Musnad Abi Ya'la 1411 — Al-Mu'alla bin Ziyad (may Allah have mercy on)

Al-Mu'alla bin Ziyad (may Allah have mercy on him) relates: When Yazid bin al-Muhallab defeated the people of Basrah, I feared that if I sat in the circle of al-Hasan bin Abi al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him), I would be caught and recognised there. So I went to his house and said: "O Abu Sa'id, what do you say about this verse of the Book of Allah?" He asked: "Which verse?" I said: The saying of Allah Almighty: "And you see many of them hastening into sin and transgression and their devouring of what is unlawful; evil indeed is what they used to do." He said: "O servant of Allah, these people have brought out the sword, and the sword has come between (us and) speaking the truth." I asked: "O Abu Sa'id, do you know of any merit for one who speaks out the truth?" He said: "No." Then he narrated two hadiths. The first was this narration of Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Beware! Let not the fear of people prevent any one of you from speaking the truth when he sees it, nor from mentioning the greatness of Allah, for speaking the truth neither brings death nearer nor keeps provision away." Then al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated another hadith, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not permissible for a believer to humiliate himself." It was asked: "How does he humiliate himself?" He said: "He exposes himself to a trial that he does not have the strength to bear." He was asked: "O Abu Sa'id, what about Yazid al-Dabbi and what he said about the prayer?" He said: "He regretted his words before he came out of prison."

Al-Mu'alla said: I got up from the gathering of al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him), went to Yazid al-Dabbi and said: "O Abu Mawdud, al-Hasan al-Basri and I were talking, and I brought up your matter." He said: "Stop, O Abu al-Hasan!" I said: "I have already done it." He asked: "What did al-Hasan say?" I told him: "He said that Yazid had regretted his words before he came out of prison." Yazid said: "I did not regret my words. By Allah, I stood in a place where I put my life at risk." Yazid related: "I went to al-Hasan al-Basri and said: 'O Abu Sa'id, we have been overpowered in everything; are we to be overpowered in the matter of our prayer as well?' He said: 'O servant of Allah, you have achieved nothing; you are only exposing yourself to them.' I went to him again, and he said the same thing to me."

Then on Friday I stood up in the mosque while al-Hakam bin Ayyub was delivering the sermon, and I said: May Allah have mercy on you, the time of the prayer has come! When I said this, people fell upon me from all sides and took turns beating me. They seized my beard and my collar and, striking my belly with the hilts of their swords, took me towards the maqsurah. Before I got there, I thought they would kill me on the way. The door of the maqsurah was opened and I was made to stand before al-Hakam bin Ayyub. After remaining silent for a while, he asked: Are you mad? At that time we were not in prayer. I said: May Allah set the Amir aright! Is there any speech better than the Book of Allah? He said: No. I said: If a man were to open a mushaf and keep reading it from morning until evening, would that suffice him in place of the prayer? He said: By Allah, I think you are mad.

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting silently beneath his pulpit. I said: O Anas! O Abu Hamzah! I adjure you by Allah; you served the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and enjoyed his companionship. Tell me, did I speak what is right or what is wrong? Did I speak the truth or falsehood? By Allah, he did not answer me with a single word. Al-Hakam bin Ayyub called out to him: O Anas! He said: At your service, may Allah set you aright. The time of the prayer had passed, although some of the sun still remained. Al-Hakam said: Imprison him.

Yazid said to al-Mu'alla: O Abu al-Hasan, I swear to you that the hurt I suffered from the words of my own companions was harder on me than that stand of mine; some called me a show-off and some called me mad. Al-Hakam wrote to al-Hajjaj that a man of Banu Dabbah stood up on Friday during my sermon and said "The prayer!", and trustworthy witnesses have testified before me that he is mad. Al-Hajjaj wrote back: If trustworthy witnesses testify that he is mad, then let him go; otherwise cut off his hands and feet, drive nails into his eyes and crucify him. The people testified before al-Hakam that I was mad, so he let me go.

Al-Mu'alla also relates this incident from Yazid al-Dabbi: A brother of ours died. We followed his funeral, offered his funeral prayer, and after the burial sat aside with a few people. We were remembering Allah and our Hereafter when suddenly the forelocks of horses and spears came into view. When my companions saw them, they got up and left me alone. Al-Hakam came and stood over me and asked: What were you doing? I said: May Allah set the Amir aright! A companion of ours died; we prayed over him and buried him, then we sat remembering our Lord, our Hereafter and the end to which he has gone. He asked: Why did you not flee as your companions did? I said: May Allah set the Amir aright! My hands are clean of that charge, and the Amir is safer from me than that I should flee. Al-Hakam fell silent. His police chief, Abd al-Malik bin al-Muhallab, said: Do you know who this is? Al-Hakam asked: Who? He said: This is the man who spoke on Friday. Al-Hakam became angry and said: You are very bold! Seize him. So I was seized and given four hundred lashes. When they let me go, I was unconscious from the severity of the beating. Then he sent me to Wasit, where I remained in al-Hajjaj's prison until his death.