Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

them in Baṣrah and Shām, 1 Ibn al-Madīnī would narrate them in Baṣrah, 2 Ibn Abī
Dāwūd 3 would read them to the people in Baghdād 4 and Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh 5 would
mention them to the people of Ḥimṣ, which ultimately lead to them desisting
from the denigration of ʿAlī I. 6
Furthermore, they did not consider it enough to propagate the virtues of ʿAlī
I in their cities, but some of them would purposely mention them even when
travelling to places wherein the Nawāṣib had a strong presence. 7
This special dedication was only in order to repel the undue criticism and
tarnishing of ʿAlī I. 8
As a result, his virtues proliferated amongst the people greatly, so much so that
Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal would say:
1 Ḥilyah al-Awliyāʾ 7/27.
2 Tārīkh Baghdād 11/463; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 21/17; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 11/47.
3 ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath al-Azdī, Abū Bakr al-Sijistānī. A reliable scholar who was
well versed in genealogy, history, the deeper flaws of ḥadīth and the campaigns of Nabī H. He
was born in Sijistān in 230 A.H. and he grew up in Baghdād. Al-Dār Quṭnī has said about him, “He is
reliable, however when commenting upon narrations he makes a lot of mistakes.” He passed away
in Baghdād in 316 A.H. Some of his books are: al-Musnad, Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif and al-Tafsīr. See: Ṭabaqāt
al-Muḥaddithīn bi Aṣfahān wa al-Wāridīn ʿAlayhā 3/533; Tārīkh Baghdād 9/464; Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq
29/77; Lisān al-Mīzān 3/293.
4 Al-Kāmil fī Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Rijāl 4/266; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 13/228; Tadhkirah al-Ḥuffāẓ 2/771.
5 Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh ibn Salīm al-ʿAnasī, their client, Abū ʿUtbah al-Ḥimṣī. An ascetic ḥadīth scholar
and an adherent of the Sunnah. He was born in 108 A.H. Yazīd ibn Hārūn said about him, “I have not
seen a Shāmi or an Iraqi with who knew as many narrations as Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh. His narrations from
others besides the people of his town have been criticised. He passed away in 181 A.H. His narrations
appear in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and the four Sunan. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 6/221; Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 9/35;
Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 3/163; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 8/312.
6 Tārīkh Baghdād 13/7; Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 50/366; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 8/148; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb
8/415.
7 Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 5/16.
8 Minhāj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah 4/371.
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