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SERMON 209
Someone (1)
asked Amir al-mu'minin about concocted traditions and contradictory sayings of the Prophet
current among the people, whereupon he said:
Certainly what is current among the people is both
right and wrong, true and false, repealing and repealed, general and particular, definite
and indefinite, exact and surmised. Even during the Prophet's days false sayings had been
attributed to him, so much so that he had to say during his sermon that, "Whoever
attributes falsehoods to me makes his abode in Hell." Those who relate traditions are
of four categories, (2) no more.
First: The lying hypocrites
The hypocrite is a person who makes a show of faith
and adopts the appearance of a Muslim; he does not hesitate in sinning nor does he keep
aloof from vice; he wilfully attributes false things against the Messenger of Allah - may
Allah bless him and his descendants. If people knew that he was a hypocrite and a liar,
they would not accept anything from him and would not confirm what he says.
Rather they say that he is the companion of the
Prophet, has met him, heard (his sayings) from him and acquired (knowledge) from him. They
therefore accept what he says. Allah too had warned you well about the hypocrites and
described them fully to you. They have continued after the Holy Prophet. They gained
positions with the leaders of misguidance and callers towards Hell through falsehoods and
slanderings. So, they put them in high posts and made them officers over the heads of the
people, and amassed wealth through them. People are always with the rulers and after this
world, except those to whom Allah affords protection. This is the first of the four
categories.
Second: Those who are mistaken
Then there is the individual who heard (a saying)
from the Holy Prophet but did not memorise it as it was, but surmised it. He does not lie
wilfully. Now, he carries the saying with him and relates it, acts upon it and claims
that: "I heard it from the Messenger of Allah." If the Muslims come to know that
he has committed a mistake in it, they will not accept it from him, and if he himself
knows that he is on the wrong he will give it up.
Third: Those who are ignorant
The third man is he who heard the Prophet ordering
to do a thing and later the Prophet refrained the people from doing it, but this man did
not know it, or he heard the Prophet refraining people from a thing and later he allowed
it, but this man did not know it. In this way he retained in his mind what had been
repealed, and did not retain the repealing tradition. If he knew that it had been repealed
he would reject it, or if the Muslims knew, when they heard it from him, that it had been
repealed they would reject it.
Fourth: Those who memorise truthfully
The last, namely the fourth man, is he who does not
speak a lie against Allah or against His Prophet. He hates falsehood out of fear for Allah
and respect for the Messenger of Allah, and does not commit mistakes, but retains (in his
mind) exactly what he heard (from the Prophet), and he relates it as he heard it without
adding anything or omitting anything. He heard the repealing tradition, he retained it and
acted upon it, and he heard the repealed tradition and rejected it. He also understands
the particular and the general, and he knows the definite and indefinite, and gives
everything its due position.
The sayings of the Prophet used to be of two types.
One was particular and the other common. Sometimes a man would hear him but he would not
know what Allah, the Glorified, meant by it or what the Messenger of Allah meant by it. In
this way the listener carries it and memorises it without knowing its meaning and its real
intention, or what was its reason. Among the companions of the Messenger of Allah all were
not in the habit of putting him questions and ask him the meanings, indeed they always
wished that some Bedouin or stranger might come and ask him (peace be upon him) so that
they would also listen. Whenever any such thing came before me, I asked him about its
meaning and preserved it. These are the reasons and grounds of differences among the
people in their traditions.
(1).
This was Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilali who was one of the relaters of traditions through Amir
al-mu'minin.
(2). In
this sermon Amir al-mu'minin has divided the traditionists into four categories.
The first category is that of a man
concocts a tradition and attributes it to the Prophet. Traditions were in fact falsified
and attributed to him, and this process continued, with the result that numerous novel
traditions came into being. This is a fact which cannot be denied but if anyone does deny
it his basis would be not knowledge or sagacity by oratory or argumentative necessity.
