In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The finest of generations in nobility and exemplar,
Following the Messenger whenever he strove or spoke.
Mawaddah Association
Presents:
Glimpses from the Lives of the Tabi'un
By Dr. 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
May Allah have mercy on him.
Al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym,
May Allah have mercy on him.
Hilal ibn Isaf said to his guest, Mundhir al-Thawri:
"Shall I not take you, O Mundhir, to the Shaykh,
That we might renew our faith for an hour?"
Mundhir replied, "Indeed!
By Allah, nothing brought me to Kufa
Except the desire to meet your Shaykh,
Al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym,
And the longing to spend an hour absorbing his faith.
But have you sought permission for us to visit him?
For I have been told
That ever since he was afflicted with paralysis,
He has confined himself to his home,
Devoted himself entirely to his Lord,
And turned away from meeting people."
Hilal said,
"He has been this way ever since Kufa came to know him.
His illness has changed nothing about him."
Mundhir said, "Very well,
But you know that such men
Have delicate dispositions.
Do you think we should initiate conversation with the Shaykh
And ask him about what we wish,
Or should we remain silent
And listen to whatever he wishes to impart?"
Hilal replied,
"If you were to sit with Al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym
For an entire year,
He would not speak to you
Unless you spoke to him first,
Nor would he initiate speech unless you asked him.
For he has made his speech remembrance
And his silence contemplation."
Mundhir said,
"Let us proceed to him then, with the blessing of Allah."
They then went to the Shaykh.
When they entered his presence, they greeted him with peace and asked,
"How is the Shaykh feeling this morning?"
He replied,
"I have awakened weak and sinful,
Consuming my provision and awaiting my appointed time."
Hilal said to him,
"I could bring you a skilled physician to treat you.
Do you permit me to call one for you?"
He replied,
"O Hilal!
Indeed, I know that medicine is real.
But I considered 'Ad, Thamud,
And the Companions of the Rass,
“And (the tribes of) A'ad and Thamud, and the dwellers in Ar-Rass, and many generations in between.” (25:38)
And I looked at their eagerness for worldly life
And their desire for its pleasures—
Yet they were far mightier than us in strength
And possessed greater power.
Among them were physicians,
And among them were the sick.
Yet neither did the healer endure,
Nor did the healed!"
Then Al-Rabi' let out a deep sigh
A deep sigh, and said:
"If physical illness were the true disease,
We would have sought its cure."
Mundhir then asked for clarification, saying:
"What then is the disease, O noble Shaykh?"
He replied,
"The disease is sins."
Mundhir asked,
"And what is the cure?"
He replied,
"The cure is seeking forgiveness."
Mundhir asked,
"And how is the healing attained?"
He replied,
"By repenting and never returning to the sin."
Then he gazed intently at us and said:
"Beware of the hidden inner states! Beware of the hidden inner states!
Attend to the secret deeds that are hidden from people,
Yet are fully manifest to Allah Almighty.
That is, clearly visible to Him;
Seek their remedy!"
Mundhir asked,
"And what is their remedy?"
The Shaykh replied,
"Sincere repentance."
Then he wept until his tears soaked his beard.
Mundhir said to him,
"Do you weep, when you are who you are?"
He replied,
"Far from it!
Why should I not weep,
When I have known a people compared to whom we are like thieves?"
—He meant the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them.
Hilal said:
"While we were in that state,
The Shaykh's son entered upon us,
Greeted us, and said,
'O my father,
My mother has prepared a fine sweet halva dish for you,
And it would gladden her heart if you ate from it.
Shall I bring it to you?'
He said, 'Bring it.'
When his son went out to fetch it,
A beggar knocked at the door.
The Shaykh said, 'Let him in.'
When the beggar reached the courtyard of the house,
I looked at him,
And he was an elderly man
In tattered clothes,
With drool running down his chin,
And his facial features clearly showed he was mentally impaired.
Hardly had I raised my eyes from him
When the Shaykh's son returned
Carrying the dish of halva.
The father gestured to him
To place it before the beggar.
So he placed it before him,
And the man set upon it,
Devouring its contents voraciously
While his saliva dripped over it.
He kept eating
Until he had finished everything on the dish.
His son then said to him,
'May Allah have mercy on you, father!
My mother went to great trouble to make this sweet dish for you,
And we longed for you to eat from it,
Yet you fed it to this man
Who does not even know what he ate!'
The Shaykh replied, 'O my son,
Even if he does not know,
Allah knows.'
He then recited the words of the Exalted and Almighty:
﴿You will never attain righteousness
Until you spend from that which you love.
And whatever you spend,
Allah is fully Aware of it.﴾
While he was in that state,
A man from among his relatives entered upon him
And said, 'O Abu Yazid,
Al-Husayn ibn Fatima has been killed—peace be upon him
And upon his mother!'
