The Life of Abdullah ibn Al-Mubarak

Nawfal said, 'I saw Ibn al-Mubarak in my dream and so I said to him, 'What did Allah do
with you?' He said, 'He has forgiven me due to my journeys in search of Hadith. Upon you is to
adhere to the Qur'an, upon you is to adhere to the Qur'an.' 61
Isma'il ibn Ibrahim al-Musaysi once saw al-Harith ibn 'Atiyyah in a dream and he asked him
(about his state). He said, 'I have been forgiven.' He then said, 'And what about Ibn al-
Mubarak?' He said, 'Bakh bakh! (an expression of surprise) He is in the 'Illiyeen (Book of
records for the righteous) who come to Allah twice every day.' 62
Abu Hatim al-Farbari said, 'I saw Ibn al-Mubarak (in my dream) standing at the door of
Paradise with a key in his hand. I said, 'What made you stand here?' He said, 'This is the key
to Paradise which I am to return to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam). He (the
Prophet) said, 'Until I visit the Lord, be my trustworthy one in the Heavens just like you were my
trustworthy one on the earth.' 63
And those who preserve the Prophetic traditions and narrations, who authenticate the
statements of the Messenger, who verify what is really from the Sunnah and what is not…
they are most certainly the trustworthy ones of the Messenger of Allah on earth.
Some examples of the Ahadith narrated by Ibn al-Mubarak ‏(رواياته)‏ and in which he is part of
the chain of narrations (isnad):
'Two men sneezed in the presence of the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) and so the
Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said 'May Allah have mercy on you' to one
of them and he did not say it to the other, instead saying 'This one said Al-Hamdulillah and
you did not say Al-Hamdulillah.' 64
The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, 'On the night of Ascension, I saw men
tearing their tongues with scissors made of fire so I said, 'Who are these people O Jibril?' He
said, 'These are the eloquent speakers from your nation who command the people with that
they do not do themselves.' 65
The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, 'I have been ordered to fight the people until
they bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, so if they do that and face our Qiblah (prayer focus),
pray in our congregation and eat of our meat, then their blood and wealth is prohibited
from us except by right (of Law). They have a right to what the Muslims have a right to and
upon them is whatever is upon the Muslims.' 66
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61 Siyar A'lam al-Nubala
62 See above source
63 See above source
64 Agreed upon narration
65 Reported by Ibn Abi Dunya, Ibn Hibban, al-Bayhaqi and al-Hakim
66 Reported by al-Bukhari
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