If you open the book 'Siyar Aalam al-Nubala', the glorious event of Imam al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1348 CE), and examine the conditions of the merchant scholars who have translated it; Hundreds of information and wonderful news must stop you from famous people of knowledge who have combined science and trade, which is not a limited trade to stop the question, but rather huge-sized businesses aiming to generate a great profit. And when he died, "he left three hundred thousand dinars (= almost 50 million US dollars today)", and used to say: "There is nothing in this world like my home !!"
And in the book “The Genealogy” of Imam Abu Saad al-Samaani al-Marwazi (d. 562 AH / 1166 CE) translations of hundreds of scholars attributed to their professions and industries, and a testimony of the existence of those who classified in the past in the biographies of scholars working in these professions; As Al-Saadi Al-Harawi did in his book Al-Sanna 'among the Jurists and Hadiths. The researcher Abdul Basit bin Yusuf al-Gharib prepared a study that he issued entitled: “The Blessing of Those Who Are Attributed to a Profession or a Craft”, in which he included translations of about 1500 scholars distributed among about 400 trades and professions that they earned from it.
In fact, the relationship between commerce and science in the lives of Muslims reflects - over the centuries - the core of the connection between life affairs and the teachings of Islam, where trade lines have overlapped with the da'wah movement and the journeys of seeking knowledge even if everyone is in China. In every caravan of merchandise, a merchant, a scholar, an educated person, and a book, in a joyful cultural boat, they complement each other without dichotomy or conflict.
Those who did not pay close attention to this philosophy of communication will not succeed in understanding Islam, which established this extreme balance between matter and spirit, in addition to the sensitivity of independence that was striking deep in the Muslim scholars, who were sensitive to everything that affects their independence in expiation, expression, opinion and deduction, and all What could affect their integrity before God as well as their standing in front of people, and the abundance of money was a guarantee of the independence of the group of scholars and the continuity of self-support for the scientific movement.
Therefore, we may not be surprised by what the researcher Olivia Remy Constable reported - in a study in a book prepared by the Center for Arab Unity Studies entitled 'The Arab Islamic Civilization in Andalusia' - of a statistic prepared by H.J. Cohen, in which he stated that "4,200 articles (= translation) - out of 14,000 describing scholars in biographical books - contained information about the profession they practice. Of this number, there are: 22% of them work in the trade or textile industry, and 13% in the industry. Food, 4% in jewelry, 4% in perfumes, 4% in leather, 4% in books, 3% in metals, 2% in wood, 2% in general trade, and 9% in other professions. 3% were working in exchange, and 2% in brokerage and commercial agencies. "
This strange phenomenon is what we seek - in this article - to find out a side of its exciting details, through a tour of the financial life of expressive models of famous Islamic scholars from different hurricanes and regions.
Early emergence
Perhaps the issue of the relationship between scholars and merchants and trade was not discussed much, and in fact trade and merchants occupied the mind of the ancient Muslim jurist. Because the Islamic state at its inception was based mainly on trade in which the people of Mecca excelled from the Quraysh until they dominated the rest of the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, so they had - as the Qur’an tells us - two trade trips: “A trip in the winter to Yemen, and a trip in the summer to the Levant.” As Imam al-Tabari (d. 310 AH / AD) says in his interpretation.
Therefore, we find that the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, practiced trade - before the message was revealed to him - acting as an agent on behalf of Mrs. Khadija bint Khuwailid (d. 3 BC H / 619 AD) - may God be pleased with her - with her money, and "she was ... a merchant woman with honor and money, who was hired. Men in her money and speculating with him about something that she would make for them [of profit], and the Quraysh were a people of merchants ..., [she preferred the Prophet] and gave him the best of what she gave to other merchants. " According to the narration of Abu al-Qasim al-Suhaili (d.581 AH / 1185 CE) in al-Rawd al-Anf.
The Prophet (PBUH) also participated in his trade with others; In the translation of Abdullah bin Al-Saib Al-Qurashi (d.63 AH / 681 AD) according to Al-Dhahabi in Al-Sira: “His father was a partner of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, before he was sent.” Here he refers to the narration of Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) - in his Musnad - on the authority of al-Saib ibn Abi al-Sa’ib that he used to join the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him before Islam, in trade. When it was the day of the conquest, he came, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: « Hello my brother and my partner, he was not running around and not playing. ”
Likewise, his companions did - may God be pleased with them - before and after their conversion to Islam, because Islam encouraged people to trade and to professions and work in order to earn a living and a pension, and to beware of unemployment and dependence. Therefore, we find a large number of the Prophet's (PBUH) companions who were merchants, so that some of them possessed a large capital by the standards of their time, and even according to the standards of our time. It is also evidenced by the data of their spending and the inheritance they left after their death, all of which they obtained from their abuse of trade in addition to what they were receiving from the spoils of conquest.
