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Islam of Abu Talib (Part 2 of 4)
A number of historians and hadith recorders reported that Abu
Talib died
while he was a pagan.

Some of them reported the
verse ' It is not
permissible to the Prophet and the believers to ask God to
forgive the
pagans even if they were akin to them, after it became clear
to them that
those pagans are from the people of hell .

'
Such false commentaries and statements were fabricated as a
part of the
smear campaign which the Omayyads and their allies waged
against Imam Ali
(AS).

By fabricating such traditions they tried
these to convince people
that Abu Sufyan, father of Muawiyyah was better than Abu
Talib, father of
Imam Ali, claiming that Abu Sufyan died while he was a Muslim
and Abu TAlib
died while he was a pagan.

The recorders of the hadiths and the historians took these
hadiths without
paying attention to the evidence of their forgery.

They
did not try to
examine these hadiths, yet the date of the revelation of the
above
mentioned verse testifies that it was not revealed about a
matter
pertaining to Abu Talib ( May Allah be well pleased with him
).

Now coming to the hadith by itself, let see what the most
authenticated
book in the eyes of the Sunnis has to say.

al-Bukhari in his Sahih writes
Narrated Al
Musaiyab : When Abu Talibs death approached, the
Prophet ( saw )
went to him while Abu Jahl and Abdullah bin
Abi Umaiya were
present with him.

The Prophet ( saw ) said : ' O Uncle, say : None
has the right to be worshipped except Allah,
so that I may
argue for your case with it before Allah.

' On
that Abu Jahl and
Abdullah bin Abi Umaiya said : ' O Abu Talib !

Do you want to
renounce Abdul Muttalib's religion ? ' Then the
Prophet ( saw )
said, ' I will keep on asking ( Allah for )
forgiveness for
you unless I am forbidden to do so.

' Then there
was revealed
It is not fitting
for the Prophet and those who believe that
they should pray
for forgiveness for pagans even though they
be of kin, after
it has become clear to them that they are
the companions of
the fire.
[ 9 : 113 ]
Sahih Bukhari Kitabul Tafseer Arabic English Volume 6 Page 158 Tradition no.
197 The above mentioned verse is a part of the Chapter of Baraat
( number 9 ).
A few points on this Chapter
- this is a
totally medinite Chapter, with the exception of the
last
two verses ( 128 and 129 ) - the verse which
is the subject of our discussion is Verse 113 - the Chapter of
Baarat was revealed during the ninth ( 9th ) year
of
Hijra.

The chapter speaks of the events that took
place during
the
campaign of Tabuk, which was during the month of Rajab in the
ninth
Year.

The Prophet ( saw ) had ordered Abu Bakr to
announce
first
part of it during the days of the pilgrimage of that year
when
he sent him as an ' Amir Al Hajj '.

Then he sent
Imam Ali
to
take that part from him and announce it, because God
commanded
him
that no one should deliver the revelation other than himself
or a
man from the members of his House.

The chapter
speaks of the
events
that took place during the campaign of Tabouk, which was
during
the month of Rajab in the ninth Year.

Many Sunni traditionist reported that:

The Messenger of Allah sendAbu Bakr
to the people of Mecca with the
Chapter of al-Bara'ah and when he
proceeded, (the Prophet) sent for
him and asked him to return the
chapter and said: No one takes it to
them except one of my Ahlul-Bayt.

and thus he sent Ali for this
mission.

Sunni references:

- Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v2, p183, v5, pp 275,283 - Musnad of Ahmed Hanbal, v1 pp 3,151, v3, pp 212,283 - Fadha'l al-Sahabah, by Ahmad Hanbal, v2, p562, Tradition
#946 - Hakim in his Mustadrak, v 3 p 51 - Al Nisai in his Khasais al Awliyah, p 20 - Fadhail al Khamsah, v 2 p 343 - Siratun Nabi by Shibli Numani, v 2 p 239 Ahmad in his musnad added that Abu Bakr said :

The Prophet (
saw ) had sent
me with the chapter of Baarat to the people of Mecca
No pagan should make pilgrimage
after this year.

