Shaikh Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ was one of the seven most famous jurists in Madinah, being the most knowledgeable among them. When he approached death it is related that the Kabah said, “O Qasim! I am going to miss you and I am not going to see you again in this dunya.” Then the Kabah made five hundred circumambulations around Qasim out of respect for him.
Shaikh Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu
Bakr as-Siddiq
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
descended from Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ on his father’s side
and from Ali ibn Abi Talib
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
on his mother’s side. He was the grandson
of the first Caliph Abu Bakr
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
, and the son of Muhammad ibn Abi Bak
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
, one of Ali's
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ earliest supporters.
He was born on a Thursday, in the holy month of Ramadan.
In his time he was known in Madina as Abu
Muhammad. People came to listen to his guidance, his lectures (suhbah)
and his disclosures of the hidden meanings of the Quran. Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
was one of the seven most famous jurists in Madinah, being
the most knowledgeable among them. It was through these seven great Imams that
the Traditions, early jurisprudence, and Quranic commentaries were disseminated
to the people.
He was a pious imam and was very knowledgeable
in the narration of the Traditions. Abu Zannad
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
said, “I never saw anyone
better than him in following the Sunnah of the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم. In our time no
one is considered perfect until he is perfect in following the Sunnah of
the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم and Qasim is one of the perfected men.”
Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Zannad
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
said that
his father said, “I did not see anyone who knew the Sunnah better than
al-Qasim.”
Abu Nuaym رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ said of him in his book Hilyat al-Awliya: “He was able to extract the deepest juristic rulings and he was supreme in manners and ethics.”
Imam Malik narrated that Umar ibn Abd
al-Aziz
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
, considered the fifth rightly-guided caliph, said, “If it were
in my hands, I would have made al-Qasim (as) the caliph in my time.”
Sufyan
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
said, “Some people came to al-Qasim
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
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
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
said, “We never found, in
our time in Madinah, anyone better than al-Qasim.” Ayyub as-Saqityani
رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ
said, “I have not seen anyone better than Imam Qasim. He left 100,000 dinars
behind for the poor when he passed away, and it was all from his lawful
earnings.”
He left and went to al-Qudayd, a place
between Makkah and Madinah on the 9th of Muharram, where he passed on to the
next life. The year was 108 (or 109) AH/726 CE, and He was seventy years old at the time of his passing.