The first Rashid, Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (d. 13 AH / 635 AD) himself was a merchant in Makkah and remained so after his emigration. Al-Tabari says that Al-Siddiq "was a merchant, and he used to go to the market every day and buy and sell." Six months after he assumed the caliphate, he addressed his companions, saying: “What is good for people’s affairs is trade, and what is good for them is to devote themselves to them and look into their affairs, and my families must do what works for them, so he left the trade and spent (= spent) of the Muslims’s money what is suitable and fit for his children day by day .., And those who were charged for him every year were six thousand dirhams (= today approximately 7,500 US dollars). "
The third Caliph, Othman bin Affan (d. 35 AH / 656 AD) was one of the great merchants of Quraysh and the Companions. Al-Tabari quotes from him saying: “I was the Quraysh with the most money and I found them (= the best of them) in trade." And in the 'Biography of the Prophet' by Ibn Hisham (d.218 AH / 833 CE) that the Prophet (PBUH), when preparing for the Expedition of Tabuk in the year 9 AH / 630 CE, “urged the wealthy people to spend and bear (= animals to carry the Mujahideen) for the sake of God. Othman bin Affan spent on this a great expense that no one has spent like it ..., [lost] a thousand dinars were spent in the family's army (= today almost 180 thousand dollars) !! " And in al-Sunan by al-Tirmidhi (279 AH / 892 CE) that Othman said: “O Messenger of God, Ali, three hundred camels ... for the sake of God!”
The legacies and guarantees and
Abd al-Rahman bin Auf (d. 32 AH / 654 CE) was poor and had no money when he migrated to Medina, so he worked in trade until he became one of the largest owners of capital in the history of Islam. Al-Dhahabi says - in al-Sirah - about his huge wealth and how he used it: “Ibn Auf gave charity at the time of the Messenger of God ... by dividing his money four thousand, then he gave charity for forty thousand dinars, and he carried five hundred horses for the sake of God, and then he was charged with five hundred departing Allah's path, and his money was generally from trade. " Al-Dhahabi then added, commenting: “I said: This is the rich and thankful !!”
Al-Dhahabi talked - in the History of Islam - about the trade of Al-Zubair bin Al-Awam (d. 36 AH / 657 AD) and his inheritance from it upon his death. He stated that “it has been proven in al-Sahih that Zubayr left property at around forty thousand dirhams (= today approximately $ 1.25 million) and more !!" Likewise, he told us - in the biography - about the commercial activity of the great companion Talha bin Ubaid Allah (d. 36 AH / 657 CE) and the money he left behind. He said, “He was killed ... and in the hands of his treasurer a thousand thousand dirhams ... and his assets and property were rectified thirty thousand thousand dirhams! I am surprised by what Ibn Al-Jawzi said (d.597 AH / 1200 AD) ..: Talha left three hundred lambs of gold !!"
Trade was not confined to the leaders of the Companions, but it was practiced by their young and loyal ones. In Al-Nawawi’s translation - in “Tahdheeb Names and Languages” - by Saad bin Aadh, who is known as Saad al-Qarz al-Muezzin (d. 39 AH / 660 CE), he said: “He is the slave of Ammar bin Yasir (d. 37 AH / 658 CE) .., the scholars said: I added to the sermon that is tanned. With it (leather), because whenever he traded in something he lost in it, so he traded in a loan, so he made a profit in it, so he had to trade in it, so I added to it. The Prophet made him a calligrapher, so when Abu Bakr .. the caliphate - and Bilal left the call to prayer - he transferred it .. to a mosque. The Messenger of God (PBUH) was called to call for prayer, and he continued to call for prayer until he died.
When looking at the biographies of the followers and their followers, we find that they followed the Companions ’approach to dealing with different types of trade. This Ibn al-Jawzi tells us - in Sayd al-Khater - that the master of the Tabi'een Saeed bin al-Musayyib (d. 93 AH / 712 CE) "died and left money and was monopolizing oil." Likewise, Imam Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161 AH / 778 CE) also sold oil, investing his share of the inheritance of an uncle who lived in Bukhara (located today in Uzbekistan). Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi (d.463 AH / 1071AD) tells us in his book, The History of Baghdad.
Abu Na`im al-Isfahani (d.430 AH / 1040 CE) - in Hilat al-Awliya - narrates that this revolutionary answered one of his students when he denounced his work in trade. Then he said to him, "Be quiet! If not for these dinars, these kings would not turn to us." That is, they made us like tissues, using them and then throwing them. Al-Dhahabi narrates - in al-Seer - that Imam al-Abed al-Mujahid Abdullah bin al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH / 797 CE) was a merchant, so “more than traveling and circumambulating - and until he died - in seeking knowledge, in conquest, in trade, and spending on the Brotherhood in God, equip them with him to the Hajj. "
Among the great merchant scholars, Al-Leith bin Saad (d.175 AH / 791 AD), his scientific and political standing - according to al-Dhahabi in 'Al-Seer' - is described as “Imam Al-Hafiz, Sheikh of Islam and the world of the Egyptian lands ... and who is proud of his presence in the region, so that the ruler of Egypt, its judge and its overseer [work] from Under his orders, and they shall refer to his opinion and advice. " Then he adds an estimate of the size of his annual profits and says: "Al-Leith used to use twenty thousand dinars (= today approximately 3.5 million dollars) every year !!"
A call for funding
with the development of time and the expansion of the state, the cessation of the participation of scholars in the armies and the money they bring in the spoils, and the disintegration of the relationship of trust - often - between princes and scholars; Many Muslim scholars - jurists, hadith scholars, and others - were compelled to engage in commerce, to prevent themselves from want and issue, and to seek financial independence in the sources of livelihood that would keep the world independent and not dependent, especially since "the soul has physical strength when there is money, and it is counted for doctors of medicine." ; As Ibn Al-Jawzi says in "Hunting Al-Khater".
