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"My brother, will you keep a secret for me until the day I die?"

Quranmushaf8His Name: al-Yaman al-Aswad
Kunyah: Abu Mu'awiyah
Status: Later generations
Location: Tarsus (located between present-day Syria and Turkey)

He is Abu Mu'awiyah bin al-Aswad, from the greatest of the awliyaa' (allies, friends) of Allah. He was a companion of the great scholars Sufyaan ath-Thawri, Ibrahim al-Adham, and others.

Abu az-Zahiriyyah narrated:

"I went to Tarsus, I met Abu Mu'awiyah al-Aswad after he had become blind. In his house, I saw a Mushaf hanging from the wall and so I asked him, "May Allah have Mercy on you! A Mushaf when you cannot even see?"

He replied,

"My brother, will you keep a secret for me until the day I die?"

I replied: "Yes." He then said to me:

"Indeed, when I want to read from the Qur'an, my eyesight comes back to me."

Abu Hamzah Nasir bin al-Faraj al-Aslami - and he was a servant of Abu Mu'awiyah al-Aswad - narrates something similar:

"Abu Mu'awiyah had lost his eyesight. If he wanted to read from the Qur'an, he would search around the room for the Mushaf until he would find it. As soon as he would open it, Allah would return his eyesight to him. As soon as he closed it, his eyesight would leave him." 


Source: Gems from 'Sifat us-Safwah' (The Characteristics of the Most Excellent) by Imam Ibn al-Jawzi. His story is also featured in 'Siyar A'lam an-Nubala'' [8/43]

 

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