KHUTAB IX

 i
S E L E C T E D
K H U Ṭ A B
IX
(SERMONS & SPEECHES)
19 JUNE 2015 – 18 DECEMBER, 2015
*
BY
MUHAMMAD AMIN A. SAMAD
CANBERRA, DECEMBER, 2015
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بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحمْنِ الرّحِيْم
وَ بِه نَسْتَعِيْن
فِيْ أُمُوْرِ الدُّنْ يَا وَ الدِّيْن
For the Collection of my Islamic Speeches
and Writings, please visit:
[Google] muhamine.blogspot.com
http://issuu.com/muhammadaminsamad
independent.academia.edu/MuhammadAminSamad
or simply write on Google amin samad
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Contents .……………………………. iii
Transliteration …………………………………....... v
Preface ……………………………………………... vii
A. Introduction to the Khuṭbah ………………... x
B. Some Examples of Du‘ā’ for the
Second Khuṭbah …………………….. xii
1. Fasting in History …………… 1
2. Amanah (Honesty, Faithfulness, etc. …….. 7
3. It is Intention that Counts ………………… 13
4. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (1) ………………… 19
5. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (2) ……………………………… 25
6. Bernard Nababan ……………………… 31
7. Abū Hurayrah (1) …………………. 35
8. Abū Hurayrah (2) ………………………… 43
9. Irene (Irena) Handono …………………… 49
10. Sacrifice ……………………… 55
11. Refugees ………………………… 61
12. Religion and Blasphemy (1) ……………… 67
13. Religion and Blasphemy (2) ……………… 73
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14. The Meanings of Khayr (Good)
in the Qur’ān (1) …………… 79
15. The Meanings of Khayr (Good)
in the Qur’ān (2) …………… 85
16. The Meanings of Khayr (Good)
in the Qur’ān (3) ……………… 91
17. Did the Prophet ever Contradict
the Qur’ān? …………………… 97
18. Out of Context ………………… 103
19. Asbāb al-Wurūd ………………………….. 109
20. Ibn Jarīr Al-Ṭabarī) ………………………… 115
21. Al-Qurṭubī ………………………………. 121
22. Imam Bukhārī ………………………………. 127
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TRANSLITERATION SYSTEM
The English transliteration for Arabic names and
terms followed in this booklet is as follows:
a. Consonants:
ا = a or ’ ب = b ت = t ث = th
ج = j ح = ḥ خ = kh د = d
ذ = dh ر = r ز = z س = s
ش = sh ص = ṣ ض = ḍ ط = ṭ
ظ = ẓ ‘ = غ ع = gh ف = f
ق = q ك = k ل = l م = m
ن = n ه = h و = w ي = y
ء = ’ (like alif)
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b. Vowels:
Short: Long:
Fatḥah --َ ---: = a ا = ā
Kasrah --َ ---: = i ي = ī
Ḍammah -- ---: = u و = ū
c. Tā’ marbūṭah: ah, e.g., sūrah ( (سُوْرَة
Tā’ marbūṭah in iḍāfah: at, e.g., sūrat al-
Baqarah ( (سُوْرَة اْلبَقَرَة
d. Alif maqṣūrah: á, e.g., qad.á ( قَضَى ) and shūrá
( شوْ رى)
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بِسْمِِ اِللِِ اِلرَّحْمَنِِ اِلرَّحِيْم
PREFACE
This booklet is the ninth part of my collection of
speeches and writings from 19 NJune 2015 – 18
December, 2015, entitled Khutab IX. They were
delivered at the muṣallā (place of prayer, prayer
room) at the Multi-Cultural Centre, Canberra Museum
and Gallery building, Civic Square, Canberra.
The abbreviations used in this booklet are: (1)
s.a.w. (and ص.م .) for ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam (and
صَلّى الل عَلَيْ ه وَسَلَّمْ ) meaning “may Allah bless him and
grant him salvation”, sometimes translated as “peace
be upon him” (p.b.u.h.), an eulogy after the name of
Prophet Muhammad, (2) a.s. ( ع.س .) for ‘alayhis salām
عَلَيْ ه السَّلامْ ) ) meaning “upon him be peace” usually used
after the names of angels and prophets before
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., (3) and r.a. ( ر.ع .) for
raḍiyallāhu ‘anhu (and رَ ضيَ الل عَنْهُ ) meaning “may
Allah be please with him” usually used after the
names of the ṣaḥābah (companions of the Prophet).