Therefore, we find a good number of scholars - throughout the hurricane and in all countries - who were involved in trade or industry, so that some of them were dubbed by their profession, industry and type of trade. Thus, many scholars were able to preserve the resources of their power - and even the requirements of spending on scientific trips, books and works - away from power and the lack of governance, and this was often considered a praise for them in the books of translations and classes that immortalized the biographies of scholars and their lifestyles.
Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi turned - with his wisdom and his usual insight - to this issue, and he was the best person who expressed the need for scholars to have sources of income that are independent of the powers of the rulers and money owners, because of this independence of education and the impartiality of his campaign in education and fatwa. We find him saying in Sayd al-Khater: “There is no more beneficial thing in this world for scholars than collecting money to dispense with people, because if the realm of perfection is combined with science, and the majority of scholars are distracted by knowledge from earning, so they needed what was necessary and patience decreased, so they entered the entrances of their distress, and if They dealt with it, but other things were better for them! "
Then this imam invited the scholars - while they were in the process of acquiring it - to seek wealth in the sweat of the forehead: “You - O seeker of knowledge - must strive to collect money to enrich people, for he collects your religion for you! What we have seen in most of the hypocrisy of religiosity, puritanism and devotion or not A scourge that has befallen a world except with the love of the world, and most of that [caused] by poverty !!
Then he cautioned against the dangers of abandoning toil and the position of scholars in society. He said: “I saw most of the wealth owners use scholars, and they despise them with something small that they give them [to] from their zakat. If one of them had a seal, he said: So who did not attend, and if he is sick, he said: So, because he is not hesitant, and every one of him has something bad that must be delivered to someone like him. The scholars were satisfied with the humiliation of the place of necessity, and I saw that this is the ignorance of the scholars about what they are required to maintain of knowledge.
Ibn al-Jawzi did not stop at this, but he carried the concern of the scholars ’pension, and he realized that this issue is the one who emphasized the requirements for the acquisition of knowledge and the elements of the scientific community’s independence:“ So if a rational person earns sustenance or has materials, he should preserve it so that his concern (= his thinking) may be gathered, and he should not be squandered in That is, he needs, and his anxiety will be dispersed, and the soul, if it attains its strength, is reassured. If he does not have money he has gained as much as it suffices, and the exaggeration is reduced to collect his concern and convince with a little .. and leave curiosity to curiosity the root of the principles. He mentioned it well .. Then whoever covets? It is only an unfair sultan or someone who is approved!
On the other hand, a guarantee is required ; It is not possible for all those working in science to engage in other industries, because even if it guarantees the world a trail of food, even a small amount of the sustenance of his day, the maintenance of his knowledge, and the preservation of his water, but it occupies him about the achievement and the journey, which is the most important means of acquiring knowledge at that time, and obstructs him from his needs, and inhibits him from Focus on classification and authorship. And from here; The jurists viewed the house of Muslims ’money as the property of the nation, not the state, and required rulers to provide a decent living for scholars so that they could devote themselves to studying and teaching science, and if the state did not fulfill its duty towards them, this must be done by the common people.
Therefore, we find Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi holding - in “Kitab Al-Faqih and Al-Mutifaqah” - a section which he called: “The chapter mentioning what the imam must impose for the jurists and whoever set himself up for the fatwa of provision and giving.” In it he says: “The imam must impose on the one who set himself up for teaching jurisprudence and fatwa in rulings something to be sufficient for professionalism and earnings, and put that in the house of Muslims’ money. If there is no house of money, or the imam does not impose anything on the mufti, and the people of a country gather to make it for him. From their money as a livelihood - to devote themselves to their fatwas and answers to their calamities - that is acceptable.
Al-Khatib quotes from Caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz (d. 101 AH / 720 CE) that he sent to his governor in Homs: “Look at the people who set themselves up for jurisprudence and locked it up in the mosque from the request of the world, so give each man a hundred dinars (= today 17 thousand US dollars) Almost), they use it for what they are from the house of Muslims' money.
Some scholars used to accept that money as a right that he has in the state treasury in return for his service to the community as an imamate, teaching, and fatwas, and some of them did not accept it. But the idea - in principle - indicates that Omar bin Abdulaziz occupied him with the issue of the independence of the scholarly group, so he made for it money from the Muslim’s House of Money as a reward for its societal services, just like the soldiers and other employees of state institutions!
The aforementioned phrase of Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi presupposes - from the reality of the turmoil of the conditions of the Islamic state since the middle of the third century AH - an absence or weakness that may be exposed to the Muslims ’money house, or the authority’s failure to specify financial allocations to scholars. He made this a duty on all of the public by analogy with the jihad of the enemy, and we do not need to demonstrate that the enemy's jihad is not only with the soldiers, but also with the sciences and knowledge.
Continuous procession
over time, starting around the fifth century; The dependence of jurists on state gifts and people of power and money increased, especially after the institutionalization of fatwa, judiciary, rhetoric and other religious positions, and the emergence of the sheikhdoms of the sects that organized the academic and fatwa process in them, the establishment of schools and the introduction of the tradition of scholarly endowment chairs in them and in mosques; Despite this, there was still a civil fatwa and a scientific group that refused to assimilate or dissolve - or even just close - to official positions of authority, for fear of being dependent on its calculations and positions.
