تُسمّى سوق نصر الصغير في بغداد باسم أبيه. وكان جدّه مالك بن الهيثم من قادة حركة الثورة العباسية. أما ابن نصر نفسه فكان رجلاً تقيّاً ورعاً يدعو غيره إلى فعل الخير. سمع الحديث من مالك بن أنس، وحمّاد بن زيد، وهُشيم، وغيرهم.
The Little Market of Naṣr in Baghdad is named after his father. His grandfather, Mālik ibn al-Haytham, was one of the leaders of the Abbasid revolutionary movement. Ibn Naṣr himself was a man of piety and rectitude who called upon others to do right. He heard Hadith from Mālik ibn Anas, Ḥammād ibn Zayd, and Hushaym, among others.
روى عنه يحيى بن معين وغيره. 7812
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and others transmitted on his authority. 78.12
قيل لابن نصر إنه يطلب الخلافة، ولكن لما قُبض عليه وأُحضر أمام الواثق، قال له: «لا عليك مما قُبض عليك لأجله.
Ibn Naṣr was accused of seeking the caliphate, but when he was arrested and brought before al-Wāthiq, the latter said, “Never mind what you were arrested for.
"ماذا تقول عن القرآن؟" 78.13
What do you have to say about the Qurʾan?” 78.13
قال ابن نصر: «هذا كلام الله».
“It’s the word of God,” said Ibn Naṣr.
"But is it a created thing?" "It's the word of God." "Well then: Can you see God on the Day of Resurrection?" "That's what the reports say." "Hah!" said al-Wāthiq. "You mean He'll be visible as if he were a finite object with a body?"
ثم دعا الواثق بالسيف والنطع. وبأمره أُجلس ابن نصر، وهو مقيّد بالأغلال، ثم وُضع حبل حول عنقه ومُدّ. وأخيرًا تقدّم الواثق نحوه وقطع رأسه. وبأمره أُرسل الرأس المقطوع إلى بغداد، فعُرض عدة أيام في الجانب الشرقي، ثم في الجانب الغربي.
“But is it a created thing?” “It’s the word of God.” “Well then: Can you see God on the Day of Resurrection?” “That’s what the reports say.” “Hah!” said al-Wāthiq. “You mean He’ll be visible as if he were a finite object with a body?” Al-Wāthiq then called for the sword and the leather mat. At his command, Ibn Naṣr, still in chains, was sat upon. Next a rope was put around his neck and he was stretched out. Finally al-Wāthiq marched up to him and hacked off his head. At his command, the severed head was sent to Baghdad and displayed for several days on the East Side and then on the West.
[المروذي:] عند ذكر أحمد بن نصر، سمعتُ أحمد بن حنبل يقول: «رحمه الله! ما أكرمه، بذل نفسه!» 78.14
[Al-Marrūdhī:] At the mention of Aḥmad ibn Naṣr, I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say, “God have mercy on him! How generous he was: he gave up his life!” 78.14
[إسماعیل بن خلف:] كان أحمد بن نصر صديقي. ولما قتلته المحنة وعُلِّق رأسه، سمعتُ أن الرأس كان يتلو القرآن. فذهبتُ وبتُّ في موضع يُشرف على الرأس، وكان يحرسه رجال على الخيل ورجال على الأقدام. فما إن نام الجميع حتى سمعتُ الرأس يتلو: ﴿أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ﴾. فلما سمعتُ ذلك ارتعدتُ. 78.15
[Ismāʿīl ibn Khalaf:] Aḥmad ibn Naṣr was my friend. After the Inquisition killed him and displayed his head, I heard that the head was reciting the Qurʾan. So I went and spent the night in a spot overlooking the head, which was guarded by men on horse and men on foot. As soon as everyone had dozed off, I heard the head reciting «Do people think that once they say, “We believe,” they will be left alone and not be put to the test?»468 When I heard it, I shuddered. 78.15
ثم رأيته بعد ذلك في المنام، وعليه ثياب من الحرير الفاخر والديباج الثقيل، وعلى رأسه تاج. فقلت له: "أخي، كيف كان حالك؟" فقال: "غفر الله لي وأدخلني الجنة، لكنني قضيت قبل ذلك ثلاثة أيام في شقاء." فقلت: "لماذا؟" قال: "جاءني رسول الله ﷺ يزورني، فلما مرّ بالخشبة التي كان فيها رأسي أعرض بوجهه عني. فسألته أخيرًا: هل قُتلتُ من أجل الحق أم من أجل الباطل؟"
Later I dreamed of seeing him draped in fine silk and heavy brocade469 with a crown on his head. “Brother,” I asked him, “how have you fared?” “God has forgiven me,” he answered, “and admitted me to the Garden. But I did spend three unhappy days first.” “Why?” “The Emissary of God came to visit me, but when he passed the stake where my head was he averted his eyes. Finally I asked him whether I had died for the truth or for a falsehood.
