‫‪‬‬

‫ـوت َو َل بَـ ِعــيــ ُ‬

‫ـر‬
‫ََ َ َ ٌ َ ُ ُ‬
‫ال ول فـــرس تــمــ‬
‫َّ َّ ُ َ ْ ُ َ‬ ‫َ َ ْ ُ َ َ‬
‫لـعـمـــرك ما الـر ِزيـــة فـقـــد م ٍ‬
‫ـق َكـثِ ُ‬ ‫َ ْ ٌ‬ ‫َ ُ ُ َ‬
‫ـم ْ‬ ‫ـد َقـ ْ‬
‫َّ َّ َّ َ َ ْ ُ‬ ‫َ‬
‫ـيـر‬ ‫ـوت ِــ ِه ـخلــ‬ ‫ـرمٍ يـمـــوت ِب‬ ‫َولـكِـــن الـر ِزيــــة فــقـــ‬

‫يف رثاء العالمة املرابط أمحد فال ودل أمحدنا األمسيم‬

‫شيخ حمظرة عني اخلشبة بموريتانيا‬
‫رمحه اهلل وقدس رسه‬

‫ْ َ‬
‫اإلسل ِم‬ ‫ف‬ ‫العال ُِم ثُل َ‬
‫م‬
‫َ َ َ َ‬
‫قال يلع ‪« :‬إِذا مات‬
‫ِ ِ ِ‬
‫ُ ْ َ ٌ َ َ ُ ُّ َ َّ َ َ ٌ ْ ُ‬
‫ثلمة ل يسدها إِل خلف مِنه»‪.‬‬

‫‪On the Passing of‬‬

‫‪Shaykh Murābiţ Aĥmad Fāl al-Amsamī‬‬
‫)‪(1364/1946–1442/2021‬‬
‫‪by Hamza Yusuf‬‬
Our community recently lost
three great scholars. I did not
have the blessing of knowing two
of them, Shaykh A^mad >¥h¥
Rayy¥n of Egypt and ±abÏb Sahl
b. Ibr¥hÏm b. Ya^y¥ of Yemen,
but I hope those who did will
honor them by writing about
their lives for our benefit. As for
the third scholar, Shaykh Mur¥bi~
A^mad F¥l al-AmsamÏ of ‘Ayn
al-Khashbah, Mauritania, I was
blessed to know him and to study
with him for a short time. He was
a polymath, a master of the great
works of the Islamic tradition, an
educator, and a devoted servant
of God. In keeping with our
tradition of ~abaq¥t literature, I
will try to chronicle what I know
of his life and his scholarship.
A rich genre of the Islamic
tradition, ~abaq¥t literature
includes hagiographies that
enumerate and document the
great saints and scholars of any
given generation (~abaqah) as well
as biographies of other notables.
This genre, like so many others,
has lately fallen into dereliction.
We should note that on average,
throughout Muslim history, over
ten percent of the notables in our
~abaq¥t literature were women.
However, due to the neglect
of this important genre, within
the last century many eminent
scholars have sadly died in
relative obscurity. Consequently,
those of us blessed to have spent
time with and studied under
the greats of our time should
feel some obligation to preserve
their memory and impart what
we know of their life’s legacy for
those present as well as the yet
unborn.
Reading about the lives of
luminaries in biographical
literature encourages us and
inspires in us a desire to emulate
them. As an Arabic couplet
advises,
َْ ُ ُ َ ْ َ ْ ُ َّ
‫ــــــم تكونــــــوا ِمثل ُهــــــم‬
َ َ َ َ ُّ
‫ــــــــرامِ فــــــــا ُح‬ ‫ك‬ِ ‫ِإن التشــــــــبه بِال‬
If you cannot be one of the nobles,
at least imitate them. For even in
imitation lies a type of success and
nobility.
Thus inspired, I will attempt
to chronicle some aspects of
the life and times of one of our
community’s contemporary
preeminent luminaries.
The erudite and exemplary
master of the Islamic sciences
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l b. ‘Abd
All¥h b. al-S¥lik b. A^madna b.
±amm¥dÏ al-AmsamÏ entered
into this world in 1364 in the
year of the Hijrah corresponding
to 1946 in the Common Era.
