The phrase “An attribute I have known from Akhzam” is an old Arab proverb which is based on a true story of a man named Akhzam who was disobedient and rebellious to his father.

Later when Akhzam passed away, his children increased in harshness and disobedience to their grandfather, surpassing Akhzam himself. Until one day they beat their own grandfather, the grandfather then replied by saying:

إنَّ بَنِيَّ ضَرَّجُونِي بالدَّمِ *** شِنْشِنَةٌ أَعْرِفُهَا مِن أَخْزَمِ

Indeed My Children Have Imbrued me (with my own) Blood. A Characteristic I’ve Known From Akhzam.

Meaning, that which they were doing was not something new for the grandfather, rather it was an attribute inherited from the deceased Akhzam.

The Scholars use this famous proverb to illustrate to us that the Ḥizbīs have not brought something new with them, rather speaking ill of the Salafis is something the people of innovation and Ḥizbiyyah of old would practice.

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī mentioned: A sign of the people of innovation is their defamation of the people of narrations (Ahl al-Athar).¹

Endnotes:

1. ʿAqīdah al-Salaf wa Asḥāb al-Ḥadīth, pg.304
Translated by Munīb al-Ṣumālī