In order for the scholars to forgive themselves from the issue - as Imam Ibn al-Jawzi asked them earlier - many of them worked in trade, starting from the era of the Tabi'een - as we have seen - until later ages. That is, a group of scholars did not accept the gifts of money-holders from the merchants and rulers, but rather he traded himself and made his journey through knowledge, order, trade or craft at the same time. Among them were the blacksmith, the carpenter, the tailor, the tanner, the dye, the jassis, the perfumer, the goldsmith, the papers ... etc. Whoever wants to expand this section should review the sources that we mentioned in the introduction to the article, such as the book 'The Genealogies' of Imam al-Samani and the studies of the researchers Abd al-Basit al-Gharib and Olivia Constable.
It suffices to indicate the expansion of the phenomenon of commercial scholars, that Imam al-Dhahabi translated about 150 flags from them in his glorious book entitled 'The Biography of the Nobles' Flags, and we will list here examples of prominent scientific standing - after the era of the followers and their followers - from the various legal disciplines who mentioned their translations, along with their scientific titles He has, and what he recorded about the size of their wealth, and the distances that they traveled in their trade, so that some of them walked in it from Andalusia to China !!
It was translated by the great modernist Yusuf bin Zureik (d.222 AH / 837 CE) and said that he “went to Egypt in commerce and died there”. Ibn Ammar al-Mawsili (d. 242 AH / 856 CE) stated that he defined him as “Imam al-Hafiz al-Hujjah, the modernist of Mosul ... and he used to deal with trade, so he presented Baghdad several times and spoke about it.” In the translation of al-Jamal bin Muhammad al-Baghdadi (d. 346 AH / 957 CE), he said that “the Sheikh of the chain of trust, the updater of Samarkand (located today in Uzbekistan) ... He traveled [to acquire knowledge] and was traveling in commerce."
Among the scholars who have combined the breadth of knowledge with the expansion of wealth is Dulaj bin Ahmad al-Sijjastani / al-Sajjzi (d. 351 AH / 964 CE), which al-Dhahabi describes as “the modernist al-Hujjah, the jurist, the imam ... the merchant with great wealth .., he heard - after eighty (= 280AH / 893AD) - What is not described in large numbers in the Two Holy Mosques, Iraq and Khurasan .., the state of his tour in trade, "and with his commercial preoccupation, he reached a great thing in science until he was described as" the jurist Sheikh of the people of hadith in his era! " Imam Al-Daraqutni (d. 385 AH / 994 AD) used to say: “What I have seen in our sheikhs is more reliable than Dalej” !!
Al-Dhahabi tells us about the size of Imam D'Alaj's wealth obtained from his trade. He states that "it was said: There was no easier in this world than merchants!" And that when he died, "he left three hundred thousand dinars (= today almost 50 million US dollars)", it was the first inheritance that the Buyid authorities in Baghdad assaulted with confiscation! He reached the point that he “used to say: There is no in the world like my home! That is because there is no such thing in this world as Baghdad, nor in Baghdad like the district of estrangement, nor in estrangement as the path of Abi Khalaf, and there is no in the world like my home !!” In addition to this wonderful house in Baghdad; He bought Dalaj in Makkah Dar Al-Abbasiya for thirty thousand dinars !!
Commercial trips,
and among the scholars of Andalusia, the merchants, Ishaq Ibn Masarah Al-Tujibi Al-Talitli (d. 354 AH / 967 AD), “the ascetic was one of the flags in Cordoba, he used to trade it in linen, and he was one of the people of knowledge and work and whoever did not take him to blame .., he was one of the most memorable scholars for issues ".
This is the son of all al-Ghassani al-Sidawi (d. 403 AH / 1013 CE) and he is the “Sheikh Al-Alam Al-Salih Al-Musnad Al-Hadith Al-Rahhal ... He was the one who remained in the Levant [for the hadith of the Prophet].” He commented that "I helped him to meet these people in this vast country by his travel in trade!" As mentioned in the translation of Imam al-Hafiz Khalaf al-Wasiti (d. After 400 AH / 1010 CE) compiled book 'The Parties of the two Sahihs'; He said he has "traveled a lot in commerce." Among al-Wasiti’s anecdotes is that his sheikh, Imam al-Hakim al-Nisaburi (d. 405 AH / 1015 CE), the author of al-Mustadrak al-Sahihain narrated from him.
And when he was introduced to the Andalusian merchant Saad Al-Khair Al-Ansari (d.541 AH / 1146 AD); He said that he was "the masterly updated imam, the traveler, the merchant, who walked from Andalusia to the territory of China [for trade], so he would write [in his lineage]: Saad al-Khair, the Chinese Andalusian, and he was one of the scholars of jurists." And in the translation of Abu Tammam al-Abbasi al-Baghdadi (d.543 AH / 1148 CE), he said that “the noble sheikh was assigned to his time .. the traveling merchant .., Bennissapur died after having more than trade in the seas and India and leaving behind !!”
Among them is Abu al-Faraj Ibn Kulaib al-Harrani al-Hanbali (d.596 AH / 1200 CE), who was described by al-Dhahabi as “the noble and faithful Sheikh of the age ... the merchant ... to whom the high isnad ended ... and he was one of the notable merchants of vast wealth!” The magnitude of his trade has reached what Ibn al-Najjar (d.643 AH / 1245 CE) told - in 'the tail of the history of Baghdad', narrating on the authority of his sheikh, Ibn al-Jawzi, the student of Ibn Kulayb - that he “made an invitation (= feast) in some countries of Khurasan in the summer time and it cost a lot, One of his sentences was that he carried loads from the work of Egypt ... [And it] had much value!
