Died: 575 A.H. approx.
و افخر من بعد النبي قد افتخر
به شرفت عدنان و افتخرت مضر
نبي الهدی حقا فسائل به عمر
و حق على خير من وطأ الثرى
خلیفته حقا و وارث علمه
و من قام في يوم الغدير بعضده
1. My God, Ali is the best of those, who walked on the earth after the
Prophet; and the most honorable after the Prophet. 2. He is, by God, the
Caliph of Prophet and the heir of his knowledge and through him Adnan got
nobility and Mudar received honor. 3. He is the one, to whose right the
Prophet guided on Ghadeer; raised his hand and ask Umar about this. 4. He
is the one, who broke the idols and did not fear; whereas some had
worshipped them for a long time. 5. Son-in-law of Prophet and husband of
his daughter, in whose honor, verses and chapters of Quran are revealed. 6.
Taking of oath by the servant befits one, who is not having any capital on
Judgment Day, except affection for him. 7. I will be aggrieved on the day of
farewell and your arrival with peace and a worthy victory pleases me.
Through these lines, the poet has opposed the Ahle Sunnat poet, who composed the following couplets:
“By God, Abu Bakr is the chief of humanity after Mustafa; he is the
best of those on the face of the earth. Indeed, a farewell was created at the
time of our farewell as love for it enflames all organs.”1
Introduction to the poet
He was Muhammad bin Ali bin…bin Yahya bin Husain Zul-abra bin Zaid,
the Martyr, bin Imam Ali bin Husain (a.s.).
The Aqsasi clan
The family of Aqsasi is the most honorable Alawite clan, as it is attached to
the prophetic family tree. It spread in Iraq from a place near Kufa named as
Aqsas Malik.2 This family had many great scholars, reliable tradition experts,
masters of Arabic language, eloquent poets, powerful administrators and elders of
high moral caliber.
In his Kamil,3 Ibne Athir has mentioned this poet and said:
“Muhammad bin Ali bin Hamza Aqsai, senior member of the Alawites in Kufa, passed away in the year 575 A.H.”
In Riyazul Ulama,4 Mirza writes:
“He was a prominent Sayyid, a noble and from the scholars, littérateur and
poets of Kufa. Shaykh Ali bin Ali bin Numa, who is from our teachers, has
narrated traditions from him.”
In Majalisul Momineen,5 Allamah Marashi has written a separate biography
entitled Izzuddin bin Aqsasi:
“He was a senior scholar and noble of Kufa. He was a learned and
accomplished expert of literature and had excellent expertise in poetry. It is
narrated that one day, Mustansir Abbaside went to visit the grave of Salman and
accompanying him was our poet, Aqsasi. On the way the Caliph said: There is a
false traditional report, which extremist Shia narrate that when Salman passed
away Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.) came from Medina to Madayan and then returned
to Medina the same night. Ibne Aqsasi recited the following verses extempore:
1. You deny the night, when the land folded for the successor of Prophet
and he traveled to Madayan. 2. Ali gave the funeral bath to Salman and
returned to Yathrib before dawn break. 3. You said: This is a statement of
extremist Shia, but what is their fault if this report is not false? 4. (you also
believe that) Asif Barkhiya brought the throne of Bilquis from Saba to
Baitul Muqaddas in less than a wink of the eye. 5. It is strange that you have
not shown extremism regarding Asif Barkhiya, but I have extremism
regarding Ali! 6. If Ahmad is the best of prophets, Ali is also the best of
successors; yet you say that the report is false.
Allamah Samawi has narrated these verses in Taliya and attributed them to
Sayyid Muhammad Aqsasi and he thinks that he was an associate of Mustansir,
but he has mistaken in the date of birth of Mustabsir and the Sayyid, because the
Sayyid passed away in 575 A.H. and Mustansir was born in 589 A.H.; that is
fourteen years after the death of the Sayyid and became the Caliph in 624 A.H.
In Ayanush Shia6, Allamah Sayyid Amin has mentioned his biography under
the title of Abu Muhammad Izzuddin Hasan bin Hamza Aqsasi, has quoted the
same story and attributed these verses to him, but his source is not clear to us.
