Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 10805

Al-Dahhak bin Muzahim al-Hilali narrates: Nafi' bin al-Azraq and Najdah bin Uwaymir went out with a group of the leaders of the Khawarij, searching out knowledge and seeking it, until they came to Makkah. There they found Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) sitting near Zamzam, wearing a red cloak and a shirt.
Some people were standing and asking him about tafsir, saying: O Abu Abbas, what do you say about such-and-such? And he would say: It is such-and-such. Nafi' bin al-Azraq said to him: How bold you are, O Ibn Abbas, in what you have been stating since this morning! Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said to him: May your mother lose you and be bereft of you, O Nafi'! Shall I not tell you of one who is bolder than me? He asked: Who is he, O Ibn Abbas? He said: A man who speaks about that of which he has no knowledge, or who conceals knowledge that he has.
He said: You have spoken the truth, O Ibn Abbas. I have come to you to ask you questions. He said: Come, O Ibn al-Azraq, ask. He said: Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "A flame (shuwaz) of fire will be sent against you both." What is shuwaz? He said: The flame that has no smoke in it.
He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt:
"Will no one carry from me to Hassan a message that travels on to Ukaz: Was your father not a blacksmith among us, base toward the maidens, weak in guarding honour, a Yemeni who keeps on kindling a bellows and constantly blowing the flame of the shuwaz?"
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "and nuhas, and you will not be able to defend yourselves." What is nuhas? He said: The smoke that has no flame in it. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Nabighah of Banu Dhubyan:
"It gives light like the light of a lamp of oil, in which Allah has placed no nuhas," meaning: smoke.
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "amshaj, We test him." He said: The fluid of the man and the fluid of the woman: when they come together in the womb, they become a mixture (mashj). He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Abu Dhu'ayb al-Hudhali:
"As though the arrowhead and the two notches in it, opposite the feathers, were mixed with mashij."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And the shin is wrapped around the shin." What is the shin around the shin? He said: War. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Abu Dhu'ayb:
"A brother of war: if war bites him, he bites it back, and if war bares its shin, he too rolls up (his garment for it)."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "sons and hafadah." What are the sons and the hafadah? He said: As for your sons, they attend upon you (yaghatunaka); and as for your hafadah, they are your servants. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt:
"The slave-girls hastened about (hafada) around them, and the reins of the laden camels were thrown into their palms."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "You are only one of the musahharin." He said: Of the created beings. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt al-Thaqafi:
"If you ask us what we are, then we are sparrows of this created (musahhar) mankind."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "So We cast him into the sea while he was mulim." What is mulim? He said: The sinner. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Umayyah bin Abi al-Salt:
"Of the calamities, I am not deserving of them; rather, it is the wrongdoer who is mulim (blameworthy)."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of al-falaq." What is al-falaq? He said: The light of dawn. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Labid bin Rabi'ah:
"He is the one who dispels anxiety, whose hosts are freely given, just as the daybreak (al-falaq) dispels the darkness."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "So that you do not grieve (ta'saw) over what has escaped you, nor exult over what He has given you." What is asah? He said: Do not grieve. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Labid bin Rabi'ah:
"Of little grief (asa) over what time brings upon him, of noble repute, of sweet disposition, admired."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "He thought that he would never yahur." What is yahur? He said: He would return. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Labid bin Rabi'ah:
"A man is nothing but like a shooting flame and its light: it turns back (yahur) into ashes after it was blazing."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "They will go round between it and boiling water that is aan." What is aan? He said: That whose heat has reached its utmost. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Nabighah of Banu Dhubyan:
"If Abu Qubays seizes you, death will bring you down in disgrace, and will dye a beard that betrayed and was treacherous with red from the boiling (aan) blood of the belly."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "So it became like al-sarim." What is al-sarim? He said: The dark night. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Nabighah of Banu Dhubyan:
"Do not try to drive off a scowling one who has no equal, like the night that mingles dark masses (asram) with dark masses."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "until the ghasaq of the night." What is the ghasaq of the night? He said: When it grows dark. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of al-Nabighah, as he says:
"As though the gist of what they said and what they promised were a mirage (al) enclosed by pitch-black darkness (ghasaq)." Abu Khalifah said: Al-al means the mirage. [The correct reading is: 'ka'annama jullu ma qalu wa ma wa'adu'.]