Among those who combined the fatwa on knowledge, mastery in poetry, boldness in politics, and skill in trade: the Shafi’i jurist Amara al-Yamani (d. 569 AH / 1173 CE); It was stated in his translation according to al-Dhahabi that “he was very fanatical to the Sunnah, a skillful writer who was popular in the [Fatimid] state ..., and he was from the house of a woman and a progression from the tame of Yemen .., [and was considered] one of the greatest merchants and wealthy people, and one of the notable jurists who issued fatwas. And one of the best people of literature !!
Among the merchant scholars, who Al-Dhahabi provided us with figures on their fortunes: Abu Al-Reda Al-Karaki Al-Baghdadi (d.592 AH / 1195 AD). He is "the scholarly innovator ... the Shiite merchant ... he was keen to hear and collect the parts ... and he was trustworthy ..., he left [upon his death] a trade of three thousand dinars !!"
Among the most famous merchant imams is Ibn al-Akhdar al-Janabithi (d.611 AH / 1214 CE), who is “the modern world imam al-Hafiz .. Mufid al-Iraq .. the clothes merchant (= the clothes seller: clothes) ..; Ibn al-Najjar said ..: I read about him a lot in his circle and in His shop for clothing was in Khan al-Khalifah (Baghdad), and he was the trustworthy argument of a noble man. I have never seen in our sheikhs like him in his many audiences, his good principles, his preservation and his mastery! In al-Dhahabi's translation of Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Jalajali al-Baghdadi (d.612 AH / 1215 CE), he described him as “the chief reciter of merchant .., and he traveled from Egypt to India and beyond the river in trade, and he was honest, a modest bag keeper of stories.”
Asceticism and retirement, and the
historian of Aleppo Ibn Al-Adim (d.660 AH / 1262 AD) - in 'For the Purpose of Demand' - cites a strange story about a traveling merchant scholar, who had extensive spending on combating the destructive underground movements such as the Hashashin, which made them try to assassinate him. In it, he says - speaking about one of his trade trips and providing us with data on the amount of his wealth - that “in the month of Rabi` al-Awwal in the year five hundred (= 1155 AD), a great man, a jurist, a merchant, called Abu Harb Isa bin Zaid bin Muhammad Al-Khajjandi, arrived with five hundred camels on it. The loads of the varieties of trade .., so he rose in his young men to display his loads and around him a group of his Mamelukes and his servants!
Besides the scholars who themselves practiced trade; There were children of merchant families who emptied themselves to seek knowledge and spread it, using the wealth of their fathers and brothers. Among the examples of these are what Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi told - in the 'History of Baghdad' - that Abu Jaafar al-Sufi, known as Ibn al-Faraji (d. After 270 AH / 883 CE) “was one of the sons of the world and the owners of money, and he inherited a lot of money and he gave it all and spent it on seeking knowledge, and on the poor and hermits. And Sufism, and he had a place of knowledge, jurisprudence, and knowledge of hadith [because it] obliged Ali Ibn al-Mudaini (d.234 AH / 848 CE).
And among them also "Muhammad bin Ahmed .. Al-Asbahani (d. 282 AH / 895 AD) .. Al-Hafiz, known as Al-Assal, the owner of the works ...; his father Ahmed was one of the great financiers, and his property was endowed with his children, which are gardens, houses and shops." According to the golden in 'Sir'. Likewise, Abu Al-Alaa Al-Hamdhani Al-Hafiz (d. 569 AH / 1173 AD) to whom Al-Dhahabi translated - in the 'Tadhkira Al-Hafiz' - said that he “was insulting to money [Q] he sold all that he inherited and he was from the sons of merchants, so he spent it seeking knowledge until he traveled to Baghdad and Isbahan times Walking carrying his books on the back. " With this poverty of al-Hamdhani - after his richness - he “did not eat from the [sultans] money of darkness and did not accept from them [taking] a school or a bond !!”
While the sources did not help us by mentioning women merchants, She informed us with a great updated translation that belongs to one of the Andalusian merchant families, as her father is Saad al-Khair al-Ansari, previously mentioned. As for it, Al-Dhahabi said about it: “Sheikha Al-Jalila Al-Musnad ... Fatima bint Al-Muhadith Al-Tajer Abi Al-Hassan Saad Al-Khair ... Al-Ansari Al-Balansi ... and she saw dignity and honor.” Then Al-Dhahabi commented: “I gave permission to our Sheikh Ahmed bin Abi Al-Khair Salama (d.678 AH / 1279 CE) !
And with the plurality of sectarian affiliation and cognitive specialization of merchant scholars; Their commercial activities varied until they included various types of goods and commodities, and many scholars became not distinguished by the name of one of them from its similarity in name except in relation to his type of trade. Therefore, the books of translations often told us about the type of trade that these people carried out, and they included cotton, linen, al-zayyat, al-Jawhari, al-Hariri, al-Kutubi, etc.
Therefore, al-Dhahabi tells us - in 'Tadhkira al-Hafiz' - that Imam “al-Hafiz al-Muqin al-Mujawwid” Gandar Ibn Jaafar al-Basri (d. 193 AH / 808 CE) “used to trade in clothes and garments (= cotton clothes)." Ibn Hajar says - in the 'latent pearls' - that the scholar Ahmed bin Abdul Karim al-Gharnati (d. 739 AH / 1339 CE): “He was a contagious, well-mannered man who was gaining from trade in cotton.”
