ABU `UTHMAN AL-SABUNI
By Dr. G.F. Haddad
Al-Sābūnī, Ismā`īl
ibn `Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ahmad ibn Ismā`īl
ibn Ibrāhīm ibn `Amir, Abū
`Uthmān al-Sābūnī al-Shāfi`ī (d 449), Shaykh al-Islām,
the foremost pious jurist, hadīth Scholar, preacher,
commentator of Qur'ān, "the true Imām of the Muslims and the real Shaykh of Islām" (al-Bayhaqī), "Sword
of the Sunna, Repeller of bid`a" (`Abd al-Ghāfir
al-Fārisī), and "Scourge of the deviants"
(Abū Ishāq al-Isfarāyīnī),
of awesome fame in the regions of Khurāsān and among
the signatories of the Ash`arī statement written
by Imām al-Qushayrī at the time of
the anti-Ash`arī fitna there. Ibn al-Subkī said that when the anthropomorphists
of Herāt saw his fame, they began to name Abū Ismā`īl `Abd Allāh al-Ansārī, the author of the
anti-Ash`arī book Dhamm
al-Kalām, with the same title of Shaykh al-Islām.
He was the student of the Ash`arī
Imām Abū Muhammad al-Juwaynī the father of Imām al-Haramayn. Al-Sābūnī said: "If
Shaykh Abū Muhammad had been born among the Israelites,
they would have transmitted his immense merits to us and he would have made
their pride."
Al-Sābūnī held gatherings of dhikr
and wa`z for seventy years and was imām in Naysabūr for twenty. Orphaned
as a boy after his father Abū Nasr was killed for his preaching, he was raised by the Ash`arī Sūfī Imām,
Abū al-Tayyib Sahl al-Su`lūkī who then attended
al-Sabūnī's gatherings and praised him for his high
manners, intelligence, eloquence in both Arabic and Persian, memorization,
and mastery of the Qur'ān and Sunna as did the other
Imāms of the time such as Abū Ishāq al-Isfarāyīnī and Ibn Fūrak.
Out of respect, al-Sābūnī would
face away from al-Su`lūkī when delivering a sermon,
but Abū al-Tayyib said
to him: "Face me and do not look away from me!" Abū
`Uthmān said: "I am ashamed to speak in your
face." The Imām said: "Observe his wisdom."
Al-Bayhaqī narrated: "I swear that the Imām
Abū `Abd Allāh al-Hākim, in spite of his
great age, hadith Mastery, and scholarliness, used to get up for the Teacher
[al-Sābūnī] when he entered to see him, call him
'the peerless Ustādh,' publicize his knowledge and
merit, and repeat his words in his discourse."
Among al-Sābūnī's sayings:
* "I never narrated a hadīth
nor a non-Prophetic report in a gathering except I possessed its chain of
transmission; nor did I ever enter the library except in a state of ritual
purity; nor did I ever narrate hadīth, nor hold
a gathering, nor teach, except in a state of ritual purity."
* "Ever since I knew that the Prophet
used to recite Sūrat al-Jumu`a and Sūrat
al-Munāfiqīn in the first two rak`ats of the Night
prayer on Jumu`a, I never missed reciting them."
used to recite Sūrat al-Jumu`a and Sūrat
al-Munāfiqīn in the first two rak`ats of the Night
prayer on Jumu`a, I never missed reciting them."* "Allāh is much exalted
beyond what both the negators (al-mu`attila ) and anthropomorphists
(al-mushabbiha ) claim. I tread, in the verses
that mention the Attributes of the Creator and the authentic Prophetic narrations
in that chapter..., the path of the pious Predecessors and the Imāms of the Religion in accepting them and narrating them
after ascertaining the soundness of their transmission chain, citing them
in their external wordings, confirming them, fully assenting to them, but
guarding against any belief of modality or anthropomorphism in them, avoiding
what leads to rejecting them or altering them through reproved figurative
interpretation (ta'wīl) for which Allāh never gave authority, nor did the Companions, Successors,
and pious Salaf say anything like it."
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