Nawf al-Bikali

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Nawf al-Bikali
Full NameNawf b. Fudala Bikali
Companion ofImam Ali (a)
TeknonymAbu Yazid
Well Known AsNawf al-Bikali
Religious AffiliationShi'a
LineageBikal tribe (from Himyar)
Place(s) of ResidenceKufa
ProfessorsAbu Ayyub al-Ansari


Nawf b. Fuḍāla Bikālī (Arabic: نَوف بن فُضالَة البِکالي) was the guard and doorkeeper of Imam Ali (a) during his caliphate. He reported some of the sayings and sermons of Nahj al-balagha. The name of "Nawf" is not mentioned in early Shi'a sources of rijal, but some hadiths transmitted by him from Imam Ali (a) are mentioned in some Shi'a hadith sources.

Life

Due to attribution of Nawf b. Fudala to Bikala or Bikal tribe (from Himyar), he was called Nawf al-Bikali.[1] Some attributed him to Banu Hamdan, which Mamaqani rejected in Tanqih al-maqal.[2] In some sources, the name of his father was mentioned as 'Abd Allah.[3] Some considered 'Amr al-Bikali, the jurist, transmitter of hadith and companion of the Prophet (s) whose fingers were cut in the battle of Yarmuk, the brother of Nawf.[4]

Since Nawf was from Syria,[5] he is called al-Shami (Syrian). Ibn 'Asakir considered Nawf from the people of Damascus and mentioned his biography in Tarikh Madinat Damishq and said that some considered him from Palestine.[6] His Kunya was "Abu Yazid".[7] "Abu 'Amr" and "Abu Rashid" too are mentioned as his kunyas.[8]

There is not much information about Nawf's life, except that after his father passed away or divorced from his mother, she married to Ka'b al-Ahbar[9] and Nawf grew up in the house of Ka'b. It is said that Nawf was killed in a battle between Muhammad b. Marwan and Armenians.[10]

Relation with Imam 'Ali (a)

Nawf al-Bikali was the doorkeeper of Imam 'Ali (a). He was mentioned as the doorkeeper[11] and special companion of Imam Ali (a).[12] He transmitted some of Imam's (a) supplications[13] and some of his sermons.[14] Nawf al-Bikali also asked Imam Ali (a) to advise him, so Imam (a) advised him relating with his relatives (Silat al-rahim), not helping oppressors, friendship with the Ahl al-Bayt (a), abandoning backbiting and following other moral virtues.[15] The address below is from Imam Ali (a) to Nawf,

"O Nawf! Blessed be upon those who abstain from this world and are eager for the next world. They are the people who regard this earth as a carpet, its dust as their bed-cloth; and its water as their perfume; they recite the Qur'an in low tones and supplicate in high tones and then they are cut off from the world like Jesus (a)."[16]

Mamaqani considered Imam Ali's (a) advice to Nawf, a sign of his great position and strength of faith and mentioned including him among the righteous by Imam Ali (a) an evidence for this claim.[17]

Hadiths

There are hadiths in Shi'a hadith sources transmitted from Nawf al-Bikali. He transmitted some of the sayings and sermons of Nahj al-balagha from Imam Ali (a). He also transmitted the sermon of Hammam (with little difference)[18] and a hadith about characteristics of Shi'a from Imam 'Ali (a).[19]

Nawf also learned hadiths from 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr al-'As and Abu Ayyub al-Ansari.[20] Abu Ishaq al-Hamdani, Abu Tu'ma Nusayr b. Dughluq, Khalid b. Subayh, 'Abd al-Malik b. Habib, 'Umara b. Juwayn al-'Abdi, Shahr b. Hawshab al-Ash'ari,[21] Abu 'Abd Allah al-Shami, 'Abd al-A'la,[22] and 'Alqama b. Qays[23] narrated from him.

His name is not mentioned in early Shi'a sources of rijal. Under his name, Ayatullah Khoei sufficed to mention a hadith from al-Shaykh al-Saduq and did not give any opinion about him.[24] In some Sunni sources, it is mentioned that Nawf considered Moses in the Qur'anic story of Moses and Khidr as someone other than Moses (a), the prophet of Banu Israel and thus Ibn 'Abbas called him a liar and an enemy of God.

Notes

  1. ↑ Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāgha, vol. 10, p. 77; Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 3, p. 277.
  2. ↑ Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 3, p. 277.
  3. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, p. 576.
  4. ↑ Ibn Ḥajar, al-Iṣāba, vol. 4, p. 580.
  5. ↑ Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh madīnat Damascus, vol. 62, p. 303.
  6. ↑ Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh madīnat Damascus, vol. 62, p. 303.
  7. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 11, p. 283.
  8. ↑ Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 3, p. 276; Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh madīnat Damascus, vol. 62, p. 303.
  9. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 11, p. 664.
  10. ↑ Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh madīnat Damascus, vol. 62, p. 313.
  11. ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 2, p. 350.
  12. ↑ Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 3, p. 276.
  13. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 73, p. 359.
  14. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 33, p. 394; vol. 34, p. 124.
  15. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 209-210.
  16. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, vol. 1, p. 337-338; Mufīd, al-Amālī, p. 132.
  17. ↑ Māmaqānī, Tanqīḥ al-maqāl, vol. 3, p. 276.
  18. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 65, p. 192-193.
  19. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, p. 576.
  20. ↑ Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh madīnat Damascus, vol. 62, p. 303.
  21. ↑ Ibn ʿAsākir, Tārīkh madīnat Damascus, vol. 62, p. 303.
  22. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, vol. 1, p. 337-338.
  23. ↑ Mufīd, al-Amālī, p. 132-133.
  24. ↑ Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 19, p. 185-186.

References

  • Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Hibat Allāh. Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāgha. Edited by Muḥammad Abū l-Faḍl Ibrāhīm. Qom: Maktabat Āyatollāh Marʿashī, 1404 AH.
  • Ibn ʿAsākir, ʿAlī b. Ḥasan. Tārīkh madīnat Damascus. Edited by ʿAlī Shīrī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1418 AH.
  • Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba. Edited by ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd & ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿawwaḍ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1415 AH.
  • Khoei, Abū l-Qāsim al-. Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth. Qom: Markaz Nashr Āthār al-Shīʿa, 1410 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
  • Māmaqānī, ʿAbd Allāh al-.Tanqīḥ al-maqāl. Najaf: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Murtaḍawīyya, 1352 AH.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad. Al-Amālī. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī & Ḥusayn Walī. Qom: Kungira-yi Shaykh Mufīd, 1413 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1376 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Khiṣāl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Daftar-i Nashr-i Islāmī, 1362 Sh.
  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-. Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk. Edited by Muḥammad Abū l-Faḍl Ibrāhīm. Beirut: Dār al-Turāth, 1387 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Amālī. Edited by Muʾassisat al-Biʿtha. Qom: Dār al-Thiqāfa, 1414 AH.
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