Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

في نفسي ماذا أقول؟ لئن قلت:‏ ل،‏ لقد خشيت أن ألقى منه شرا!‏ ولئت قلت نعم،‏ لقد حئت بأمر عظيم!‏
قلت لرجل من أصحاب رسول الله ما لم يقل.‏ ثم قلت في نفسي:‏ لقد عودني الله على الصدق خيرا.‏ ل
يا أمير المؤمنين.‏ قال فضرب بقضيبه السرير مرتين أو ثالثا،‏ ثم قال:‏ فمن؟ حتى ردد ذلك مرارا.‏ قلت:‏ يا
أمير المؤمنين،‏ عبد الله بن أبي بن سلول
I was in the gathering of Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik 1 one night and he was
reading Sūrah al-Nūr whilst lying down. When he reached the verse, “Indeed,
those who came with falsehood are a group among you. Do not think it bad for you;
rather it is good for you. For every person among them is what [punishment] he has
earned from the sin, and he who took upon himself the greater portion thereof for
him is a great punishment [i.e., Hellfire].”
He sat up and said, “O Abū Bakr, who was responsible for its major share?
Was it not ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib?”
I said to myself, if I say ‘no’ I fear that I might encounter bad from him;
and if I say ‘yes’ I will indeed be doing a very grave matter, for I will be
attributing to one of the Ṣaḥābah of Rasūl Allah H what he did not say.
I then said to myself ‘Allah has promised me good upon speaking the truth’
and said, “No, O Amīr al-Muʾminīn.”
He thus hit his bed with his stick two or three times and then said, “Who
then?” repeating that several times.
I said, “O Amīr al-Muʾminīn, it was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubay ibn Salūl.” 2
1 Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Umawī, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Dimashqī. He
assumed the Khilāfah after his father in the year 86 A.H. Many places were conquered during his
time. He had likewise built the Jāmiʾ Masjid of Damascus. He managed the affairs of the Khilāfah well
even though he was hard and tyrannical. He passed away in 96 A.H. at the age of fifty one. See: Tārīkh
Madīnah Dimashq 63/164; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 4/347; Fawāt al-Wafayāt 2/588; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah
9/161.
2 Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr of al-Ṭabarānī: ḥadīth no. 145. For more details see: al-Maʿrifah wa al-Tārīkh 1/201;
Tafsīr al-Ṣanʿānī 3/52; Ḥilyah al-Awliyāʾ 3/369; al-Durr al-Manthūr 6/157.
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