It has been like an accident that before leaving a
certain place I left a booklet behind. The booklet
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Khuṭab I (the collection of speeches and sermons at
the Canadian Islamic Centre, al-Rashid Mosque)
before leaving Edmonton (Canada) for Australia;
Khuṭab II (the collection of sermons at the Canberra
Islamic Centre) at Monash, ACT, before leaving for
overseas (the longest and happiest travel I have ever
made); the Khuṭab III before leaving for Indonesia and
Malaysia in September 2007; Khuṭab IV, was the
collection of my sermon at the ANUMA delivered until
the first quarter of the year 2011, and published later
at the end of this year after recovering from the
operation of removing the aortic aneurism of my
stomach on 11 June; the Khuṭab V is the collection of
my khuṭbah at the prayer room at the Multicultural of
Canberra Museum and Gallery building, at Civic
Square, Canberra, from the end of December, 2012 till
the end of June, 2013 before leaving for Indonesia;
the Khuṭab VI is the continuation of my collection of
my khuṭbah at the same location at Civic Square,
Canberra before leaving for Melbourne visiting
friends. This visit is following the advice of Prophet
Muhammad s.a.w. « زُرْ غبًّّا، تَزْدَدْ حُبًّّا » “Visit at intervals,
so that you will increase love.” The Khuṭab VII is the
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continuation of my collection of my khuṭbahs at the
same location at Civic Square, Canberra before leaving
for Sydney and Melbourne visiting friends. This
Khuṭab VIII is the continuation of my collection of my
khuṭbahs at the same location at Civic Square,
Canberra before leaving for Sydney. By this time I was
very lucky to reach the age of 79 AH/77 CE. Praise be
to Allah the Almighty Who has given me such a long
life. I have confidence in Him that He would give me
more extra bonus life.
This Khuṭab IX is the continuation of my
collection of my khuṭbahs at the same location at Civic
Square, Canberra. I take this two weeks “holiday” in
publishing this booklet as well as preparing for future
khuṭbahs (khuṭab), early next year, in shā’ Allāh.
This booklet, like the booklets written before, is
far from perfect. However, this is another attempt to
introduce some Islamic teachings to the public. May
Allah accept this humble contribution to Islam, and
may He forgive any mistake in this booklet. Amin!
Canberra, December, 2015
M.A.S.
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A. INTRODUCTION FOR THE KHUṬBAH
This is an example for the introduction to the
khuṭbah as follows:
- أَلْحَمْدُ لِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَ نَسْتَ عيْنُهُ وَ نَسْتَغْف رُهُ وَ نَسْتَهْ ديْ ه وَ نَعُوْذُ با لِ منْ
شُرُوْ ر أَنْفُ سنَا وَ م ن سَيِّئَا ت أَعْمَال ناَ، مَنْ يَهْ د الل فَهُوَ الْمُهْتَ د وَمَنْ
يُضْل لْ فَلَنْ تَ جدَ لَهُ وَل يًّّا مُرْ شدًّا ، وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَ إ لَهَ إ لَّ اللّ وَحْدَهُ لَ
شَ ريْكَ لَهُ، يُبْدئُ وَ يُ عيْدُ وَ هُوَ اْلغَفُوْرُ الْوَدُوْدُ ذُو اْلعَرْ ش الْمَ جيْ د ، فَعَّا ل
ل مَا يُ ريْدُ ، عَزَّ جَارُهُ وَتَبَارَكَ اسْمُهُ وَعَلا شَأْنُهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالىَ عَمَّا
يَفْتَ ري الْمُفْتَرُوْنَ وَ يَتَقَوَّلُ الُمْش ركُوْنَ . وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًّا عَبْدُهُ وَ
رَ سُ و لُهُ وَصَف يُّهُ وَخَل يْلُهُ وَ كَل يْمُهُ ، سَلَّ الرِّسَالَةَ وَ أَدَّى اْلأَمَانَةَ وَ نَصَحَ
اْلأمَُّةَ ، أَرْسَلَهُ الل بَ شيْر اًّ وَ نَ ذيْرًّا وَ دَا عي اًّّ إ لىَ الل وَ سرَاجًّا مُ نيْرًّا مَنْ
يُ ط ع اللَ وَ رَسُوْلَهُ فَقَدْ رَشَدَ وَ مَنْ يَعْ ص همَا فَإنَّهُ ل يَضُرُّ إل نَفْسَهُ
وَل يَضُرُّ اللَ شَيْئًّا. أَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ وَ بَا ركْ عَلىَ عَبْ دكَ وَرَسُوْل كَ
