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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