Thus, once, Alamu'l-huda (Ensign of Guidance) as-Sayyid al-Murtada had a chance of
meeting the Sunni ulama' (scholars) in confrontation and on this occasion as-Sayyid
al-Murtada proved by historical facts that the traditions related about the merits of the
great companions are concocted and counterfeit. On this, the (Sunni) ulama' argued that
it was impossible that someone should dare speak a lie against the Prophet and prepare a
tradition himself and attribute it to him. as-Sayyid al-Murtada said there is a tradition
of the Prophet that:
A lot of false things will be
attributed to me after my death and whoever speaks a lie against me would be preparing his
abode in Hell. (al-Bukhari, vol.1, p.38; vol.2, p.102; vol.4, p.207; vol.8, p.54; Muslim,
vol.8, p.229; Abu Dawud, vol.3, pp.319-320; at-Tirmidhi, vol.4, p.524; vol.5, pp.35-36,
40, 199, 634; Ibn Majah, vol.1, pp.13-15)
If you regard this tradition as
true then you should agree that false things have been attributed to the Prophet, but if
you regard it false, this would prove our point. However, these were people whose hearts
were full of hypocrisy and who used to prepare traditions of their own accord in order to
create mischief and dispersion in religion and to misguide Muslims of weak convictions.
They remained mixed with them as they used to do during the lifetime of the Prophet; and
just as they remained busy in activities of mischief and destruction in those days, in the
same way, even after the Prophet, they were not unmindful of deforming the teachings of
Islam and metamorphosing its features. Rather, in the days of the Prophet they were always
afraid lest he unveiled them and put them to shame, but after the Prophet their
hypocritical activities increased and they attributed false things to the Prophet without
demur for their own personal ends, and those who heard them believed in them because of
their status as companions of the Prophet, thinking that whatever they said was correct
and whatever they gave out was true. Afterwards also, the belief that all the companions
are correct put a stopper on their tongues, as a result of which they were taken to be
above criticism, questioning, discussion and censure. Besides, their conspicuous
performance had made them prominent in the eyes of the government, and also because of
this it needed courage and daring to speak against them. This is proved by Amir
al-mu'minin's words:
These people gained positions with
the leaders of misguidance and callers towards Hell, through falsehood and slanderings.
So, they put them in high posts and made them officers over the heads of the people.
Along with the destruction of
Islam, the hypocrites also aimed at amassing wealth, and they were doing so freely by
claiming to be Muslims, because of which they did not want to remove the veil of Islam
(from their faces) and to come out openly, but they wanted to continue their Satanic
activities under the garb of Islam and engaged themselves in its basic destruction and
spreading of division and dispersal by concocting traditions. In this connection, Ibn
Abi'l-Hadid has written:
When they were left free they too
left many things. When people observed silence about them they also observed silence about
Islam, but they continued their underground activities such as the fabrication of
falsehoods to which Amir al-mu'minin has alluded, because a lot of untrue matters had been
mixed with the traditions by the group of people of wrong beliefs, while some of them also
aimed at extolling some particular party with whom they had other worldly aims as well.
On the expiry of this period, when
Muawiyah took over the leadership of religion and occupied the throne of temporal
authority, he opened an official department for the fabrication of false traditions, and
ordered his officers to fabricate and popularise traditions in disparagement of the
Ahlu'l-bayt (the Household of the Holy Prophet) and in extolment of Uthman and the
Umayyads, and announced rewards and grants of land for this work. Consequently, a lot of
traditions about self-made distinctions gained entry in the books of traditions. Thus,
Abu'l-Hasan al-Mada'ini has written in his book Kitab al-ahdath and Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has
quoted it, namely:
Muawiyah wrote to his officers
that they should take special care of those who were adherents of Uthman, his
well-wishers and lovers and to award high positions, precedence and honour to those who
related traditions about his merits and distinctions, and to convey to him whatever is so
related by any person, along with his name, the name of his father and the name of his
tribe. They did accordingly and heaped up traditions about the merits and distinctions of
Uthman because Muawiyah used to award them rewards, clothes, grants and lands.
When the fabricated traditions
about the merits of Uthman had been spread throughout the realm, with the idea that the
position of the earlier Caliphs should not remain low, Muawiyah wrote to his officers:
As soon as you receive this order
of mine you should call upon the people to prepare traditions about the distinctions of
the companions and other caliphs also, and take care that if any Muslim relates any
tradition about Abu Turab (Ali) you should prepare a similar tradition about the
companions to contradict it because this gives me great pleasure and cools my eyes, and it
weakens the position of Abu Turab and his partymen. and is more severe to them than the
merits and distinctions of Uthman.