Hasan bin Hamza Amawi is our poet; and therefore he lived for years before
this poet (composer of Ghadeeriya mentioned above) and before Mustansir.
In his Manaqib,7 Ibne Shahr Ashob has quoted these couplets with a little
difference and attributed them to Abul Fazl Tamimi8.
On the basis of this, the quoting of these verses by Ibne Shahr Ashob proves that its composer is not Qutubuddin Aqsasi also, because Ibne Shahr Ashob died
in 588 A.H. that is a year before the birth of Mustansir and 57 years before
passing away of Sayyid Qutb.
Perhaps these couplets were composed, but Abul Fazl Tamini or one of his
predecessors of the Aqsasi clan, and Qutubuddin had recited them to Mustansir.
Note
Behind the veil of enmity and malice, it is heard that this great miracle of
our Master, Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) is falsified and attributed to extremism,
saying that traveling such a distance in such a short time is not possible.
If this man would think, he would realize that supposing this is impossible, it
is a general impossibility and not logical impossibility; otherwise the tradition of
Ascension (Meraj), which was physical; is widely narrated and a principle of
religion, should it not be true?
Is the incident of Asif bin Barkhiya, mentioned in Quran, also not correct?
Did not Afreeti (strong and smart) from the jinn in Sulaiman’s court, make an
offer, and his statement is neither refuted by Sulaiman nor Holy Quran, because
Sulaiman wanted the throne to be brought faster than that?
On the other hand, it comprises of divine power on flying fast and slow, by
an estimation, just as it comprises of all difficult and easy matters. And Almighty
Allah has power to honor his Master (Wali) and grant him power over things,
which others are unable to do. Allah has created people differently and each is
different in his or her capacity and some have power over something, over which
others don’t have; and power of Allah, Mighty and High, has no limit.
So, ordinary issues of different existing things are different. For example, a
rider covers more distance than a person on foot. Steam vehicles travel faster than
a person riding a horse. In the same way, aircrafts travel at a much higher speed.
They cover a distance in five hours what people on foot would travel in five
months.
If you are amazed, it would be the amazement of one, whose mind is rusted
and they deny this miracle of our master, Ameerul Momineen (a.s.), but they
accept without hesitation, the same miracle from those much lower in status.
1. In his Tarikh,9 Hafiz Ibne Asakir has narrated from Sirri bin Yahya that he said:
“Habib bin Muhammad Ajami Basri was seen in Basra on 8th Zilhajj; and on Arafah day he was seen in Arafat.”
2. Muhammad bin Ali Habbak, servant of Shaykh Jalaluddin Suyuti (d. 911 A.H.) says:
One day, the Shaykh asked Shaykh Abdullah Jiyushi at the afternoon nap time: “Do you want to pray the Asr prayer in Mecca upon the condition that you
will not inform anyone about it as long as I am alive?”
“Yes,” he replied.
So he took my hand and said: “Close your eyes.” I closed my eyes. Then he
led me for twenty-seven steps and then said: “Open your eyes.”
I saw that I was at Moalla Gate. We met our mother, Khadija, Fazl bin Ayaz,
Sufyan bin Uyyana and others; then entered the sanctuary, performed the
circumambulation (Tawaf), drank Zamzam water, stood behind Maqam Ibrahim
and prayed the afternoon (Asr) prayer, performed the Tawaf again and drank
Zamzam water again.
He said: “The folding of land was not amazing, the amazing thing was that
no one from the people of Egypt around us, recognized us.”
Then said: “If you want, come with me and if you like, remain with Hajj pilgrims.”
I said: “I will come with my master.”
So we went to the Moalla Gate and he said: “Close your eyes,” and I closed
my eyes.
Then he walked me seven steps at Harwala (jogging) pace. He said: “Open
your eyes.”
Suddenly, I saw that we were near Jiyushin and we entered upon my master,
Umar bin Fariz.10
Allamah Amini says: If someone wants, he can glean innumerable such
incidents from books of history and biography, however we shall be content to
mention only these examples.
Therefore, it can be concluded that not only a saint can cover long distances,
he can take anyone from among his companions as well.
If all these miracles are reported about anyone other than a member of Holy
Progeny, no one has any problem; but when something like this is reported about
a member of Holy Progeny everyone starts raising objections.