Islamic stories

The teacher of Imam Bukhari and Muslim

The teacher of Imam Al Bukhari and Muslim was an alcoholic. He was addicted to alcohol. He had no manners and was the worst youth in his community.

One day, he was drinking alcohol with a group of friends, He was the only one who would hold the bottle in his hand in public and drink. That was how shameless he was and had a low level of morality at that time.

So he saw a huge number of people gathered around one man who was on his donkey. Everybody wanted to converse with the man and they seemed to respect him. That created curiosity, he wanted to know who this man was and why these people are so keen to speak to him. So, he went there with the bottle still in his hand and stopped the donkey and said: Who are you?! quite shamelessly. People around him said;" This is Ash-Sha'bi."

He said: "Who is Ash-Sha'bi?!"

That the famous scholar of Hadith, no one doesn't know him?!. You Don't know him?

He said: "Who is Ash-Sha'bi, what does he do?"

They said: "He is a Muhaddith, He is a scholar."

He says: "What does that mean? What does it mean to be a Muhaddith""

They said: "He narrates the hadeeth of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). He memorizes it, he teaches it, that what he does".

He said, "Ok, If you are a Muhaddith, then narrate one Hadith for me give me a hadith"

Iman as Shabi was calm. The Imam read the situation and he wanted to gave him something suitable to him. So, he narrated a hadith to him.

From companion Abu-Masud Al-Badri, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "One of the sayings of the early Prophets which the people have got is: " If you dont feel ashamed (from Haya: pious shyness from committing religious indiscretions) do whatever you like." {Sahih al bukhari 6120}

That moment the heart of this man was open, so the words went straight into his heart.The words If you have no shame, then do whatever you wish and Allah will repay it fully and appropriately became so deeply engraved in his heart that he decided to change. He decided to leave his past life behind.

After that he went to the famous Imam Malik ibn abbas the imam of madina and studied under him. And this very man who was an alcoholic later became the teacher of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim.He became the most famous scholar of his time.

His name is Abdullah In Maslamah Al- Qahnabi( may Allah have mercy on him). Subhanallah! What a great Imam he became.

And after he studied for long years under Imam Malik, He said;" I need to see the person who was the reason for me coming to this way, to guidance." So, he decided to travel to Al-Basra where Ash-Sha'bi was. As soon as he arrive he finds out that Imam Ash- Sha'bi had already passed away.

This incident was mentioned in Kitab Al Tawaabin by Iman Qudamah Al Maqdisi( May Allah have mercy on him)

The life of a drunkard changed because of one hadith. And we, including myself ,we read the Qur'an, we read the hadith, we read inspirational messages on twitter, facebook, whatsapp ,etc. But it still doesn't make a difference in our lives.

May Allah guide us and Make us among those who heed to His Messages. Ameen.

Shukran. Jazakumullahu kheir.