Ibadhism, The Cinderella of Islam (Chapter7)

CHAPTER 7

HADITHS

Hadiths (or Sunna or Traditions)

          These are Holy Prophet’s narratives and practices made or performed during his lifetime. They include actions of the Sahabas performed in the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he did not object to them. The Hadiths are the second important source of authority after the Holy Qur’an. The Holy Book consists of Allah’s General Commandments and Prohibitions while the Hadiths contain detailed explanation or instructions on how to perform these commandments and to avoid the prohibitions.

          For example, the Holy Qur’an enjoins us to pray but does not tell us in detail how to say our prayers. So we have to resort to the Sunna for guidance and detailed instructions, for example, as to how many prostrations (raka’a) we have to perform in each prayer and what chapter of the Qur’an we have to recite and so on. The same is true of the pilgrimage. Before his death the Prophet (peace be upon him) made a farewell journey to Makkah to show the faithful how to perform the pilgrimage, and it is on the basis of the procedures of rites that he followed in each stage that millions of Muslims today perform the different rites (manasik) of the pilgrimage.

          Unfortunately these hadiths were not all recorded immediately during the Holy Prophet’s lifetime but came to be collected many years later long after the deaths of his Companions (Sahabas) who had actually heard or saw him. The more commonly known compilations of hadiths are:-

1)    Bukharee	2)    Muslim
3)    Abu Dawood	4)    Al Tirmidhi
5)    An-Nasaaee	6)    Ibn-Maajah

          But there is another, most authentic collection of hadiths which is never mentioned by members of other sects out of prejudice, it is Musnad Ar-Rabii. It is one of the earliest, if not the earliest, collection made before the Six Compilations referred to above. It was compiled in the second century of Hijra while the other were collected 100 years later, that is, in the third century Hijra. It comprises about 700 hadiths, but they say that they are based on hearsay. But the truth is, all hadiths relied on by other sects are also hearsay. None of the collectors lived during the Prophet’s lifetime, the traditions being handed down by word of mouth from one person to another over a period of more than 200 years. Later collectors like Imam Ahmed, Bukhari, Abu Dawood and others have confirmed many of the hadiths in the Musnad Ar-Rabii which Ibadhis rely on. The Ibadhis recognize that the Musnad does not contain all the hadiths for it is estimated there are about 4000 of them and so they sometimes refer to other collections of hadiths when they are looking for a solution to a religious issue.

          The problem about these hadiths is that they are not all-genuine or authentic (صحيح). Some of them were fabricated in order to support a certain view or dogma, and some have been distorted in the process of transmission, not necessarily intentionally. For this reason Ibadhis have refused to accept some of them particularly those hadiths dealing with theological questions and the events in the Hereafter.

          A scholar interested in the study of oral transmission of messages conducted a trial involving about twenty students standing in a row, each student being some distance apart from another. The first student in the row was given a short secret verbal message to covey to the second student and the second to the third and so on until the last student. When the message reached the last student it was found to be completely different or totally distorted from the original one, and that was in a matter of less than ten minutes. It follows that the longer the message and the wider the interval of time, the greater is the likehood of the message being distorted. This is a simple experiment that people should try to check for themselves the unreliability of oral transmission of messages or hadiths. Many of the Holy Prophet’s traditions were compiled about 200 years after his death and some of them are so long that it is impossible to have been remembered in such great detail over such a long period of time. The shorter the hadith the more likely it is to be accurate, and those involving actions or deeds like performance of prayers and pilgrimage are even less likely to get misrepresented with the passage of time.  

          With regard to Sunnahs involving action, the people of Medina, where the Holy Prophet lived for ten years, are better qualified to know how the God’s messenger, for example, used to say his prayers and though, in general, all Muslims pray practically in the same way, yet there are some minor differences that again some people tend to magnify them. For example followers of Shafii, Hanafi and Hanbali fold their arms when standing in prayers while Malkis, Shias and Ibadhis let them straight down. The letter three pray the way their Imams used to do, imam Malik was born and lived in Medina all his life, and the Holy Prophet all his life and he was the best to know how his cousin and father-in-low used to say his prayers. But to be defeated!! They say that Imam Malik used to let his arms hanging while praying because he was unable to fold them as a result of injuries inflicted by the order of the Governor of Medina. The story of his injury is true but the inference made from it is doubtful. People with injured arms generally cannot let them hanging down but normally keep them folded. Anyone who has visited an orthopedic hospital will have noticed that those with injured arms have their arms bent and supported by a bandage from around the neck and if he is not cured completely, they will remain bent forever. The inference is concocted in order to prove that those who fold their arms are right and those who don’t are wrong. Those fanatic scholars who fabricate stories take undue advantage of the incredulity of their adherents, and do not realize that someone, one day, will find them out!!

          If Imam Malik could not clasp his arms while praying because of injuries, one might as well ask how could he perform prostrations (سجود), because prostrations involve the bending of arms and it is more painful to bend injured arms during prostrations due to the weight of the body on them. The truth is, Imam Malik used to say his prayers with his arms down, not as a result of injuries but because that is how the people of Medina used to pray and the people of medina were best qualified to know how the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was conducting his prayers, since he lived there and said prayers with them for Ten years.

          Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab (founder of the Wahhabi sect) of Saudi Arabia in his book الأصول الثلاثة وشروط الصلاة والقواعد الأربعة published in Medina laid down fourteen principles of prayers and each is based on an ayah in the Qur’an or Hadith. But he did not mention that folding arms or letting them down was one of them. He has quoted, however, a Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira relating to a man who was taught by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) how to pray after failing three times to say his prayers properly. The Holy Prophet said:-

اذا قمت الى الصلاة فكبر ثم اقرأ ما تيسر معك من القرآن, ثم اركع حتى تطمئن راكعا, ثم ارفع حتى تعتدل قائماً, ثم اسجد حتى تطمئن ساجداً, ثم ارفع حتى تطمئن جالساً, ثم افعل ذلك في صلاتك كلها.

‘When you stand for prayers, Say ‘Allahu Akkbar’ (God is greatest), then read a section of the Qur’an, Then bow completely; Then stand up straight; Then prostrate to the ground completely; Then get up and kneel completely; Then repeat that in all your prayers’.

If you go through the Hadith carefully you will not fail to notice that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) has mentioned all the important movements or gestures involved in the prayers but has not mentioned at all about raising or clasping of arms. So the clasping of arms is not as important as some people try to exaggerate it; a few of them are so fanatic about it that when they see a person praying with his arms down they interrupt him in the middle of his prayers, thus displaying complete ignorance of Islam and lack of good manners. They should remember what Allah said to the Holy Prophet in ayah 84 of Suratul Isra’ (17):-

"قل كل يعمل على شاكلته فربكم أعلم بمن هو أهدى سبيلا"

“Say (O Muhammad to mankind): Each one does according to his way (or his religion) and your Lord knows best who follows the right path 9or religion)”                                    (Dr. Al Hilali & Dr. Khan).

          There is also a difference of opinion as to whether the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) used to raise his hands before and after bowing (rukoo) during prayers. Abu Haneefa (the first of the four Orthodox Imams) and his two students Imam Muhammad ibn Hassan and Abu Yusuf ruled against the practice whereas Imam ‘isaam Yousuf al-Balakhee, a student of Imam Muhammad Hassan found evidence of an authentic Hadith that supported the raising of hands (Abu Ameena Bilal Philips, p.126). But proof in such cases where the Sunna involves action should come not from an oral Hadeeth but from the practice of the people of Medina where the Prophet (Peace be upon him) spent the last ten years of his life. Imam Muhammad Hassan had gone to Medina to study under Imam Malik for three years and must have seen how the people there were performing their prayers. It is therefore something of a surprise that his student who came a generation later after him should support the practice from evidence of an oral Hadeeth.  

          Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud, the Egyptian scholar referred to in the previous chapter made the following comments in his pamphlet entitled, الشفاعة (Intercession): -

1.      وقد أجمع رواة الأحاديث علي أن النبي عليه الصلاة والسلام قد نهى عن تدوين الأحاديث وجاء هذا النهي في أكثر من حديث لأبي هريرة وعبدالله بن عمر وزيد بن ثابت وأبي سعيد الخدري وعبدالله بن مسعود وغيرهم.....وفي كلمات أبي هريرة يقول في قطيعة لا تقبل اللبس: (خرج علينا الرسول ونحن نكتب أحاديثه) فقال: ((ما هذا الذي تكتبون؟)) قلنا: (أحاديث نسمعها منك يا رسول الله) قال: (أكتاب غير كتاب الله؟!) يقول أبو هريرة: (فجمعنا ما كتبناه وأحرقناه بالنار).

2.      وابو هريرة نفسه هو الذي قال في حديث آخر: (بلغ رسول الله أن أناسا قد كتبوا أحاديث, فصعد المنبر, وقال: (ما هذه الكتب التي بلغني أنكم قد كتبتم؟ إنما أنا بشر فمن كان عنده شيء منها فليأت بها) يقول أبو هريرة: (فجمعنا ما كتبناه وأحرقناه بالنار).

3.      وهو نفسه صاحب الحديث التفق على تواتره: (لا تكتبوا عني غير القرآن, ومن كتب عني غير القرآن فليمحه).

4.      وفي رواية لأبي سعيد الخدري قال: (استأذنت رسول الله عليه الصلاة والسلام أن أكتب حديثه فأبى أن يأذن لي).

5.      وأبو بكر أول الراشدين روت عنه ابنته عائشة: (جمع أبي الحديث عن رسول الله, وكان خمسمائة حديث, فبات ليلة يتقلب كثيرا فلما أصبح قال: (أي بنية هلمي بالأحاديث التي عندك, فجئته بها, فدعا بنار و أحرقها) أنظر "الذهبي تذكرة الحفاظ" ج 1 ص 5.