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l hails from
the distinguished and literate
family ®l ±amm¥dÏ, a branch
of one of the most learned
of the Zaw¥yah clans of West
Africa, the Mass‰ma, which has
produced an unusual number
of religious leaders, saints, and
scholars of the Islamic tradition.
In addition to their mastery
2
of the holistic and polymathic
curriculum of the Mauritanian
school, they are especially noted
for their specialization in the
Qur’anic sciences and Islamic
law. Moreover, they are widely
recognized for their humility,
personal devotion, and piety.
While I could write several
pages on the notables of this
clan, which include many
َ ََ
‫فتشــــــبهوا ِإن ل‬ of my own teachers, such as
َ َّ َّ Shaykh ±¥mid ‘Umar al-WalÏ,
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ra^m¥n b.
Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj, Shaykh Kha~rÏ
b. Buwaybah, Shaykh Bayyah
b. S¥lik, Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj b.
Fa^f‰, Mur¥bi~ ‘Abd All¥hi b.
A^madna, Shaykh Mu^ammad
al-AmÏn b. ±asan, and others,
at the risk of neglecting some
important scholars, I will
mention the most renowned
of this period: Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj
b. Fa^f‰, Mur¥bi~ Mu^ammad
AmÏn b. ‘Abd al-Ra^m¥n b.
Shaykh (known as ±add AmÏn),
Shaykh Bayyah b. S¥lik, Shaykh
Mu^ammad b. SÏd Ya^y¥, Shaykh
Mu^ammad al-AmÏn b. al-±asan,
Shaykh Mu^ammad al-±asan
b. Dad‰, Shaykh Mu^ammad
Yabra b. Bayyah, Shaykh al-
Mukht¥r b. Mu^ammad ‘Abdi,
Shaykh ßadd¥f b. Mu^ammad
al-BashÏr, and perhaps the
greatest living scholar of Islamic
legal philosophy (u|‰l) in the
Sunni world, Shaykh Abdallah
Bin Bayyah, who has revealed
to the world—through his
unimpeachable reputation,
groundbreaking initiatives,
and creative contributions
to jurisprudence—the vast
intellectual treasures of his native
land. He is acknowledged by
many as the legitimate heir to
the maq¥|idÏ school’s mantle,
previously held by the great
Tunisian Shaykh >¥hir b. ‘®sh‰r.
Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah
Given the immense stature of
such a clan and the extraordinary
notables produced by them,
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l’s lineage
gives us an insight into how such
a scholar came to be. As the
Arabs say,
ْ َ
‫ــــــن َمع ِدنِــــــ ِه ل ي ُ ْســــــتَغ َر ُب‬ ‫الــــــي ُء ِم‬
Gold from a goldmine should not seem
strange.
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l was raised
by his noble parents in an
environment of devotion and
diligent learning. Under his
father’s tutelage, he studied
and memorized the Qur’an
with the two recensions of N¥fi‘,
Q¥l‰n and Warsh, and mastered
Qur’anic orthography (rasm)
and orthoepy (tajwÏd), along
with the foundations of Islamic
law, creed, and the rudiments of
grammar. This early education
at home presaged the pursuit
of knowledge that was about to
unfold for the insatiable young
student.
U F¥l also read and memorized
In 1379 AH/1959 CE, Mur¥bi~
A^mad F¥l went on to study,
as did many Mauritanian men
from the Zaw¥yah clans, at the
renowned school of the ascetic
and pious master of the Islamic
sciences, Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj b. Fa^f‰, (qaw¥‘id al-fiqh).
in Tuwaymerat, Gal¥ga, in central
Mauritania.
ْ ْ َّ
Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj b. Fa^f‰
With his great teacher lighting
the way, Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l
studied twice Mukhta|ar KhalÏl
(the abridgment of KhalÏl
b. Is^¥q al-JundÏ’s work on
3
Maliki fiqh), memorizing it and
mastering its commentaries,
and completed and memorized
the versified u|‰l al-fiqh text
of Sidi ‘Abd All¥h b. al-±¥jj
Ibr¥hÏm, which comprises 1001
lines and corresponds, from
a Maliki perspective, to the
famous text of Imam al-SubkÏ.
