Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

In addition, probably the greatest evidence of Naṣb being the dominant
dogma of Dimashq and it being deeply entrenched in the hearts of
its people is the fate al-Nasāʾī had met at the hands of its Nawāṣib. 1
Likewise, al-Dhahabī found it perplexing that Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī 2
described Muḥammad ibn Rāshid 3 by saying, ‘He was a Rāfiḍī.’ And
asked the question, “How can a Dimashqī who settled in Baṣrah be
a Rāfiḍī?” 4
Two things had caused the confusion of al-Dhahabī:
Firstly, he knew that Naṣb was widespread in Dimashq and thus
that would demand the impossibility of a Rāfiḍī coming about in a
purely Nāṣibī circle.
Secondly, he moved to Baṣrah which was also popularly known for
being an abode of the detractors of ʿAlī I.
b. Ḥimṣ: The people of Ḥimṣ would denigrate ʿAlī I. 5 It is said that
the staunchest people against ʿAlī I on the Day of Ṣiffīn and
1 Wafayāt al-Aʿyān 1/78; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 14/129; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 6/257; Mirʾāt al-Jinān 2/241.
2 Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ibn al-Mundhir ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥanẓalī, Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī. One of the senior
retainers of ḥadīth and the leaders in the field of approbating and impugning narrators. He was a
contemporary of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. He passed away in 277 A.H. in Ray at the age of eighty two.
His narrations appear in Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Sunan al-Nasāʾī and Sunan Ibn Mājah. Some of his works are:
Ṭabaqāt al-Tābiʿīn and Kitāb al-Zīnah. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 2/73; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 24/381; Tārīkh al-Islām
20/430; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/59.
3 Muḥammad ibn Rāshid al-Makḥūl al-Khuzāʿī, Abū Yaḥyā (and it said Abū ʿAbd Allāh) al-Dimashqī.
He settled in Basrah. He was always endeavoured to speak the truth but was accused of the innovations
of Shīʿism, denial of destiny, and being of the opinion of the sword. Thus al-Nasāʾī and others deemed
him weak. ʿAbd al-Razzāq said about him, “I have not seen a person more cautious in ḥadīth than
him.” He passed away in 160 A.H. and his narrations appear in the four Sunan. See: Tārīkh Madīnah
Dimashq 53/4; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 7/343; al-Kāshif 2/170; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 9/140.
4 Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 6/143. This perplexity was later solved by al-Dhahabī. Refer to the reference.
5 Bughyah al-Ṭalab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab 4/1731; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān 4/130; Tārīkh al-Islām 12/72; Siyar Aʿlām
al-Nubalāʾ 8/148.
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