Defence of the hadith
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( 81 ) To Lie Against the Prophet Is a Major Sin: In his Ta’rikh, Ibn Asakir reports on the authority of Wathilah ibn al-Asqa’ as saying: “I heard the Messenger of Allah saying: When someone attributing to me something I never said, is counted among major sins. Under chapter of “Forbidding Narration of the Composed hadith” in Sharh Muslim, al-Nawawi says: “In prohibiting falsity against him (upon whom be God’s peace and benediction) there is no difference between that which is related to rules (ahkam) and that which is devoid of rule like temptation, intimidation, and counsels and other than these, which all being unlawful and among major sins and the most abominable vices as unanimously agreed by the most authentic Muslim scholars”…till he said: Men of resolution and determination have unanimously concurred on prohibiting falsity against common people, so how would be the case with that whose saying is legislation, speech is revelation (from God), and falsity against him is falsity against Allah the Most High. Degrees of the Companions:96 The Companions were not at one level in fiqh and knowledge, nor of equal degree in recognition and apprehension. But they were in diversified classes and dissimilar ranks, like all ordinary people throughout ages: “Such has been the way of Allah concerning His creation, and never shall thou find in the way of Allah any change.” In his Muqaddimah,97 Ibn Khaldun says: “The Companions in tot were not able to issue verdicts, nor religion was taken from them all. But this was specialty of the holders of the Qur’an, aware of its abrogating and abrogated (nasikh wa mansukh), and mutashabah and muhkam, with other indications, according to what they received from the Prophet (upon whom be God’s peace and benediction), or from whoever heard it (Qur’an) from them, the magnates among them. That is why they were called al-qurra’ (the reciters), due to their reciting of the Book, as the Arabs were illiterate, the fact 96. I have dedicated a separate chapter for reliability of the Sahabah. 97. Beirut Edition, p.446. ( 82 ) entailing that those known of reciting the Book were distinguished with this epithet, due to its (Book’s) being estranged among people and this state kept on to be as the prior matter in religion.” Muhammad ibn Sahl reports on the authority of Ibn Abi Khaythamah, from his father,98 as saying: Those who were responsible for issuing fatwa (verdict) during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, being three from among the Emigrants (Muhajiran): Umar, Uthman and Ali, and three from among the Helpers (Ansar): Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Mu’adh ibn Jabal and Zayd ibn Thabit. Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim reports from his father as saying: At any time any issue happening to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq needing consultation with sagacious people, he would summon some men from al-Muhajirun: Umar, Uthman and Ali and some from among the Ansar as Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Mu’adh ibn Jabal, Ubayy ibn Ka’b and Zayd ibn Thabit. All these men were able to issue verdicts in religious issues during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, who kept on this procedure for a time. And when Umar attained to power, he used to call in these men for consultation. In Sahih Muslim, Masruq is reported to have said: I followed up the news about the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, upon whom be God’s peace and benediction, and discovered that all their knowledge ended with six people: Umar, Ali, Abd Allah, Mu’adh,99 Abu al-Darda’ and Zayd ibn Thabit, and then nosed about the news of these six, finding their knowledge be originated from Ali and Abd Allah.100 In A‘lam al-muqi’in, Ibn al-Qayyim reports on the authority of Masruq that he said: I kept company with the Companions of Muhammad (upon whom be God’s peace and benediction), and they proved to be like ikhkhadhah101 (pool, pond), that quenching the (thirst of) equestrian and the passengers. And the pond at which if all the earth (people) stop, it would satisfy them, and Abd Allah is among that pond. Al-Bukhari and Muslim reported that the Prophet (S) said: The parable of guidance and knowledge cared by Allah is that of abundant rain 98. Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd, vol.IV, p.168. 