Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
209

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repealing and repealed, general and particular, definite and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.