Saeed Mansoor (rahimahullaah) said: Wakee (rahimahullaah) came to Makkah and he used to be chubby. So Fudayl Ibn Iyaad (rahimahullaah) said to him, ”what is this chubbiness and you are the Raahib of Basra (i.e. the one known for seclusion, devotion in worship, abstinence from the worldly life etc.).” He Wakee said: ”this is from my joyfulness with Islaam (i.e. the happiness I feel in Islam).” [Siyar A’laam Nubulaa: 9/157]
Ahmad Bin Abee Hiwaaree (rahimahullaah) said: I heard Marwaan (rahimahullaah) saying: ”No one has been described to me except I saw that he was lesser than the description, except Wakee; for he was above what was described to me.” Hilyatul Awliyaa: 8/370]
Abdur Razzaaq (rahimahullaah) said: ”I have seen Sufyaan Ath-Thawree, Sufyaan Bin Uyaynah, Mamar, Maalik, and I have seen, and I have seen. My two eyes have not seen (someone) like Wakee.” [Siyar A’laam Nubulaa: 9/146-147]
Imaam Ahmad (rahimahullaah) said: Hammaad Bin Zaiyd is from the Imaams of the muslims and the people of religion. He is more beloved to me than Hammaad Bin Salama (rahimahullaah). [Siyar A;laam Nubulaa:7/458]
It was narrated from Layth Ibn Sad (rahimahullaah) who said: ”I reached eighty years of age and had never debated with a man of desires.” [Siyar A’laam Nubulaa: 8/144]
Ahmad Bin Abdillaah Al-Ajalee (rahimahullaah) said: My father narrated to me saying: ”Hamaad did not engage in a conversation unless after reciting a hundred aayaat from the mushaf.” [Siyar A’laam Nubulaa:7/448]
Abdullaah Ibn Bishr (rahimahullaah) said: I heard Sufyaan (rahimahullaah) saying, ‘’Indeed (the knowledge) of hadeeth is an honour; so whoever desires the worldly life by way of it, then (for him) is the worldly life. And whoever desires the afterlife by way of it, then (for him) is the afterlife. [Hilyatul Awliyaa:6/366]
Refutation of the Slander of the Confused, Ignorant and Mentally Disturbed Abdullaah al-Farsee Against Shaykh Rabee’ Regarding the Issue of Iqaamat ul-Hujjah
Abu Abdillaah Al-Haakim (rahimahullaah) said: Shubah (rahimahullaah) is an Imaam of the Imaams of hadeeth at Basra (i.e. in his era) with regards to knowledge of hadeeth. He saw Anas Ibn Maalik (radiyallaahu-anhu) and Amr Bin Salama Al-Jarmiy. He heard (hadeeth and received knowledge) from four hundred Sheikhs amongst the Taabieen. [Siyar A’laam An-Nubulaa:7/26]
Eesaa Ibn Yoonus (rahimahullaah) said: ”We have neither seen the likes of Al-Amash in our time nor amongst the generation before us. We have never seen the wealthy and the rulers being more lowly in a gathering than a gathering of Al-Amash, even though he was in need of Dirham (i.e. money) [Hilyatul Awliyaa: 5/47-48]
It was reported from Al-Hasan Al-Basri (rahimahullaah) who said: ”Ayyoub is the leader of the youth of Basra.” [Hilyatul Awliyaa: 3/3]
When Ayyoub (rahimahullaah) used to narrate a hadeeth to Ibn Seereen (rahimahullaah), he (Ibn Seereen) would say: ”The truthful one has narrated to me.” [Hilyatul Awliyaa: 3/4]
Ibn Shawzab (rahimahullaah) said: When Ayyoub (rahimahullaah) used to be asked a question and he had nothing about it, he would say: ”Ask the people of knowledge.” [Tabaqaat Ibn Sad: 7/247]
The great effort and striving of the scholars to benefit people is an affair not hidden, rather all who accompany the scholars recognise the compassion to their students and the people as a whole, desiring that they may benefit. Examples of this compassion are found even in the smallest of statements of the great scholars, the likes of Mohammad bin abdul-Wahhab رحمه الله تعالى, for indeed the one who studies and reads his books finds how often the Shaikh makes du’a for the readers and his students with statements such as “رحمك الله” throughout his books.
One example of this desire to benefit the students is from Shaikh ‘Ubayd al-Jaabiry حفظه الله تعالى in approximately 2005 when he was teaching Kitab at-Tawhid. The lesson was a weekly affair after the ‘Isha prayer at the Shaikh’s then local masjid [approximately 10 minutes by taxi from the Haram at that time]. Typically speaking the duration of any given lesson is between 50minutes – 1 hour 15minutes, hence the Shaikh would begin in the particular chapter we had reached that week, once completing it he would move onto the next chapter too – that was not of surprise since it was completely feasible to complete 2 chapters in just over an hour.
However on several occasions, from the desire of the Shaikh to maximise the benefit of the gathering, knowing the attendees were students who would be able to burden that, he would continue and finish 3 chapters of the book in one sitting, perhaps extending the lesson to the region of 1 hour 45minutes on some occasions. No individual would have questioned the Shaikh if he concluded the lesson after 2 chapters, however from his own desire to benefit the people he continued.
An individual who is young and in the prime of his strength would not consider that an issue, however in the context of the Shaikh, a man in his older age, to sit for that period of time late after ‘Isha in one place is sufficient in of itself, however to also be consistently talking for that period of time is not an affair of great ease.
It was certainly a practical lesson regarding the well-known aspect of the importance of patience in seeking knowledge, and persistence and diligence. Indeed the desire of the scholars to benefit, educate and nurture the people is great….the question that arises is: how many have the will-power, patience and desire to take that benefit?
