#Scholarly_Anecdotes

How Sheikh Abdulḥamīd Az-Zu'kari began his journey in seeking knowledge The Sheikh mentions during one of the classes: "...from ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, who said: “Sufyān narrated to us.” “Who is this Sufyān, Abā al-Khair?” ... “Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah.” This is a rule: whenever ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī reports from Sufyān, it refers to Ibn ʿUyaynah. He said: “ʿAmr narrated to us.” This, too, is a beneficial point: we identified that Sufyān is Ibn ʿUyaynah by his teacher and by his student, ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, Abū Muḥammad al-Athar, the freed slave of Ibn Bādhām al-Makkī. He was one of the Abnā, of Persian origin, from among those who had settled in Yemen. By Allāh, this is a point of benefit I am learning for the first time tonight. I knew ʿAmr ibn Dīnār al-Makkī— and that was it— and ʿAbdullāh ibn Dīnār al-Makkī— and that was it. But here is an additional benefit: that he was from the Persians who had settled in Yemen. In the Ṣaḥīḥ, he has 196 connected narrations. Look how Allāh granted them benefit when they left their homelands and migrated to lands of goodness and righteousness. How many a person— had he remained in his own land— would have lived unknown and unnoticed. Guidance is truly from Allāh, brothers. There are events that may, at first, be disliked, yet they become reasons for happiness in the end. Even my own pursuit of knowledge— what was its cause? Its cause was that I fled my country. My father and my uncle had a dispute because of my wife, and they said: “Divorce her!” I said, “People…!” They said: “Divorce her!” So, I decided the best option is to flee. We fled to Dammāj, and Allāh willed that we should be granted the good that we were granted— and to Allāh belong all praise and favour. We ask Allāh for steadfastness. So, O seeker of knowledge, if Allāh opens a path for you— even if at its beginning it is unpleasant— and you later see goodness in it, then persist in that good and do not cut yourself off from it. Goodness only breeds goodness. What led us into this discussion was ʿAmr ibn Dīnār al-Makki, Al-Abnāwi, the Persian Yemeni— who became distinguished and eminent because of his journey to Makkah and him benefitting from its scholars. @madrasatuna