al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad

Abu Ali al-Fudayl ibn Iyad, born in Khurasan. He came to Kufa and heard from al-Mansur ibn al-Mu'tamir, then devoted himself to worship and moved to Mecca, where he stayed until he died in 187 AH. ²

Al-Mas'udi relates that he entered upon al-Rashid with his head covered, and told him that he had taken on a great affair, and al-Rashid wept. ²

He asked to be excused from the "badra" (the purse of money). When Sufyan ibn Uyayna blamed him, he said: "If it were good for them, it would be good for me." ²

Al-Dhahabi narrates the account of his audience with Harun al-Rashid and his counsel to him, including what Salim ibn 'Abdallah, Muhammad ibn Ka'b and Raja' ibn Haywa had advised 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz upon his accession; Harun wept until he fainted, and al-Fudayl refused the thousand dinars offered him, saying "I am pointing you to the path of salvation and you reward me with this?" — whereupon Harun said: "This is the master of the Muslims." ³

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy recounts the repentance of al-Fudayl ibn Iyad. In one account he was about to climb the wall of a house to reach a woman he loved; in another he was robbing a house. He turned back after hearing a verse (partly unclear) ⁴.

He cites a Qur'anic verse about hearts softening at the remembrance of God and links it to Fudayl's repentance, which he describes as taking place in a mosque after hearing travellers in a caravan speak of their journey ⁵.

Tareq al-Suwaidan presents al-Fudayl ibn Iyad as 'the master of scrupulousness and worship' — not among the great scholars but among the greatest devotees — and his conversion story: a highwayman who, scaling a wall to reach a woman, heard 'is it not time for the believers' hearts to humble at God's remembrance?' and answered 'yes, O Lord, it is time'; then hearing a caravan fear him in the night he said 'I run at night in sin while Muslims here fear me — I see only that God drove me to them to be restrained', repented, and made his repentance a sojourn at the Sacred House ^{6 7 8 9 10}. He draws two lessons: an authentic faith remains in the ummah's hearts even in its sinners, and guidance is an individual decision, not waiting for calamity — his change was total, not to mere piety but to the highest rank of worship ^{8 11 12}. Of the scholars' testimony: Ibn al-Mubarak's 'nothing remains on earth's face better to me than al-Fudayl', Harun al-Rashid's 'I saw none among the scholars more awe-inspiring than Malik nor more scrupulous than al-Fudayl', and Sharik's 'al-Fudayl is the proof of his age' — and when a youth rose at the saying, al-Haytham remarked 'if this youth lives he will be the proof of his age' — it was Ahmad ibn Hanbal ^{13 14 15 16 17}. Of his worship: he recited the Qur'an sorrowful and unhurried, repeating every verse mentioning Paradise and asking God for it, standing an hour or more nightly, fighting sleep — when it overcame him he slept on the mat and rose again ^{18 19 20}. Of his wisdom: his answer to Abdallah ibn Malik on salvation — 'tell me, if a man obeys God, does another's disobedience harm him? No. And if he disobeys, does another's obedience benefit him? No — that is salvation'; and his counsel to al-Rashid: 'O fair of face, you are charged with a great affair — if you can keep this face unblackened by a flame, do so'; when al-Rashid said 'admonish me' he told him what God's Book does to him who obeys and him who disobeys ^{21 22 23 24}. Of his scrupulousness: Bishr al-Hafi counts him among the ten who let nothing but the lawful enter their bellies even at the price of eating dust; at mention of God fear and sorrow showed on him and he wept till those present pitied him; and he would sit among the graves weeping ^{25 26 27 28}. The speaker adds: remembering his past fed his fear — sins that break a man before God become, in the end, a good (his reading); and he notes al-Fudayl erred in some fiqh, corrected by Malik and the great scholars, for he held all people should devote themselves wholly to worship ^{29 30 31}. He passed eighty a devotee; and of his sayings 'people are adorned by nothing better than truthfulness and seeking the lawful' — when his son Ali said 'the lawful is rare' he answered 'my son, its little is much with God' ^{32 33}.