Did Imam ash-Shafiee sought tabarruk from the shirt of Imam Ahmad

Refutations of batil Aqaids

Some of the extremists quote the following narration from Tarikh Damishq and Manaaqib al Imam Ahmad that:

Imam ash-Shafiee sent a letter to Imam Ahmad on the hands of his student Rabi ibn Suleman, when he reached to Imam Ahmad, Imam Ahmad said to him (Rabee ibn Suleman) that ash-Shafiee wrote:

“I (ash-Shafiee) saw The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in my dream. The Holy Prophet(peace be upon him) said, that I should convey salâm to Ahmed and inform him that soon he will have to undergo tests and trials regarding Khalq-e-Qur’ân [the Qur’ân being creation], but he should not admit to it. In virtue of that, his knowledge will remain till the day of Qiyâmah.”

Imâm Ahmed cried and sent his shirt to Imâm Shafi with the messenger. When the messenger reached Egypt and Imâm Shafi came to know that Imâm Ahmed had given his shirt as a reward for bringing the letter.

He said: “Moisten the shirt in water and give it to me so that I can gain barakat [blessings] from it.” [Ibn ‘Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq 5/311 and Ibn al-Jawzi in Manaqib Imam Ahmed 609, 610 states]

Response:

Imam ad-Dahabi said regarding this narration in the biography of Rabi ibn Suleman (the student of Imam ash-Shafiee) who took letter to Imam Ahmad that:
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ صَاحِبَ رِحلَةٍ، فَأَمَّا مَا يُرْوَى أَنَّ الشَّافِعِيَّ بعثَهُ إِلَى بَغْدَادَ

بِكِتَابِهِ إِلَى أَحْمَدَ بنِ حَنْبَلٍ فغيرُ صَحِيْحٍ.
He was not the one who used to travel to take knowledge, so The narration which states Imam ash-Shafiee gave a letter to him for Imam Ahmad and sent him to Baghdad is not authentic. [Seyar Ailaam an-Nubala 12/587-588]

And there are many other problems in the chain of its narrators which can be seen in urdu Risalah [as-Sunnah no. 73-78 pages 259-264]

It is proven otherwise from Shafiee and Hanbali Fuqaha.

Imam ash-Shafiee refuted Imam Maalik When people of Al-Andalus started venerating Imam Maalik to the extreme that they started taking blessings from a cap of Imam Maalik.
al Bayhaqi said:
أن الشافعي إنما وضع الكتاب على «مالك» أنه بلغه أن بأندلس كُمَّةً لمالك – يعني قلنسوة – يُستسقى بها. وكان يقال لهم: قال رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم فيقولون: قال مالك: فقال الشافعي: إن مالكا آدمي قد يخطئ ويغلط. فالذي دعاه إلى أن وضع عليه هذا الكتاب: ذلك. وكان يقول: كرهت أن أفعل ذلك، ولكني استخرت الله في ذلك سنة كذا
Imam ash-Shafiee wrote a book in refutation of Imam Maalik. The reason for that was, some people in al Andalus started taking blessings from the cap of Imam Malik. There state was that if someone would say this is what Prophet peace be upon him said, they would say but Imam Maalik said this.
Ash-Shafiee said: Maalik was a Man who can make mistakes and sometimes he is wrong too. Due to this situation ash-Shafiee was forced to write this response. ash-Shafiee would also say: I don\t like it (writing response against Imam Maalik) but i did Istikhara in such and such year.
مناقب الشافعی: 1/508-509، توالي التأسيس ص147

He wrote this refutation so that people may stop venerating the Imam to the extremes.

Ibn Rajab al Hanbali said
وجاء إليه رجل فمسح يده ثيابه ومسح بهما وجهه ، فغضب الإمام أحمد وأنكر ذلك أشد الإنكار وقال : عمن أخذتم هذا الأمر ؟
A man came to him(Imam Ahmad) and he wiped his hands on his clothes, And wiped his face, Imam Ahmad became angry and denied that of the most denial and said: from whom you have learnt this?[ الحكم الجديرة بالإذاعة. Page 46 and 47]

Imam Ibn Mufleh al Hanbali quoted above narration from al Khallal in his Adaab ash-Shariya 3/265 the Fasal:

إنكار أحمد للتبرك به وتواضعه وثناؤه على معروف الكرخي
Imam Ahmad Rejecting taking Tabarruk from him and his humbleness and his praises for Maruf al Karkhi

The words are:

روى الخلال في أخلاق أحمد عن علي بن عبد الصمد الطيالسي قال مسحت يدي على أحمد بن حنبل ثم مسحت يدي على بدني وهو ينظر فغضب غضبا شديدا وجعل ينفض يده ويقول عمن أخذتم هذا ؟ وأنكره إنكارا شديدا .
Narrated by al-Khallal in “Ikhlaaq of Ahmad” from Ali bin Abd as-Samad at-Tiyalisi He said: I wiped my hand over Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and then i wiped it over my body. He saw this and became very angry and said from whom you have taken this? He rejected it strongly. (end quote)

The great jurist of Hanbali Madhab Ibn Rajab hanbali [736 – 795] AH says:
“وكذلك التبرك بالآثار، فإنما كان يفعله الصحابة مع النبي-صلى الله عليه وسلم- ولم يكونوا يفعلونه مع بعضهم.. ولا يفعله التابعون مع الصحابة، مع علو قدرهم فدل على أن هذا لا يُفعل إلا مع النبي -صلى الله عليه وسلم- مثل التبرك بوضوئه، وفضلاته، وشعره، وشرب فضل شرابه وطعامه.
وفي الجملة فهذه الأشياء فتنة للمعظّم وللمعظّم لما يخشى عليه من الغلو المدخل في البدعة ، وربما يترقى إلى نوع من الشرك . كل هذا إنما جاء من التشبه بأهل الكتاب والمشركين الذي نهيت عنه هذه الأمة .
وفي الحديث الذي في السنن : ” ان من إجلال الله إكرام ذي الشيبة المسلم ، والسلطان المقسط ، وحامل القرآن غير الغالي فيه والجافي عنه ” . فالغلو من صفات النصارى ، والجفاء من صفات اليهود ، والقصد هو المأمور به .
وقد كان السلف الصالح ينهون عن تعظيمهم غاية النهي كأنس الثوري وأحمد . وكان أحمد يقول : من أنا حتى تجيئون إلى ؟ اذهبوا اكتبوا الحديث ، وكان إذا سئل عن شيء ، يقول : سلوا العلماء . وإذا سئل عن شيء من الورع يقول : أنا لا يحل لي أن أتكلم في الورع ، لو كان بشر حياً تكلم في هذا .
وسئل مرة عن الإخلاص فقال : اذهب إلى الزهاد ، إي شيء نحن تجيء إلينا ؟ وجاء إليه رجل فمسح يده ثيابه ومسح بهما وجهه ، فغضب الإمام أحمد وأنكر ذلك أشد الإنكار وقال : عمن أخذتم هذا الأمر ؟
“Although the Companions sought tabarruk with the Prophet, peace be upon him, but they never did so with each other. Nor did the Tabi’un do so with the Companions, despite their tremendous rank….. This shows that it is not to be done; it could also evolve into shirk. All of this constitutes imitation of the People of the Book and the Mushriks which this ummah has been forbidden from …A man came to him(Imam Ahmad) and he wiped his hands on his clothes, And wiped his face, Imam Ahmad became angry and denied that of the most denial and said: from whom you have learnt this?[ الحكم الجديرة بالإذاعة. Page 46 and 47]

 

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