Al Aziziyah, Saudi Arabia
Coordinates: 32.518972, 36.482842
Hz. Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr رحمة الله عليه was an important jurist in early Islam. He is considered the fourth in the Naqshbandi Golden Chain of Sufi masters.
Naqshbandis also consider him to have passed the chain to his maternal grandson Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq رضي الله عنه.
He was a pious imam and was very knowledgeable in the narration of the Traditions. Abu Zannad said, “I never saw anyone better than him in following the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. In our time no one is considered perfect until he is perfect in following the Sunnah of the Prophet and Qasim is one of the perfected men.”
He learned hadith and fiqh from his aunt and from Hz. Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه. He was a transmitter of hadith and criticised the use of a hadith if its text was put before the Quran and established Sunnah.
He was among The Seven Fuqaha of Medinah sharif who were largely responsible for the transmission of knowledge from Medina and were the source of much of the information of Islam and the Sunnah available today.
Imam Malik رضي الله عنه narrated that Hz. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz رضي الله عنه, considered the sixth rightly-guided caliph (after Hz. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, Hz. Umar رضي الله عنه, Hz. Uthman رضي الله عنه, Hz. Ali رضي الله عنه and Hz. Hasan رضي الله عنه) said, “If it were in my hands, I would have made al-Qasim رحمة الله عليه the caliph in my time.”
Sufyan said, “Some people came to al-Qasim رحمة الله عليه with charity which he distributed. After he distributed it, he went to pray. While he was praying, the people began to speak negatively about him. His son said to them, “You are speaking behind the back of a man who distributed your charity and did not take one dirham from it for himself.” Quickly his father scolded him saying, Do not speak, but keep quiet.” He wanted to teach his son not to defend him, as his only desire was to please God. He had no concern for the opinion of people.
Yahya ibn Sayyid said, “We never found, in our time in Medinah sharif, anyone better than al-Qasim رحمة الله عليه.”
Ayyub as-Saqityani said, “I have not seen anyone better than Imam Qasim رحمة الله عليه. He left 100,000 dinars behind for the poor when he died, and it was all from his lawful earnings.”