سَيِّ دنَا مُحَمَّ د وَعَلىَ آل ه وَ صَحْ ب ه أَجْمَ عيْنَ . مَ ن اهْتَدَى بهَدْ ي ه وَ
اسْتَمْسَكَ بسُنَّ ت ه وَ سَلِّمْ تَسْل يْمًّا كَ ثيْرًّا
- أَلْحَمْدُ لِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَ نَسْتَ عيْنُهُ وَ نَسْتَغْف رُهُ وَ نَسْتَهْ ديْ ه وَ نَعُوْذُ با لِ منْ
شُرُوْ ر أَنْفُ سنَا وَ م ن سَيِّئَا ت أَعْمَال ناَ، مَنْ يَهْ د ه الل فَلاَ مُ ضلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ
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يُضْل لْ فَلاَ هَا ديَ لَهُ ، وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَ إ لَهَ إ ل اللّ وَحْدَهُ لَ شَ ريْكَ لَهُ، لَهُ
اْلمُلْكُ وَلَهُ اْلحَمْدُ يُحْ ييْ وَيُ ميْتُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْ ء قَ ديْر. وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ
مُحَمَّدًّا عَبْدُهُ وَ رَسُوْلُهُ، أَرْسَلَهُ الل باْلهُدَى وَ ديْ ن اْلحَقِّ ل يُظْ هرَهُ عَلَى
الدِّيْ ن كُلَّ ه وَلَوْ كَ رهَ اْلكَاف رُوْن. وَأُصَلَّيْ وَأُسَلّمْ عَلىَ اْلمَبْعُوْ ث رَحْمَةًّ
ل لْعَالَ ميْنَ هَا ديًّا وَمُبَشِّرًّا وَ نَ ذيْرًّا وَ دَا عي اًّّ إ لىَ الل بإ ذْ ن ه وَ سرَاجًّا مُ نيْرًّا
وَعَلىَ آل ه وَأَصْحَا ب ه الطَّيِّ بيْنَ الطّا ه ريْنَ وَمَنْ وَالَهُمْ بإ حْسَا ن إ لىَ يَوْ م
الدَّيْن.
- أَلْحَمْدُ لِ الْعَل يِّ الأعْليَ، أَحْمَدُهُ سُبْحَانَهُ، وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَ إ لَهَ إ ل اللّ وَحْدَهُ لَ شَ ريْكَ لَهُ ، خَلَقَ فَسَوَّى وَ قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى، وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًّا
عَبْدُهُ وَ رَسُوْلُهُ نَ بيُّ الرَّحْمَ ة وَ الْهُدَى، أَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ وَ بَا ركْ عَلىَ
عَبْ دكَ وَرَسُوْل كَ سَيِّ دنَا مُحَمَّ د وَعَلىَ آل ه وَ صَحْ ب ه الأَ ئمَّ ة الأَبْرَا ر
الْنُجَبَا ء، وَالتَّا ب عيْنَ وَ مَنْ تَ بعَهُمْ بإ حْسَا ن إ لَى يَوْ م الْبَعْ ث وَ الْنُشُوْ ر وَ
الْجَزَاء.
أَمَّا بَعْدُ ، فَيَا أَيُّهَا اْلمُؤْ منُوْنَ، أُوْ صيْكُمْ وَ إ يايََّ بتَقْوَى الل فَقَدْ فَازَ
اْلمُتَّقُوْنَ . قاَلَ تَعَالَى وَ هُ وَ أَ ص دقُ اْل قا ئل ين:” يَا أَيُّهَا الَّ ذينَ آَمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللََّ
حَقَّ تُقَا ت ه وَلَ تَمُوتُنَّ إ لَّ وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْل مُونَ “ . صَدَقَ الل اْلعَ ظيْم.
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B. SOME EXAMPLES OF THE DU‘Ā’ (SUPPLICATION)
AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE SECOND KHUTBAH
After performing the first khuṭbah stand up
again for the second khuṭbah citing its introduction
briefly, such as the following:
- أَلْحَمْدُ لِ رَبِّ الْعَالَ ميْن. وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَ إ لَهَ إ ل اللُّ وَ أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًّا
رَسُوْلُ الل. أَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلىَ مُحَمَّ د وَعَلىَ آل ه وَ صَحْ ب ه أَجْمَ عيْنَ .
Some examples of du‘ā’s and its meanings in the
second khuṭbah, are as follows:
- رَبَّنَا لَ تُؤَا خذْنَا إ نْ نَ سينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا رَبَّنَا وَلَ تَحْ ملْ عَلَيْنَا إ صْرًّا كَمَا
حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّ ذينَ م ن قَبْل نَا رَبَّنَا وَلَ تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَ طَاقَةَ لَنَا ب ه وَاعْفُ
عَنَّا وَاغْف رْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا أَنْتَ مَوْلَنَا فَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْ م الْكَاف رينَ
Our Lord! Do not punish us if we forget or make a
mistake. Our Lord! Do not lay on us such a burden
as You placed on those before us. Our Lord! Do not
lay on us a burden that which we have not the
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strength to bear! Forgive us, have mercy on us. You
are our protector, help us against the unbelievers.