At that school, Mur¥bi~ A^mad
Al-Manhaj al-muntakhab (The
chosen methodology) by Imam
al-Zaqq¥q, known among
Mauritania’s students as a
notoriously difficult text on
the principles of jurisprudence
Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj’s school in Tuwaymerat
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l’s credal
education included, besides
learning the creeds of Ibn ‘®shir
and the epistle of Ibn AbÏ Zayd
with his father, memorizing the
creed of Imam al-MaqqarÏ, I\¥’at
al-dujunnah (Illuminating the
darkness) as well as Al-W¥\i^
al-mubÏn (The clear and lucid
creed) written by the notable
scholar Mur¥bi~ ‘Abd al-Q¥dir
b. Mu^ammad S¥lim al-MajlisÏ.
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l also
memorized and mastered the
Andalusian work by Imam al-
‘®|im known as Al-‘®|imiyyah or
Tu^fat al-^ukk¥m (Masterpiece for Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l had a sizable
the magistrates), a foundational library by Mauritanian standards
text that explicates the rules of and read extensively in Qur’anic
the judiciary and forms the basis exegesis, the hadith tradition,
of rulings by those who arbitrate and other sciences. He was a
or act as judges. In grammar and true master of the tradition
morphology, Mur¥bi~ A^mad and explicated even the most
F¥l studied and memorized the difficult texts without recourse to
Alfiyyah and L¥miyyat al-af‘¥l notes or books. In his school, he
by Imam Ibn M¥lik with the taught in the Qur’anic sciences
addendums (tawshÏ^) of Ibn Al-¬\¥^ al-s¥~i‘ (The illuminating
B‰nah. clarification) in orthography in
addition to Al-Durar al-law¥mi‘
A decade of dedicated study
(The brilliant pearls) in the
with his mentor and exemplar,
recension of N¥fi‘, and also
Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj, led Mur¥bi~
taught Imam al-JazarÏ’s seminal
A^mad F¥l to establish his own
didactic poem in orthoepy,
school in 1968. Serving as a
Al-Jazariyyah. Mur¥bi~ A^mad
teacher did not hinder his own
F¥l himself later studied and
studies, and he continued to
memorized Al-Sh¥~ibiyyah in
study texts and even studied
the verified recensions of the
traditional medicine with the
Qur’an and was given a teaching
renowned hakim of Mauritania,
license (ij¥zah) to transmit it by
al-‘AlawÏ Mu^ammad b. al-
Shaykhn¥ Mu^ammad b. al-AmÏn
MaqqarÏ, whose family was known
al-Lamt‰nÏ.
for their knowledge of herbal and
time-tested Yunani medicine. Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l also
transmitted with a chain Al-
Muwa~~a’ (The well-trodden path)
of Imam M¥lik according to the
recension of Ya^y¥ al-LaythÏ,
as well as Al-Arba‘Ïn (The forty
hadith) of Imam al-NawawÏ, and
other collections. Mur¥bi~ A^mad
F¥l’s licenses also included one
to transmit Imam al-Bukh¥rÏ’s
collection of hadith, and he
taught the works of hadith
terminology used in Mauritania,
especially from >al‘at al-anw¥r,
Sidi ‘Abd All¥h’s abridgment
of the Alfiyyah of al-‘Ir¥qÏ. At
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l in his school his school, Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l
4
taught the following books in
Maliki law: Ibn ‘®shir’s Al-Murshid
al-mu‘Ïn (The helpful guide), Al-
Ris¥l¥h (The epistle) of Ibn AbÏ
Zayd, KhalÏl’s Al-Mukhta|ar (The
abridgment), and Al-Tu^fah (The
gift) of Ibn ‘®|im, each with a
close and masterly reading that
allowed him to discern the strong
from the weak opinions.
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l’s school
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l’s depth and
breadth of knowledge and his
command of the works of various
disciplines—from Qur’anic
exegesis to hadith collections,
from creed to jurisprudence,
from the trivium (grammar,
rhetoric, and logic) to sciences
of the heart—was remarkable. In
creed, he taught the following
texts: Faw¥’id al-wasÏlah (The
benefit of the means) by Ibn
B‰nah, I\¥’at al-dujunnah
(Illuminating the darkness) of
Imam al-MaqqarÏ, Al-W¥\ih al-
mubÏn (The lucid clarification)
by Imam al-MajlisÏ, and others.
