If you have no shame, then do as you please

If you have no shame, then do as you please

One of the children of Al-Qa’nabi is the narrator of this story:

A regular drinker of wine, my father used to keep company with disreputable young man. He one day invited them and then sat down in front of his door, waiting for them to arrive. While he was waiting, Shu’bah passed by on his donkey, and a number of people were racing behind him in order to keep up with him.

“Who is that?” asked Al-Qa’nabi.

“Shu’bah”, answered someone who was seated nearby. “anwhat is a Sho’bah?” asked Al-Qanabi derisively. “a scholar of Hadith” was the reply. This explained why so many people were following Shu’bah, for they were probably his students. “Al-Qa’nabi, who was wearing an indecent, red-colored lower garment”, said Al-Qa’nabi, in a peremptory and somewhat disdainful manner.

“you are not one of the people of hadith, so I do not feel obligated to relate a narration to you,” said Shu’bah. Al-Qa’nabi, who had probably just imbibed a few drinks, too out a knife and pointed in menacingly at Shu’bah.

“you will report to me a narration or I will injure you” said Al-Qa’nabi.

“Mansur repoeted to us”, began As-Shu’bah, “from Rib’I from Abu Masu’ud, who said the prophet of Allah said: “if you have no shame, then do as you please” (one meaning of this narration might be: one who has no shame is one who does as he please, but he will certainly face the consequences of his actions.)

Tossing the knife onto the ground, Al-Qa’nabi went inside. Not wanting the implications of the aforementioned hadith to apply to him, he took all of the wine bottles he had and emptied them onto the floor. The than said to his mother, “My companions will soon arrive. When they come, admit them inside and offer them food. When they are finished eating, tell them what I did with the alcohol, so that they will than leave.” As for himself, Al-Qa’nabi immediately left for Al-Madinah, where he spent the following years of his life as a student of Imam Malik bin Anas- may Allah have mercy on him. He eventually had the honor of reporting Hadith narrations from the Imam