- رَبَّنَا إ نَّنَا سَ معْنَا مُنَا ديًّا يُنَا دي ل لْيمَا ن أَنْ آ منُوا برَبِّكُمْ فَآمَنَّا رَبَّنَا فَاغْف رْ
لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّئَا تنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الْأَبْرَا ر . رَبَّنَا وَآ تنَا مَا وَعَدْتَنَا
عَلَى رُسُل كَ وَلَ تُخْ زنَا يَوْمَ الْق يَامَ ة إ نَّكَ لَ تُخْل فُ الْ ميعَادَ .
Our Lord! We have heard someone calling to
the rue faith, saying ‘Believe in your Lord!’ So
we believed. Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, remove
from us evil deeds and make us die with the
righteous. Our Lord! Give us what You have
promised through Your messengers and save
from the shame on the Day of Resurrection;
for You never break Your promise.
- أَللَّهُمَّ اغْف رْ ل لْمُسْل ميْنَ وَ الْمُسْل مَا ت وَالْمُؤْ م نيْنَ وَ الْمُؤْ منَا ت الْأَحْيَا ء
منْهُمْ وَ اْلأَمْوَا ت،إنَّكَ يَا مَوْلنَا سَ ميْ ع قَ ريْ ب مُ جيْبُ الدَّعَوَا ت وَ قَا ضي
الْحَاجَا ت يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَ ميْنَ
O Allah! Forgive the Muslims, males and females, the
believers, males and females, the living among them
as well as the dead! Verily, You are, O our Lord, the
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All-Hearing and Near, Who answer (our) prayers, and
fulfil (our) needs, O the Lord of all creatures.
- أَللَّهُمَّ نَوِّرْ عَلَى أَهْ ل اْلقُبُوْر قُبُوْرَهُمْ؛ اَللَّهُمَّ اغْف رْ ل لَْْحْيَا ء وَ يَسِّرْ لَهُمْ
أمُُوْرَهُمْ .
O Allah! Lighten the graves of the dead, O Allah,
forgive the living and facilitate their affairs.
- أَللَّهُمَّ تُبْ عَلَى التَّا ئ بيْنَ وَ اغْف رْ ذُنُوْبَ اْلمُذْ ن بيْنَ وَ اشْ ف مَرْضَى
اْلمُسْل ميْنَ وَ اكْتُ ب الصِّحَّةَ وَ الْعَاف يَةَ وَ التَّوْف يْقَ وَ الْ هدَايَةَ لَنَا وَ ل كَافَّ ة
أمَُّ ة مُحَمَّ د أَجْمَ عيْنَ .
O Allah! Forgive the repentant, forgive the sins
of the sinners, heal the sick among the Muslims,
prescribe well-being, vitality, prosperity and
guidance for us and for the entire
community of Muhammad.
- رَبَّنَا اغْف رْ لَنَا وَ ل وَال ديْنَا وَ ارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانَا صغَارًّا
“O Lord! Forgive us as well as our parents
and bestow on them Your mercy as they did
bring us up when we were young.”
xv
- أَللَّهُمَّ اْصْل ح لَنَا ديْنَنَا الَّ ذيْ هُوَ عصْمَةُ أَمْ رنَا، وَ اصْل حْ لَنَا دُنْيَانَا الَّ تيْ
ف يْهَا مَعَاشُنَا، وَ اصْل ح لَنَا آ خرَتَنَا الَّ تيْ إ لَيْهَا مَعَادُنَا، وَ اجْعَ ل الْحَيَاةَ
زيَادَة لنَ اَ ف ي كُلِّ خَيْ ر وَ اجْعَ ل الْمَوْتَ رَاحَةًّ لَنَا منْ كُلِّ شَ ر
O Allah! Bring prosperity to our affairs in this
world that is the preservation of our lives, and
in the next world to which we shall return, and
increase our good deeds in our lives, and
make our death repose from evil.
- أَللَّهُمَّ أَ رنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّّا وَارْزُقْنَا اتِّبَاعَهُ وَأَ رنَا اْلبَا طلَ بَا طلا وَارْزُقْنَا
اجْ تنَابَهُ
O Allah! Show us the truth as truth, and
guide to follow it, and show us the falsehood
as falsehood, and guide us to avoid it.
- رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا م ن أَزْوَا جنَا وَذُرِّيَّا تنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُ ن وَاجْعَلْنَا ل لْمُتَّق ينَ إ مَامًّا
Our Lord! Bestow on us, our spouses and
our offspring the comfort of our eyes and
make us leaders of the pious.
