I heard that this is based on a letter written by 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak to his friend. Is this true?
lol, sister don't get me wrong I know it means the harems [the sacred masjidain i.e. Masjid ul harem and Masjidun Nabawi]...And not the other haraam
Yes. It was written to Fudail bin Ayyaz in 177 hijrah.
But who is 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak?
"Yaa `aabid al-haramayni, law abSartanaa; la`llimta annaka bi-l `ibaadati tal`abu; Man yakhdubu khaddahu bi dumu'ihi; Fa nuhuruna bi l-dima'i tatakhaddabu ..."
This Nasheed is mentioned in Imaam ath-Thahabi's "Siyar al-A`laam al-Nubalaa'":
"Narrated by al-KhaaTib ibn `Asaakir, on the authority of Muhammad bin Ibraaheem bin Abee Sakeenah who said: 'Abdullaah ibn al-Mubaarak recited these couplets to us in Tarsus and recited them to FuDayl bin `EeyaaD.' This was in the year 170 (Hijri)."
Tarsus is "Tarsoos" in Arabic. Back then it was Byzantine Anatolia, or Greece, which the Muslims called "ar-Room". Today it is in modern day Turkey.
This is also found in Tafseer ibn Katheer at the end of the interpretation of Surah Aal `Imraan from ibn `Asaakir instead of Abdullaah bin Muhammad QaaDee.
`Abdullaah ibn al-Mubaarak (raHimahumullaah) was a Tabi`ee originally from what was called Khorasan in the time of the Prophet (Sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). Today it includes parts of Iran and Afghanistan. He was of mixed Turkic and Persian background. He was considered the greatest of the Taabi`een in his time and Imaam ath-Thahabi as well as Imaam ibn Hajar have called him "The Master of the Scholars and Imaams of his time". He was, like all the great examples of the Salaf and those on their creed such as ibn Taymiyyah, a "Warrior Scholar". A man of knowledge who never ceased from the battlefield and traveled all over the world for the sake of Allaah.
In Imam ath-Thahabi's Siyar al-A`laam an-Nubalaa' it is said about Abdullaah ibn al-Mubaarak: "FuDayl, Sufyaan and the Mashaykh were sitting in the Masjid al-Haraam then approached ibn al-Mubaarak. Upon that Sufyaan said, 'There is a man (of knowledge) from the People of the East'. To that FuDayl replied, 'There is a man from the People of the East, and the West, and everything in between!'"
When he died, Haroon ar-Rasheed the Abbasid Caliph remarked, "The Master of the Scholars has died!" (Siyar al-A`laam)
The Nasheed is also found in the Tareekh Damashq (History of Damascus) of Ibn `Asaakir.
[snip]
From the tafseer of Ibn Katheer:
Al-Hafiz ibn `Asakir mentioned in the biography of `Abdullah bin al-Mubarak, that Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Abi Sakinah said,
"While in the area of Tarsus, `Abdullah bin al-Mubarak dictated this poem to me when I was greeting him goodbye. He sent the poem with me to al-FuDayl bin`Iyad in the year 170, 'O ye who worships in the vicinity of the Two Holy Masjids! If you but see us, you will realise that you are only jesting in worship. He who brings wetness to his cheek with his tears should know that our necks are being wet by our blood. He who tires his horses without purpose, now that our horses are getting tired in battle. Scent of perfume is yours, while ours is the glimmer of spears and the stench of dust [in battle]. We were narrated about in the speech of our Prophet, an authentic statement that never lies. That the dust that erupts by Allah's horses and which fills the nostrils of a man shall never be combined with the smoke of a raging Fire. This, the Book of Allah speaks among us that the martyr is not dead, and the truth in Allah's book cannot be denied.'
JazakAllah^
But who is 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak?
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