Sunni Feedback on The Issues of Infallibility and Ahulbayt [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Who Offended the Blind?

Chapter 80 (Abas)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

80:1
He (a certain Umayad chieftain) frowned and turned away (while
he was with the Prophet).

80:2
Because there came to him the blind man (Ibn Um-Maktoom).

80:3
And what would make you know, but that, per chance, he (the
blind man) might grow in purity, 80:4
Or become reminded so that the reminder should profit him?
(the blind man) 80:5
As for him (the Umayad chieftain) who considers himself free
from need (rich), 80:6
To him do you address yourself?

80:7
And it is not necessary for you (to preach that arrogant chieftain)
if he does not purify himself.

80:8
And as to him who comes to you striving hard, 80:9
And he fears (Allah), 80:10
To him (his question) you did not pay attention?

80:11
Nay! surely this is (this chapter) a reminder.

The occasion for the revelation of this Chapter was a historic
event which took place.

Once the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) was
with some the rich individuals of Quraish from the tribe of Umayad,
among them was Uthman Ibn Affan, who took the office of caliphate
later.

While the Messenger of Allah was preaching them, Abdullah
Ibn Umm Maktoom who was blind and was one of the companions of
the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) came to see him.

The Holy Prophet
received him with honor and pleasure and gave him the closest
place to himself.

However, the Prophet did not answer the question
of the blind immediately Since he was at the middle of his speech
with the Qurashites.

Since Abdullah was poor and blind, the chieftains
of the Quraish looked down upon him and they did not like the
honor and the respect bestowed upon him by the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

They also did not like the presence of the blind among themselves
and his interrupting their conversation with the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Finally one of the wealthy Umayad (namely Uthman Ibn Affan) frowned
at Abdullah and turned his back to him.

This act of the chieftains of Quraish displeased Allah and thus
He revealed the Chapter 80 (Abas) through Gabriel at the same
time.

This Chapter commended Abdullah's position though poor and
blind.

In the first 4 verses, Allah denounced the detesting attitude
of the chieftain of the Quraish.

And in the later verses, Allah
* reminds * his Prophet (PBUH&HF) that preaching an unbeliever
is not necessary if the unbeliever does not intend to purify himself
and offenses a believer just because of his lack of wealth and
health.

There are some Sunni commentators who align the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF)
along with below-average ordinary morals, and accuse him of insulting
Abdullah, and by that, they try to say that he was not free from
the weakness of character and conduct.

This is while the one who
insulted the poor man was a wealthy member of Umayad who was either
still non-Muslim, or had recently joint the companions (namely
Uthman).

Yet some people, in order to clear the face of Uthman
from such misconduct, do not have any hesitation to accuse the
Prophet of such action, and to put down the Prophet in favor of
Uthman.

Such twist of the event was done by the Umayad during
their reign through pay-roll narrators.

It is well-known that
Umayad were the most ardent enemies of the family of the Prophet
(PBUH&HF) and Islam; as such, it was not befitting of them
that their leader, Uthman, be reprimanded in the Quran; thus,
the scholars who worked for the Umayad were forced to write that
this verse was revealed to reprimand the Prophet (PBUH&HF),
not Uthman.

Such flat-out lie was to preserve the dignity of Uthman
with the price of humiliating the master of all the prophets.

Here is the opinion of some Sunni commentators:

It is said that these verses came down concerning Abdullah Ibn
Maktoom, he is Abdullah Ibn Shareeh Ibn Malik Ibn Rabi'a al-Fihri
from (the tribe of) Bani 'Amir Ibn Louay.

He came to the Messenger
of Allah while he was trying to convert these people to Islam:
Utbah Ibn Rabi'ah, Abu Jahl Ibn Husham, al-Abbas Ibn Abd al-Muttalib,
Ubay and Umayyah sons of Khalaf.

The blind man said: O Messenger
of Allah read me and teach me from what Allah has taught you.

He kept calling the Prophet and repeating his plea, not knowing
that the Prophet was busy facing someone else, until the hatred
appeared on the face of the Messenger of Allah for being interrupted.

The Prophet said to himself these great people will say that his
followers are but the blind and the slaves, so he turned away
from him and faced the people he was talking to.

Then the verses
were revealed.

After that the Messenger used to be kind to him and if he sees
him he would say welcome to the one whom my God reproached
me in him.

He used to ask him if he needed anything and
kept him behind as the deputy on Medina twice during wars.

The above Sunni commentary has also been mentioned in al-Durr
al- Manthoor, by al-Suyuti, with some minor differences.

Abul Ala Maududi who is another Sunni commentator of Quran has
a more moderate view.

Here is his interpretation of Verse 80:17:

Here displeasure has been expressed directly for the disbelievers
who were being indifferent to the Message of truth.

Before this,
from the beginning of the Chapter to the Verse 16, the address
though apparently directed to the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF),
was actually mean to reprimand the disbelievers.