It was also mentioned that the Shafi’i jurist Shihab al-Din Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Ansari (d. 773 AH / 1372 CE) gathered to trade what he gained from agriculture, where he “grew up in Cairo and sat with witnesses [with the judges], and earned in commerce and agriculture, and he enriched and increased his money ..., and he stood by Teaching at Al-Azhar University.
Scholars have also engaged in activities complementary to commercial operations, such as brokerage between merchants and buyers, while abstaining from anything that violates their status and safety. Hajjaj bin Minhal al-Basri al-Anmatiy (d.216 AH) who practiced it in selling mattresses intended for rugs - which are called “patterns”. Al-Dhahabi called him - in 'Al-Sir' - as “Al-Hafiz Imam Al-Qudwa Al-Abed Al-Hujjah .., he used to take a broker from every dinar. Then a wealthy Khorasani came - from the owners of hadiths - so he bought him patterns, and the merchant gave him thirty dinars, and he said: What are these? He said: Your brokering! He said: Your dinars are easier on me than this dirt! Bring from every dinar a grain, so he took a dinar and a fraction from it !!
The scholars - like other merchants - were not safe from what the trade sometimes inflicted, including heavy losses, which might expel its owner from the market and bring it back to the financial level of zero. Imam Abu al-Faraj Ibn Kulayb al-Harrani, mentioned above, Ibn al-Najjar al-Baghdadi said that he once updated his students with what his condition was of vast wealth. He said: “I received news once about a mine who had drowned in the sea with what I had [of money], and the amount was six thousand dinars (= today almost a million dollars) or more, so I was not affected by that for the moment I am !!" Then his punishment was that he "did not die until he asked the people" for what meets his needs !!
Al-Dhahabi says that he “needed to take [students to teach], and he kept not talking about 'Juz Ibn Arafa' except for a dinar !!”
It is also remarkable that some of the Companions and scholars used to engage in trade even if he reached a goal in it, and he stopped for martyrdom, so he devoted himself to ritual worship and devoted himself to knowledge, publishing and teaching. This companion, the Mufti Abu Darda (d. 32 AH / 654 AD) was a merchant during a period of his life, but he abandoned it in order to devote himself to remembrance and worship. In his translation, al-Dhahabi says in al-Seer: “Abu al-Darda 'said: I was a merchant before the dispatched, so when Islam came, I gathered trade and worship They did not meet, so I left commerce and committed to worship! "
Likewise is the "ascetic jurist" Ibn Shahatha al-Nisaburi al-Shafi’i (d. 372 AH / 985 CE), who said Ibn al-Salih (d.643 AH / 1245 CE) - in the 'classes of Shafi’i jurists ’- that he“ used to trade and then left that and neighboring in the mosque for years ”!! In the translation of Hasan bin Muhammad al-Tajer (d. 747 AH / 1347 CE) according to Ibn Hajar, he is “a righteous, religious man, who was cut off from trade and required worship, congregation, and hadith councils .., [then] he made an appointment (= a weekly preaching council) in the mosque and wrote books on it."
And the practice of trade was not limited to bearers of religious sciences only, but those with other arts were merchants as well. Al-Qifti (d. 624 AH / 1227 CE) - in “The narrators alerted the grammarians” - stated that the master grammarian Ali bin Saeed bin Dababa (d. Circa 560 AH / 1165 CE) “used to trade and differed to Damascus, so he sold in some of his travels to deputies [the Emir] Al-Ayyubi] Asad al-Din Shirkuh (d. 564 AH / 1169 AD) was a piece of money, his companions made a mistake with two hundred dinars ... so he made his calculation and found the mistake and he carried the gold to them, so they rewarded it well and thanked it !!
and Ibn Abi Usaybah (d. 668 AH / 1270 CE) - in “Uyun al-Anbaa in the Classes of Doctors” - described the physician Jamal al-Din Ibn al-Rahbi (d.658 AH / 1260 CE) as “He is the most wise and the virtuous scholar .. He worked in the manufacture of medicine for his father and others And he mastered it with no more mastery than he was, and he was well-treated and well-medicated, and he served in the great bimaristan [al-Nuri in Damascus] ... and he loved trade and suffered from it and sometimes travels with it to Egypt and comes from Egypt with trade.
The importance of trade was not limited to being a vital component of the independence of scientists in their stances and opinions, nor in considering it a resource for the continuity of their scientific bid. Rather, it had another task no less central to that if it did not succeed, namely its role in the transmission of knowledge, sciences, opinions and doctrines, and the spread of books, collections and works, from one country to another, across the vast Islamic geographical area.
Merchants - in general, and especially scholars and book merchants among them in particular - participated in the transmission of books or their backbone novels between distant countries. Even the researcher Constable concluded - in her previous study - that there was a "relative abundance of information about the biographies of the merchant scholars who came to Islamic Spain between the years 414-432 AH / 1023-1041AD," Ibn Bashkawal (Andalusian d. 578 AH / 1181 AD) mentions the names of twenty-two merchant scholars during it .. , [But] information about the eastern merchant scholars suddenly becomes scarce after the mid-fifth century AH / eleventh century AD .., and perhaps the decrease in the activities of the scholars ’trading should be attributed to non-commercial reasons.
