His Name
He was the shaykh, imām, muftī, exemplary scholar and authority in ḥadīth transmission of Iṣbahān, Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥasan ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Rustam ar-Rustamī al-Iṣbahānī ؒ, the Shāfiʿī jurist and ascetic. He was born in Ṣafar 468 AH.
His Teachers
He heard from Abū ʿAmr ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Mandah, Maḥmūd ibn Jaʿfar al-Kawsaj, al-Muṭahhar ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Buzānī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭayyān, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad as-Simsār, al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid, ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid aṣ-Ṣaḥḥāf, Abū ʿĪsā ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Ziyād, Abū Manṣūr ibn Shakrawayh, Sulaymān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥāfiẓ, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān adh-Dhakwānī, Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ghāzī, Abū al-Khayr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rarā, Rizq Allah at-Tamīmī, ar-Raʾīs ath-Thaqafī, Ṭirād az-Zaynabī and others.
His Students
As-Samʿānī, Ibn ʿAsākir, Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī, Sharaf ibn Abī Hāshim al-Baghdādī, Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Khiraqī, Abū al-Wafāʾ Maḥmūd ibn Mandah and others narrated from him. Abū al-Manjā ibn al-Lattī, Karīmah and Ṣafiyyah, the daughters of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn al-Ḥabqabqab, and ʿAjībah bint al-Bāqdārī narrated from him by ijāzah (authorisation).
Scholarly Praise
As-Samʿānī said:
إمام فاضل، مفتي الشافعية، وهو على طريقة السلف، له زاوية بجامع أصبهان، ملازمها في أكثر أوقاته.
“He was a virtuous imām, the muftī of the Shāfiʿīs, upon the way of the Salaf. He had a corner in the congregational mosque of Iṣbahān, which he occupied for most of his time.” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:434.)
ʿAbd Allah al-Jubbāʾī said:
ما رأيت أحدا أكثر بكاء من الرستمي.
“I have never seen anyone weep more than ar-Rustamī.” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:434.)
Al-Jubbāʾī also reported:
سمعت محمد بن سالار، سمعت أبا عبد الله الرستمي يقول: وقفت على ابن ماشاذه وهو يتكلم على الناس، فلما كان في الليل، رأيت رب العزة في المنام وهو يقول لي: يا حسن، وقفت على مبتدع، ونظرت إليه، وسمعت كلامه، لأحرمنك النظر في الدنيا. فاستيقظت كما ترى. قال الجبائي: كانت عيناه مفتوحتين وهو لا ينظر بهما.
“I heard Muḥammad ibn Sālār say: ‘I heard Abū ʿAbd Allah ar-Rustamī say: “I stood before Ibn Māshādhah while he was speaking to the people. That night, I saw the Lord of Might in a dream, saying to me: ‘Ḥasan, you stood before an innovator, looked at him and listened to his words. I shall deprive you of sight in this world.’ I awoke as you see me [blind].”’ Al-Jubbāʾī said: ‘His eyes were open, but he could not see with them.’” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:434. This is a reported dream; see the clarification below.)
The ḥadīth scholar ʿAbd al-Qādir ar-Ruhāwī said:
كان فقيها زاهدا ورعا بكاء، عاش نيفا وتسعين سنة، ومات سنة ستين كذا قال، ثم قال: وحضرته يوم موته وخرج الناس إلى قبره أفواجا، وأملى شيخنا الحافظ أبو موسى عند قبره مجلسا في مناقبه، وكان عامة فقهاء أصبهان تلامذته حتى شيخنا أبو موسى عليه تفقه، وكان أهل أصبهان لا يثقون إلا بفتواه، وسألني شيخنا أبو طاهر السلفي عن شيوخ أصبهان، فذكرته له، فقال: أعرفه فقيها متنسكا.
“He was a jurist, an ascetic, scrupulous and much given to weeping. He lived for more than ninety years and died in the year sixty [560 AH, as this report has it]. I was present on the day he died. People came to his grave in crowds, and our shaykh, the ḥadīth scholar Abū Mūsā, dictated a session on his virtues at his grave. Most of the jurists of Iṣbahān were his students; even our shaykh Abū Mūsā studied jurisprudence under him. The people of Iṣbahān trusted only his fatwā. Our shaykh Abū Ṭāhir as-Silafī asked me about the shaykhs of Iṣbahān. I mentioned him, and he said: ‘I know him as a jurist devoted to worship.’” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:434.)