Sunni reference:

Commentary of Quran, by Abul Ala Maududi, p1005, under the
commentary of verse 80:17 (Islamic Publications (Pvt.
), Lahore)

However, the fact is that Quran does NOT give any evidence that
the person who frowned at the blind was the Prophet (PBUH&HF),
and does not state who is being addressed.

In the above verses
of Quran Allah (SWT) did NOT address the Prophet either by name
or title (i.
e.
O Muhammad, or O Prophet, or O Messenger).

Moreover,
there exists switching in the pronoun from he
in the first two verses to you in the later
verses of the chapter.

Allah did NOT state: You frowned
and turned away.

Rather, Almighty stated:

80:1
He frowned and turned away (while he was with the Prophet),
80:2
Because there came to him the blind man.

80:3
And what would make you know, but that, per chance,
he (the blind man) might grow in purity,
Even if we assume that you in the third verse addresses
the Prophet (PBUH&HF), then it is clear from the above three
verses that the words he (the one who frowned) and
you address two different individuals.

The following
two verses support this as well:

80:5
As for him who considers himself free from need (rich),
80:6
To him do you address yourself?

Thus the one who frowned was other than the Prophet himself due
to distinction between him and you.

In
Verses 80:6 Allah addresses his Prophet (PBUH&HF) saying that
preaching arrogant members of Quraish who frown at a blind is
not worthy and is not necessary to be preferred over preaching
a blind, even though the blind came later.

The reason is that
preaching anyone who does not intend to purify himself (to the
extend that he frowns at a believer) is not fruitful.

Moreover, frowning is not from the manners/descriptions of the
Prophet (PBUH&HF) even with his obvious enemies, let alone
believers seeking guidance! One may question how can a Prophet
(PBUH&HF) who was sent as a mercy to mankind be cruel when
an AVERAGE believer does not in such behavior? This allegation
is also in contradiction with the announcement of the sublime
morals and the ethics of the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) by God
himself:

And most certainly you are on sublime morality (exalted
standard of character).

(Quran, al-Qalam 68:4).

A man who insult others does not deserve such compliments.

It
is agreed that Chapter al-Qalam (Ch.
68) came before Chapter Abas
(Ch.
80).

It was even revealed next after Chapter Iqra' (Ch.
96
-- the first revealed chapter).

How could it be reasonable that
Allah bestow greatness on his creature in the very beginning of
his prophethood, declares that he is in the sublime morality,
and thereafter reverts to reproach and criticize him on some apparent
misgiving in his moral actions.

Also Almighty said:

And warn your near tribe, And be kind to him who follows you of
the believers.

(Quran 26:214-215)
It is well known that these verses are early Meccan revelation.

The same words can be found in the tail of verse 15:88.

Allah,
Exalted He is, furthermore said:

Therefore declare openly what you are bidden and turn aside from
the polytheists.

(Quran 15:94)
He was ordered to turn away from the unbelievers in this verse
which is known to have been revealed at the beginning of the open
call to Islam (after the initial secrecy period).

How could it be imagined that after all these earlier commandments
that the great, kind Prophet would err in such a way that would
require pronounced interdiction?

The commentators of Quran from the school of Ahlul-Bayt further
argue that even the questioning in the third and forth verses
of the Chapter concerning the doubt about Abdullah being benefited
by the talk with the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) or not, has been
in the mind of one who had not yet embraced Islam, and was not
aware of the sprite of Islam.

This could never have occurred in
the mind of the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) who has been sent to
preach the faith to every one and all, irrespective of any worldly
position of the People.

Based on that, they conclude that the
word 'you' in the third verse does not still apply to the Prophet,
rather it applies to one of the Umayad attendees, and that NONE
of the first four verses of this chapter (80:1-4) addresses the
Prophet (PBUH&HF) even though the latter verses address
the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Those who are familiar with the language of Quran and read the
original Arabic Quran are aware of the constant jumping between
the first, second, and third person writing style of Quran.

In
many verses in Quran Allah changes the address sharply, and as
such, it is not always easy to figure out who is being addressed
when the name of addressee is not mentioned.

That's why the Prophet
has ordered us to refer to Ahlul-Bayt (AS) for the interpretation
of the verses of Quran since they are firmly grounded in
knowledge (Quran 3:7) and are The People of Reminder
(Quran 16:43, 21:7) and the are the purified people who have touched
the meaning of Quran (see 56:79).

It is narrated that Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (AS) said:

It came down regarding a man from the Umayad; he was at the Prophet's
(PBUH&HF) presence, then Ibn Umm-Maktoom came, when he saw
him he despised him, withdrew himself, frowned and turned his
face away from him.

So Allah said what He said in disapproval
of his action.

Also it is told that Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said:

Whenever the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) saw Abdullah
Ibn Umm- Maktoom, he said: Welcome, welcome, by Allah, you won't
find Allah reproaching me in you ever (80:5-11).

He used to get
kindness from the Prophet so much that he used to avoid from (being
in the presence of) the Prophet (PBUH&HF), because of what
the Prophet used to do to him.