In jurisprudence (u|‰l al-fiqh),
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l taught Imam
al-JuwaynÏ’s Al-Waraq¥t (The
monograph) and Mar¥qÏ al-su‘‰d
(Stairs to the stars) of Ibn al-±¥jj
Ibr¥hÏm with a teaching license.
In the principles of jurisprudence
(al-qaw¥‘id al-fiqhiyyah), he
taught Al-Manhaj (The preferred
method) of al-Zaqq¥q and Al-
TakmÏl (The completion) of Sidi
Mayy¥rah. Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l
was a profound master of the
trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and
logic are central to traditional
Islamic studies. In grammar, he
taught Al-®jarr‰miyyah of Ibn
®jarr‰m, Mul^at al-i‘r¥b (The
gift of grammar) of Imam al-
±arÏrÏ, Al-Alfiyyah (The millenary
poem) of Ibn M¥lik, and the
masterpiece of Mauritanian
grammar, Al-I^mir¥r (Annotated
in red) of Mukht¥r b. B‰nah;
in morphology, he taught Ibn
M¥lik’s L¥miyyat al-af‘¥l (Lines
in L on verbs). In prosody, he
taught the didactic poems of
Imam al-KhazrajÏ, Al-Khazrajiyyah,
and that of Imam al-Daym¥nÏ.
In logic, Mur¥bi~ A^mad
F¥l taught Al-Sullam (The
staircase) of al-Akh\arÏ with the
enhancements of Shaykh ‘Abd
al-Sal¥m ‘Abd al-JalÏl. In rhetoric,
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l taught Fay\
al-Fatt¥^ (Emanations of the
Opener) by Ibn al-±¥jj Ibr¥hÏm
and ‘Uq‰d al-jum¥n (Strings
of pearl) of Imam al-Suy‰~Ï,
Al-Jawhar al-makn‰n (Hidden
treasure) of Imam al-Akh\arÏ,
and the versified text Al-Naq¥bah
(Leadership) of al-Ghal¥wÏ.
In prophetic biography, he
taught such texts as Qurrat al-
ab|¥r (The eyes’ delight) of
Imam al-Lam~Ï and Al-Ghazaw¥t
(The military expeditions)
of al-BadawÏ. In the sciences imbued them with a profound
of the heart, he taught Imam sense of stillness. This emanating
al-Ya‘q‰bÏ’s Ma~harat al-qul‰b presence is not an uncommon
(Purification of the heart) and phenomenon for the masters
Ma^¥rim al-lis¥n (Prohibitions of of our tradition, the learned
the tongue) as well as his other spiritual adepts of West Africa
works. Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l was and beyond, and countless
also a master of Arab genealogy students and visitors can attest to
and taught the famous text ‘Am‰d it. One hallmark of a true teacher
al-nasab (Pillar of genealogy) by is the quietude, the Qur’an’s
al-MajlisÏ. sakÏnah, at the center of their
being. And the hallmark of a true
U religion is that it can produce
Students who came to study such a one. Contrariwise, in the
with Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l—first followers of false doctrines are
from various places around West often noted a certain agitation
Africa and later from as far as the and disturbing unsettledness in
United States, Canada, England, their states due to their distance
France, Italy, Spain, Pakistan, and from the presence of the divine
several other countries—found embodied in sakÏnah.
a teacher of vast erudition and
mastery of the Islamic sciences,
and also observed his constant
devotional practices.
When not engaged in teaching
students, he recited the Qur’an,
transcribed manuscripts, tended
to Muslims in need of judgment
or arbitration, and even settled
disputes among the clans. He
rarely missed night prayers and
was well known by the angels
of the night for his nocturnal
devotions. He consistently offered
at the premeridian morning time
Aligned with the Sunnah in everything,
the prayer of glorification (|al¥t
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l smiled often.
al-tasbÏ^) and was noted for his
constant remembrance of God. Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l was a
beautiful host with an infectious
Many of those who studied
smile and a brilliant countenance
with Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l felt an
that one gazed upon with delight,
emanating spiritual presence that
and which shone through in
5
the marvelous photographs
by the percipient chronicler
of the saints and scholars of
Islam, Peter Sanders. Mur¥bi~
A^mad F¥l contentedly lived
an austere existence in a simple
house made of mud, next to a
mosque wherein he led the five
daily prayers. Despite suffering
greatly from kidney disease
due to years of drinking water
contaminated with high levels of
grit, he endured the pain without
complaint. I know this due to
a consultation I had with him
about his malady and his constant
insistence that he was not
complaining and only explaining
the symptoms. Some generous
Western Muslims contributed
to funding a drilling project.
