In this discussion, it was decided to analyze the third factor in the alteration of Islam i.e. fabrication of traditions. However, as the main issues are bygone, only the balance has remained which perhaps without them, the depth of the matter cannot be clarified the way it should be done.
The noble verses which you have witnessed in the first part of our discussion are an address to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) which say:
«O Prophet! surely We have sent you as a witness (Someone can be called a witness i.e. he can be a witness on behalf of God over all the good and evil deeds of men only if he himself possesses such characteristics as God wishes) and as a bearer of good news and as a warner, and as one being invited to Allah by His permission, and as a light-giving torch.»
Also: «Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them an Apostle from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and Wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error.»
Also: «Surely We have revealed to you as We revealed to Noah, and the prophets after him, and We revealed to Abraham and Ishmaeel.... (We sent) apostles as the givers of good news and as warners, so that people should not have a plea against Allah after the (coming of) apostles.»
This is the scheme of creation of the Universe and this aim and objective of the Lord of the Universe begins right from the appointment of Prophets. However, as mentioned before, those people whose lust and carnal desires did not match these heavenly teachings especially the powerful and affluent ones whose outburst of desires, lust and anger was met through exertion of force and who did not wish to go under the burden of restrictions of the divine rules, rose in opposition to these rules and teachings.
One of the ways of their opposition and campaign was to repress the propagation of these teachings and commands. Thus, they brought under their check the narration and propagation of the sayings and hadith of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.). However, as they could not prevent the propagation of all the sayings of the Holy Prophet and the Muslims could still hear the Prophet's hadiths from some comer or the other which was possible to rupture the policy and custom of those who were having a hand in this campaign and make them lose their credibility in the eyes of the people, they were forced to basically render null the traditions of the Holy Prophet form the view-point of their value, sacredness and heavenly credibility so that there would no longer remain much possibility of perfect reliance on them.
In the past, adequate discussion took place on these two matters. The remaining portion which we wish to mention here is that which concerns the sayings of the Holy Prophet himself. Whatever has occured for the past nations will also occur for this nation. Therefore, a question arises and that is whether such events had also taken place in the past and whether the previous nations had committed oppression against their respective Prophets or not?
The reply to this postulation is affirmative. Unfortunately, such lies and accusations were prevalent in the past nations too!
Of course the details of this will be mentioned when we will be discussing the manner and dimension of alteration in the contents of Islam. However, at this stage, we shall set forth as an example an event which reveals the reason and manner of such actions.
Just as it is true in all divine religions, in the case of Zoroastrian religion too, it is believed that wedding with the intimate ones was not permissible. However, for centuries now marriage with the intimate ones like mother and sister is considered to be lawful 110.
Undoubtedly, the Prophet of Zoroastrians was amongst the heavenly Prophets just as the same is proved for us from the ways and behaviour of the Holy Prophet with the people of the Book and the Zoroastrians.
It has been narrated from Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) that very far in the past, Zoroastrian King slept with his own daughter when in a state of intoxication. News spread amongst the people and when all gathered around his palace, they said: 'O King! you have ruined our religion. Give up yourself so that we can purify you by implementing the penal law. The King replied: Come close together and listen to what I have to say. If my words satisfies you all, let it be and if it doesn't, you may do whatever you like.
The people gathered. He said: «Do you know that God has not created any creature more beloved than our father Adam (A.S.) and our mother Eve (A.S.)?»
They said: you have spoken the truth.
He said: has not Hazrat Adam (A.S.) given his daughters to his sons and his sons to his daughters in marriage?
They said: «You have spoken the truth. This is truly the religion.»
All concluded a pact on this deed and forgot whatever knowledge they possessed of their sacred laws. 111
In this way, matrimony with the intimate ones got recorded in the Magian religion and the heavenly religion fell victim to distortions. Such distortions have always existed in the past including this 'Ummah' (nation) where those in power presented the sayings and behaviour of the Prophets in such manner as to match them with their personal desires.
Previously too, I had mentioned to you the story of that Uthmani governor of Baghdad who used to strictly refrain from accepting bribes. You also realized how the corrupt bribe - takers set up a true appearance in support of bribe - taking and presented a practical show where they reckoned it to be a God-loving one until the simple - minded governor too fell victim to their trap and the door of bribe-taking was once again kept open for one and all.
In short, those possessing power and influence want to accept bribes which is contrary to the Islamic certainties. Similarly, they want to practice corruption, drink wine, listen to lustful songs and music, make fun by playing with dogs and monkeys, gamble and easily plunder the people's wealth in an easy and unthreatened manner. In order to achieve these, it is necessary for them to produce some pretext and then give it the shape and colour of Islamic laws and canons. It is here that the launchers of traditions come of help.
