Dawud al-Ta’i radiallahu anhu

Discussion in 'Siyar an-Nubala' started by abu nibras, Dec 21, 2004.

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  1. abu nibras

    abu nibras Staff Member

    <center>Dawud al-Ta’i:ra:

    Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry



    Harun al-Rashid asked Abu Yusof to take him to

    visit Dawud. Abu Yusof went to Dawud’s house, but

    was refused admission. He begged Dawud’s mother to

    intercede.



    “Admit him,” his mother pleaded.

    “What business have I with worldlings and evildoers?”

    Dawud replied, refusing to comply.



    “I implore you, by the right of my milk, admit him,”

    his mother said.



    “O God,” said Dawud, “Thou hast said, ‘Observe

    the right of thy mother, for My good pleasure is in her

    good pleasure.’ Otherwise, what business have I with

    them?



    He then granted audience. They entered and seated

    themselves. Dawud began to preach, and Harun wept

    copiously. When he withdrew, he put down a gold

    moidore.



    “This is hallowed,” he said.

    “Remove it,” Dawud said. “I have no need of it. I

    sold a house which was mine by hallowed inheritance,

    and live on the proceeds. I have asked God that when

    that money is spent He shall take my soul, so that I

    may not be in need of any man. I am hopeful that God

    has answered my prayer.”



    Harun and Abu Yusof then returned to the palace.

    Abu Yusof went to see the keeper of the purse.

    “How much is left of Dawud’s money?” he asked.

    “Two dirhams,” the keeper replied. “He has been

    spending a silver penny daily.”



    Abu Yusof calculated. Another day, standing with

    his back to the prayer-niche, he announced, “Today

    Dawud has died.” Enquiry was made, and it was found

    to be so.



    “How did you know?” they asked.



    “I calculated from his expenditure that today nothing

    remained to him,”



    Abu Yusof explained. “I knew that his prayer would be answered.”





    inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon !
     
  2. abu nibras

    abu nibras Staff Member

    <center>Dawud al-Ta’i:ra:

    Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry



    Once Dawud was seen running to prayers.

    “What is the hurry?” he was asked.

    “This army at the gates of the city,” he replied.

    “They are waiting for me.”

    “Which army?” they exclaimed.

    “The men of the tombs,” he replied.
     
  3. abu nibras

    abu nibras Staff Member

    <center>Dawud al-Ta’i:ra:

    Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry



    He encountered Habib-e Ra’i, who initiated

    him into the mystic path. He set forth upon it manfully.

    He flung his books into the river, went into retirement

    and cut off all expectation of other men.

    Now he had received twenty dinars as an inheritance.

    These he consumed in twenty years. Certain of

    the shaikhs reproved him for this.

    “The path stands for giving to others, not keeping to

    oneself.”



    “I hold on to this amount to secure my peace of

    mind,” he explained. “I can make do with this until I

    die.”



    He spared himself no austerity, to such an extent

    that he would dip bread in water and then sip the

    water, saying, “Between this and eating the bread I can

    recite fifty verses of the Koran. Why should I waste my

    life?”



    Abu Bakr-e Aiyash reports, “I went to Dawud’s

    chamber and saw him holding a piece of dry bread and

    weeping. ‘



    What has happened, Dawud?’ I asked. ‘I

    want to eat this piece of bread,’ he replied, ‘and I do

    not know whether it is hallowed or unhallowed.”’



    Another reports, “I called on him, and saw a pitcher

    of water placed in the sun. I asked, ‘Why do you not

    place it in the shade?’ ‘When I put it there, it was in the

    shade,’ he replied. ‘Now I am too ashamed before God

    to indulge myself.’”
     
  4. abu nibras

    abu nibras Staff Member

    <center>Dawud al-Ta’i:ra:

    Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry



    From the beginning Dawud-e Ta’i was overwhelmed by

    an inner grief and always avoided the society of his fellow

    creatures. The cause of his conversion was that he

    heard a mourning-woman recite these verses.

    On which of your cheeks has decay begun,

    And which of your eyes has started to run?

    Great sorrow invaded his heart, and all composure

    deserted’ him. In this state he went to lessons with his

    teacher Abu Hanifa.



    “What has transpired with you?” Abu Hanifa asked.

    Dawud related to him the foregoing incident.



    “The world has lost its attractions for me,” he

    added.; “Something has happened inside of me which I

    cannot under-~ stand, nor can I discover an explanation

    of it in any book ort legal pronouncement.”



    “Turn away from other men,” Abu Hanifa prescribed.



    So Dawud turned his face from other men and shut

    himself up in his house. After a long interval, Abu

    Hanifa went to see him.



    “This is not the solution, for you to hide in your

    house and utter not a word. The proper course is for

    you to sit at the feet of the imams and listen to them

    propounding novel ideas. You should attend to what

    they have to say patiently, uttering not a word. Then

    you will know those problems better than they.”

    Recognizing the good sense of what Abu Hanifa

    said, Dawud resumed his studies.



    For a year he sat at the feet of the imams, never opening his mouth and

    accepting their pronouncements with patience, being

    content simply to listen and not to reply.

    “This one year’s patience,” he remarked at the end of

    that’ time, “is equivalent to thirty years’ strenuous

    work.”
     
  5. abu nibras

    abu nibras Staff Member

    <center>Dawud al-Ta’i:ra:

    Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry



    Abu Sulaiman Dawud ibn Nosair al-Ta’i of Kufa

    was a man of notable erudition, a pupil of Abu

    Hanifa; he was converted to the ascetic life by

    Habib al-Ra’i and threw all his books into the

    Euphrates. He died between 160 (777) and 165

    (782).
     

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