With the money, we attempted
three times to drill a well in ‘Ayn
al-Khashbah to provide a more
potable source of water, but due
to the extremely rocky nature
of the area he lived in, all of
the attempts to find pure water
failed.
other individuals were with
me: my mentor and teacher,
Shaykh Kha~rÏ b. Buwayba, and
my brothers, Shaykh Ibrahim
Osi-Efa and Abd al-Rahim from
Liverpool—the latter two were on
their way to study with Mur¥bi~
al-±¥jj. God is my witness to the
truth of this incident.
The four of us were traveling
in a jeep to visit Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj
(may God sanctify his soul) and
stopped on our way at ‘Ayn al-
Khashbah to see Mur¥bi~ A^mad
F¥l. We had a meal and spoke
with him, and as we departed, he
said something to us with some
certainty about what we might
encounter at a midpoint in our
journey: “When you reach I|bir,
you may need some help. If so,
turn right and walk straight for
some time; keep walking and
you’ll come upon those who will
help you.”
A hard rain began to fall as
we drove toward Mur¥bi~ al-
±¥jj’s school, and our jeep
We turned right and walked for
several minutes until we came
upon some shepherds from the
Mass‰ma clan. They seemed
overjoyed to welcome us as guests
and demanded we stay the night.
They slaughtered some goats and
prepared our meal, and then
gave us repose for the night in
their tent. With a howling and
wet gale blowing, the tent began
to sway precariously, so one of
the shepherds stood in the midst
of us and held the center pole
that supported the tent as we all
fell into a well-earned sleep. We
arose at dawn astonished to find
the shepherd still standing and
supporting the tent. After our
dawn prayer, we were treated to
a light breakfast and tea, after
which our hosts walked with us to
the jeep and helped us dislodge
it from the mud, and soon we
were on our way. As foretold by
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l, we needed
help, and indeed we found the
compassionate souls who helped
us.

U suddenly became mired in the

A tent in L^sÏrah near Tuwaymerat
I will relate a miracle, not the
only one, that I witnessed, as
it speaks to Mur¥bi~ A^mad
F¥l’s spiritual sublimity. Three
mud. We looked around, and
directly in front of us, in the
middle of the Saharan desert,
was a small white sign with bold
black letters that spelled I|bir,
which means “Be patient.” We
tried unsuccessfully to free the
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l receiving guests
jeep from the mud, and then
Shaykh Kha~rÏ exclaimed, “This U
is a kashf (unveiling) of Mur¥bi~
A^mad F¥l. We need to follow Many among our community
his instructions.” And so we did. of believers are unaware of
the vast loss we incur when we
6
lose such learned and spiritual
masters as Mur¥bi~ A^mad
F¥l. They are the guardians of
sacred knowledge. Their level
of scholarship, let alone their
devotional commitment, can
hardly be imagined by most of
our contemporary academics.
The sheer number of subjects
mastered across disciplines, and
the facility and ease with which
such scholars teach them, can
rarely be found today.
The Qur’an rhetorically asks us,
“Are they equal, those who know
and those who do not?” (39:9).
Mauritanians appropriately refer
to their scholars as al-mur¥bi~‰n
(the border patrol) because
they guard the most important
borders from foreign invasion—
the borders of our hearts and
minds from the invasion of
dangerous newfangled ideas
and innovations that threaten
the spiritual well-being of our
community.
False doctrines, dangerous ideas,
and nihilistic inroads into our
faith, often espousing violence,
have produced a type of demonic
possession among those infected
by them, whereby the ideas take
hold of those not protected
by the guardians of the mind
through mentorship and study.
Without these guardians among
us, many people fall victim to
such ideologies and pathologies,
and they in turn become the
victimizers of others.