No naked shall
circumnavigate around the Ancient
House.

No one shall enter paradise
except a Muslim soul.

Any
pagan community that has been between them
and the Messenger of God a peace
accord, the accord will end by the
end by the end of the specified
period ( without extension ), and God
and His Messenger are clear of
pagans
Also Shibli Numani in his work on the Seera of the Prophet (
saw ) writes
as follows ( p 239 -- p 240 ) Now in the year 9th Hijri, the Kaaba
was for the first time,
consecrated as the central House of
Worship for the followers of
Abraham .

On
return from Tabuk the Holy Prophet ( saw ) sent out
a caravan of three hundred muslims
from Mecca to Medina to perfrom the
Hajj at Mecca.

Now coming back to the verse of [ 9 : 113 ], the verse could
not mean Abu
Talib, because he died in Mecca at least two years before the
Hijrah !

I now quote Shibli Numani, in his most celebrated work on the
Seera of the
Prophet, Siratun Nabi ( v 1, p 219 and 220 ) Death of Khadija and of Abu Talib
( 10th Year of Revelation ) On return from the mountain, the
Prophet had hardly passed a few days
in peace when Abu Talib and Khadija
both died.
He paid his last visit
to Abu Talib when he was dying.

Abu
Jahl and Abd Allah ibn Ummaya were
already there.
The Prophet
asked Abu Talib to recite the credo of
Islam, so that he might bear witness
to his faith in the presence of
Allah.

Abu Jahl and Ibn
Umayya expostulated with Abu Taleb and asked
if he was going to turn away from
the religion of Abd Al Muttalib.

In
the end Abu Talib said that he was
dying with is belief in the
religion of Abd Al Muttalib.
Then
he turned to the Prophet and said
that he would have recited the creed
but he feared lest the Quraish
should accuse him of fear of death.

The
Prophet said that he would be
praying to Allah for him till He
forbade (Bukhari on the Chapter of
Funeral.

The last sentence
has been taken from Muslim and not
Bukhari).
This is the
version of Bukhari and Muslim.

Ibn Ishaq says
that while dying Abu Talib's lips
were in motion.

al-Abbas who was
till then a nonbeliever, put his ear
to his lips and then said to the
Prophet that he was reciting the
KALIMA the Prophet had wanted of him.
( Ibn Hisham, Cairo Edition, p 146).

[ Please do bear in mind that all
the references cited in the above
para are * NOT * my adition, and *
NEITHER * are the block letters my
addition, they have been rendered by
Shibli Numani himself ] Then Shibli Numani further writes
But from a traditionist's point of
view this report of Al Bukhari is
not worthy taking as reliable
because the last narrator is Musaiyyab
who embraced Islam after the fall of
Mecca, and was not himself
present at the time of Abu Talib's
death.

It is on this account that
al Aini in his commentary has
remarked that this tradition is MURSAL
(Al Aini, Chapter Janaiz or Funeral,
VOL IV, p 200 ).

Also he writes on page 221
Abu Talib made great sacrifices for
the Prophet none can deny that.

He
would even sacrifice his own
children for his sake.
For his sake he
had exposed himself to the odium of
the whole country, and for his
sake he had passed years in state of
siege, suffering starvation as an
exile, unprovided with food or
drink.

Will all this love, sacrifice
and devotion go unrewarded ?

- asking God to forgive a deceased usually takes place at the
time of the
funeral prayer.

The wording of the verse ' It is
not permissible to the
Prophet and the believers to ask God to forgive the pagans '
, indicates
that the Prophet was with other believers ( in a
congregational prayer )
when he asked forgiveness for the pagans.

- as a matter of fact, the funeral prayer was not instituted
before the
Hijrah (migration to Medina).

The first prayer
offered by the Messenger for
a deceased was his prayer for Al Bura Ibn Maarour.

it is likely that this verse was revealed after the Prophet
offered a
funeral prayer for one of the hypocrites who used to pretend
Islam and
conceal paganism.

