Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

with them and prohibiting those who interacted with them from attending their
gatherings. 1
Some of these efforts would at times be very open and bold. Hence in the Ḥaram
where Muslims of all backgrounds, races, and places convene; the leading scholar
of Makkah ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ 2 would announce whilst circummambulating the
Kaʿbah:
احفظوا عني خمسا...‏ والشهادة على الخوارج بالضاللة
Remember five things from me… and remember my testimony regarding
the Khawārij being upon deviance. 3
Likewise in Baṣrah a person of the Khawārij stood in the gathering of al-Ḥasan
al-Baṣrī, 4 the leading scholar of Baṣrah and its ascetic, and asked him, “What do
you say about ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib?” The cheeks of al-Ḥasan became red and he said
furiously:
رحم الله عليا.‏ إن عليا كان سهما لله صائبا في أعدائه.‏ وكان في محلة العلم أشرفها وأقربها من رسول
الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.‏ وكان رهباني هذه المة،‏ لم يكن لمال الله بالسروقة،‏ ول في أمر الله بالنؤومة.‏
أعطى القرآن عزيمة علمه فكان منه في رياض مونقة وأعالم بينة.‏ ذاك علي بن أبي طالب يا لكع.‏
1 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1/20; al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā 6/181; al-ʿUqaylī: al-Ḍuʿafāʾ 2/186.
2 ʿAṭāʾ ibn Aslam al-Qurashī al-Fihrī, their client, Abū Muḥammad ibn Abī Rabāḥ al-Makkī. The jurist
of Makkah and its worshipper. He was born during the Khilāfah of ʿUthmān I and was originally
from Africa. He met two hundred of the Companions of Rasūl Allah H. He was the supreme Muftī
of Makkah alongside Mujāhid. He was reliable but would often omit the Ṣaḥābī between him and
Nabī H. He passed away in 114 A.H. His narrations appear in the six books. See: Tārīkh Madīnah
Dimashq 40/366; Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 20/69; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 5/78; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 7/179.
3 Ḥilyah al-Awliyāʾ 3/312; Tārīkh Aṣfahān 2/152; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 9/308.
4 Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Ḥasan (his name was Yasār) al-Anṣārī, their ally, Abū Saʿīd al-Baṣrī. The leading
scholar of Baṣrah its ascetic and one of the prominent successors. He was born in Madīnah two years
before the demise of ʿUmar I. He met a fair amount of the Ṣaḥābah M. Ibn Saʿd said about him,
“He was a polymath, a person of high stature, a jurist, an authority, a worshipper, and an eloquent
orator.” He passed away in 121 A.H. His narrations appear in the six books. See: Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 6/95;
al-ʿIbar fī Khabar man Ghabar 1/490; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 9/268; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 12/190.
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