to his people.
I greeted him and sat down.
It was only a short while
Before we heard a commotion, and we looked,
And he had been brought a young man bound in ropes,
And another who had been killed.
It was said to him:
'This is your nephew who has killed your son, so-and-so.'
By Allah, he did not loosen his posture nor stop his speech.
Then he turned to his nephew and said:
'O son of my brother,
You have killed your cousin,
Thus severing your kinship with your own hand,
And striking yourself with your own arrow.'
Then he said to another son of his:
'Rise, my son, and untie the bonds of your cousin,
And bury your brother.
Then drive one hundred camels to his mother as blood money for her son,
For she is a stranger.'"
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays was granted the opportunity
To study under the great and noble Companions,
At the pinnacle of whom was al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him.
He witnessed his gatherings, heard his exhortations,
He mastered his judicial rulings and legal verdicts.
He was among the most brilliant students produced by the school of 'Umar.
And he was the most profoundly influenced by its genius and singular teacher.
It was once said to him:
"How did you attain such gravity and wisdom?"
He replied:
"Through words I heard from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
'Whoever jokes excessively is held in low regard.
Whoever does something frequently becomes known by it.
Whoever speaks too much makes too many mistakes.
Whoever makes many mistakes loses his sense of shame.
Whoever loses his sense of shame loses his piety.
And whoever loses his piety, his heart dies.'"
Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays rose to lead his people,
despite not being of the highest lineage among them,
nor the most noble in terms of maternal or paternal ancestry.
When people asked him the secret to this,
one of them said to him:
"Who is it that his people follow, O Abu Bahr?"
He replied:
"He who possesses four qualities,
will lead his people unchallenged."
He was asked:
"And what are these qualities?"
He said:
"A religion that restrains him,
a lineage that protects him,
an intellect that guides him,
and a sense of shame that prevents him from wrongdoing."
Furthermore, al-Ahnaf was
one of the most forbearing of the Arabs,
whose forbearance became proverbial.
His forbearance reached such a degree
that 'Umar ibn al-Ahtam incited a man
to insult him with vile, provocative language.
Yet al-Ahnaf remained silent, head bowed.
When the man saw that he would not answer him nor pay him any heed,
he put his own thumb in his mouth
and began to bite it, saying:
"Woe is me!
By Allah, nothing prevented him from answering me
except his utter disdain for me."
It so happened that al-Ahnaf
was walking on the outskirts of Basra,
alone by himself,
when a man accosted him,
began insulting and reviling him,
and hurling stinging words at him.
Yet he remained silent, continuing on his way.
When they drew near to the people,
he turned to the man and said:
"O son of my brother,
if you have any words left,
say them now,
for if my people hear what you are saying,
you will suffer harm at their hands."
Beyond all that, al-Ahnaf was
a devout worshiper, frequently fasting and standing in prayer.
He was ascetic regarding what was in the hands of others.
When night fell upon him,
he would light his lamp and place it near him,
then stand in his prayer niche to pray,
writhing like a sick man,
and weeping like a bereaved mother,
out of fear of the punishment of Allah
and dread of His wrath.
Whenever he sensed a sin he had committed,
or a flaw of his became apparent to him,
he would bring his finger close to the lamp and say:
"Feel this, O Ahnaf!
What drove you to do such-and-such on such-and-such a day?
Woe to you, O Ahnaf!
If you cannot endure today
the flame of a lamp,
and cannot bear its heat,
then how will you endure tomorrow the flames of Hell,
and bear its torment?
O Allah, if You forgive me,
then You are worthy of that;
and if You punish me,
then I am worthy of that."
May Allah be pleased with al-Ahnaf
ibn Qays and grant him contentment.
For he was one of the wonders of his time,
and a unique specimen of humanity.
Indeed, al-Ahnaf ibn Qays
attained such honor and prosperity
that holding office did not benefit him,
nor did dismissal harm him.
Ziyad ibn Abihi
was a different case and example;
he followed the Messenger when he strove or spoke.
They were here, watering the clouds of our lives,
and so they remain within us;
their memory is exalted.
They departed, leaving a question in our conscience:
Is there any star like them that has risen and shone?
They filled life with glorious deeds,
and the world of the Ummah flourished because of them.