He said, 'Indeed, to Allah we belong,
And to Him we shall return.'
Then he recited the words of the Exalted:
“Say: O Allah! Creator of the heavens and the earth! Knower of the Invisible and the Visible! Thou wilt judge between Thy slaves concerning that wherein they used to differ.” (39:46)
“Say: O Allah! Creator of the heavens and the earth! Knower of the Invisible and the Visible! Thou wilt judge between Thy slaves concerning that wherein they used to differ.” (39:46)
﴿O Knower of the unseen and the witnessed,
You will judge between Your servants
Concerning that over which they used to differ.﴾
But the man was not satisfied with his words,
So he asked him,
'What do you say regarding his killing?'
He replied, 'I say: to Allah is their return,
And with Allah is their reckoning.'
Hilal said:
"Then, seeing that the time for the noon prayer was approaching,
I said to the Shaykh,
'Exhort me.'
He said,
'O Hilal, let not
The abundance of people's praise delude you,
For people know nothing of you
Except your outward appearance.
Know that you are bound for your deeds,
And that every deed not intended for
The Countenance of Allah comes to naught.'
Mundhir then said to him,
'And exhort me as well, may you be rewarded with good.'
He said,
'O Mundhir,
Fear Allah regarding what you know;
And as for that whose knowledge has been kept from you,
Entrust it to the One who knows it.
O Mundhir,
Let no one among you say,
"O Allah, I repent to You,"
And then fail to repent,
For that would be a lie.
Rather, let him say,
"O Allah, accept my repentance,"
For that is a supplication.
And know, O Mundhir,
That there is no good in speech
Except in proclaiming Allah's oneness,
Praising Allah,
Declaring Allah's greatness, glorifying Allah,
Asking Him for good,
Seeking His refuge from evil,
Enjoining good,
Forbidding evil,
And reciting the Qur'an.'
Mundhir then said to him,
'We have sat with you
"Yet we have never heard you recite poetry,
though we have seen some of your companions
recite it."
He replied:
"There is nothing you utter here
but that it is recorded and will be read out
against you there;
and I would hate to find in my record
a line of verse
being read out against me on the Day the Account
is established."
Then he turned to all of us
and said: "Constantly remember
death,
for it is your awaited, absent visitor.
And when an absent one's absence has lasted long,
his return is imminent,
and his kin eagerly await him."
Then tears welled in his eyes,
and he said: "What shall
we do tomorrow,
“Nay, but when the earth is ground to atoms, grinding, grinding,” (89:21)
◁when the earth is leveled, pounded, and crushed,▷
◁and your Lord comes with the angels,▷
◁rank upon rank,▷
◁and brought that Day▷
◁is Hell?▷"
Hilal said:
"Scarcely had al-Rabi' finished speaking
when the call for the Zuhr prayer was made.
So he turned to his son and said:
'Come, let us answer Allah's caller!'
His son said:
'Help me
carry him to the mosque, may you be rewarded
with good.' So we lifted him up,
and he rested his right arm on
his son's shoulder and his left arm on
my shoulder, and began
shuffling between us,
with his feet trailing along the ground,
dragging."
Then Mundhir said to him:
"O Abu Yazid!
Allah has indeed granted you a dispensation;
if only you would pray in your house!"
He replied: "It is
as you say,
but I heard the caller cry:
'Come to success!
Come to success!'
So whoever among you hears
the caller summon him to success,
let him answer it, even if he must crawl."
Furthermore,
who was this al-Rabi'
ibn Khuthaym?
He was an eminent figure among the Tabi'un
and one of the eight
who represented the pinnacle
of asceticism in their era.
He was of pure Arab descent,
of Mudari lineage—
meaning his ancestry traces back
to Mudar—
and converges with the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
through his ancestors Ilyas and Mudar.
From the tender days of his youth,
he grew up in obedience to Allah,
and from his earliest years,
he weaned himself upon piety toward Him.
His mother would sleep at night
and then awake,
only to find her young son
still standing in his prayer niche,
immersed in his intimate supplication,
absorbed in his prayer.
She would call out to him,
saying: "O my son!
O Rabi'!
Will you not sleep?"
He would reply: "How can one sleep
when night falls upon him
while he dreads
the sudden assault of enemies?"
Tears would then roll down
the cheeks of the elderly woman,
and she would pray for his welfare.
When al-Rabi' grew into manhood
and matured,
his scrupulous piety grew alongside him,
and with his growth deepened
his fear of Allah.
His mother was deeply troubled by the frequency
of his entreaties
and the intensity of his weeping in the darkness
of the night while people slept,
to the point that she began to suspect the worst.
