*** The Repentance Of Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad, The Thief And Highway Robber ***

Here follows the incident concerning the repentance al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad rahimahullah, who made a complete turn from being a thief and highway robber to an ascetic person, an ardent worshiper of Allah, and then to a great scholar of Hadith and a person who invited towards Allah through his ways and his speech. All this happened when he heard the Qur’an with his heart and his intellect. He then turned to Allah with a true and sincere repentance .


Al-Hafiz lbn Hajar says the following under his biography: “He is the ascetic and ardent worshiper of Allah. Fudayl ibn lyad at-Tamimi al-Yarbut al-Khurasani and then al-Makki. He passed away in 187 A.H. May Allah shower His mercy on him.”

“Abu ‘Ammar al-Husayn ibn Hurayth, a student of al Fudayl, says: ‘I heard al-Fadl ibn Musa saying: al-Fudayl ibn Iyad was a thief, a highway robber between the towns of Abiward and Sarakhs. The reason for his repentance was that he fell in love with a young woman. While he was climbing the wall to her house, he heard someone reciting the following verse :

“Has the time not come for the believers that their hearts submit to the remembrance of Allah?” (Surah al-HadId, 57: 16)

When he heard these words, he said: ‘Indeed, my Sustainer. The time has come.’

So he went away from there. The night forced him to seek refuge in a ruined building. When he entered it, he saw a group of travelers standing inside. He overheard one of them saying: ‘Let’s depart now.’ Another replied: ‘We should rather wait till morning because Fudayl will be lying in wait on the road in order to rob us.’

Fudayl says: ‘I thought to my self and said: ‘I am spending the nights in committing sins while a group of Muslims are fearing me here. I think that the only reason Allah sent me to them was so that I may tremble [in fear of Him]. "O Allah! I turn in repentance to You. My repentance is that I will live in the neighborhood of the Sacred House (the Ka’bah).’

He then moved to Makkah, settled down their and lived in it’s neighborhood till he passed away there".

“lbrahim ibn al-Ash’ath, the servant of al-Fudayl, said "I have not seen anyone apart from al-Fudayl in whose heart Allah was the greatest. When Allah was mentioned before him, or if he heard the Qur’an, fear and grief would become apparent on him, his eyes would shed tears and he would cry to such an extent that those who were sitting near him would feel sorry for him.’

Rabah ibn Khãlid said: “Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said to me: ‘When I look at al-Fudayl, my grief is renewed and I detest my self.’ He then began crying.”