Imam ‘AlÏ  reportedly said, dearth of scholars who can close
َ ْ َ ُ ُ َ َ َ َ these breaches at the “frontiers
ِ ‫«إِذا مــــــات العالِــــــم ث ِلــــــم ِف‬
ِ‫اإلســــــام‬
ٌ َ َ َّ َ ُّ َ ٌ ُْ of our faith.” Lest we forget,
ُ ْ
.»‫ثل َمــــــة ل ي َ ُســــــدها ِإل خلــــــف ِمنــــــه‬ these are people who spent
When a scholar dies, a breach emerges their entire lives in the pursuit,
at the frontiers of faith that can be preservation, and transmission
secured only by a righteous inheritor of of the legacy of our beloved
his legacy. Prophet , his companions,
and those who followed them
And perhaps one of the most with excellence. We sorely need
troubling predictions our beloved men and women who will take it
Prophet  was reported to upon themselves to become the
have made is found in Imam al- guardians, people of the lights
Bukh¥rÏ’s collection: of learning and the nights of
‫ قــال‬،‫حدثنــا إســماعيل بــن أبــي أويــس‬ yearning. Those of us who have
،‫ عــن هشــام بــن عــروة‬،‫حدثنــي مالــك‬ studied with such masters know,
without false modesty, that we are
‫ عــن عبــد اهلل بــن عمــرو‬،‫عــن أبيــه‬
not scholars but simply students
‫ قــال ســمعت رســول اهلل‬،‫بــن العــاص‬ of knowledge of varying degrees
َ َ َّ
‫اهلل ل‬ ‫ «إِن‬:‫صلــى اهلل عليــه وســلم يقــول‬ of understanding. These masters
َ ُ ُ ََْ ً َ ْ َ ْ
َ ‫ـه ِمـ‬ ُ َْ of our tradition remain the true
‫ـن ال ِعبــا ِد‬ ‫تعـ‬
ِ ‫ـزاع ين‬ ِ ‫يق ِبــض ال ِعلــم انـ‬
َُ َْ َ ْ ُ َْ ْ ََ scholars, the inheritors of the
‫العل َمــا ِء‬ ‫ــض‬
ِ ‫كــن يق ِبــض ال ِعلــم بِقب‬ ِ ‫ول‬ prophets, whom we are required
َ َ َّ ْ‫ــم ُيب‬ْ َ ‫ــى إ َذا ل‬
‫ــاس‬ُ ‫انل‬ َّ ‫ــذ‬ ‫ــق َعل ِ ًمــا ِات‬
ِ ِ
َّ ‫َح‬
to honor. In speaking ill of them
َ
ْ ْ َ ْ َ ْ َ ُ ُ َ ً َّ ُ ً ُُ
ٍ ‫ــر ِعل‬
‫ــم‬ ِ ‫رءوســا جه َــال فســئِلوا فأفتــوا بِغ‬ or belittling them, we jeopardize
ُّ ُّ َ
)‫ (صحيــح البخــاري‬.»‫ف َضلــوا َوأ َضلــوا‬ our faith. As the poet warned:
ٌَ
‫ة‬ ‫ـــــــوم‬ ُ ‫ــــــوم أَ ْهــــــل العلْــــــم َم ْس‬
‫ـم‬ ُ ُ
ُ‫ل‬
God will not remove knowledge ِ ِ ِ
ْ َ َ ُ َ ْ َُ ْ ََ
suddenly by ripping it away from ‫سيــــــع الهــــــاك‬ ِ ‫يهــــــم‬ِ ‫ومــــــن يعا ِد‬
people. Rather, it is removed as a result The flesh of scholars is poisonous, and
of the death of those who possess it until those who oppose are quick to perish.
no scholars remain, at which point,
ْ ً ْ َْ ْ ُ َ
‫ــــم َع ْونــــا َوإِن‬
people will take ignoramuses as their ِ ‫ــــل ال ِعل‬
ِ ‫ه‬‫فكــــن ِل‬
ْ ََ ْ ُ َ َْ
leaders. These ignorant leaders will ‫ــــم يَ ْو ًمــــا فخــــذ َمــــا أتــــاك‬
ْ ‫َعديتَ ُه‬
then be asked for guidance, and they
Be a support for those of knowledge,
will in turn give responses (fat¥w¥).
but should you oppose, you must take
Thus, being misled themselves, they
what comes.
will mislead their followers.