“للحق”، قال، “لكن أحد أفراد عائلتي هو الذي قتلك، ولذلك كلما مررتُ بك أشعر بالخجل.” [إبراهيم بن الحسن:] في الليلة التي قُتل فيها أحمد بن نصر، رآه أحد أصحابي في المنام، فسأله كيف حكم الله عليه. 78.16
“‘For truth,’ he said. ‘But it was a member of my family who killed you, so whenever I pass you I feel ashamed.’” [Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥasan:] The night after Aḥmad ibn Naṣr was killed, one of my associates saw him in a dream. He asked him how God had judged him. 78.16
«لقد شعرتُ كأنني غفوتُ لحظة»، أجاب، «ثم رأيتُ اللهَ يبتسم لي». يروي الخطيب: بقي رأسُ ابنِ نصرٍ معروضًا في بغداد، وجسدُهُ مصلوبًا في سامراء، ست سنين، ثم أُنزلت بقاياه أخيرًا. أُعيد الرأسُ والجسدُ معًا في شوال سنة سبع وثلاثين [851–852م]، ودُفنا في المالكية، وهي مقبرةٌ في الجانب الشرقي. 78.17
“It felt as if I had dozed off for a moment,” he replied, “and then I saw God smiling at me.” Al-Khaṭīb reports: Ibn Naṣr’s head remained on display in Baghdad, and his body crucified in Samarra, for six years before his remains were finally taken down. The head and body were brought back together in Shawwāl of ’37 [851–52] and buried in al-Mālikiyyah, a cemetery on the East Side. 78.17
من بين الذين اعتُقلوا أثناء محنة التفتيش الحارث بن مسكين، أبو عمرو المصري. 78.18
Those arrested during the Inquisition include al-Ḥārith ibn Miskīn, Abū ʿAmr al- Miṣrī. 78.18
سمع الحديثَ من سفيانَ بنِ عيينةَ وغيرِه، وقلّدَ مالكًا في أحكامِ الشريعةِ. وكان ثقةً في نقلِ الحديثِ. وفي زمنِ المحنةِ، أُخذَ إلى بغدادَ بأمرِ المأمونِ، فسجنَه حينما امتنعَ عن القولِ بخلقِ القرآنِ. وبقيَ في السجنِ حتى تولّى المتوكلُ الخلافةَ، فأطلقَ جميعَ المعتقلين.
He heard reports from Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah and others, and followed Mālik in his judgments of the Law. He was a reliable transmitter of Ḥadith. During the Inquisition, he was taken to Baghdad by order of al-Maʾmūn, who jailed him when he refused to espouse the creed of the created Qurʾan. He remained in jail until the accession of al- Mutawakkil, who released all the detainees.
وكان من ضحايا المحنة أيضاً عبد الأعلى بن مشير، أبو مشير، الدمشقي الغساني، الذي أُرسل إلى المأمون في الرقة. 78.19
Another victim of the Inquisition was ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Mushir, Abū Mushir, al- Dimashqī l-Ghassānī, who was sent to al-Maʾmūn in al-Raqqah. 78.19
[محمد بن سعد:] أُرسل أبو مُشير الغسّانی من دمشق إلى الرقّة للقاء عبد الله [المأمون] بن هارون، فسأله عن القرآن.
[Muḥammad ibn Saʿd:] Abū Mushir al-Ghassānī was sent from Damascus to al- Raqqah to meet with ʿAbd Allāh [al-Maʾmūn] ibn Hārūn, who asked him about the Qurʾan.
قَالَ: «إِنَّهُ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ»، وَامْتَنَعَ عَنْ أَنْ يَقُولَ إِنَّهُ مَخْلُوقٌ.
“It’s the speech of God,” he said, refusing to say it was created.
دعا المأمون بالسيف والنِّطع. ولما رأى أبو مُشِير أنه سيُقتل، قال: «هو مخلوق!» فعفا عنه المأمون، لكنه قال: «لو قلتَ ذلك قبل أن أدعو بالسيف لأرسلتك إلى أهلك، أما الآن فإن تركتك فستقول إنك أُكرهت. خذوه إلى بغداد واحبسوه حتى يموت!» فأُرسل أبو مُشِير من الرَّقَّة إلى بغداد في ربيع الآخر سنة ٢١٨
Al-Maʾmūn called for the sword and the mat. Seeing that he was going to be beheaded, Abū Mushir said, “It’s created!” Al-Maʾmūn spared his life but said, “If you had said that before I called for the sword, I would have sent you back home to your family. But if I let you go now you’ll say you were coerced. Take him to Baghdad and lock him up until he dies!” Abū Mushir was accordingly sent from al-Raqqah to Baghdad in Rabīʿ II 218
[أبريل–مايو 833م]، وبقي في السجن وقتاً قصيراً قبل أن يتوفى في اليوم الأول من رجب ’18 [23 يوليو 833م]. وشهد كثيرٌ من أهل بغداد نقلَ جثمانه للدفن.
[April–May 833], and remained in jail only a short time before he died on the first day of Rajab ’18 [July 23, 833]. A great many people in Baghdad witnessed the removal of his body for burial.
[المؤلف:] من بين الذين أبَوا الاستسلام، أُهمِل بعضهم أو تُجوهِل أمرهم، وزُجَّ بآخرين في السجون فنُسوا. ولم يحظَ أحدٌ بالاهتمام كما حظي أحمد بن حنبل، وهو رجلٌ ذو مكانة، وكانت قصته مما يُذكر بالإعجاب. 78.20
[The author:] Of those who refused to capitulate, some were overlooked or ignored while others were imprisoned and forgotten. None received as much attention as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, a man of standing whose story was especially memorable. 78.20