Muwarriq al-Ijli

Muwarriq ibn Mushmarij, Abu al-Mu'tamir al-Ijli, a Follower imam said to be Basran or Kufan. He narrated from Anas ibn Malik, Jundub ibn Abd Allah al-Bajali, Abd Allah ibn Ayyash and Abd Allah ibn Umar; Aban ibn Abi Ayyash, Isma'il ibn Abi Khalid and Tawba al-Anbari narrated from him. Al-Nasa'i and Ibn Sa'd call him trustworthy, and Ibn Hibban lists him among the trustworthy. Abu Ali al-Marwazi says he made the pilgrimage with Ibn Umar and kept his company, came to Khurasan in Qutayba's time, took part in the conquest of Samarqand, and died in the governorship of Umar ibn Hubayra over Iraq ¹. The book gives his death as 103 or 101 AH.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal gives Muwarriq a chapter of Kitab al-Zuhd titled "Reports of Muwarriq al-Ijli". ² Among what he relates there from Qatada is Muwarriq's saying: I have found no likeness for the believer except a man at sea on a plank, calling "my Lord, my Lord", in the hope that He saves him. ² Among his sayings: I never said anything in anger that I regretted when calm; and that for twenty years he had sought something he could not attain and would never stop seeking, namely "silence about what does not concern me". ² A similar report appears in the chapter on Abu al-Aliya: that no wealth liable to zakat ever remained with him, and that for twenty years he had asked his Lord to let him speak only of what concerned him. ³

He reports Muwarriq's saying that one who holds to obedience to God when people turn from it is like one who charges back after others flee; and Hafsa bint Sirin relates that she asked him about his family and children, and he said they were many; when she told him to praise his Lord, he said he feared they would hold him back to his ruin. ²