- أَللَّهُمَّ وَحِّدْ صُفُوْفَ الْمُسْل ميْنَ وَوَحِّد كَل مَتَهُمْ وَانْصُرْهُمْ عَلَى أَعْدَا ئ همْ
xvi
O Allah, unite the Muslims and assist them
against their enemies.
- أَللَّهُمَّ امْلَْ بُيُوْتَ الْمُسْل مينَ خًّيْرًّا وَبَرَكَةًّ وَ علْمًّا وَ ديْنًّا وَ هدَايَةًّ وَ تَقَوَى.
O Allah, fill the houses of the Muslims
with welfare, blessing, knowledge,
religion, guidance, and piety.
- رَبَّنَا آَ تنَا ف ي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةًّ وَف ي الَْْ خرَ ة حَسَنَةًّ وَق نَا عَذَابَ النَّا ر .
اللَّهُمَّ آ ميْن يَا رَبَّ اْلعَالَ ميْن
Our Lord! Give us the goodness, both in this
world and in the Hereafter and save us from
the torment of Hellfire. (Q. 2:201)
عبَادَ الل، إ نَّ اللََّ يَأْمُرُ بالْعَدْ ل وَالْْ حْسَا ن وَإ يتَا ء ذي الْقُرْبَى وَيَنْهَى عَ ن
الْفَحْشَا ء وَالْمُنْكَ ر وَالْبَغْي يَ عظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ . اُذْكُرُوا اللَ يَذْكُرُكُمْ وَ
اشْكُرُوْهُ عَلىَ نعَ م ه يَ زدْكُمْ وَ لَ ذكْرُ الل أَكْبَرُ وَ الل يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُوْن.
أَق م الصَّلاة !!!
1
1. FASTING IN HISTORY
Fasting is not something new either to human beings or to
animals. Human as well as animal will fast when they are in the times
of stress or illness, even at the slightest uneasiness. The early great
philosophers and thinkers, such as Hippocrates (460 BC – 370 BC),
Plato (428 BC-348 BC), Socrates (470 BC – 399 BC), Aristotle (384 BC
– 322 BC), and Galen (131 CE – 201 CE) used fasting for health and
therapy, and praised the benefit of fasting. Paracelsus (1493-1541),
one of the fathers of Western Medicine said, "Fasting is the greatest
remedy--the physician within."
Fasting in the early religious and spiritual communities was a
part of ceremonies and rites. Traditionally it was associated with a
period of quiescence, namely, being at rest, where most of physical
activities were suspended, and probably symbolically associated with
birth. In ancient times people traditionally fasted at the vernal
(spring) equinox (namely, time of the year at which the sun crosses
the equator and when day and night are of equal length), around 20
March, as well as at the autumnal (fall) equinox, around 22
September. These fasts were believed to increase fertility of the land
and the human body for reproduction. Among American Indians they
fasted to avert disasters, such as flood, drought, war, earthquake,
etc, and as penance for their sin.
Fasting has been a religious practice since the beginning of
recorded history. Its purpose is to purify the soul and to prepare for
receiving atonement of sins. It is still being practiced by Roman and
Orthodox Catholics, some Protestant sects (such as Episcopalians and
Lutherans), Tibetan Buddhists, American Indians, Jews, and Muslims.
Today it is practiced for various spiritual benefits, such as purification
of the soul, spiritual vision, mourning, penance or sacrifice, as well as
to break the habit of gluttony (eating too much).
In 1920 the Indian Yogi and Guru Paramahansa Yogananda (5
January 1893 – 7 March 1952) who founded a worldwide spiritual
organization called Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) based at Mount
Washington, California, Los Angeles, said: "Fasting is a natural
2
method of healing."1 The oldest and most comprehensive health care
system called Ayurvedic Medicine includes fasting as therapy.
Ayurveda (ayuh means “life”, and veda means “knowledge”) is
“Science of Life” or “Wisdom of Life” deals with nature and all
aspects of life.
In Hinduism fasting is abstaining from food half a day, one day
and even more. The Hindus observe fast in the name of the deity
every once, twice, three times, or more times a week. For example,
Monday is associated with Shiva, and fasting on this day would
please him, and on Saturday would please Hanuman, “the monkey
God”, and others say, the god of that day is Shani or Saturn, whereas
Hanuman is “the God of Tuesday”. The Hindus also observe fast on
festivals like Navaratri (when people fast for nine days); Shivratri and
Karwa Chauth.