I feel profoundly fortunate to
Unfortunately, we are losing the
have met such people, let alone
guides, the many masters of our
studied with them. I was blessed
tradition, such as Mur¥bi~ A^mad
to have read at least one text in
F¥l, and there is currently a tragic
hadith terminology with Mur¥bi~
7
A^mad F¥l, but I studied several
texts with his son, the notable
scholar and worshipful servant
Mur¥bi~ ‘Abd All¥h b. A^madna,
who lived with me for some time
in California and taught several
students in the San Francisco Bay
Area, so I feel a deep connection
to both the father and the son.
Two of Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l’s
sons are learned scholars in their
own right, and both of them are
carrying on the tradition of their
father, Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l, and
his teacher Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj.
I have deeply etched memories
of the short time I studied with
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l and the
several times I was blessed to
visit him. He left a profound
impression on all of those who
knew him and studied with him.
The above supplication was written by Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l in his own hand for a
Western student who requested a comprehensive supplication from him. It reads as follows:
‫اريْ ِن َم َع ِكفايَ ِة ه َّميْ ِه َما‬
O Allah, we ask you for well-being in both abodes coupled with freedom from their concerns.
Many thanks to Peter Sanders for providing most of the photos.
Such men are too often appreci- ‫ــال‬ َ ُ ْ َ ُ َّ َّ َ َ ُ ْ َ َ
ٍ ‫لـعـمـــرك مــا الـر ِزيـــة فـقـــد م‬
َ ُ ُ َ‫ـــــــر ٌس ت‬ َ ََ
‫ــمـــــــوت َول بَ ِـ‬
ated only after they are gone. As ُ َ
‫عــيـــــــر‬ ‫ول ف‬
Fakhr al-DÏn al-R¥zÏ so aptly said:
ُ َ ‫ــــر ُء َمــــا َد‬
‫ام َح ًّيــــا ي ُ ْســــتَ َهان بِــــ ِه‬ ْ ‫الم‬ َ Calamity is not loss of wealth or the
death of a mare or a dromedary.
ُ ‫ــــن يُفتَ َق‬
‫ــــد‬ َ ‫الــــر ْز ُء ِفيــــ ِه ِح‬
ُّ ُ ‫عظ‬
‫ــــم‬
ُ ََ
‫وي‬
ْ َ‫ــــــــد ق‬
ُ ْ َ َ َ
‫الـر ِز َّيــــــــة فــق‬ َّ
َّ ‫ـــــــن‬ ِ ‫َولـ‬
ٍ‫ــــــرم‬ ‫ك‬
َ ٌ ْ َ ُ
As long as a man is alive, he is taken ُ
‫ـــــــق كـ ِثـيـــــــر‬ ْ ‫ـم‬
‫ـوتِـــــــ ِه ـخل‬ َ ‫ـــــــوت ب‬ ُ َ‫ي‬
‫ـم‬
for granted. The calamity of his loss ِ
redoubles only when he is sought after. Rather, the real calamity is the death
of a nobleman, who when he dies,
I was once sitting with Mur¥bi~ multitudes die with him.
A^mad F¥l, and we began to
speak of our mutual teacher, The last time I saw Mur¥bi~
Mur¥bi~ al-±¥jj, who was still A^mad F¥l, as I was leaving, he
alive at the time. He mentioned took my hand and said,
how the greats are often not truly ُ
‫يــــــد‬
ُ ُ ُ َ ْ
‫ــــــر تبْلــــــغ َمــــــا ت ِر‬ َّ ‫أَ َل ب‬
‫الص‬
ِ ِ
appreciated until they are gone. َ
ُ‫ــــــك احلَديــــــد‬ َ ُ َ َ ْ َّ َ
ِ ‫وبِاتلقــــــوى ي ِلــــــن ل‬
Mur¥bi~ A^mad F¥l then said,
“We are fortunate to have him Isn’t it that patience will enable you to
because such masters are the achieve all you desire? And with piety,
inheritors of the Prophets,” and even wrought iron will bend for you.
then recited these lines:
َ َ َ ُ َ ْ َ َّ
َّ ‫ك َعفيَ َة‬
َ ‫ادل‬
ِ ‫امهلل إنا نسأل‬