ULAMA SACRIFICE IN DEEN
IMAAM UMAR IBN ABDUL-KARIM AL-RAWWAASI [ra]
Imaam 'Umar bin 'Abdul Karim Al-Rawwasi (r.a.)
was born in the year : 428 Hijri in Dihistan and he passed away in 503 Hijri.
Imaam Abu Ja'far al-Hamazhani ( r.a.) says: " I
never saw in those countries anyone like him, instead not in the entire
world! He was a mobile book. He traveled the world in search of the
knowledge of Hadith. I met him in Makkah andI saw the 'Ulamaa praising and
speaking good about him. Thereafter I met him in Jurjan and he had become my
friend.
He was a great Imaam in this field so much so
that his ustaad: Khatib Baghdadi as well as other great 'Ulamaa and
Muhadditheen narrated from him. Imaam Ghazali corrected his copy of the
saheehain from him."
Imaam Al- Sam'ani mentions regarding him in his
book, "Al-Ansab":
"He was one of the leading scholars of his time.
He had traveled extensively and gathered knowledge from places such as :
Khurasan, 'Iraq, Syria, Hijaz , Egypt and Al-Jazeerah.
He was called Al-Rawwasi because his father used
to sell animal-heads in Dihistan.
Once Imaam Abu Mas'ood Ahmad Al-Bajali came to
Dihistan and he had purchased a head from his father ( Abul Hasan ) , so his
father said : "I recognize you to be a person of knowledge and it doesn't
befit you that you sit in my shop, so go to the musjid and I will deliver it
to you.When he went to the musjid , Abul Hasan sent to him a well roasted
head with clean bread , vinegar and herbs with his son 'Umar. And 'Umar at
the time was a very young boy.
Abu Mas'ood saw this and was pleased by this
deed of the head-seller.
So when he completed his meal, he thanked the
head-seller and said: " you have done good to me but I have nothing with
which I could recompense you. Is it possible that you send your son to me so
that I may teach him some of the noble Ahadith of Rasulullah ( s.a.w.) ?"
So his father became delighted with the idea and
sent him.
Thereafter Imaam Abu Mas'ood took Imaam 'Umar
Al-Rawwasi with him to the 'Ulamaa of Dihistan and thought him himself. In
this way this knowledge of Hadith opened up to him as he traveled long
distances on his own thereafter collecting Ahadith that no other person of
his contemporaries did and in doing so he mastered the field of Hadith.
Imaam Ibn nuqtah (r.a.) says : " I heard from
numerous Scholars that Sheikh 'Umar Al-Rawwasi had approximately 3600
Ustaadhs !!!
(This was due to his courage and zeal for
traveling so extensively. As if like a bee moving about to the different
flowers extracting beautiful pollen. Imagine his patience in traversing on
all types of terrain just to meet the various 'Ulamaa.)
Imaam Khuzaimah ibn 'Ali Al-Marwazhi says: "
Imaam 'Umar Al-Rawwasi's fingers fell off while on sojourn due to the
extreme cold!!"
Once Imaam Abu Bakr Al-Sam'aani asked Imaam 'Umar
to come to Marw so that he may benefit from him. So he said to his
companions : " I intend to go to Marw but Sarakhs is on the way and it has
became famous to be the "GRAVEYARD OF KNOWLEDGE" so I don't know if I will
make it to Marw. It is said that he passed away in Sarakhs before he reached
Marw in Rabee' ul Akhir in the year 503 Hijri.
( There are many lessons to be learnt from this
story of Imaam 'Umar Al-Rawwasi ( r.a.) :
1. The way in which Allah accepted him for the
knowledge of deen. – the generosity and kindness of his father. This
enlightens us on the great reward that Allah bestows those who honour the 'Ulamaa
of deen.
2. His sacrifice to such an extent that his
fingers fell off but he still refused to rest and continued to travel for
the sake of knowledge until his death.
3.Allah had bestowed him with the honour of his
own ustaadhs coming to benefit from him. And infact some great 'Ulamaa had
even corrected their copies of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim!
May Allah Ta'ala grant us the tofeeq and ability
to follow in the foot steps of our illustrious pious predecessors.( Ameen. )
Last modified:
July 19, 2007
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