Mullā Ali Al-Qārī’s (May Allāh have mercy on him) Source of Income

Nūruddīn Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Sultān Muḥammad al-Qārī al-Harawī al-Makkī was born in Harāt, Afghanistan and grew up there. He memorized Qurān, studied Ṭajwīd, and the different modes of recitation with his teacher Mu’īnuddīn Ibn al-Ḥafidh Zainuddīn al-Harawī, and attended the gathering of the scholars in his area. When Shāh Ismā’īl came to Harāt and began killing Muslims unjustly, Mulla ‘Alī al-Qāri migrated to Makkah (circa 956/973 A.H.) and studied with the scholars there. A linguist, grammarian, muḥaddith, mufassir, and jurist, there is hardly any science which he has not written on. He died and was buried in Makkah during Shawwāl of the year 1014 A.H.

He followed the example of a large number of great scholars like Imām Abū Ḥanīfah (May Allāh have mercy on them), Sufyān (May Allāh have mercy on them), Fudhail ibn ‘Iyādh (May Allāh have mercy on them), and Ahmad (May Allāh have mercy on them), etc.,  who refused to take wealth from the rulers, and distanced themselves from them.

He was skilled in Arabic calligraphy and used to write Qurān in beautiful penmanship then sell it and live off of that for the rest of the year since he had no wife, children or dependents. It is also said that he would produce two Qurān during the year, using the money earned from one for his own personal expenses, and giving the money from the other away in charity to the poor.⁵⁷

May Allāh grant the author and the readers the ability to emulate His righteous slaves. Āmīn.