99. According to a narration of Ibn al-Qayyim in his book A'lam al-muqi'in, Ubayy ibn Ka'b instead of Mu'adh. 100. He is Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud. 101. Ikhtisar is the pond. ( 83 ) falling on a land, that may be pure102 (fertile) receiving the water and growing much pasture and grass. Or it might be barren so as to retain water inside it, with which Allah benefiting people through drinking, watering and cultivating the land. The same rain Allah might send to other folk, who be like a low land that neither retaining water nor growing herbage. ‘Amir is reported to have said: The ‘ulama of this Ummah after its Prophet being six: Umar, Abd Allah and Zayd ibn Thabit, who when Umar uttering something and these two saying something, their words would be conforming and pursuant to his. And (they are) Ali, Ubayy ibn Ka’b and Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, who when Ali disclosing any utterance and they uttering something, their saying would be conforming to his. He said also: The judges of this Ummah are only four: Umar, Ali, Zayd and Abu Musa al-Ash’ari. And the sages of this Ummah are four: ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah and Ziyad. Divergence among Companions in Narrating Truthfully: Umar (ibn al-Khattab) believed in (truthfulness of) Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and said to him: You are the righteous and approved man to me. In expounding this report, al-Dhahabi said: Though the Companions of the Messenger of Allah be just, but the degree of this justice differs from one to another. The evidence for this can be clearly observed when Umar affirming his being content with Abd al-Rahman’s reporting, while telling Abu Musa al-Ash’ari when asking permission to enter upon him and narrate (hadith): Bring someone to testify and confirm your narration.103 Companions’ Reporting from Each Other and from the Followers: It is to be noted that not all the traditions reported from the Companions, which they narrated from the Messenger of Allah, and were 102. In another narration: a good section. All these reports can be found in Tabaqat Ibn Sa'd vol.II, pp.109, 110. 103. Siyar a'lam al-nubala' of al-Dhahabi, vol.I, p.48. Refer to p.58. ( 84 ) written down in books, have been heard by them from the Prophet orally, or taken from him through dictation, but they (Companions) were reporting from each other. It was common among them that when anyone having not heard hadith from the Prophet directly, he would take from that who heard it from him (S). When it comes to conveying it, he would never report it on the authority of that Companion from which he received it, but would attribute it directly to the Prophet without referring to the Companion’s name. This practice was due to the numerousness of the Messenger’s meetings, and their being held in different times and places, making it infeasible for all the Companions to attend each and every meeting by person, but some attending this meeting and some others that one. In his book al-Ihkam fi usul al-ahkam,104 al-Amudi reports that Ibn Abbas – due to his youth – has never heard from the Messenger of Allah but only four traditions. When reporting from the Messenger of Allah the hadith “Usury only occurs when buying on credit”, and that the Prophet kept on pronouncing talbiyah (during hajj) till pelting the Aqabah stone, he said – when inquired about it – regarding the first part: It is reported to me by Usamah ibn Zayd. And about the second report he said: I have been informed of it by my brother al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas. Further when Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (S) said: Whoever entered upon the morning in a state of ritual impurity (junub) during Month of Ramadan, his fasting is invalid”, he was questioned about its source. In reply he said: By the Lord of Ka’bah, it was not me who said it but it is uttered by Muhammad! Then he resumed by saying: It is reported to me by al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas.105 Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib is reported to have said: “You have to know that the traditions we are relating to you have not necessarily been heard from the Messenger of Allah, upon whom be God’s peace and benediction, but only some of them we have heard, and some others we are relating to our companions.” In regard of the Tabi’un, they used to transmit the reports106 (khabar mursal), the fact whose evidence can be seen in what is reported from al-A’mash 104. In vol.II, pp.178-180. In al-Wabil al-sayyib, Ibn al-Qayyim says: The traditions collected by Ibn Abbas, to be uttered by the Prophet (S) have not reached twenty in number. Ibn Mu'in, al-Qattan, and Abu Dawud in his Sunan say that he has reported only nine traditions, due to his youth ... but despite this fact, Ahamd has ascribed to him 1696 traditions in his Musnad. 105. There is an interesting story for this hadith, which can be seen in the biography of Abu Hurayrah which I published twice under the title Shaykh al-mudirah. 