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And Allah is muqit over all things." What is muqit? He said: Capable. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Imru' al-Qays:
"And many a rancorous man whose rancour I restrained from me, while I am capable (muqit) of harming him."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And by the night when it 'as'as." He said: The approach of its darkness. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Imru' al-Qays:
"It ('as'as) grew dark, until, had it so willed, there would have been a firebrand from its light."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "and I am za'im for it." He said: Al-za'im is the guarantor. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Imru' al-Qays:
"And I am a guarantor (za'im), if I return as a king, of a journey from which you will see the couriers (faraniq) turn aside."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "and its fum." What is fum? He said: Wheat. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Abu Dhu'ayb al-Hudhali:
"I used to consider myself like the richest of visitors who came to Madinah from the cultivation of fum."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "and al-azlam." What are al-azlam? He said: Divining arrows (qidah). He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of al-Hutay'ah:
"He does not take omens from birds if they pass by him from the right, nor is a divining arrow cast for him among the azlam."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And the companions of al-mash'amah, what are the companions of al-mash'amah?" He said: The companions of the left. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma, where he says:
"Grey hair has descended on the left side, near, and the deeds of manliness are near and slight."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And when the seas are sujjirat." He said: Their water is mixed with the water of the earth. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma:
"Rabi'ah in Judham knew, and Ka'b her maternal uncle and the two sons of Dirar, that I contended with them in ancient lineage, and their seas mingled (sajarat) with my seas."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "By the heaven with hubuk." What is hubuk? He said: Pathways. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma:
"Crowned with the roots of the plants, the north wind weaves it; on its exposed surface there are pathways (hubuk)."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "And exalted is the jadd of our Lord." He said: The majesty of our Lord is exalted. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Tarafah bin al-Abd to al-Nu'man bin al-Mundhir:
"To a king who strikes down the armour-clad, whom grey hair has not diminished in the least. Do you raise your jadd (fortune) high? I am a man whom enemies have given to drink bucket after bucket."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "until you become harad." He said: Al-harad is the one worn out. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Tarafah bin al-Abd:
"Is it from the memory of Layla, when exile has taken her far away, that I have become worn out (harid), unfit for hire, forbidden?"
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "while you are samidun." He said: Heedlessly amusing yourselves. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Huzaylah bint Bakr, lamenting Ad:
"Ad sent Luqaym, and Sa'd came as a fugitive. It was said: Rise and look at them, then leave off your heedless amusement (sumud)."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "when it ittasaqa." What is its ittisaq? He said: When it gathers (and becomes full). He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Abu Sirmah al-Ansari:
"We have young she-camels, swift and gathered together (mustawsiqat), if only they found a driver."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "al-Samad." As for al-Ahad, we already know it; so what is al-Samad? He said: The One to whom recourse is made in all matters. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of al-Asadiyyah:
"Lo, the herald of death came early with news of the best of Banu Asad, of Amr bin Mas'ud, the chief, the samad."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "will meet athama." What is athama? He said: Recompense. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Bishr bin Abi Khazim al-Asadi:
"And our standing, invoking against them in the valley of Dhu al-Majaz, has a recompense (athama)."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "while he was kazim." He said: The silent one. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Zuhayr bin Khuzaymah al-Absi:
"If he is silent (kazim) over the calamity of Shas, then I, today, am loose of tongue."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "or hear from them any rikz." What is rikz? He said: A sound. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Khirash bin Zuhayr:
"If you hear of cavalry descending a height or the valley of Qaww, then hide your sound (rikz) and keep concealed."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "when you were tahussunahum by His permission." He said: When you were killing them by His permission. He asked: Did the Arabs know that before the Book was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Yes. Have you not heard the words of Utbah al-Laythi:
"We kill them (nahussuhum) with white swords until it is as though we were splitting colocynths out of their skulls."
He said: You have spoken the truth. Then tell me about the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: "O Prophet, when you divorce women." Was divorce known in the time of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah)? He said: Yes, an irrevocable divorce, threefold. Have you not heard the words of al-A'sha of Banu Qays bin Tha'labah, when his in-laws seized him out of jealousy and said: You have harmed our kinswoman, and we swear by Allah that we will not lift the stick from you until you divorce her? When he saw that they were serious and that they were going to do him harm, he said:
"O my wife, be separated, for you are divorced; such are the affairs of people, some coming in the morning and some by night."
[They said: By Allah, you will make the divorce clear to her, or we will not lift the stick from you. He said: "Then be separated, chaste and not blameworthy; and none of us is loved as you are loving."]
They said: By Allah, you will certainly make the divorce final for her, or we will not lift the stick from you. So he said:
"Then be separated, for separation is better than the stick, and better than that a calamity should keep coming down upon your head." So he separated from her with three pronouncements of divorce.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Juwaybir, who is matruk (abandoned).