When his letters were read to the
people, a large number of such traditions were related extolling the companions that are
all fabricated with no truth at all. (Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, vol. 11, pp. 43-47)
In this connection Abu Abdillah
Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Arafah known as Niftawayh (244/858-323/935) who was one of the
prominent scholars and traditionists has written, and Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has quoted him,
that:
Most of the false traditions about
the merits of the companions were fabricated during the days of Muawiyah in order to gain
position in his audience because his view was that in this way he could disgrace Banu
Hashim and render them low. (ibid.)
After that, fabrication of
traditions became a habit, the world seekers made it a means of securing position with
kings and nobles and to amass wealth. For example, Ghiyath ibn Ibrahim an-Nakhai (2nd
cent. A.H.) fabricated a tradition about the flight of pigeons, in order to please
al-Mahdi ibn al-Mansur (the Abbasid Caliph) and to secure position near him. (Tarikh
Baghdad, vol.12, pp.323-327; Mizan al-itidal, vol.3) pp.337-338; Lisan al-mizan, vol.4,
p.422). Abu Said al-Mada'ini and others made it a means of livelihood. The limit was
reached when the al-Karramiyyah and some of the al-Mutasawwifah gave the ruling that the
fabrication of traditions for the prevention of sin or for persuasion towards obedience
was lawful. Consequently, in connection with persuading and dissuading, traditions were
fabricated quite freely, and this was not regarded against the religious law or morality.
Rather, this work was generally done by those who bore the appearance of asceticism or
fear of Allah and who passed their nights in praying and days in filling their registers
with false traditions. An idea about the number of these fabricated traditions can be had
from the fact that out of six hundred thousand traditions al-Bukhari selected only two
thousand seven hundred and sixty-one traditions, (Tarikh Baghdad, vol.2, p.8; al-Irshad
as-sari, vol.1, p.28; Sifatu's-safwah, vol.4, p.143). Muslim thought fit for selection
only four thousand out of three hundred thousand (Tarikh Baghdad, vol.13, p.101;
al-Muntazam, vol.5, p.32; Tabaqat al-huffaz, vol.2, pp.151,157; Wafayat al-ayan, vol.5,
p.194). Abu Dawud took four thousand and eight hundred out of five hundred thousand
(Tarikh Baghdad, vol.9, p.57; Tabaqat al-huffaz, vol.2, p.154; al-Muntazam, vol.5, p.97;
Wafayat al-ayan, vol.2, p.404), and Ahmad ibn Hanbal took thirty thousand out of nearly
on million traditions (Tarikh Baghdad, vol.4, p.419-420; Tabaqat al-huffaz, vol.2, p.17;
Wafayat al-ayan, vol.1, p.64; Tahdhib at-tahdhib, vol.1, p. 74). But when this selection
is studied some traditions which come across can, in no circumstances, be attributed to
the Prophet. The result is that a group of considerable number has cropped up among
Muslims who, in view of these (so-called) authoritative collections and true traditions,
completely reject the evidentiary value of the traditions, (For further reference see
al-Ghadir, vol.5, pp. 208-378).
The second category of relaters of
traditions are those who, without appreciating the occasion or context, related whatever
they could recollect, right or wrong. Thus, in al-Bukhari (vol.2, pp.100-102; vol.5,
p.98); Muslim (vol.3, pp. 41-45); at-Tirmidhi (vol.3, pp. 327-329); an-Nasa'i (vol.4,
p.18); Ibn Majah (vol.1, pp.508-509); Malik ibn Anas (al-Muwatta' vol.1, p.234);
ash-Shafii (Ikhtilaf'l-hadith, on the side lines of "al-Umm", vol.7, p.266);
Abu Dawud (vol.3, p.194); Ahmad ibn Hanbal (vol.1, pp.41,42) and al-Bayhaqi (vol.4,
pp.72-74) in the chapter entitled 'weeping over the dead' it is stated that when Caliph
Umar was wounded Suhayb came weeping to him, then Umar said:
O' Suhayb, you weep over me, while
the Prophet had said that the dead person is punished if his people weep over him.
