Al-Fozail ibn Iyaz

Al-Fuḍayl ibn ‘Iyāḍ ibn Bishr ibn Masūd Abū ‘Alī at-Tamīmī al-Yarbū‘ī al-Khurāsānī الفضيل بن عياض بن مسعود بن بشر أبو على التميمي اليربوعي الخراساني
Died	03 Rabi ul Awwal 803 H Mecca
Venerated in	Islam
Major shrine	Bagdhad
Influenced	Ibrahim ibn Adham

Al-Fuḍayl ibn ‘Iyāḍ (died 803 / AH 187, الفضيل بن عياض, full name Al-Fuḍayl ibn ‘Iyāḍ ibn Bishr ibn Masūd Abū ‘Alī at-Tamīmī al-Yarbū‘ī al-Khurāsānī, was also known as Abu Ali and as al-Talaqani) was a thief who renounced his crimes and became a Muslim ascetic.

It is not uncommon to find his story confused with that of Fuḍayl Ibn Yahya, a contemporary who was the vizier to Harun al-Rashid.

A number of birthplaces have been attributed to Fuḍayl, including Samarkand, Merv, Mosul and Balkh; meaning he could be identified as a Turkomen, Iraqi , Azeri etc.

Prior to his conversion, Fuḍayl led a group of bandits, or highwayman, in Syria and Khorasan, raiding caravans and robbing travelers. Even during this time, he was a Muslim, keeping his five daily salat prayers, fasting as required and forbidding his men to uncover any women found among the victims. During this time, he was deeply in love with a woman, and would often send her tokens from his stolen treasures.

One story of his banditry has a rich merchant, fearful of running into bandits, mistake Fuḍayl for an honest man and ask him to hide the majority of his wealth lest bandits find him. As the merchant continued on his way, he was robbed of his remaining wealth by Fuḍayl's men. When the merchant returned to Fuḍayl to recover the majority of his wealth, he was dismayed to find the bandits who had robbed him there surrounding the man he had trusted; however Fuḍayl indicated that he was a god-fearing man, and would not betray his trust, therefore motioning the merchant to reclaim the wealth he had left in trust with him.

Fuḍayl was climbing a wall simply watching a passing caravan; when Fuḍayl heard someone reciting the Quranic chapter of Al-Hadid, and when he heard 57:16, which reads "Has not the Time arrived for the Believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the Truth which has been revealed (to them), and that they should not become like those to whom was given Revelation aforetime, but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard? For many among them are rebellious transgressors", he realised that he was a hypocrite to claim both submission to God, and banditry.

...
Wikipedia