Abu Muslim al-Khawlani

Abu Muslim Abd Allah ibn Thuwab al-Khawlani was one of the Successors of Syria and among its renunciants. Al-Bukhari's al-Tarikh al-Kabir gives him an entry as Abd Allah ibn Thuwab, records that Abu Idris al-Khawlani narrated from him and that he narrated from Awf ibn Malik al-Ashja'i, and quotes some who said his name was Abd Allah ibn Awf. ^{4 5} Al-Suyuti fixes the vocalisation of his father's name as "Thuwab", on the pattern of Umar. ⁶

Ibn al-Salah defines the mukhadramun among the Successors as those who lived in the Jahiliyya and in the Prophet ﷺ's lifetime and became Muslims but did not have companionship; he says that Muslim listed twenty of them, and that among those Muslim did not mention are Abu Muslim al-Khawlani Abd Allah ibn Thuwab and al-Ahnaf ibn Qays. ^{7 3} Al-Nawawi and al-Suyuti, in Tadrib al-Rawi, likewise name him first among the mukhadramun Muslim left out. ⁶

Ahmad ibn Hanbal relates in al-Zuhd that Abu Muslim called out to Mu'awiya as he sat on the pulpit of Damascus: Mu'awiya, you are only one grave among the graves — if you bring something you will have something, otherwise nothing; do not think the caliphate is gathering wealth and handing it out — the caliphate is acting by the truth and speaking with fairness; if you wrong one tribe of the Arabs, your wrong will wipe out your justice. Mu'awiya turned to him and said: may God have mercy on you. ^{8 9} He also relates that Abu Muslim went about "mourning Islam"; Mu'awiya sent for him to ask why, and he told him: if you do good you will be rewarded with good, and if you do evil you will be repaid for it; were you just to all the people of the earth and then unjust to a single man, your injustice would outweigh your justice. ^{10 11}

Ahmad relates, from what he found in his father's hand, that the people suffered drought in Mu'awiya's time; Mu'awiya led them out to pray for rain and asked Abu Muslim to pray; he uncovered his head, raised his hands and prayed, and before they left they had rain. Then Abu Muslim prayed: if Mu'awiya has set me up for show, take me to You — it was a Thursday, and he died the following Thursday. ¹⁰ In al-Bukhari, Abu Mushir says he died in Mu'awiya's time, before Busr ibn Abi Artat. ⁵ Ahmad also relates from some Damascene elders that a monk in a hermitage near Hims asked them about him, said that they found him in their book as the companion of Jesus son of Mary, and that they would not find him alive; as they came over the Ghouta they heard of his death. ^{9 10}

Ahmad relates that two men came to see him and found him praying in the mosque; one counted three hundred bowings and the other four hundred before he finished, and he told them: you had no business counting my prayer — and I swear that much prostration is best for the Day of Resurrection. ¹¹ Among his sayings there: were I told that Hell is being kindled, I could not add to what I do. ¹⁰ Passing a ruin he would say: ruin, where are your people? They are gone and their deeds remain; desire has ended and sin remains; son of Adam, leaving sin is easier than seeking repentance. ¹¹ To a man who complained of what people did to him he said: if you quarrel with them they will quarrel with you, if you leave them they will not leave you, and if you flee them they will catch you. ⁹ And: beware the intuitions of believers, for God places the truth in their hearts and on their tongues. ¹¹ He is said to have asked God, in his voluntary prayers, for his small needs by name: a cooked dish, oil, firewood. ¹⁰

Ahmad relates with his chain that Ka'b said: the sage of this community is Abu Muslim al-Khawlani. ¹¹ He also relates, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr from Abu Muslim, a mursal report that the Prophet said: God did not reveal to me that I should amass wealth and be among the merchants, but He revealed to me what is in Surat al-Hijr 98–99. ⁹

Ahmad relates, from what he found in his father's hand on the authority of some Damascene elders, that Abu Muslim was in Byzantine territory and was worried because a raiding party was late; a raven landed on a tree and told him they had taken booty, were safe and would arrive at a time it named, and they came at that time. ⁹ These and similar reports are transmitted with their chains in al-Zuhd; the museum relates them without asserting them.