Qaffol ash-shoshiy faqih va

The Scientist who was not afraid of the
wrath of the Emperor
Mavlana Muhammad Qazi’s “ Silsilat al-Arifin” contains an 
interesting narration about Imam Shashi:
“It is said that Sheikh Abu Bakr Muhammad Kaffal was on the side 
of Baghdad during one of his years in Gaza and fought with the Romans. 
In this battle, the Baghdadians were defeated and many, including the 
Sheikh, were taken prisoner by the Romans. The Roman sultan, who had 
examined the captives, said to the Sheikh:
“You don’t look like a Baghdadians. Honestly, where are you from?
“I’m from Shash”.
The Roman sultan said:
“Aren’t you the one who wrote a nice reply to my letter in Hebrew?”
The Sheikh said:
“It’s the same” .
The Roman sultan said to the Sheikh:
“Translate the Bible into Arabic for us! If you do this, I will release 
you and the other captives and give you many gifts” .
The Sheikh said:
“Very good. My only condition is that you bring me a copy of the 
Bible as it was sent from Allah, and I will translate it into Arabic. But the 
Bible that you have now is an edited copy. I will not translate this copy into 
Arabic.
When the Roman sultan heard this, he became angry and said:
“If you don’t translate, I’ll kill you and the other captives ”.
The sheikh said:

---

‘Do whatever you want, but I will only translate the Bible from Allah 
into Arabic”.
Finally, the Roman sultan consulted with the scolars and elders of the 
country. They agreed to fulfill the conditions of the Sheikh, saying:
“Well, we’ll deliver the copy you said, translate it, b ut w e’ll turn our 
blind eyes to the hymns to Muhammad in it ...”
Eventually, the Sheikh thanking Allah for His grace, hastened to 
translate the Bible into Arabic ...
When the Bible was translated into Arabic, the Roman sultan gave 
many gifts to the Sheikh, freed other captives and sent them back to their 
homeland” 15.
A very exemplary narration. Reading this narration, we can conclude 
that Imam Shashi was not only a brilliant scholar, but also a fearless and 
courageous man. Despite the Byzantine emperor threatening him with the 
death penalty, our great ancestor did not put his life ahead of his faith. He 
demanded that the emperor translate the divine words, that is, the Bible, 
only as it was sent down from Allah. It was definitely a courageous act that 
happened at that time and in that situation.