Out of shyness.

In Tafsir of Sayyid Shubbar it is reported from al-Qummi that:

The verse was revealed about Uthman and Ibn Umm-Maktoom, and he
was blind.

He came to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF), while
in the company of companions, and Uthman was there.

The Messenger
introduced him to Uthman and Uthman frowned and turned his face
away.

Allah Almighty said in Quran about Prophet Muhammad that:

Nor does he (Muhammad) speak out of his desire.

It is nothing
but revelation that is revealed.

(Quran 53:3-4).

So how can the Prophet (PBUH&HF) say something offensive if
his speeches are revelation or inspiration?! The Prophet never
speaks out of his own desire.

Interestingly, Sunnis confirm that
Chapter Abas (Ch.
80) was revealed RIGHT AFTER Chapter al-Najm
(Ch.
53) where it states the Prophet does not speak out of his
desire.

Also Verse 33:33 of the Holy Quran confirms that Ahlul-Bayt are
perfectly pure and flawless.

We all know that the virtue of the
Prophet was higher than that of his family.

He is also counted
among Ahlul-Bayt.

Then how can he offend a believer and yet maintains
PERFECT purity?!

Also note that in the revealed verses Allah states:

And it is not necessary for you (to preach that arrogant chieftain)
if he does not purify himself.

(Quran 80:7)
The above does NOT mean that what the Prophet did was a mistake,
because Allah uses the phrase it is not necessary for you.

This means the Prophet's choice was not wrong, but it was not
something necessary to do.

Also when Allah states: Preaching him is not necessary IF
the Qurashite does not purify himself.

Well, the Prophet (PBUH&HF)
did not know beforehand that the Qurashite is going to frown at
the blind, as such, the IF condition has not been
satisfied and therefore what the Prophet did was necessary before
the time that man frowned (because the Prophet was at the middle
of his speech with those Qurashites when the blind man arrived).

And as soon as the Qurashite frowned, the Prophet stopped preaching,
and the verses was revealed.

As we can see, what the Prophet (PBUH&HF)
did was his duty second by second.

The reminder was for future, as is the case of another verse of
Quran where Allah reminds his Prophet that it is not necessary
for him to bother himself too much for guiding people since some
of them can never be guided, and the Prophet should not be unhappy
about those.

In conclusion, we provided evidences from Quran, Hadith, History,
and Arabic grammar, to support the fact that the very early verses
of this chapter do NOT refer to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF)
and the one who frowned at the blind was not the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

We also mentioned that Verses 80:5-11 were just a reminder for
the future to the Prophet Muhammad that preaching an unbeliever
is not fruitful if the unbeliever does not try to purify himself
and when the unbeliever offends a believer just because of his
lack of wealth and health.

Wassalam.

Shi'i references:

1.
al-Mizan, by al-Tabataba'i (Arabic), v20, pp 222-224

2.
al-Jawhar al-Thameen fi Tafsir al-Kitab al-Mubeen, by Sayyid
Abdullah Shubbar, v6, p363
Side Comments

A Sunni brother mentioned that the scholars of Tafsir wrote the
verses of Chapter 80 was revealed after the Prophet was trying
to convince the four most powerful people of Quraish to join Islam,
namely, Utbah Ibn Rabi'ah, Abu Jahl (Amr Ibn Hisham), Umayyah
Ibn Khalaf, and his brother, Ubayy (no mention of Uthman Ibn Affan).

Furthermore, al-Qurtubi mentioned in his Tafsir book that these
verses are Medanite (revealed in Medina) meaning that Uthman was
already a Muslim by that time.

My response was as follows: Muslims agree that the Chapter Abas
(Ch.
80) was revealed in Mecca long before the migration of the
Prophet to Medina.

More interestingly, they agree that Chapter
Abas (Ch.
80) was revealed RIGHT AFTER Chapter al-Najm (Ch.
53)
where Allah said the Prophet does not speak out of his desire!
Again, based on Sunnis, Chapter al-Najm was the 23rd revealed
chapter of Quran and Chapter Abas was the 24th revealed chapter
and both of them were EARLY Meccan revelation.

Perhaps, what al-Qurtubi
has mentioned was merely to drift the reader's attention from
the issue of Uthman being addressed in the Chapter, and thereby
preserving his integrity Uthman with the price of accusing the
Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Another bug in the above report is that, you said one of those
Qurashite whom the Prophet was talking to, was Abu Jahl.

What
was Abu Jahl doing in Medina? Do you know, brother, that Abu Jahl
lived in Mecca, and was one of the biggest enemies of the Prophet,
and never moved to Medina to see the Prophet, and was among those
who was killed in the Battle of Badr (the first war).

The other people mentioned in the above report: Utbah and Umayyah
were also killed along with their leader, Abu Jahl, in the Battle
of Badr.

Non of them ever had a chance to meet the Prophet (after
the migration of the Prophet) except in the battlefield in Badr
where their corpse were taken to that famous well!