[5] Some Extraordinary Personalities of The First Three Generations

In The Name of Allah, The most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Ibrahim Ibn Ad’ham, may Allah have mercy upon him

Ibrahim Bin Ad’ham Ibn Mansur, Ibn Yazeed Ibn Aamir Ibn Ishaaq At-Tameemee, and it was said Al-Ajlee. He was originally from Balkh, then he resided in Syria and entered Damascus. He narrated hadeeth from his father, from Al-Al-A’mash and Muhammad Bin Ziyaad – Abu Hurairah’s companion, and from Abu Ishaaq As-Sabee’ee.  Imam An-Nasaa’ee said,  “Ibrahim Bin Ad’ham is a trustworthy narrator, reliable and he from the Zuhhad”. He was one of the devout worshippers.

Abdullah Ibn Al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy upon him, “Ibrahim was a virtuous man and he devoted himself in the worship of his Lord in a way that was hidden from others. Neither have I ever seen him openly remembering Allah nor performing extra acts of worship [i.e. he performed extra acts of worship in seclusion]. None ever ate food with him, except that he was the last to raise his hand to eat”.

Ibrahim Bin Bash’shaar, may Allah have mercy upon him, said to Ibrahim “Why have you stopped narrating hadeeth?” He replied, “I replaced it with three things:  striving to be grateful to Allah for the blessings He has bestowed on me, striving to seek Allah’s forgiveness due to sins and preparing for the Afterlife”.

He said: “Grief is of two types: the grief that is in your advantage and the grief that is against you. Your grief regarding the hardships in the afterlife is in your advantage [i.e. it makes you prepare for that which saves a person in the afterlife]. And your grief regarding the worldly life [i.e. due to greed, mutual rivalry, covetousness etc] is against you”.

He said: Zuhd is three types: obligatory, recommended and the zuhd that is based on safety. The obligatory zuhd is that one abstains from what is unlawful, the recommended abstinence is that one abstains from the unnecessary lawful desires and the abstinence that is based on safety is that one abstains from doubtful (or ambiguous) matters”.

He said: “Having less eagerness and desire for the extra and unnecessary things of worldly life leads a person to truthfulness and makes him avoid doubtful matters out of fearing that he will fall into what is unlawful, thus puts himself in trouble in the afterlife. Having a lot of eagerness and desire for the excess and unnecessary things of the worldly life leads to grief and anxiety”.

He used to supplicate, saying “O Allah! Turn me away from the humiliation that results from disobeying You and grant me the honour that is associated with obedience to You”.

Al-Awzaa’ee, may Allah have mercy upon him, hosted him as his guest, but  he limited what he ate. Al-Awzaa’ee said to him, “Why did you limit”, he replied, “Because you also limited”. Then Ibrahim prepared food and invited Al-Awzaa’ee, so he said to Ibrahim, “Do you not fear that this is tantamount to extravagance?” Ibrahim replied, “No, rather extravagance is that which is spent in disobedience to Allah, but as for what a man spends on his brothers, it is part of the religion”.

An Excerpt From Al-Bidayah Wan-Nihayah. 10/135-139