One should fast once a week with an empty stomach but can
drink water till afternoon. Then one can drink fruit juice or one or
two fruits. Then one breaks the fast after sunset. The time of fasting
is either (a) from sunrise to sunset, or (b) from midnight (12.00 a.m.)
to the midnight (12.a.m.) of the next day. While Muslims are
recommended to break their fast with dates or water, the Hindus
have to break their fast with rice, and meat is not allowed. The meat
is of an animal the soul of which is of human in the process of
incarnation. It is not a good idea to kill someone while fasting for the
deity.
1 Among his interesting statements are: "You are walking on the earth as in a
dream. Our world is a dream within a dream; you must realize that to find God
is the only goal, the only purpose, for which you are here. For Him alone you
exist. Him you must find." – (from the book The Divine Romance). For Muslims,
God Whom they call “Allah” and Who created the whole universe has been
found by them, and the purpose of life is no longer to find Him, but to worship
Him. He said: وَمَا خَلَقْ ت الْجِ ن نِْسَ
) وَالْْ إِ لّ لِيَعْ ب دونِ )الذاريات: 65 , “And I (Allah) created
not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone) (Q.
51:56)
3
Buddhist monks fast the standard day of fasting eighteen days
where they drink a small amount of water daily. At first they start
with three days eating dry bread to prepare the stomach without
food. After eighteen days fasting, they eat small portions of thin
porridge or gruel every few hours for three days, until their digestive
system return to be normal. If this first fast is successful and
beneficial, it can be doubled into thirty-six days, or even seventy-two
days, but it has to be under supervision of an experienced teacher.
Buddhist people are not required to follow vegetarian diet and to
avoid dairy products, as they are only a personal option. Following
the practice of Buddha who was said to have eaten one meal a day,
before noon, some Buddhists do the same.
Among Jewish people there are seven traditionally accepted
fast days in a year, commemorating important events or
remembering tragedies of the past: (1) the Fast of the First Born
(observed by the first born males only), on the 14th of Nissan
commemorating that they were the first born saved from the plague
of the first born in Egypt; (2) the Fast on the 17th of Tammuz,
commemorating the breakdown of the wall of Jerusalem by the
Emperor Nebuchadnezzar and the cessation of Temple worship
during the siege of the Emperor Titus (the Fast of the 4th month); (3)
The Fast on the 9th of Av, remembering the tragedies of the Jewish
people, which is the most important fast day after Kippur fast day
(the Fast of the 5th month); (4) the Fast on the 3rd Tishri,
commemorating the murder of the Judean Governor Gedaliah (the
Fast of the Seventh Month); (5) the Fast Day of Atonement (Yom
Kippur) on the 10th of Tishri, the most holy day of the Jewish year,
and where no work of any kind is allowed; (6) the Fast day of the 10th
of Tevet, commemorating the fall of Jerusalem; on this day Kaddish
(Jewish prayer for the dead) was recited for people whose date or
place of death are unknown (the Fast of the 10th month); (7) the Fast
of Ester on 13th of Adar, before Purim festival which commemorates
the salvation of the Jewish people from the persecution of the
ancient Persian emperor.
4
Fasting among Catholics could mean: not eating snacks
between meals, or by abstaining from all food. The Church strongly
recommends the Catholic to fast forty days before Easter Sunday
called Lenten Fasting and Penance with only one meal per day and
without meat. Then the rule became more lenient, where fasting is
only on the first day of the Lent (i.e. the forty days), and on Good
Friday. Although the rule remains, i.e. one full meal a day without
meat, a small amount of food in the morning is allowed.
Fasting is not required in the Bible, but highly recommended
for Christians to do so from time to time to become closer to God,
but it has to be done secretly (see Matthew 6:16-18).
How long a Christian should fast? It could be one day as in Bible
times (Judges 20:26), occasionally three days (Esther 4:16), or seven
days (1 Samuel 31:13), and forty days in three occasions: when
Moses received the 10 Commandments (Exodus 34:28), Elijah
encountering God (1 Kings 19:8), and when Jesus was being
tempered in the wilderness (Matthew 4). Fasting this long is not
recommended unless with medical supervision.
Jesus himself was said to have fasted voluntarily alone in the
desert east of Jerusalem for a full forty days and forty nights. This is
one of many differences between Islam and Christianity, where
fasting in Ramadan is prescribed in Islam, and one of its five pillars.
Since the Qur’an mentions that it has also been prescribed to people
of earlier generations (Q. 2:183), it must have been taught by earlier
prophets to their followers without being recorded. However, there
are many other fasts which are recommended, such as:
- the Day of ‘Arafah (9th of Dhu ‘l-Hijjah) except the pilgrims at
‘Arafah should not fast this day.