106. The mursal reporting of the hadith, is the riwayah in which no refrence is made to the name of the narrator who reported it from the Prophet (S). ( 85 ) as saying: I said to Ibrahim al-Nakha’i: When relating anything to me you should mention its sanad107 (chain of narrators). He said to him: When informing you: So and so reported to me from Abd Allah, it means he himself related to me. And when saying: I was told by Abd Allah, it indicates that some narrators reported to me from him. Thereafter al-Amudi is reported to have said: This habit remained so common among the Sahabah and Tabi’un with no one negating it, till rendering to a unanimity.108 At the time when the Companions were narrating from each other, they were also relating from the Tabi’un, the fact confirmed by hadith scholars in their books, to which whoever desiring can refer. Under the bab: “Riwayat al-Akabir ‘an al-Asaghir” (Narration of the magnates from the juniors) Ibn al-Salah and others are reported to have said: Ibn Abbas, the three Abds and Abu Hurayrah and others used to report from Ka’b al-Ahbar – the Jew who deceptively embraced Islam – during the caliphate of Umar, counting him among the leading Tabi`un, making him then a master over Muslims. In his Alfiyyah,109 al-Suyuti says: Seniors have been reporting from juniors, In age or in knowledge and rank, From him Companions take from Followers, A follower receiving from follower of followers, Like the erudite taking from Ka’b and al-Zuhri, Reporting from Malik and Yahya al-Ansari Al-Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (may God’s mercy be upon him), in expounding this Alfiyyah, says: Classified under this type is the Companions’ narrating from the Followers, as in the case of reporting of the erudite Abd Allah ibn Abbas and other Abds, Abu Hurayrah, Mu’awiyah and Anas and others from Ka’b al-Ahbar! But it is worth mentioning that the Companions – as we previously exposed – when reporting from their brethren or followers, were never 107. The musnad tradition is that one whose sanad (chain of transmitters) continues succesively till its last narrator. The Followers used to adopt in this regard the method followed by the Companions in reporting traditions which they didn't hear from the Prophet directly, but took them from other Sahabah, whose name were not mentioned by those who took the ahadith from them. 108. In vol.II, p.178-180. 109. In p.237. ( 86 ) indicating that their traditions being received through the means of riwayah from others. Rather, they used to cite narrations during the occasions requiring citation of hadith, however lengthy be the time, without any reference to those from whom they heard these traditions, attributing them to the Prophet (S) directly. They kept on this process and practice till the occurrence of the sedition (fitnah), after which they would start to exclaim: Inform us the names of your rijal! (i.e. refer us to chain of narrators). Ibn Sirin is reported to have said: They were not inquiring about the isnad (chain of transmission), but as the fitnah110 took place they began to say: Tell us the names of your rijal. From him Muslim reports: People experienced an age where no one asking about the chain (isnad) of any hadith, but on the occurrence of the sedition, people embarked on inquiring about chain of hadith. From him too, in Sunan al-Tirmidhi it is reported: During the early time people would never inquire about the isnad! But as the fitnah erupted, they started to inquire. He added: A man would relate to me, and I would never suspect or accuse him (of lying), but I would suspect that who being superior to him, and higher in rank. The Followers used to narrate from the followers of the followers, the example for which can be found in the relation of al-Zuhri and Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Ansari from Malik who was their disciple. What is uncommon for the intelligent, as al-Suyuti said in his Alfiyyah – to see a Companion reporting a hadith from a follower, from another Companion. The example for this is the narration of al-Sa’ib ibn Yazid the Companion, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd al-Qari, the follower (Tabi’i), from Umar ibn al-Khattab, from the Prophet (S) that he said: “That who sleeps with neglecting a section (of the Qur’an) or a part of it, reading it in between dawn and noon prayers, it would be prescribed for him as if he had recited it during night.” This hadith is reported by Muslim in his book (Sahih), to which belongs the hadith “Not equal are those who sit (holding back)”. Al-Hafiz al-Iraqi has collected twenty traditions of the same kind of 110. The fitnah (sedition) exacerbated after elapse of several years of the caliphate of Uthman. In respect of this fitnah, I cite this report from al-Zuhri, who said: When Uthman assumed caliphate, he remained for twelve years as a ruler, during six of which no noe coluld harbour malice against him, beside his being dearer to Quraysh than Umar ibn al-Khattab! Because Uar was so stern in treating people, but when Uthman came to power he showed leniency to people and granted them donations, disregarding them after that, preffering his relatives and household during the second six years. He gave his orders to give Marwan the land-tax of Egypt, donating as much money as he liked to his kins, interpreting in this regard of his own, borrowing from the treasury a lot of funds saying: Abu Bakr and Umar did not take their share of these states, but I took and distributed them among my relatives! So people disapproved this of him (Tabaqat Ibn Sa'id, vol.II, p.34). Refer also to my book Shaykh al-mudirah, the chapter: "How was the Umayyad State Founded." ( 87 ) this. The Companions Criticizing Each Other: It was not satisfactory for the Companions to be stringent in accepting the reports from their brethren, as previously mentioned, but they exceeded the limits to the extent of criticizing and reviling each other. It was that Umar, Ali, Uthman, A’ishah and Ibn Abbas with other Companions used to scrutinize their brethren, raising doubt regarding some of the traditions they were reporting from the Messenger, giving back to them their narrations. Mahmud ibn al-Rabi’ – who was among those realizing the Messenger’s lifetime while being too young – reports that he heard Utban ibn Malik al-Ansari, who was present at the time of Battle of Badr, declaring that the Messenger of Allah said: Allah forbade Fire from afflicting whoever saying, “No god is there but Allah” seeking with it God’s sake only. The Messenger uttered this while being in the house of Utban who related it to some people among whom being Abu Ayyub – the Companion of the Messenger of Allah – but he (Abu Ayyub) denied my utterance, saying: By God I never think the Messenger of Allah to have said what you uttered! The Murji’ah111 (Postponers) have used this hadith and its alike as an evidence for their madhhab (school of thought). Further A’ishah refuted the hadith reported by Umar and his son that (the Prophet said): “The dead person is afflicted with torment out of his household’s lamentation over him,” and she said to them: You relate from truthful people, but hearing may err. By God, the Messenger of Allah has never said that Allah inflicts the believer with torment due to his family’s lamentation over him! And she added: The Qur’an is sufficient for you, when saying: “…and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another.” In another narration, when hearing Ibn Umar relating this hadith she said: It is not so! But he (Prophet) said that the dead is tormented because of 111. The Murji'ah was one of great Islamic parties, which held that: Guilt can never do harm beside faith, nor obedience can be of benefit when accompanying disbelief. ( 88 ) his guilt and sin, the reason for which his household are weeping over him.” Again in another occasion she said that he has not lied, but he has forgotten or erred, repeating his (Ibn Umar’s) words, that: Once upon a time the Messenger of Allah stood by al-Qulayb, where those killed in the Battle of Badr from among the polytheists were buried, exclaiming: “Verily they can hear what I am saying.” Saying then: It is not so, but what he actually said is that: Only now they realized that what I was telling them was the truth, and she recited the verses. “Lo! Thou canst not make the dead to hear (27:80)” and “Thou canst not reach those who are in the graves (35:22)” when they occupied their abode in Fire. Both the traditions are recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim and other books. A’ishah has also refuted the hadith in which it was claimed that the Prophet saw his Lord on the Ascension Night, that was reported by the two shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim) from ‘Amir ibn Masruq who said to A’ishah: O mother, has Muhammad actually seen his Lord? She said: I am shocked at these words! Haven’t you heard these three traditions saying that whoever related to you has lied.112 Whoever relating to you that Muhammad has seen his Lord has verily lied, reciting then: “…and knoweth not any soul what it shall earn tomorrow.” Then she resumed: And whoever relating to you that he (the Prophet) has concealed anything, has verily lied, reciting then: “O Messenger! Make known that which hath been revealed unto thee from thy Lord.” In Sahih Muslim, he (Ibn Masruq) said: I was reclining, and sat straightened then, saying (to A’ishah): Hasn’t Allah said: “And verily he saw him yet another time”? She said: I was the first one to question the Messenger of Allah about that saying: O Messenger of Allah, have you actually seen your Lord? He said: Never, but I saw Gabriel descending. In another narration, Abu Dharr inquired the Prophet about that (seeing his Lord), when he (S) said: I saw a light (nur)…I believe I saw a light.113 She has also disapproved the report of Ibn Umar and Abu Hurayrah that (the Prophet said): Ominousness verily lies in three things, and she said 112. In Sahih Muslim, the narration is thus: "... he has in fact done a great slander against God. The ahadith on sighting God amounted to thirty in number as stated by Ibn al-Qayyim in Hadi al-arwah, among them more than twenty one were marfu', not to refer to the mawquf ones and the athar. 