His Name:

He was the Shaykh, Imām, Muftī, the leading example, the chain of narration of Asbahān, Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Ḥasan ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī  ibn al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Rustam al-Rustamī al-Asbhānī, the master of the Shāfʿītes school of thought, the abstainer of the luxuries of the world.He was born in the month of Ṣafar in the year 468AH. 

His Teachers:

  • Abū ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Munda
  • Maḥmūd ibn Jaʿfar al-Kūsuj
  • al-Muṭahar ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Buzānī
  • Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭayān
  • Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Samsär
  • al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb 
  • ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Saḥãf
  • Abū ʿIsá ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Ziyād
  • Abū Manṣūr ibn Shakūway
  • Sulaymān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥāfiẓ
  • Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān adh-Dhukwānī
  • Sahl ibn ʿAbdullah al-Gāzī
  • Abu al-Khair Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rara
  • Razqullah al-Tamīmī
  • ar-Raī’s al-Thaqafī
  • Ṭarādā al-Zaynābī

His Students:

  • al-Samʿānī
  • Ibn ʿAsākir
  • Abū Mūsá al-Madanī
  • Sarf ibn Abī Hāshim al-Baghdādī
  • Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Kharqī
  • Abū Wafā Maḥmūd ibn Manda
  • Abū al-Manjā ibn al-Lātī
  • Karīmah and Safiyah, the two daughters of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn al-Habqab
  • Ajībah bint al-Bāqdārī

Scholarly Praise for Him:

Al-Samʿānī said about him; “He was the virtuous Imām, the Muftī of the Shāfʿītes’ upon the methodology of the Salaf. He had his own designated place at the grand mosque of Asbahān which he used to occupy most of his time.”

ʿAbdullāh al-Jabāi’ī said; “I have not see anyone cry as much as al-Rustamī.”

Al-Jabāi’ī said: “I heard Muḥammad ibn Salar say that he heard Abū ʿAbdullah al-Rustamī say; ‘I stood by Ibn Māshātha whilst he was speaking to the people. That night I saw the Lord of Honour1 in a dream, He said to me; ‘Ḥasan! You stood before an innovator, looked at him and listened to his speech. Due to that I will cause you to go blind in this worldly life. And so I woke just as you see me [blind].’ al-Jabāi’ī continued; ‘His eyes were wide open but yet he could not see with them.’”

al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Rahāwī said about him; “He was a scholarly man who was abstinent from the worldly life, pious and cried much. He lived longer than 90 years and died in the year 60AH as was mentioned by him. He went on to say, ‘I was present on the day that he died. The people came out in their masses to his grave whilst our Shaykh, al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Mūsá gave a talk in the gathering at the graveyard regarding his virtues. The general population of the scholars of jurisprudence of al-Asbahān were students of al-Rustamī’, even al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Mūsá learned from him. The people of Asbahān did not depend on any fatwá except the fatwá of al-Rustamī. Our Shaykh, Abū Ṭāhir al-Silafī asked me about the scholars of Asbahān, so I mentioned al-Rustamī to which he replied; ‘I know him to be an ardent worshipper and scholar of fiqh.”

Al-Samʿānī states: “He was a pious and religious man who spent most of his time in spreading knowledge and delivering religious rulings.”

Abū Mūsá al-Madanī said; “al-Rustamī taught the particular madhab for X amount of years. And he was diligent upon the Sunnah.”

ʿAbd al-Qādir said; “I heard some of our friends of Asbhān narrate from him that he would cry in isolation every Friday. He cried until he became blind. We used to study with him whilst he was [dressed] in humble attire and his furniture did not amount to much. Various groups of people were united in love of him.”

Abū Mūsá said; “He died on Wednesday night the 2nd of Ṣafar 561 AH.”

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1Shaykh Muqbil bin Hādī al-Wādiʿī was asked; ‘Can a believer see his Lord ﷻ in a dream [and can you answer] with evidence. Also, has it been authentically reported that some of the Salaf saw their Lord ﷻ in a dream? Answer: There is nothing to prohibit such a thing. It has been reported in the ḥadīth of Muʿāẓ and and the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĀish and Ibn ʿAbbās about which some scholars have declared that it’s authenticity can be raised to be used as a proof that the Prophet saw his Lord. al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Kathīr mentioned in his exegesis in commentary to the verse;

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 Adam). (38:69)

Since he mentioned the aforementioned ḥadīth with it, he said; ‘This is a vision of dream type.’ So I do not know anything that prohibits this – meaning that the Prophet ﷺ saw his Lord ﷻ in a dream. This has been reported by Imām Ahmad and other than him from the scholars of the Salaf, that they saw their Lord in a dream. However, if a person were to see his Lord ﷻ [in a dream] and presents something that opposes the Islamic legislation that is present, then that is not accepted from him. This is since the one who sees Him perceives that he has seen him in reality without it being mere psychological assumptions, as it has been reported that dreams are divided into three categories; 1. Dreams [a vision] from Allah 2. Satanic visions 3. psychological narratives. In addition to this, an individual during sleep is not completely within their senses for them to fully accept what they saw in their dream [see al-Wādiʿī, Muqbil bin Hādī, Tuḥfat al-Mujīb pp.69]