She began calling out to him,
saying: "What is it
that has afflicted you, my son?
Have you committed a grave offense?
Have you killed a soul?"
He said: "Yes,
mother, I have killed
a soul." She said
anxiously: "And who is this
slain person, my son,
so that we may have people go
to his family in the hope that they might
pardon you? By Allah,
if the victim's family knew what you endure
of weeping
and what you suffer of sleeplessness,
they would surely take pity on you!"
He replied: "Do not speak
to anyone, for it is only
my own soul that I have slain;
I have slain it with sins."
Al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym studied
under 'Abdullah
ibn Mas'ud, the companion
of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and the closest of the Companions
in guidance and deportment to the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Al-Rabi' was attached
to his teacher
as a newborn clings to its mother,
and the teacher loved his student
as a father loves his only child.
Al-Rabi' used to enter
upon Ibn Mas'ud without asking permission,
and whenever he was with him,
no one else was permitted
to enter until al-Rabi'
had departed.
Ibn Mas'ud saw such
purity in al-Rabi''s soul,
sincerity in his heart, and excellence
in his worship
that his heart would fill with sorrow over
his having lived after the time of the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and his being deprived
of his companionship.
He used to say to him:
"O Abu Yazid,
had the Messenger of Allah,
peace be upon him, seen you, he would have loved you!"
He would also say to him:
"I have never looked at you
without remembering the humble and devout."
And 'Abdullah
ibn Mas'ud was not exaggerating in that,
for al-Rabi'
ibn Khuthaym attained a level of reverent fear,
scrupulous piety, and devotion
seldom matched
by anyone of his generation.
Traditions have been transmitted regarding this
that continue
to adorn the pages of history.
Among them is what
one of his companions narrated, saying:
"I accompanied al-Rabi'
ibn Khuthaym for twenty years,
and I never heard him utter a word
except that it was one that ascends;"
and he recited
the words of Him, the Mighty and Majestic:
“Whoso desireth power (should know that) all power belongeth to Allah. Unto Him good words ascend, and the pious deed doth He exalt; but those who plot iniquities, theirs will be an awful doom; and the plotting of such (folk) will come to naught.” (35:10)
◁"and righteous deeds▷
◁He raises."▷
And 'Abd al-Rahman
ibn 'Ajlan reported, saying:
"I stayed overnight at al-Rabi''s house one night,
and when he was certain that I had fallen
asleep, he arose to pray
and recited the words of Him, the Mighty
and Majestic:
“Or do those who commit ill-deeds suppose that We shall make them as those who believe and do good works, the same in life and death? Bad is their judgment!” (45:21)
◁"that We will make them▷
◁like those who believed▷
◁and did righteous deeds,▷
◁equal in▷
◁their life▷
◁and their death?▷
◁Evil is that which▷
◁they judge!"▷
He spent his entire night praying
with this verse,
reciting it over and over again
until the dawn broke upon him,
while his eyes poured forth
tears profusely.
Concerning al-Rabi''s awe of Allah
and his reverent fear, there are many accounts;
among them
is what a group of
His companions recounted:
"One day, we set out in the company of 'Abdullah
Ibn Mas'ud,
and with us was Al-Rabi' ibn Khuthaym.
When we reached the banks
of the Euphrates, we passed
by a huge kiln whose
fire had been stoked furiously, sending sparks flying
everywhere,
while its tongues of flame leaped upward
and its roaring crackle could be heard.
Stones had been cast into the kiln
to be burned
until they turned into quicklime.
When Al-Rabi' saw
that fire, he froze in his tracks,
seized by a violent
trembling, and he recited
the words of Allah, the Exalted and Majestic:
'When it sees them
from a distant place,
they will hear its
raging and roaring;
and when
they are hurled into a narrow
place therein, bound in chains,
they will cry out there for destruction.'
Then
he collapsed unconscious.
We stayed by his side until
he regained consciousness from his swoon,
and we carried him back to his home."
Indeed,
Al-Rabi'
ibn Khuthaym spent his entire life
anticipating death
and preparing to meet it.
When death approached him,
his daughter began to weep,
so he said to her:
"What makes you weep, my little daughter,
when boundless good
is coming to your father?"
Then his soul surrendered to its Creator.
"O Abu Yazid!
Had the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, seen you,
he surely would have loved you."
'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud,
standing as an exemplar and paragon,
closely followed the Messenger,
never wavering throughout his days.
They were once here,
showering blessings like rain clouds
upon our lives;
thus, among us,
their memory continually soars high.
They departed,
leaving behind in our conscience
a burning question:
Has any star like them
ever risen and shone so bright?
They filled
this life with glorious deeds
through their noble actions,
and through them, the world
of humanity truly flourished.