Dhi'lib al-Yamani
Dhiʿlib al-Yamānī (Arabic: ذِعْلِب الیمانی) was a companion of Imam Ali (a). According to biographical scholars such as Abd Allah Mamaqani and Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin, he asked the Imam a question regarding the Vision of God after Imam Ali (a) assumed the Caliphate.[1] This dialogue is recorded in Sermon 179 and hadith sources such as Al-Kafi, al-Irshad, and al-Iḥtijaj.[2]
When Imam Ali (a) uttered the phrase "Saluni qabla 'an tafqiduni" (Ask me before you lose me), Dhi'lib asked him: "Have you seen your Lord?" The Imam replied: "I do not worship a Lord whom I have not seen." Then Dhi'lib asked about the manner of seeing God, and the Imam's answer was that God is not seen with physical eyes, but with the eyes of the heart.[3] Subsequently, the Imam described God in such sentences that Dhi'lib fainted. After recovering, he swore that he had never heard such an answer and would never raise this issue again.[4]
Before this question, when Imam Ali (a) had spoken about the vastness of his knowledge and his mastery over the Torah and the Gospel and his knowledge of the meanings and truths of the Qur'an, Dhi'lib had told his friends: "Today I will embarrass Ali."[5] Some have considered this a sign of his rudeness and ignorance.[6] However, his fainting and repentance after hearing the Imam's answer are considered by others as a sign of a change in his attitude and faith.[7]
It is said that the name Dhi'lib al-Yamani does not exist in early rijali works.[8] However, al-Shaykh al-Saduq (d. 381/991) in the hadith books al-Amali and al-Tawhid, quoting Asbagh b. Nubata, described him as an eloquent and daring man.[9] According to biographical scholars such as Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin and Muhammad Taqi Shushtari, the description "al-Yamani" for Dhi'lib appears only in the text of al-Sharif al-Radi (d. 406/1015) in Nahj al-balagha.[10]
Mamaqani in Tanqih al-maqal considered him to be an Imami and praised,[11] and Tafsir-i nimuna listed him among the learned companions of Imam Ali (a).[12]
Notes
- ↑ Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 26, p. 378; Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 431.
- ↑ Hāshimī Khūʾī, Minhāj al-barāʿa, vol. 10, p. 257.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 342; Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 431.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, pp. 342-343.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, pp. 341-342.
- ↑ Shūshtarī, Qāmūs al-rijāl, vol. 4, p. 307; Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 431.
- ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 431.
- ↑ Jamʿī az nivīsandagān, Dānishnāma-yi Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 1, p. 409; Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 26, p. 378.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 342; Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 305.
- ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 431; Shūshtarī, Qāmūs al-rijāl, vol. 4, p. 307.
- ↑ Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 26, p. 380.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 217.
References
- Amīn, Sayyid Muḥsin al-. Aʿyān al-Shīʿa. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf, 1403 AH.
- Hāshimī Khūʾī, Ḥabīb Allāh al-. Minhāj al-barāʿa fī sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. Translated by Ḥasan Ḥasanzāda Āmulī & Muḥammad Bāqir Kamaraʾī. Edited by Ibrāhīm Miyānjī. Tehran: Maktabat al-Islāmiyya, 4th ed., 1400 AH.
- Jamʿī az nivīsandagān. Dānishnāma-yi Nahj al-balāgha. Supervised by Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn Dīn-parvar. Tehran: Muʾassisa-yi Farhangī-yi Madrasa-yi Burhān, 1394 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
- Māmaqānī, ʿAbd Allāh. Tanqīḥ al-maqāl fī ʿilm al-rijāl. vol. 26. Annotated by Muḥyī l-Dīn Māmaqānī. Qom: Muʾassisa Āl al-Bayt, n.d.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Beirut: Al-Aʿlamī, 5th ed., 1362 Sh/1400 AH.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Tawḥīd. Edited by Hāshim Ḥusaynī. Qom: Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn, 1st ed., 1398 AH.
- Sayyid al-Raḍī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ. Qom: Muʾassisa Dār al-Hijra, 1414 AH.
- Shūshtarī, Muḥammad Taqī al-. Qāmūs al-rijāl. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 2nd ed., 1412 AH.