Every society, community and family needs some intelligent, level-headed people that can help that group solve their problems, find solutions and use their minds in a creative way. One of the people who was extremely gifted in this was a man by the name of Iyas ibn Mu’awiyah al-Muzani. From a very young age, his intelligence became known and prominent. When he used to go to school, he had non-Muslim teachers as well. One day, that teacher had invited some of his friends and having a chat. During this discussion, they said, “These Muslims say some weird things. They say that when you enter paradise, you will never have to use the bathroom, but you can eat and drink all you want. How does this make sense?” They were having a discussion amongst themselves, and this young boy, Iyas, was doing his work. He overheard them and told the teacher, “May I say something?” He was given permission and said, “I heard your discussion. I would like to ask you a question; is all the food that you eat passed out when you use the bathroom?” They replied, “No.” He said, “What happens to the food that is not passed out?” They replied, “It is used in your body.” He then said, “If Allah (SWT) can utilize some of the food in your body, is he not capable of utilizing all of the food in your body?” They did not have an answer for this and agreed on what he said.
From that age, they could see that this child was gifted and had a great mind. This is exactly what Umar ibn Abdul-Azeez was thinking when he became the ruler of the Muslim world. He called one of his governors, Ali ibn Artah, who was the governor of Basra, and said, “Basra needs a good judge. Here are two people – speak to both of them and make one of them the head judge of Basra.” The governor called Iyas and another whose name was Qasim ibn Rabiyyah. He said, “I would like to make one of you a judge of our courts.” Both of them said that the other was more eligible, even though being a judge was a position of great honor and influence and wealth. Neither of them wanted to accept this because neither of them wanted to answer in front of Allah (SWT) in his court. Iyas said, “I have an idea to make your job easier. Why not ask two senior people of Basra? They will tell you how eligible Qasim is for this job.” He took the names of two other elders on purpose because he was not known by them, but Qasim was very close to them. When Qasim saw this, he knew what Iyas was doing. He took an oath, saying, “I swear to Allah (SWT), Iyas is more eligible than me for this task.” When the governor heard his oath, he said to Iyas, “He has taken an oath. He cannot be lying.” Iyas found himself cornered, but he knew how to get out. He said, “It is like this – you have taken a man and put him to the edge of Jahannam. A man in that position will say anything to be saved from that pit, and if he has to take a false oath, he will. He will say to himself, ‘I will make Istighfar later, but if I make a mistake as a judge, there is no way to come back from it.’ He used this oath to escape from this position.” The governor is listening to this debate going on between them and says to Iyas, “If you are clever enough to figure out what he just did, you are the most eligible person to figure out what he just did. You are now the judge.” Iyas was appointed as judge and ruled with fairness and a very high level of cleverness. This is very important for us because sometimes, Allah (SWT) has given us the mind but we do not use it creatively and we think in a narrow scope with tunnel vision and we do not see things that are actually there. This is why we have trouble in our religious subjects and life. We are not thinking enough. These people taught us how to think well.
One case came to Iyas where a good, practicing and pious man said that there was a specific person who was a very pious man and people had started depositing their possessions and treasures with him because they trust him. He did the same thing. If someone were to travel out of town, they would deposit their valuables with this man. If someone was afraid if their wealth was not safe, they would give it to this man. This particular person did the same and deposited a large amount of gold with this person, and when he went to get it from him, he was met with confusion and was refused the deposit. The judge asked him, “Do you have any witnesses?” He replied, “I cannot think of any witnesses. There were some, I am sure, but I cannot think of any witnesses.” Iyas said, “For now, go home. I will call you back tomorrow.” He called that man who people were depositing their valuables to. He said, “I have something private to share with you. I have come into possession with a great deal of gold belonging to orphans and I need to place it somewhere safe. I have heard about your reputation for safekeeping and I want to deposit this with you. Is this okay with you?” He replied, “No problem. I will do anything for you. I am happy to help people out.” Iyas said, “The day after tomorrow, I would like you to come and bring two men. Meet me at this certain place and I will give it over to you.” He replied, “Happily.” He goes back and the next day, Iyas has called the person who had made the claim and said, “I want you to go to him today and ask him for your money. If he does not give you the money, tell him that you will come to me and complain and you will tell me what he has done.” The man went to him and was greeted with the same story as before. The man told him about what he will do if he does not give him what he is due and the man knew that Iyas would give him a lot of gold. If he were to go and tell Iyas, it would be very problematic. The man said, “I will give it you. Please don’t say anything to anyone.” He gave him all of his gold and a little bit extra and said, “Be happy and okay now.” This man came right back to Iyas and said, “Alhamdulillah, the moment I took up your name, he was frightened.” Iyas then had that man called and said, “I know what you have been up to. If you do not return everyone’s gold and valuables to them right now, you will be severely punished.” The man coughed up all of the money and gave it.
Iyas was a very intelligent man. We could go on for a very long time talking about the intelligence of Iyas al-Muzani, but the big lesson here is that Allah (SWT) has given us good minds and we must apply these minds in good things. Sometimes, all our cleverness and intelligence is used in useless pursuits or getting in trouble or finding new ways of getting in trouble. May Allah (SWT) grant us the ability to use our intelligence to get closer to him.