When after the death of Caliph
Umar this was mentioned to A'ishah, she said: "May Allah have mercy on Umar. The
Messenger of Allah did not say that weeping of relations causes punishment on the dead.
but he said that the punishment of an unbeliever increases if his people weep over
him." After this A'ishah said that according to the Holy Qur'an no person has to
bear the burden of another, so how could the burden of those who weep be put on the dead.
After this the following verse was quoted by A'ishah:
. . . And no bearer of burden shall
bear the burden of another; (Qur'an, 6:164; 17:15; 35:18; 39:7; 53:38).
The wife of the Holy Prophet
A'ishah relates that once the Prophet passed by a Jewish woman over whom her people were
weeping. The Prophet then remarked, "Her people are weeping over her but she is
undergoing punishment in the grave."
The third category of the relaters
of traditions is of those who heard some repealed traditions from the Prophet but could
not get any chance to hear the repealing traditions which he could relate to others. An
example of a repealing tradition is the saying of the Prophet which also contains a
reference to the repealed tradition, namely: "I had disallowed you to visit graves,
but now you can visit them." (Muslim, vol.3, p.65; at-Tirmidhi, vol.3, p.370; Abu
Dawud, vol.3, pp. 218, 332; an-Nasa'i, vol.4, p. 89; Ibn Majah, vol.1, pp. 500-501; Malik
ibn Anas, vol.2, p. 485; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, vol.1, pp.145, 452; vol.3, pp.38, 63, 66, 237,
350; vol.5, pp. 350, 355, 356, 357, 359, 361; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, vol.1, pp. 374-376;
and al-Bayhaqi, vol.4, pp. 76-77). Herein the permission to visit graves has repealed the
previous restriction on it. Now, those who heard only the repealed tradition continued
acting according to it.
The fourth category of relaters of
traditions is of those who were fully aware of the principles of justice, possessed
intelligence and sagacity, knew the occasion when a tradition was first uttered (by the
Prophet) and were also acquainted with the repealing and the repealed traditions, the
particular and the general, and the timely and the absolute. They avoided falsehood and
fabrication. Whatever they heard remained preserved in their memory, and they conveyed it
with exactness to others. It is they whose traditions are the precious possession of
Islam, free from fraud and counterfeit and worthy of being trusted and acted upon. That
collection of traditions which has been conveyed through trustworthy bosoms like that of
Amir al-mu'minin and has remained free from cutting, curtailing, alteration or change
particularly present Islam in its true form. The position of Amir al-mu'minin in Islamic
knowledge has been most certainly proved through the following traditions narrated from
the Holy Prophet such as:
Amir al-mu'minin, Jabir ibn
Abdullah, Ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Umar have narrated from the Holy Prophet that he
said:
I am the city of knowledge and Ali
is its door. He who wants to acquire (my) knowledge should come through its door.
(al-Mustadrak, vol.3, pp. 126-127; al-Istiab, vol.3, p.1102; Usd al-ghabah, vol.4, p.22;
Tarikh Baghdad, vol.2, p.377; vol.4, p.348; vol.7, p.172; vol.11, pp. 48-50; Tadhkirah
al-huffaz; vol.4, p.28; Majma az-zawa'id, vol.9, p.114; Tahdhib at-tahdhib, vol.6, p.320;
vol.7, p.337; Lisan al-mizan, vol.2, pp.122-123; Tarikh al-khulafa', p.170; Kanz
al-ummal, vol.6, pp.152,156,401; Umdah al-qari, vol.7, p.631; Sharh al-mawahib
al-ladunniyyah, vol.3, p.143).
Amir al-mu'minin and Ibn Abbas
have also narrated from the Holy Prophet that:
I am the store-house of wisdom and
Ali is its door. He who wants to acquire wisdom should come through its door. (Hilyah
al-awliya', vol.1, p.64; Masabih as-sunnah, vol.2, p.275; Tarikh Baghdad, vol.11, p.204;
Kanz al-ummal, vol.6, p.401; ar-Riyad an-nadirah, vol.2, p.193).
If only people could take the
Prophet's blessings through these sources of knowledge. But it is a tragic chapter of
history that although traditions are accepted through the Kharijites and enemies of the
Prophet's family, whenever the series of relaters includes the name of any individual from
among the Prophet's family there is hesitation in accepting the tradition.
.Forward to Sermon 210.Back to Sermon 208.