6.      أما ثاني الخلفاء الراشدين عمر بن الخطاب.... فجمعها و أحرقها. وكان خوف عمر أن يحدث ما حدث لأأهل الكتاب من تاليه الأنبياء وتقديس كلامهم, فيتحول مع الوقت الى وحي له شأن الوحي الألهي وكهنوت, كما حدث في الأديان الأخرى....ثم كان الخوف الأكبر من الأحاديث الموضوعة والمدسوسة وليس أدل على هذا الخوف من أن البخاري لم يدون من ستمائة ألف حديث جمعها إلا أربعة آلاف حديث فقط, وهو نفس الخوف الذي كان في قلب أبي حنيفة الذي لم يصح عنده إلا سوى سبعة عشر حديث من مئات الألوف.

1.      ‘The narrators of Hadiths were agreed that the Holy Messenger (SAW) had forbidden recording of Hadithd. This prohibition came in more than on Hadith by Abu Huraira, Abdullah bin Umar, Zaid bin Thabit, Abu Said al Khudary, Abdullah bin Masoud and others. And in the words of Abu Huraira he says emphatically and without ambiguity:-

“The Messenger came upon us while we were recording his Hadiths”

He said, ‘What is this you are writing?’

We said, ‘Hadiths we have heard from you, O Allah’s Messenger’

      He said, ‘(Are you writing) a book other than Allah’s book?’

Abu Huraira said, ‘So we collected what we had written and burnt it in the fire’.

2.      And Abu Huraira himself is also the narrator of another Hadith:

“It came to the ears of the Allah’s Messenger that people had recorded his Hadiths”.

He went up the pulpit and said,

‘What are these books which, I hear, you have written?’

‘I am a mere human being, if anyone has any of them being them to me. So we collected what we had recorded and burnt them in the fire’.

3.      In a still another authentic Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira, the Holy Messenger (SAW) said,

“Do not write (statements) from me except the Qur’an and he who writes (statements) from me other than Qur’an let him wipe it off”.

4.      And in a narrative by Abu Saeed al Khudary, he said,

“I asked the permission of Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) to record his Hadith but he refused to allow me”.

5.      Sayyida Aisha narrates a Hadith about her father Abu Bakr, the first rightly-guided Khalifa:-

“My father collected 500 Hadiths and went to bed at night turning over many times, and when he woke up in the morning he said to me, ‘Bring me the Hadiths which you have,’ I gave them to him and he asked for fire and burnt them”.

6.      As for Umar bin Khattab, he is also reported to have called for all the Hadiths, collected them and burnt them. Seyyidna Umar feared that they might lead to the deification of the Holy Prophet, as happened with the people of the Book and their prophets, and regarded his words as sacrosanct which with the passage of time would come to be considered as divine revelation. And the greatest fear of all was that of fabricated hadiths.

And what was the greater proof of this fear than that Bukhary recorded only 4000 out of 600,000 Hadiths; and Abu Hanifa found only l7 Hadiths as authentic (Sahih) out of hundreds of thousands of them (Translation by the Author).

          It is the adoption of hundreds of Hadiths (so-called Sahih) that has led to the differences between religious sects (madhahib) in Islam. As a result, two Islamic schools of jurisprudence appeared, one in Iraq and the other in Hejaz with their different approaches to Hadiths. The first relied heavily on individual judgment (اجتهاد) and less on Hadiths which they used sparingly and under stringent circumstances; To this school belonged the Sahaba Abullah b. Masoud and Imam Abu Hanifa who both lived in Iraq. On the other hand, the Hejaz school laid greater emphasis and importance to the Prophet’s Hadiths in formulating their judgments (fatwas). The Sahaba Abdullah b. Umar and Imams Malik, Shafi’i and Hanbaly were adherents of the latter school. As for the Ibadhis they adopted both methods in their fiqh. It is of interest to note that Seyyidna ‘Umar b. Khattab forbade excessive quotation of Hadiths and ordered the Sahabas to concentrate on the narration and study of the Qur'an’ (Abu Ameena Bilal Philips p.41).

          Sheikh Ali b. Muhammad b. Amir Al Hijry in his book Al Ibadhia (p.79) quotes from Ibn-l-Araby’s book العواصم القواسم (p.370) the following passage: -

ولا يشتغل برواية الحديث من كل كتاب فالباطل فيه كثير, و أما الصحيح من حديث النبي إلا كنقطة من بحر, وليحذر كتب الصالحين, ومن ينتمي إلى الوعظ انهم لم يألو في الكذب على رسول الله صل الله عليه وسلم بقصد, وبغير قصد....

‘One should not busy oneself with Hadiths from every book because there are a lot of lies in it. And what is genuine of the Prophet’s Hadiths is like a drop in the ocean. And one should be aware of books of the devout and of those concerned with giving admonition because they are not free from falsehood against Allah ’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) either intentionally or unintentionally... ..”

Thus while there is no doubt that the Prophet’s Hadiths constitute the second most important source of authority, there are however in it a large number of hadiths fabricated to support a certain dogma or doctrine especially if it is against another Islamic sect.

>>>>>> (To be Continued)

Reference:

Ibadhism, The Cinderella of Islam, by Soud H. Al Ma'awaly, pg: 104-111