In his translation of the great Andalusian physician Abi Ala bin Zuhr (d. 525 AH / 1131 CE), Ibn Abi Issa’a says that “in his time, the book“ Law ”by Ibn Sina (d.428 AH / 1038 CE) arrived in Morocco ..., [and that] that a man from the merchants brought from Iraq to Andalusia A copy of this book has been exaggerated in its improvement, so I take it closer to Abu Ala bin Zahr - and he did not sign this book to him before that - so when he contemplated it he disparaged and dismissed it!
There were merchants who brought books of rare science minutes from Persia from Persia to Central Asia; It came - in Uyun al-Anbaa - that “when he was in the year thirty-two six hundred (= 1235 AD), a merchant from the countries of the Persians arrived in Damascus, with a copy of Ibn Abi Sadiq's commentary (Al-Nisaburi d. About 470 AH / 1077 AD) of the book“ Benefits of Members ” For Galen (d.216 AD), and it is reasonably authentic from the compiler handwriting, and before that there was no copy of it in the Levant, so my father carried it to him, so [the brilliant physician] Ezz al-Din ibn al-Suwaidi (d.689 AH / 1291 CE) wrote a praise poem .., of which he says: And from
whom you are Brother of Al-Mukaram and Al-Ali ** in the book 'Explaining the Benefits of Members' and
lending Western books has not disappeared ** from the habit of scholars and virtuous men,
so the book was sent to him in two parts, so he transferred a copy of it in the aim of good handwriting, quality of points and control!
One of the curious effects of the phenomenon of the traveling merchant scholars was that one of them sometimes prefers the name of a country that visits trade a lot, or extends his place in it until it is attributed to him and forgets his lineage to his country of origin. Among them are: Saad al-Khair, the advanced Andalusian who called himself “the Chinese,” and Ahmed bin Issa al-Masri, known as Tastari (d. 243 AH / 857 AD) because he “used to trade to Sister (today in western Iran), so he was known for that” despite being an Egyptian citizen; According to al-Baghdadi's preacher in the 'History of Baghdad'.
many righteous merchants were keen to guarantee knowledge and scholars, without any interference from them in the core of the scientific issue, because first they were not aware of it, and secondly they considered spending on knowledge and scholars a kind of jihad and worship, the same as the endowment that some traders used to do in the fields of science And community service. This spending on science and scientists is similar to what is happening today in emerging societies in terms of money and business spending on scientific research, in the fields of medicine industry, technical inventions, and reducing environmental pollution and others.
But this does not prevent that there were merchants and money owners who wanted to subjugate the scholars, in order to legitimize them, so the owner of money - as the holder of political power - sometimes sees that when the religious scholar is next to him, this gives him legitimacy for his actions and a place among people. Therefore, Ibn al-Jawzi warns scholars from the category of merchants that aspire to attract scholars for their interrogation in contradiction to Sharia, so he says - in “hunting al-Khater” - about one of the wealthy of his time that he “enslaved many scholars with his honor!”
As for the money-holders who spent on science and the scientific community, they are of two types: Scientist merchants and merchants from among the common people; In the introduction to the first category comes Imam Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak, who mentioned Al-Dhahabi - in the History of Islam - that “he used to trade in clothes (= the seller of clothing: clothes), and he used to say: If not for five I would not have been traded, and he was told: O Abu Muhammad! He said: Sufyan Al-Thawri, Sufyan bin Ayyna (d. 198 AH / 813 CE), Al-Fudhail bin Ayyad (d.187 AH / 803 AD), Muhammad bin Al-Sammak (Al-Kufi d.183 AH / 899 AD), and [Ismail] Ibn Ali (d. 193 AH / 809 AD) He said: And he used to go out and trade to Khurasan, so whenever he gained from something, he took food for the children and the expense of Hajj, and the rest reached his five brothers with it!
Among them is Imam al-Layth bin Saad. Al-Nawawi tells us - in 'Sharh Muslim' - that “when Al-Laith came [from Egypt as a pilgrim], Malik (Ibn Anas d. 179 AH / 795 AD) gave him a gift from the side (= gifts) of Medina, so the Laith sent him a thousand dinars, and the Laith was the Mufti of the people of Egypt in His time! According to Al-Dhahabi - in 'Al-Seer' - that he “used to reach an owner for a hundred dinars a year ... and he gave ... Ibn Lahi’a (d. 174 AH / 790 CE) a thousand dinars .., and Mansour bin Ammar (d.225 AH / 839 CE) gave the preacher one thousand Dinar".
Among the category of public merchants, which extended its financial care to scholars; Idris Al-Adl (d. 303 AH / 915 CE), who Al-Tabari says - in his history - that “his matter had risen higher in trade and prestige with the Sultan, and he used to say: I have to spend every year on Hajj - other than what I spend in the gates of righteousness - five thousand dinars ( = Today approximately $ 850,000).
Charity
and endowments, and in the trade of Imam Adulaj al-Sijistani previously mentioned, an abundant share of the care of knowledge and its people. He decided - according to al-Dhahabi - “current alms to the people of hadith in Mecca, Baghdad and Sijistan (today in Iran).” Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE) - in al-Bidaya wa al-Nihayah - states that “he was one of the people of the left and famous for righteousness and favor, and he had ongoing charities and endowments for a circle of people of hadith in Baghdad and Sijistan .., and he spent very much money on those with knowledge and needs. ".
And among the stories of the righteous daleel by the scholars that Imam Abu Umar bin Hayyeh al-Shafi’i (d. 366 AH / 977 CE) said: “D'alaj bin Ahmad brought me into his house, and showed me a puddle (= a bag of money: a bag of money) packed with money, so he said to me: Take what you wanted! And I said: I am in enough !!
