 |
Muhammad
|
|
"His being an orphan was part of the way he was described, and one of the signs mentioned, in the previous books and reports of previous communities. That is how he is mentioned in the book of Armiya'[44] and how he was described by Ibn Abi Yazin to 'Abdu'l-Muttalib and by the monk Bahira to Abu Talib."
|
Translated
by Aisha
Abdarrahman Bewley
Part
Four Section
Nine
The seventh case is when someone mentions what is permitted for the Prophet, or disagrees about what is permitted for him, regarding those ordinary human matters that happened to him. He might associate them with the Prophet or mention the severity of things by which he was tested and which he endured in the way of Allah - the harshness of his enemies, their injuring him, knowledge of his beginning, his life and the suffering he met in his time, and what he did for his livelihood. All these things have come by way of transmission and through study and through knowing what is sound in respect of the inviolability of the Prophets and what is permitted for them. This is different from the six previous cases since there is no fault, imperfection, contempt, or belittlement involved in it for the speaker either by way of expression or intention. However, discussion about these things must only take place among the people of knowledge or intelligent students of the deen who understand what is intended and realise its benefits. Others should avoid it if they do not have sufficient understanding or it is feared that it might become a trial for them. Because of what the story contains one of the Salaf disliked teaching women Sura Yusuf (12) due to the weakness of their understanding and their lack of intellect and perception. The Prophet said, speaking about having been hired to herd sheep at the beginning of his state, "There is no Prophet who has not herded sheep."[43] Allah informed us about the same thing regarding Musa. If this is mentioned in the proper way there is no fault in it. However, it is different if someone intends fault and contempt by it. It was the custom of the Arabs to do that. Indeed there is far-reaching wisdom in that for the Prophets. Allah raised them by degrees in His esteem and trained them by their herding sheep so that they would be able to manage their communities both by reason of the honour which they already been shown before-time and the knowledge they had gained by their experience. Similarly, Allah mentions the fact that the Prophet was an orphan and in order to show His favour to him and to demonstrate how He honoured him There is no objection to someone mentioning this if his intention is to learn about the Prophet's situation and beginnings and to marvel at Allah's gift to him and His great favour to him. Indeed, it contains a proof of his prophethood and the soundness of his call since Allah gradually gave him victory over the leaders of the Arabs and all those of their nobles who opposed him and his importance grew until he had conquered them and taken over their reins of power and captured the property of many other communities. Allah gave him victory, supported him with His own help and through the help of the believers, bringing their hearts together, and He helped him by means of designated angels. If he had been the son of a king or someone with a long-standing following, many ignorant people would have supposed that to have been the cause of his victory and what caused him to be elevated. This is why Heraclius questioned Abu Sufyan about him and asked, "Was there a king among his forebears?" and then said, "If there had been a king among his forefathers, we would have said that he was a man who was seeking his fathers' kingdom." His being an orphan was part of the way he was described, and one of the signs mentioned, in the previous books and reports of previous communities. That is how he is mentioned in the book of Armiya'[44] and how he was described by Ibn Abi Yazin to 'Abdu'l-Muttalib and by the monk Bahira to Abu Talib. The same applies to his being described by Allah as being illiterate. That is praise in his case, and a virtue and the basis of his miracle since his greatest miracle was the Qur'an. It is connected to the knowledges and insights which the Prophet was given and by which he was preferred. This has already been covered in Part One [of the Shifa]. When something like this comes from a man who could not read or write, did not study and was not taught, it provokes amazement and profound consideration. This is a miracle for a mortal man and there is no imperfection in it since the goal of reading and writing is to gain knowledge. Literacy is a tool for this and a means of gaining understanding, not an end in itself. If the fruit and goal of something is obtained without them, there is no need for the means and cause. Illiteracy is a fault in others because it indicates ignorance and is a sign of stupidity. Glory be to the One who made the Prophet's affair different from other people's and placed his honour in something that for others is a fault, and his life in what would have meant death for others. He had his heart split open and what was inside of it removed, and that was the perfection of his life, the extreme strength of his self and the firmness of his heart. For other people, it would have resulted in their destruction and death. It is the same with much of what is related concerning him and his life - about his making do with little of this world, his clothes, food, transport, his humility and employing himself in his business and serving in his house, his doing without and turning away from this world. Both the trivial and important things of this world were the same for him since its affairs pass away swiftly and its states are overturned. All of these things are among his virtues and good qualities and part of his nobility. Whoever mentions them as virtues or with that intention has a good purpose. Whoever quotes these things in other than their proper context has a bad purpose which is connected to what we have been talking about in the previous sections. The same applies to traditions which people quote about the Prophet or any of the other Prophets in which there is some outward ambiguity which might be construed as referring to matters not befitting them. Such traditions need to be properly explained. What they refer to is unclear. People should only relate sound hadiths concerning them and quote only what is firmly known. May Allah have mercy on Malik! He disliked teaching any hadiths which might lend themselves to doubt or whose meaning was obscure. He said, "What prompts people to teach this sort of hadith?" He was told, "Ibn 'Ajlan related them." He retorted, "He is not one of the fuqaha', and I wish that people would make him agree to leave these hadiths and help him to quote the good ones. 'Most of them do not lead to any positive action." It is related that a group of the Salaf, or rather all of them, disliked discussion about anything that did not lead to action. The Prophet brought this deen to an Arab people who understood the speech of the Arabs in its proper context and usage. They knew its figurative expressions, metaphors, rhetoric and terseness. It was not obscure for them. 'Then foreigners got hold of it and illiterates delved into it. They scarcely understood what the Arabs meant at all except in the case of clear texts and statements. They could not grasp what was alluded to when it was concise, revelatory, rhetorical or indirect. Therefore they disagreed about how to interpret it and applied it literally or differed widely concerning its meaning. As for any hadiths which are not sound, they must not be mentioned at all, either in respect of Allah or in respect of the Prophets. The meaning of such hadiths should not be discussed at all. The correct thing to do is to discard them and not be occupied with them. The only reason to mention them merely in order to inform people that they are weak in text and weak in isnad. The Shaykhs
objected to Abu Bakr ibn Furak concerning himself with obscure words in
weak, fabricated hadiths which are without foundation which were
transmitted from the people of the Book who mixed truth with falsehood.
It would have been enough for him to discard them and make clear that
they were weak. That removes any necessity of discussing them since the
goal in speaking about an obscurity is to remove doubt regarding and to
pluck it out by the roots. Discarding them removes doubt and heals soul.
|