It is very likely that the verse
was revealed when the
Holy Prophet ( saw ) offered a funeral prayer for Abdullah
bin Obai bin
Salool who died during the ninth year and who was well noted
in his
hypocrisy, his hatred towards the Messenger of Allah and his
adversary to
the faith of Islam.

About him and his followers,
the Chapter of Al
Munafiqoon ( the Hypoctites ) was revealed before that time.

Had
historians
and hadith recorders thought with some depth and logic, they
would not have
commited this terrible historical error !

Here is another hadeeth from Sahih Bukhari that mentions the
event similar
to the previous hadeeth
Narrated Al Musaiyab : When Abu
Talib was on his death bed, Allah's
Apostle same to him and found Abi
Umaiya bin Al Mughira.

Allah's
Apostle said : ' O uncle ! say :

None has the right to be worshipped
except Allah, a sentence with which
I will defend you before Allah.

'
On that Abu Jahl and Abdullah bin
Abi Umaiya said to Abu Talib :

'
Will now you leave the religion of
Abdul Mutallaib ? ' Allah's apostle
kept on inviting him to say that
senetnce while the other two kept on
repeating their sentence before him
till Abu Talib said as a last
thing then he said to them , ' I am
on the religion of Abdul Muttalib
' and refused to say : None has the
righ to be worshipped except
Allah.

On that Allah's
Apostle said : ' By Allah I will keep on asking
Allah's forgiveness for you unless I
am forbidden ( by Allah ) to do
so.

So Allah revealed
It is
not fitting for the Prophet and those who believe that they should
invoke ( Allah ) for forgiveness for pagans ( 9 : 113 )
And then Allah revealed especially
about Abu Talib :
Verily
! You ( O, Muhammad ) guide not whom you like, but Allah
guides
whom He will (28:56) Sahih Bukhari Kitabul Tafseer Arabic English Volume 6 page 278 - 279 Tradition no.
295 Readers will be surprised to know that the two hadeeths cited
above, prove
that the two verses descended one after the other.

But
this is contrary to
another hadeeth that Bukhari cites in his Sahih, and it
proves that Surah
Baarat was among the last revealed chapters.

Here
is the hadith
Narrated Al Bara :

The last Sura that was revealed was Bara'a .

Sahih Bukhari Kitabul Tafseer Arabic English Volume 6 Page 101 Tradition 129 Other Sunni references that affirm to the fact that Sura
Baarat was among
the last revealed chapters and a Medanite Sura, please refer
to - Tafseer Kashshaf,
v 2 p 49 - Tafseer Qurtubi,
v 8 p 273 - Tafseer Itqan, v
1 p 18 - Tafseer Showkani,
v 3 p 316 But where is the fault in the Hadeeths? The verse cited from
Surah Qasas,
was revealed at least ten (10) years before Surah Baarat, and
that it was
revealed in Mecca, where as Surah Baarat was revealed in
Medina.

Please
think about it, and you shall find out that in a futile
effort to discredit
Abu Talib and declare him as an unbeliever, the order of the
revelation of
the Quran was not taken into consideration.

Just
imagine the time gap in
between the revelation of the two chapters, and the matter
will be very
clear.

Also history tells us that Al Musaiyab
- disliked Imam
Ali - refused to say
the funeral prayers for the grandson of Imam Ali,
and
the son of Imam Hussain, Imam Zainul Abidin Sunni Reference - Sharah of Ibn al
Hadid, v 1 p 370 One could conclude that this fabrication was done to simply
elevate Umayad
over Hashimites.

Also I came across a very ashtonishing commentary, by the
most reverred
Sunni commentator, Fakr ar Din Al Razi in his Tafseer, with
reference to
Surah Qasas (28:56).

He has mentioned this verse
about Abu Talib, * not *
because of his personal opinion; because of the opinion of
some other
scholars '.

Surprisingly, he admits, that this
verse could not be
associated with Abu Talib's beliefs .

Reference: Tafseer Kabir, v 25 p 3 ( Fakhr ar Din al Razi ) End of Part 2 of 4