The ignormus mercenaries attribute such type of behaviours to the Prophets in the form of traditions and degrade the heavenly position of these great characters to the level of one ordinary person and even much below, so that the one who is a dog-fancier, gambler, wine - biber or adulterer like Yazid and Walid can rule cover the Muslims as the Caliph of the Religion without much opposition!! This was the second factor in the alteration of Islam!
110- However in recent centuries since the Zoroastrians have lived in thc Islamic societies, they have gradually and steadily given up this practice and considered it to be an evil and ugly act. Refer to Sae'ed Nafisi: «The social history of Iran» 2/35 and Christensen: «Iran at the time of Sassanides» - translated by Rashid Yasemi Pg. 348 - 2nd edition.
The third factor in the alteration of Islam is the fabrication Of traditions. As a matter of fact, all the alterations spring from here and occur due to this very factor because, we are already aware that the glorious Quran will remain immune under from all sorts of attack and danger. Divine Protection However the area which is prone to attack and as a result likely to he affected is the description and exegesis of Quran i.e. the traditions and 'Sunnah' (ways) of the Holy Prophet. We are also aware that Islam possess two fundamental pillars - the holy Quran and the 'Sunnah'. As such, attack on the 'Sunnah' or traditions is in fact an attack on Islam and distortion in them is a distortion in Islam. Therefore, our most fundamental discussion lies here even though in our classification, we have mentioned it to be the third factor in alteration after mentioning the first factor i.e. prevention of writing, narration and propagation of traditions and the second factor i.e. degrading the status of the Prophet. Thus the third factor in alteration is the fabrication of traditions by means of which the ultimate aim of the enemies of Islam were achieved and the atheist and the dualists could distort the religion of Islam - although the divine religion was revived and taken back to the human-society by the help of the Imams of Ahl-e-bayt and this was nothing but the Grace of God. We shall, God-willing, mention the details of this matter in the future. However, before that we must examine and discuss its form and root under various sections.
Abu Jafar Mansoor, the second Abbassid ruler called his son Muhammad by the title of Mahdi so as to show off that that Mahdi which the Holy Prophet has informed about his emergence in the future is this very son of mine i.e. Muhammad Mahdi. In the gathering which was held for giving allegiance to Mahdi so that he could become the official heir-apparent to Mansoor, the poets were reciting poems and odes and every one strived in some way or the other to bring themselves close to the Abbassid Caliph and draw his attention towards themselves. One of the courtiers by the name of Mu'teeh-ibn-Aiyas too forged and presented a tradition as such:
The Holy Prophet said:
[Arabic text]
«Mahdi is from us and he is Muhammad, the son of Abdullah but his mother is not from our family. He will fill the earth with justice just as it had been fraught with oppression.»
He strived to insert all the signs of Mahdi Abbassid in the tradition and after narrating the tradition, he pointed to the Abbasid Caliph's brother who was present in the gathering and said: «He too is aware of this tradition. He knows its authenticity!»
Under extreme pressure he too said: «Yes, he is speaking the truth!»
Later on, he told his associates as such: «See how he has wrongfully involved us. He compelled me to confirm his blatant lie.»
This was one example showing how and in what manner the matter of the satisfaction of one powerful Caliph was effective enough in producing or fabricating traditions.
In the special scheme which was a part of the policy of the Abbassids, Mahdi Abbassid was supposed to behave in a very comely manner toward the people and deal with them in justice and kindness. For example, Abu Jafar Mansoor had confiscated an enormous amount of wealth which belonged to the people. He did not do this for personal profit as such but deposited them in the government treasury in the name of its owners so that in the near future when his son would gain control of the government succeeding him, he could return back these wealth to its owners and in this way attract the attention and satisfaction of the public and exhibit that the one who was to spread justice on earth is none other than him and he is the same promised Mahdi of Islam. In implementing this plan, Mahdi strived hard to give a superficial arrangement to his affairs so that everyone would recognize him as a pious and good person. But nevertheless, he was pathetically attracted towards pigeons and was fond of playing and looking after them and he just could not forsake them!!
One day, a traditionist connected to the court by the name of Atab-ibn-Ibrahim Nakh'ee goes in the presence of the Abbassi a Caliph and draws his attention towards his son who was busy playing with the pigeons. Of course, this situation was not so much desirable, especially if we take into account this matter that he wanted to manifest himself as the Promised Mahdi of the nation. Anyhow, in order to attract the satisfaction of the Caliph and diminish his annoyance, Atab-ibn-Ibrahim narrated a tradition as follows:
[Arabic text]
So and so a person narrated for me a tradition from Abu Huraira that the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) said:
«No competition is lawful except in shooting, horse-race and camel-race.»
Then, he himself added [Arabic text] and in flying pigeons!
