Taken from: “Al-Majmūʿ fī Tarjumah Al-ʿAllāmah Al-Muḥaddith Ash-Shaikh Ḥammād bin Muḥammad Al-Anṣārī” (Vol 2 Page 600).
Shaikh Ḥammād Al-Anṣārī (rahimahullāh) said:
“Once, when I was in Makkah, I heard from the people of the arrival in Jeddah of a learned man from Mauritania. So I went to him and found him staying at a place set aside indistinctly for the Mauritanians. So we went there and found him giving a lesson in eloquence/logic, and so we sat down and listened.”
After the lesson was over Shaikh Ḥammād asked him a question in the issue of eloquence/the manner of speaking which was: “What are the four problematic issues? And what are the four verses in The Book of Allāh which give proof to them?”
So when he asked this question it was as though a bomb had been dropped upon him, so he became angry and said: “Who are you?”
Shaikh Ḥammād replied: “The answer has no relation to who I am; I only need an answer.”
So the Scholar said to him: “Get out from amongst us, and do not sit (here).”
— So Shaikh Ḥammād got up and left.
“Then some days passed, and the State (Government) sent this Mauritanian Scholar to Riyadh for the purpose of teaching in one of the faculties there. Shaikh Ḥammād was also from those who were sent there. So the Scholar was staying in the neighbouring building of Shaikh Ḥammād, and he knew that he was staying next to him. So he went to see him along with another person who was also Shanqītī (from the famous tribe) and so they entered upon him in his home. Shaikh Ḥammād familiarized himself with the Scholar by saying: ‘Do you not know your disputant?’
So he replied: ‘Where should I know him from?’
So he reminded him of that which had passed, so the Scholar said: ‘I did not know you, so I was ignorant of you, and I was regretful after this act during that time.’
So Shaikh Ḥammād said: ‘So after this the Shaikh would discuss/debate with me in different issues and I would discuss/debate with him[1] with all love and tranquillity,[2] and all Praise is for Allāh.’
……………….
Footnotes:
[1] The Scholar was Shaikh Muḥammad Amīn Ash-Shanqīṭī, the author of the famous Tafsīr: Aḍhwāʾ al-Bayān.
[2] [Translators note]: A familiar characteristic with the Salaf of this Ummah; that of overlooking the faults or shortcomings of their brothers and enjoining the ties of brotherhood and upholding their unity despite what may have occurred by way of statement or action. Doing so out of sincerity to Allāh, the Most High, whilst fearing Him therefore implementing His commands of establishing brotherhood for His sake.
The following two examples are a testimony to this:
Imām adh-Dhahabī mentions: Mubārak bin Fudhālah said from ʿAlī bin Zaid who said from Ibn Al-Musayyib who said: There had arisen between Ṭalḥah (bin ʿUbaidullāh) and (ʿAbdur-Rahmān) bin ʿAwf some distance. So Ṭalḥah fell ill, and ʿAbdur-Rahmān came to visit him. So Talhah said: ‘By Allāh; you O my brother are better than me.’ So he replied: ‘Don’t say that O my brother.’ So he replied: ‘Indeed By Allāh; because if you fall sick – I do not visit you.’
Ibn Al-Jawzī mentions: Al-Khilāl said Muḥammad bin Al-Hussain narrated to me saying Abū Bakr Al-Marūdhī narrated to us saying: I heard Abū Bakr bin Ḥammād Al- Muqriʿī say: Abū Thābit Al-Khattāb narrated to me who said: Bilāl Al-Ājurī narrated to me saying: I accompanied Abū ʿAbdillāh (Imām Aḥmad) – and we were at the time returning back from the Jāmiʿ (Masjid). So I mentioned Abū Ḥanīfah, so he made an indication with his hand like such and placed it down. So I said: ‘The urine of Abū Ḥanīfah was more than what could fill the earth – like yourself.’ So he looked at me – and then said: ‘As-salāmu ʿalaikum.’ Then in the morning I went early to him and I said: ‘O Abā ʿAbdillāh; that which came from me, it was not done deliberately, so I would like that you emancipate me (i.e. forgive me)’ So he said: ‘My feet did not move from their place except that I emancipated you.’
See Siyar Aʿlām An-Nubalā (vol.1, p. 88) and Manāqib Al-Imām Aḥmad (p. 286).
Translated by Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad Fārūq Bashīr