- the Day of ‘Āshūra’ (10th day of Muḥarram)
- Six days in the month of Shawwāl (the month following Ramadan)
- the 13th, 14th, and 15th of every lunar month
- each Monday and Thursday of a week
- every other day, known as the fast of Prophet David (Dā’ūd) a.s.
5
There are some days of festivals where Muslims are
prohibited from fasting, as follows:
- ‘Īd al-Fitr (1st of Shawwal), following the fasting days in Ramadan.
- Īd al-Aḍḥā (10th of Dhū’-Ḥijjah)
- Tashrīq days (11th, 12th, 13th of Dhū’-Ḥijjah)
The objective of fasting as mentioned in the Qur’an is to obtain
taqwā. Allah says in the Qyr’an:
يَا أَيُّهَا ال ذِينَ آمَ نوا كتِبَ عَلَيْ ك م الصِّيَا م كَمَا كتِبَ عَلَى
) ال ذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِ كمْ لَعَل كمْ تَ تق ونَ )البقرة: 181
O you who believe! Observing fasting is prescribed
for you as it was prescribed for those before you,
that you may become the pious (Q. 2:183)
Muhammad Asad translated لَعَل كمْ تَ تق ونَ “so that you might
remain conscious of God,” namely, to gain taqwā, which could be
translated as “God consciousness’ or “God wariness.” On the other
hand, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall translates it “that ye may
ward off (evil),” so that taqwā means “avoiding evil.” The term
taqwā is also translated as “piety” and “fearing Allah.”
‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb r.a. asked Ubayy ibn Ka‘b the meaning of
taqwā.
“Have you taken a path where there were many thorns on it?”
asked Ubayy.
“Yes,” answered ‘Umar.
“Then what did you do?,” asked Ubayy again.
“I protected myself and be careful [not to step on them],” said
‘Umar.
“That is taqwā,” said Ubayy.
For this meaning of taqwā which means “self-protection” the
Abbasi poet Ibn al-Mu‘tazz (851-908) explains it in his poem as
follows:
خَلِّ ال ذ نوبَ صَغِيْرَهَا * وَكَبِيْرَهَا ذَاكَ التُّقَى
وَاصْنَعْ كَمَا ش فَوْقَ أَرْ * ضِ ال شوْكِ يَحْذَ ر مَا يَرَى
لَّ تَحْقِرَ ن صَغِيْرَةً * إ ن الْجِبَالَ مْنَ الْحَصَى
Abstain from sins, either small or big, that is piety
And do like a person walking on a thorny piece of land,
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Being careful of what he is seeing.
Do not look down on a minor sin;
Verily, mountains are made of pebbles
The Prophet s.a.w. as narrated by Abū Hurayrah r.a. said:
الصِّيَا م ج ن ة فَل يَرْف ثْ وَلّ يَجْهَلْ، وَإِنِ امْ ر ؤ قَاتَلَ ه أَوْ
شَاتَمَ ه فَلْيَق لْ : إِنِّي صَائِ م مَ رتَيْنِ )رواه البخاري(
Fasting is a shield (protection from the Hell-fire).
So the person observing the fast should avoid sexual
relation with his wife, and should not behave foolishly
and impudently, and if somebody fights with him
or abuses him, he should say to him twice,
“I am fasting” (Reported by Bukhārī)
May Allah accept our fasting as well as other acts of devotion to
Him.
(CIVIC, 19 June, 2015)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
al-Maktabah al-Shāmilah
Ali, A.Yusuf. The Meanings of the Holy Qur’ān. Kuala Lumpur: Perc
etakan Zafar Sdn Bhd, 2005
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar al-
Andalus, 1984
http://casc.uchc.edu/ayurveda/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramahansa_Yogananda
http://hinduismfacts.org/fasting-in-hinduism/
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma9/fasting.html
http://hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fast_Days/fast_days.html
http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/645309/
jewish/What-Is-Purim.htm
http://www.allaboutprayer.org/christian-fasting-faq.htm
http://www.allaboutfasting.com/history-of-fasting.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting
http://www.medical-library.net/content/view/186/41/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Realization_Fellowship
7
2. AMĀNAH (HONESTY, FAITHFULNESS, ETC.)
The term أَمَانَة (amānah) is derived from the verb أَمِنََ (amina),
meaning “to be safe,” “to feel safe,” “to be reliable,” “to be
trustworthy.” It is the opposite of خِيَانَة (khiyānah, faithlessness,
perfidy; betrayal; treason; deception). Linguistically, amānah means:
reliability, trustworthiness; loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity, fealty;
integrity, honesty; confidence, trust, good faith; trusteeship;
confidentiality; secrecy (of something).