Among the great merchant scholars who had merit over their colleagues in science; The modern imam Ibn Rayza Al-Asbahani (d. 440 AH / 1049 AD) described by Al-Dhahabi as “the chief scholar, writer, and supporter of the era ... the second (= the owner of money and property), the merchant .., one of the faces (= notables) was trustworthy, trustworthy, brilliant, full of grace. For the people of knowledge. "
And it says in 'Sail al-Durar' by Abu al-Fadl al-Muradi (d.1206 AH / 1791 CE) that “Umar ibn Ibrahim ... the Damascene al-Safarjani al-Shafi’i (d. 1112 AH / 1700 CE) - [and he] is one of the famous merchants in Damascus and the owners of wealth - he was worthy and extra money, and he had a hand. Excessive in doing good deeds and hastening to do good things. He built four mosques in Damascus, and was famous for doing good.
Among the great merchants who sponsored financially the imams of scholars, who took care of the requirements of their scientific independence, and devoted themselves to their societal mission; Abu Mansur Ibn Yusuf (d. 460 AH / 1068 CE), who was a great merchant of the Hanbali school of thought and an advisor to the Abbasid Caliph al-Qaem bi Amr Allah (d. 467 AH / 1075 CE), and he who embraced Imam Ibn Aqil al-Hanbali (d. He had financial, political and sectarian support until he took his place in the Al-Baghdadi scientific scene.
Nurturing talents
and this support made Ibn Aqil say - in his book 'Al-Funun' - on the authority of Abu Mansour this: “I have not witnessed those who followed a method of generosity and charity according to the conditions of time - without a question or subjecting to Nawal’s request - except for Sheikh Al-Saeed Abu Mansour bin Yusuf. And the Dahir of the state of [the caliph] al-Mustazhir Billah (d. 414 AH / 1024 CE), Imam of the Muslims: [the merchant] Abu Taher Yusuf (d.512 AH / 1118 CE).
Ibn Aqeel provides us with a picture of the spending of these two merchants who were among the most prominent sponsors of science and scholars of their time. According to his testimony, “the first (= Abu Mansur) was a match (= his alms) during the days of calls and the rains with woods, paints and mantles, and on that he had news owners (= informants who were sensitive to him with the needs of people); and in the month of fasting with food for breakfast, and on holidays for each holiday that is appropriate for Kisas, with instinct for mushrooms and animals for sacrifice. " And as for the merchant Abu Taher Yusef, "If [an event] springs up with grief and sorrow, and the onslaught of a sorrowful disease, and if the month of fasting begins, he will open his door, uncovering his veil for breakfast on his food, and he penetrates to those with beautification (= chastity) what is sufficient for them and their dependents of his delicacies!"
These beautiful valves were from these two merchants for everyone, not Ibn Aqil alone. As for what Ibn Aqil was singled out for us, he explained it to us by saying: “On my own behalf I say: The first (= Abu Mansur) raised me and my vessels until I reconciled to the [educational] circle, so they repulsed me (= some Hanbalis), and he made the money for my rings [at Al-Mansur Mosque in Baghdad] up to Al-Husr and Al-Khulaa (= = The beautiful clothes and the pledge of friends (= students), this and I am the son of Nayf and twenty! When I grew up (= increased) to seventy and over eighty, he carried out my affairs .. Abu Taher Youssef ..; [P] Whatever I called to God and loved in the religion of God, and denied heresy from The Sharia of Muhammad bin Abdullah (PBUH), as he is in their balance.
Among the famous Egyptian merchants who took care of the scholars: Nur al-Din Ali Ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Kharoubi (d. 802 AH / 1399 CE), the “karmic merchant,” referring to the “karmic” trade, which is Indian spices; This great merchant, Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852/1449 A.D.), sponsored him while he was at the beginning of his pursuit of knowledge, so he subsequently did a great service for Islamic sciences.
Ibn Hajar himself tells us about that - in “Annaba Al-Ghamr” - and says that Al-Kharoubi “was one of the notables of merchants in Egypt ... and he was of goodness and goodness ... a devout religion ... and my father had married his sister .. so she was sure of affection between us, and he was By righteousness, benevolent and kind, may God reward him. His pupil Al-Sakhawi (d. 902 AH / 1497 CE) completes the picture - in 'The Bright Light' - and states that this Kharoubi “he, his father and his grandfather were among the greatest merchants of Egypt ... and he was the last merchant of Egypt from the ruins, and he left a lot of money !!”
Some scholars were reluctant - despite his narrow condition - to accept the financial aid offered to him by philanthropic merchants. Ibn Katheer quoted Abdullah bin Imam Ahmad (d. 290 AH / 903 CE) as saying, describing the situation of their family during the ordeal of saying the creation of the Qur’an: “We were in the time of [the Caliph] Al-Wathiq (d. 232 AH / 847 CE) in great distress, so a man wrote to my father: I have four thousand dirhams (= almost $ 5000 today) that I inherited from my father, and it is not charity or zakat, so if I see that you accept it? Then he refrained from that, and he repeated it and refused ... and some merchants offered him ten thousand dirhams that he gained from a commodity that he made in his name, but he refused to He accepts it and said: We are sufficient and may God reward you for your purpose with good. Another merchant offered him three thousand dinars (= today approximately 500 thousand US dollars), so he refused to accept it and rose up and left him !!