❖ The Repentance of Fudayl ibn ʿIyad After a Life of Banditry
Authored by: Hafiz Muhammad Anwar Zahid حفظه الله
✿ The Story as Narrated by Imam al-Dhahabi
Imam al-Dhahabi writes in Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ:
Ibrāhīm ibn Layth reports that ʿAli ibn Khushram, a hadith narrator, told him that one of Fudayl ibn ʿIyad’s neighbors related the following incident:
Fudayl ibn ʿIyad had once taken up a life of highway robbery and banditry.
One night, a caravan came close to the area where he was known to operate. One man from the group said to another:
“Let us move toward that nearby settlement; it would be safer, for Fudayl ibn ʿIyad is known to raid this route.”
It so happened that Fudayl himself overheard their conversation. Struck with a sense of divine awe, he trembled in fear of Allah, and said:
“O my people! May Allah reward you well — you have guided me to something good. If you fear me, then I ought to fear Allah even more!”
He then swore by Allah and publicly announced his repentance, declaring:
“I make you all witnesses that I shall never again commit anything contrary to the commands of Allah.”
❖ Authentication of the Story:
Status of the Chain: Its chain is weak.
- Referenced in:
- Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (Vol. 8, p. 438)
- Tārīkh Dimashq (Vol. 48, p. 384)
Reasons for Weakness:
① The narration is based on unknown or weak narrators.
② It is reported through indirect chains and neighbors with no established authentication.
③ As such, the story is not reliably proven and is classified as weak (ḍaʿīf) and rejected (mardūd) in terms of sanad (chain of transmission).
✿ Conclusion:
Although this story is popular and often quoted in sermons to illustrate the power of repentance and transformation, it is important to note that its chain of narration is weak and unreliable.
Caution should be exercised in presenting it as historical fact, and it should not be used as a basis for deriving religious rulings or moral lessons without clarification of its authenticity.
