Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 12167

Al-Mu'alla bin Ziyad narrates: When Yazid bin al-Muhallab routed the people of Basrah, (al-Mu'alla says:) I feared that if I sat in the circle of al-Hasan bin Abi al-Hasan, action would be taken against me and I would be recognised. So I came to al-Hasan at his house, and when I went in to him, I said: "O Abu Sa'id! What about this verse of the Book of Allah?" He asked: "Which verse of the Book of Allah?" I said: "The saying of Allah Almighty: 'And you will see many of them hastening into sin and transgression and their devouring of the unlawful; evil indeed is what they used to do.'" He said: "O Abdullah (or: O servant of Allah)! When people are brought before the sword, the sword becomes a barrier to speaking." I said: "O Abu Sa'id! Do you know of any merit for one who speaks out (at such a time)?" He replied: "No!" Al-Mu'alla narrates: Then two hadiths were narrated. He related that Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated to us from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Let not fear of people prevent any one of you from speaking the truth when he sees it, or (let not fear of people prevent any one of you) from giving some counsel to a ruler, for this neither brings death nearer nor drives sustenance further away." Then he narrated another hadith: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not proper for a believer to humiliate himself." It was asked: "What is meant by his humiliating himself?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "That he exposes himself to a trial he cannot bear." It was said to him: "O Abu Sa'id! What is the ruling on Yazid al-Dabbi and his speaking about the prayer?" He said: "He will not come out of prison until he becomes remorseful." Al-Mu'alla says: Then I rose from the gathering of al-Hasan al-Basri and came to Yazid. I said: "O Abu Mawdud! Al-Hasan al-Basri and I were talking, and meanwhile he gave an opinion about your affair." He said: "Stop, O Abu al-Hasan!" I said: "I have done so." He said: "What did he say?" I said: "He said: 'He will not come out of prison until he becomes remorseful over what he said.'" Yazid said: "By Allah! I have not become remorseful over what I said. I took a stand in which I put my own life at risk." Yazid says: Then I came to al-Hasan and said: "O Abu Sa'id! We have been overpowered in everything, even in our prayer" (that is, we cannot even pray on time). He said: "O servant of Allah! You can achieve nothing; you are only exposing yourself to them." Then I came to him again, and he said the same as he had said before. He narrates: Then on Friday I stood up in the mosque while al-Hakam bin Ayyub was delivering the sermon, and I said to him: "May Allah Almighty have mercy on you — the prayer (its time has come)!" When I stood up, his men surrounded me and began beating me; they pulled my beard and pulled my hair and jabbed my stomach with their swords. The narrator says: Then they took me towards the maqsurah, and before I reached it I thought that they would kill me before getting there. Then they opened the door of the maqsurah for me, and I came and stood before al-Hakam bin Ayyub, who was silent. He said: "Are you mad? We are not in prayer." I said: "May Allah Almighty keep the Amir well! Is there any speech more excellent than the Book of Allah?" He replied: "No!" I said: "May Allah Almighty keep the Amir well! What is your opinion of a man who opens the Qur'an and keeps reading it from morning till evening — will that suffice in place of performing the prayer?" He said: "By Allah! I think you are mad." The narrator says: At that time Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting silently near the pulpit. I said: "O Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him)! O Sayyiduna Abu Hamzah! I ask you by Allah — you served the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and you are his Companion — is what I said right or wrong? Is what I said truth or falsehood?" The narrator says: By Allah! He did not answer me with a single word. Al-Hakam bin Ayyub said to him: "O Anas!" He said: "Here I am, may Allah Almighty keep you well." The narrator says: At that time the time of the prayer had passed, and a little of the sun remained. The Amir said: "Imprison him!" Yazid said: "O Abu al-Hasan!" — that is, he said to al-Mu'alla — "I swear to you that what I faced from my companions was harder on me than (the consequence of) my words: some said: 'He is arguing,' and some said: 'He is mad.'" The narrator says: Then al-Hakam wrote to al-Hajjaj: "A man from Banu Dabbah stood up on Friday and said: 'The prayer!' while I was delivering the sermon, and upright witnesses have testified before me that he is mad." Al-Hajjaj wrote back to him: "If upright witnesses testify that he is mad, then let him go; otherwise have his hands and feet cut off, have his eyes put out with heated needles, and crucify him." The narrator says: So people testified before al-Hakam that I was mad, and he released me. Al-Mu'alla reports from Yazid al-Dabbi: A brother of ours died, and we went with his funeral and offered the funeral prayer for him. When he had been buried, some of us moved aside and began remembering Allah and remembering the Hereafter. While we were doing so, we saw the forelocks of horses and spears. When my companions saw this, they got up and left me alone. Meanwhile al-Hakam came and stopped by me. He said: "What were you people doing?" I said: "May Allah Almighty keep the Amir well! A companion of ours died; we offered the funeral prayer for him, buried him, and then sat remembering our Lord, remembering the Hereafter, and mentioning that to which we must go." He said: "Why did you not flee as the others fled?" I said: "May Allah Almighty keep the Amir well! I am free of any such thing, and I do not fear the Amir such that I should have to flee." The narrator says: Al-Hakam fell silent. Then Abd al-Malik bin al-Muhallab, who was his chief of police, said: "Do you know who this is?" He said: "Who is he?" The chief of police said: "This is the one who spoke on Friday." The narrator says: Al-Hakam became angry and said: "You are very insolent! Seize him!" The narrator says: Then I was seized, and they gave me four hundred lashes. I do not know when they left me, because the pain of the beating they gave me was so great. The narrator says: Then he sent me to Wasit, and I remained in al-Hajjaj's prison until al-Hajjaj died.
Abu Ya'la recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.