113. In Fath al-Bari, Ibn Hajar says: Al-Qurtubi, in al-Mufhim, preponderated the idea of waqf in this issue attributing this to a group of researchers. This notion was supported by the fact that there was no clear-cut proof in this regard, and what he inferred for both the sects were only contradictory external aspects liable to interpretation. That is, the issue was not of the practical matters, when conjectual evidences be sufficient to prove it, but it being one of doctrines (mu'taqadat) the proving of which only definite proof is sufficient. ( 89 ) for elucidating this: The Messenger of Allah was in fact114 telling about the conditions of the pre-Islamic (Jahiliyyah) era, due to its (hadith’s) contradiction to the predetermined principle that: “Verily the authority resteth wholly with God.” (3:154). When coming to hear the hadith reported by Abu al-Darda’ that he (S) said: “Whoever enters upon the morning, his night prayers (watr) is invalid then,” she commented: Nay, Abu al-Darda’ did lie … the Prophet was performing watr prayers even after entering upon the morning. And when knowing that Ibn Umar said: The Messenger of Allah performed the short pilgrimage (umrah) in the Month of Rajab, she judged that he committed an inadvertence (sahw). In regard of Anas ibn Malik and Abu Sa’id al-Khudri she said: Anas and Abu Sa’id were not aware of (or able to comprehend) the hadith of the Messenger of Allah since they were two young lads (boys)! She used to reject and refute any hadith incongruous with the Qur’an, with conceiving the narration of any truthful Companion to be mistakenly heard or based on misconception.115 Also she denied the hadith reported by Umran ibn Husayn ibn Samurah, that two pauses (saktah) were there for the Prophet in his recital (of two surahs) during the (daily) prayers.116 There are numerous examples in this respect, and in the book Ta’rikh Abi Hurayrah, I have cited a number of the traditions in which he was criticized, and which were rejected and refuted, to which the dear reader is kindly requested to refer.117 Narration of Hadith after its Writing was Forbidden by Prophet: Those having no expertise in knowledge and no awareness of expertise, surmise that the Messenger’s traditions which they read in books or hear from narrators, have all reached us correct in syntax and well-arranged in wording, and that their original words reached to the narrators intact and preserved exactly as were uttered by the Prophet, without any corruption (tahrif) or alteration. 114. Refer to my book Shaykh al-mudirah, in which all these akhbar and others are stated elaborately. 115. Al-Imam al-Zarkashi has compiled a valuable book in which he cited te restrictions (istidrakat) made by 'A'ishah against the Sahabah, calling it al-Ijabah li-irad ma istadrakathu A'ishah 'ala al-Sahabah. He died in 794 H. 116. Al-Isti'ab, vol.II, p.154. 117. See Shaykh al-mudirah, the 3rd edition. ( 90 ) They further think that the Companions and those who succeeded them who kept in memory the Prophet’s traditions till the time of tadwin (writing down of hadith), have conveyed them with their original text and wording exactly as they heard them, and duly related them in the form they received them, keeping them safe against any change and alteration. And the idea seizing people’s minds was that these narrators constituting altogether a distinguished stratum among people in calligraphy, perfect exactitude, and powerful memory. And that their minds were created in a special shape with no parallel among all people, in a way that whatever they were hearing would be engraved on their (minds) tablets escaping not even one word and sparing not even one letter. Undoubtedly, this kind of conception had its extreme impact upon the thinking of chiefs of religion, except those whom God kept immune. It made them hold these traditions in the same position of the Qur’anic verses, the fact entailing obligation to abide by them and surrender to their rules, in a way that whoever contradicting them would be considered as sinner, guilty and debauchee, and that denying or suspecting them would be counted an apostate that should repent. For this reason, I opined to elaborate discussion on this topic, so as to expose to people the true aspect in it, making them recognize that the traditions reported to them from the Messenger of Allah (S) were in fact narrated according to their denotations and meanings, when (the Companions) failing to convey them with their real syntax and wording, either due to forgetting their origin or their being kept in memories for a very long time since they narrated them for the first time. Furthermore, it was that every narrator would report only that portion of the hadith his mind could keep according to the meaning, after his memory failing to recollect its original words. This was due to the fact that they (companions), have not cared, in the outset, for writing down the hadith, letting it be narrated through denotation, the state attaining agreement of all gnostics and scholars.118 Thereafter disagreement appeared among the ulama regarding this matter, with some 118. Ibn al-Salah, in his Muqaddimah, says: The narrators were most often reporting the same meaning of one subject through different words, and the only reason for this was their depending on the meaning not the words (p.90). |