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[1] Sūrah Ṭawbah, Āyah: 100
[2] Sūrah al-Nūr, Āyah: 36
[3] Rūh al-Ma’ānī. Electronic. 18:392
[4] The jobs and family obligations of the companions were not used as an excuse for, nor did it hinder them from, learning or serving the Dīn. It is related that ‘Umar (May Allāh be pleased with him) took turns with his Anṣarī neighbor. On the days ‘Umar (May Allāh be pleased with him) went to take care of his family obligations the Anṣarī would sit with the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ and then inform ‘Umar (May Allāh be pleased with him) what he had missed. Then on the days that the Anṣarī was taking care of his family obligations, ‘Umar (May Allāh be pleased with him) would sit with the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ and inform his neighbor what he had missed. [See: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Print. 1:19]
[5] Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhāri. Print. 1:22
[6] Ṣaḥīḥ al-Muslim. Electronic. 1:385-386
[7] al-Iṣābah. Electronic. 3:271; Asad al-Ghābah. Electronic. 3:56-57; Ṭajrīd. Electronic. 1: 272; Faṭḥul Mulhim. Electronic. 5:338. Also see Tabaqāt ibn Sa’d. Electronic. Page:1655 & Isṭi’āb Page:751
[8] Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Print. 1:281
[9] al-isṭī’āb Fi Ma’rifah al-Asḥāb. Electronic. Page: 1632; Ṭajrīd Asmā al-Ṣaḥabah. Electronic. 2:259; al-Iṣābah Fī Ṭamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah. Electronic. 7:44; Asad al-Ghābah Fī Ma’rifah al-Ṣaḥābah. Electronic. 6:72
[10] Mullā ‘Alī al-Qārī writes: This is a manifestation of [his] mercy for the world since he was desirous of getting more than they were worth. [See: Mirqāṭ al-Mafāṭīh. Print. 4:311]
[11] Sunan Abū Dawūd. Print. 1:243
[12] There is a difference concerning this individual’s name. The author of ‘Umdah al-Qārī writes: Of the views which I have mentioned concerning the maker of this minbar the one that is most likely correct is that of those who say it was Maimun due to the fact that the chain of narrators comes by way of Sahl ibn S’ad, while the others possess weak chains and some are even wāhin. For similar reasons, Ibn Ḥajar also mentions that the more likely opinion is that the carpenter’s name was Maimun. [See: ‘Umdah al-Qārī 4:153-154 & 6:310; Faṭḥ al-Bārī 3:192]
[13] Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhāri. Print. 1:281; Similar ḥadīth in Sunan Abī Dāwūd. Print. 1:162
[14] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nublā. Electronic. 2:217; al-Iṣābah Fī Ṭamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah. Electronic. 8:93; Tabaqāṭ Ibn S’ad. Electronic. 10:105
[15] al-isṭī’āb Fi Ma’rifah al-Asḥāb. Electronic. Page: 635
[16] ‘Urwah (May Allāh have mercy on him) was the son of Zubair ibn al-‘Awwām (May Allāh be pleased with him), the first person to draw a sword in the path of Allāh and one of the ten promised Jannah in this world, and Asmā binṭ Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (May Allāh be pleased with both of them), the older sister of ‘Āisha (May Allāh be pleased with her) and one of the last muhājir women to pass on. [Sīyar A’lām al-Nublā. Electronic. 1:41-42 & 4:421 & 2:287-288].
[17] Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Print. 1:278
[18] ‘Umdah al-Qārī. Electronic. 11:266
[19] It can be pronounced Musayyab and Musayyib, with the fatḥa being the more famous pronunciation. It is related from him that he disliked it, and the pronunciation of the people of Madīnah was with a kasrah.[See: Ṭahdhīb al-Asmā Wa al-Lughāṭ. Electronic. 1:219; Wafayāṭ al-‘Ayān Wa Anbā Abnā al-Ẓamān. Electronic. 2:378]
[20] A group made up of the seven greatest scholars of Madīnah: Sa’īd ibn al-Musayyib, Abū Bakr ibn ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, ‘Urwah ibn Ẓubair ibn al-Awwām, ‘Ubaidullāh ibn ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Utbah, Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, Khārijah ibn Ẓaid, and Sulaimān ibn Yasār (May Allāh have mercy on them). [See: Ṭabaqāt Ibn Sa’d. Electronic. 2:330 (pdf page number:824)]
[21] Wafayāṭ al-‘Ayān Wa Anbā Abnā al-Ẓamān. Electronic. 2:378. Also see: Ṭārikh al-Islām. Electronic. 6:371-376, Ḥilyah al-Awliyāh. Electronic. 2:161-175 & Ṭadhkirah al-Ḥuffadh. Electronic. 1:54-56 & Sīyar ‘Alām. Electronic. 4:218
[22] Abū Muḥammad ‘Atā Ibn Abī Rabāḥ (d. circa 114 A.H.) was the mufṭī of the Ḥaram, a position he inherited from Ibn ‘Abbās (May Allāh be pleased with him) when the latter died. He was born in Janada, Yemen during the Khilafah of Uthmān (May Allāh be pleased with him) and grew up in Makkah. He was the student of Companions like Ibn ‘Abbās (May Allāh be pleased with him), Ibn ‘Umar (May Allāh be pleased with him), Ibn Zubair (May Allāh be pleased with him), and Abū Hurairah (May Allāh be pleased with him), etc. In Siyar ‘Alām al-Nublā it is mentioned that ‘Alī ibn al-Madīnī stated that he was black. [See: Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nublā. Electronic. 5:78-88, Ṭunwīr al-Ghabash Fī Fadhl al-Sūdān Wa al-Ḥabash. Electronic. Page: 153-154, Shadharāṭ al-Dhahab. Electronic. 2:69-70; Wafyāṭ al-‘Ayān. Electronic. 3:261-263]
[23] Yaḥya ibn Sa’īd relates that Sa’īd ibn al-Musayyib used to say, “O Allāh, safety, safety,” abundantly in his gatherings. (See: Hilyatul Awliyah 2:164)
[24] Ṭahdhīb al-Asmā Wa al-Lughāṭ. Electronic.1:219-220
[25] Imām Abū Sa’īd Yazīd ibn Ibrahīm al-Baṣrī was born during the caliphate of Abdul-Mālik. He was the student of Muhammad Ibn Sīrīn, al-Ḥasan, ‘Ata ibn Abi Rabāḥ, Ibn Abī Mulaikah, ‘Amr ibn Dinār, Abī al-Zubair, Qatādah, Ayyūb, etc. [See Sīyar ‘Alam al-Nublā. Electronic. 7:292]
[26] Wafayāṭ al-‘Ayān Wa Anbā Abnā al-Ẓamān. Electronic. 4:171-172; al-Wāfī Bi al-Wafayāṭ. Electronic. 3:122; Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 4:606-607, 619, 621
[27] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 4:611
[28] Ibid. 4:611
[29] Ibid. 4:615
[30] Ibid. 4:610
[31] Ibid. 4:616
[32] Ibid. 4:619
[33] Ibid. 4:620
[34] Tadhkirah al-Ḥuffādh. Electronic. 1:168; Manāqib Abū Ḥanīfah Wa Ṣāhibaihi Abī Yusuf Wa Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Electronic. Page: 13
[35] Manāqib Abū Ḥanīfah Wa Ṣāhibaihi Abī Yusuf Wa Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Electronic. Page:13-22, 41
[36] أفحسبتم أنما خلقناكم عبثا. Sūrah: Mu’minūn, Āyah: 115
[37] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:387-388
[38] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:388-389; Tarikh Madīnah Dimashq. Electronic. 6:282
[39] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:388
[40] Ibid.
[41] Tarikh Madīnah Dimashq. Electronic. 6:309
[42] Tarikh Madīnah Dimashq. Electronic. 6:306-307; Sūrah Nahl, Āyah: 96
[43] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:396
[44] Tarikh Madīnah Dimashq. Electronic. 6:308-309
[45] Ibid. 6:302
[46] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:395
[47] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:230; Tabaqāt Ibn Sa’d. Electronic. 8:492-493; Wafayāṭ al-‘Ayān Wa Anbā Abnā al-Ẓamān. Electronic. 2:386, 390-391
[48] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nubalā. Electronic. 7:253
[49] Ibid. 7:247
[50] Ibid. 7:255
[51] Wafayāṭ al-‘Ayān Wa Anbā Abnā al-Ẓamān. Electronic. 2:386
[52] Sīyar ‘Alām al-Nublā. Electronic. 7:250
[53] Ibid. 7:243
[54]Ṭabaqāṭ Ibn Sa’d. Electronic. 8:492-493
[55] See: Ṭahdhīb al-Asmā Wa al-Lughāṭ. Electronic.1:110, 112; Ṭabqāṭ al-Ḥanābilah. Electronic. Page: 8, 10
[56] Manāqib al-Imām Aḥmad. Electronic. Page: 314-315
[57] Manḥ al-Azhar Fī Sharḥ al-Fiqh al-Akbar Pages: 15-16; Mirqāṭ al-Mafāṭīḥ 1:16-17, 23, 27