Why did Atab-ibn-Ibrahim do such a thing? He was also not given such a command by the Abbassid Caliph. But as he was fully aware of the situation, he added something to a tradition which was authentically true just for the sake of giving validity to the status of the Caliphate and manifesting the Caliphs behaviour to be lawful and hence pleasing him. The Caliph Mahdi Abbassid gifted him with ten thousand dirhams. When this traditionist left the assembly. Mahdi Abbassid told his associates as such: 'I swear by God that Atab has attributed a lie to the Messenger of God.' 112
However, the reason why the Abbassid ruler said these words was that despite being in pressing need of such a fabricated tradition. He only wanted to pretend his (so called) piousness.
In both the afore-said traditions, Muteeh-ibn-Aiyas and Atab-ibn-Ibrahim distorded the traditions in order to gain satisfaction of both the Abbassid Caliphs i.e. Mansoor and his son Mahdi. In this act of distortion they tampered with the tradition which was narrated from the Holy Prophet and which was well-known amongst the people.
The first one simulated that the applicability of the numerous traditions of the Holy Prophet with regards to the promised Mahdi is the same Mahdi Abbassid, the heir-apparent to Mansour and he also called those present to bear witness to his saying.
The second one added one word [Arabic text] to the tradition of the Holy Prophet about horse-racing and shooting in order that the matter of pigeon- playing by the Caliph becomes included alongside horse-racing and shooting and hence earns an Islamic value.
Therefore, it is quite clear that in the matter of fabrication of traditions, they used to sometimes make use of the famous traditions of the Holy Prophet and by increasing or decreasing some portion of it, they would achieve their aim.
From the above two examples, we clearly realized that the reason why the traditions and hadiths were forged were mostly for the sake of pleasing the Caliphs and those in power in the government even though at times, the Caliph had not given any special instructions in this regard. Of course, it is quite obvious that had the Caliph given such an instruction then the matter of fabrication of tradition would have taken a more disasterous turn.
Mada'eni113 who is amongst the first and the most reliable historians narrates in his book «Al Ehdas» as such: «In the year of congregation,114 Muawiya wrote and despatched a common command for his agents who were ruling in all the cities of the Islamic territory - right from India to as far away as Africa. In that command, Muawiya wrote: Anyone who narrates anything about the excellence of «Abu-Turab» and his progeny will render his blood useless and his property dishonourable and will bring about his expulsion from the domain of protection of the government.
After the issuance of this declaration, the people of Kufa i.e. the followers of the household of the descendants of Ali (A.S.) suffered pain and persecution more than the others. These people were those who had been trained in the school of Amirul-Mumineen Ali (AS.) and were well acquainted with Hazrat's love and affection. Persons like Maitham Tammar, Sa'asat-ibn-Suhan, Hur-ibn-Adi and Adi-ibn-Hatim had lived amongst the people of this city. They were those who lived with the love of Amir-ul- Mumineen (A.S.) and also departed this world with his love. Therefore, they were willing to bear the severity and difficulty of this declaration and resign themselves to prison, torture, plunder and death.
114- By 'year of congregation' [Arabic text] is meant the year 40 Hijri when Muawiya had pined full control of all the Islamic lands. This afore-said year was called [Arabic text] because none opposed Muawiya in that year. The reason why the followers of the Caliphate school are called as Ahl-e-Sunnat and Jama'at (men of tradition and community) is because they are unanimious and united in following the Caliphs and are unopposed to them.
For the second time, Muawiya issued a command to all his agents instructing them not to accept the testimony of any of the Shias of Ali and his household. (until now too, the testimony of the Shias was not being accepted in some of the countries. In the eyes of the ruling government, they were invalid from the view-point of justice. If there was anyone amongst them who would bear witness in the court, it would not be accepted) Muawiya wrote: «All the friends and lovers of Uthman and all those who narrate traditions about his excellence who live under your rule should be identified and honoured. Write to me about whatever they have narrated about Uthman's superiority and register their names and the names of their household.»
For this reason anyone who would narrate a tradition from the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) about the Virtues of Uthman would prove to be a sort of an official document and would be sent to the Umayyad court. This order was so implemented that the virtues of Uthman and the traditions which comprised his virtues gained abundance. This was because Muawiya would unsparingly employ on this path money, robe of honour, awards, properties, lands and whatever he had at his disposal and would distribute them amongst the Arabs. Therefore, distortion of traditions spread far and wide in every Islamic city and the mammonists competed with each other in gaining access to them. There was no expelled person who would approach the official agents and ruler of Muawiya's government and narrate a tradition about Uthman's virtues and superiority but that his name would be registered and would gain likeability of the ruling power. Moreover his intercession on behalf of others would be accepted and would gain social respect and prestige. Some time elapsed in this manner!