‘And this is how the Donkey of Knowledge Slipped into Mud’

“And from this is the saying of Imām ‘Abdullah ibn al Mubārak regarding Ismā’īl ibn al ‘Ulayyah – may Allāh have Mercy upon them both – when he accepted a post of receiving sadaqah near (Harūn) Ar-Rashīd, where he (Ibn al Mubārak) wrote to him (ibn ‘Ulayyah) saying:


يا جاعل العلم له بازيا يصطاد أموال المساكين

“O who makes knowledge for him as a play
And hunts the wealth of Masākīn

احتلت للدنيا ولذاتها بحيلة تذهب بالدين

You have deceived (to gain) dunyā and its pleasures
With such a deceivement that snatches the religion

فصرت مجنونا بها بعدما كنت دواء للمجانين

Thus you became a mad man with it
After you were a cure to madmen

أين رواياتك فيما مضى عن ابن عون وابن سيرين

Where are your narrations which were in the past
From ibn ‘Awn and ibn Sīrīn

ودرسك العلم بآثاره في ترك أبواب السلاطين


And (where is) your teaching of knowledge and narrations
With regards to the leaving of the doors of the Kings

تقول أكرهت فماذا كذا زل حمار العلم في الطين

And you say “I have been coerced, thus why?”
And this is how the donkey of knowledge slipped in mud

لا تبع الدين بالدنيا كما يفعل ضلال الرهابين

And do not sell your religion in return of the dunyā
As some misguided Monks do.”