Adh-Dhahabī marks the year in this report with “thus he said”; it differs from the 561 AH date reported by Abū Mūsā below.
As-Samʿānī said:
إمام متدين ورع، يزجي أكثر أوقاته في نشر العلم والفتيا.
“He was a religious and scrupulous imām who spent most of his time spreading knowledge and issuing religious rulings.” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:435.)
Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī said:
أقرأ الرستمي المذهب كذا كذا سنة، وكان من الشداد في السنة.
“Ar-Rustamī taught the madhhab for such-and-such a number of years, and he was among those firm in the Sunnah.” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:435. The number of years is unspecified in the source.)
ʿAbd al-Qādir said:
سمعت بعض أصحابنا الأصبهانيين يحكي عنه أنه كان في كل جمعة ينفرد يبكي فيه، فبكى حتى ذهبت عيناه، وكنا نسمع عليه وهو في رثاثة من الملبس والمفرش لا يساوي طائلا، وكذلك منزله، وكانت الفرق مجتمعة على محبته.
“I heard some of our companions from Iṣbahān relate that he would withdraw alone to weep every Friday. He wept until he lost his sight. We used to hear from him while his clothes and furnishings were worn and worth little, as was his home. The various groups were united in their love for him.” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:435.)
Abū Mūsā said:
توفي مساء يوم الأربعاء ثاني صفر سنة إحدى وستين وخمسمائة.
“He died on Wednesday evening, 2 Ṣafar 561 AH.” (Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:435.)
A Clarification Concerning Dreams
Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hādī al-Wādiʿī (d. 1422 AH/2001 CE) ؒ was asked whether a believer can see his Lord in a dream, what evidence there is, and whether this has been authentically reported from any of the Salaf.
He answered that nothing prevents it. Reports from Muʿādh, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀʾish and Ibn ʿAbbās mention that the Prophet saw his Lord; some scholars say these reports reach the level of being usable as evidence.
Ibn Kathīr ؒ mentioned the report in his Tafsīr when discussing Allah’s words:
مَا كَانَ لِيَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ بِالْمَلَإِ الْأَعْلَىٰ إِذْ يَخْتَصِمُونَ
“I had no knowledge of the chiefs (angels) on high when they were disputing and discussing (about the creation of Ādam).” [Q 38:69]
Ibn Kathīr explained:
هذه رؤيا منامية.
“This is a vision in a dream.” (Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, on Q 38:69, as cited by Shaykh Muqbil.)
Shaykh Muqbil therefore knew of nothing preventing the Prophet from seeing his Lord in a dream. It has also been related from Imām Aḥmad and other scholars of the Salaf that they saw Allah in dreams.
However, if someone claims to have seen his Lord in a dream and brings something contrary to the existing Islamic legislation, it is not accepted. What he saw may have been a true vision, or it may have been whisperings of his own mind. Dreams are of three kinds: a vision from Allah, a dream from Satan, and the thoughts of one’s own mind. Furthermore, a sleeping person is not fully conscious such that what he saw in a dream can be accepted as evidence. (Tuḥfat al-Mujīb; official answer no. 3799.)
References
The Noble Qur’an: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary, translated by Muḥammad Taqī ad-Dīn al-Hilālī and Muḥammad Muḥsin Khān, Q 38:69.
Adh-Dhahabī, Shams ad-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān (d. 748 AH/1348 CE). Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 20:433–435, biography of ar-Rustamī, as paginated here. Genealogical wording compared with the author’s Tārīkh al-Islām, biography of al-Ḥasan ibn al-ʿAbbās ar-Rustamī, among the deaths of 561 AH.
Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, commentary on Q 38:69, cited by Shaykh Muqbil.
Al-Wādiʿī, Muqbil ibn Hādī (d. 1422 AH/2001 CE). Tuḥfat al-Mujīb; official answer no. 3799, added 26 Shawwāl 1434 AH. The official page cites pp. 86–87; the article’s former p. 69.