Technically, amānah means a right which should be fulfilled
and kept. It also means the object of the amānah, namely, alwadī‘
ah ( الْوَدِيْعَة , something entrusted to someone’s custody). This
includes keeping someone’s secret. The person who upholds this
amānah is called al-Amīn ( الَْْمِيْن , the reliable, trustworthy, honest,
faithful person) the epithet of the Prophet before he was appointed
by Allah as His Messenger. In this sense, the jurist and Qur’ān
commentator al-Ḥusayn al-Dāmaghānī (d. 478/1085) gives the
meanings of the term amānah in the Qur’ān as follows:
الْفَرَائِض . 1 , religious obligations, including praying and fasting, such
as:
يَا أََيُّهَا اَلَّذِينََ آَمَنُوا لَََ تََخُونُوا اَللَََّّ وََالرَّسُولََ وََتَخُونُواَ
)َ أََمَانَاتِكُمَْ وََأَنْتُمَْ تََعْلَمُونََ )َالْنفال: 72
O you who believe! Betray not Allah and His
Messenger, nor betray knowingly your amānah
(things entrusted to you, and all the duties
which Allah has ordained for you) (Q. 8:27)
إِنَّا عََرَضْنَا اَلَْْمَانَةََ عََلَى اَلسَّمَاوَاتَِ وََالَْْرْضَِ وََالْجِبَالَِ فََأَبَيْنََ أََنَْ يََحْمِلْنَهَا
)َ وََأَشْفَقْنََ مَِنْهَا وََحَمَلَهَا اَلِْْنْسَانَُ إَِنَّهَُ كََانََ ظََلُومًا جََهُولًَ )َالحزاب: 27
Truly, We did offer the amānah (the trust or moral
responsibility or honesty and all the duties which Allah
has ordained) to the heavens and the earth, and the
mountains, but they declined to bear it and were
afraid of it (i.e., afraid of Allah’s Torment). But
man bore it. Verily, he was unjust (to himself)
and ignorant (of its results) (Q. 33:72)
8
الْوَدَائِع . 2 , something entrusted to someone’s custody, such as:
إِنََّ اَللََّّ يََأْمُرُكُمَْ أََن تَُؤدُّواَْ اَلَْمَانَاتَِ إَِلَى أََهْلِهَا وََإِذَا حََكَمْتُم بََيْنََ اَلنَّاسَِ أََن تََحْكُمُواََْ
)َََ بِالْعَدْلَِ إَِنََّ اَللََّّ نَِعِمَّا يََعِظُكُم بَِهَِ إَِنََّ اَللََّّ كََانََ سََمِيعًا بََصِيرًا )َالنساء: 85
Verily, Allah commands that you should render back
the trusts to those to whom they are due; and that when
you judge between men, you judge with justice. Verily,
how excellent is the teaching which He (Allah) gives you!
Truly, Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Seer.َ (Q. 4:58)
After the conquest of Makkah the Prophet s.a.w. enter the Holy
Mosque, made ṭawāf (circumambulation around the Ka‘bah), and
then he called ‘Uthmān ibn Ṭalḥah (the keeper of the key of the
Ka‘bah), took the key from him and opened the door of Ka‘bah. He
entered it, then he stood at its door, citing,
لََ إَِلَهََ إَِلََّ اَللََُّّ وََحْدَهَُ صََدَقََ وََعْدَهَُ وََنَصَرََ عََبْدَهَُ وََهَزَمََ اَلَْحْزَابََ وََحْدَهَُ There is no god but Allah Alone, He had fulfilled His promise, He has
helped His servant and has defeated the Confederates by Himself.
Then he sat down in the mosque. ‘Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib stood up and
said to him, “O Messenger of Allah, appoint us doorkeeper as well as
water supplier (for Makkan pilgrims).” The Prophet asked: “Where is
‘Uthmān ibn Ṭalḥah?” When the person came, he said to him: “This
is your key, O ‘Uthmān, today is the day of piety and fulfillment.” To
this, Allah revealed the above verse, and the Prophet did not give the
key of the Ka‘bah to ‘Ali, and the job of serving the pilgrims and
supplying water for the pilgrims.
)َ وَالَّذِينََ هَُمَْ لََِْمَانَاتِهِمَْ وََعَهْدِهِمَْ رََاعُونََ )َالمؤمنون: 5, اَلمعارج: 11
Those who are faithfully true to their amanat (all the duties
which Allah has ordained, honesty, moral responsibility
and trusts) and to their covenants; (Q. 23:8; 70:11)
الْعِفَّة . 3 , virtuousness, chastity; purity; modesty; honesty, uprightness,
such as:
قَالَتَْ إَِحْدَاهُمَا يََا أََبَتَِ اَسْتَأْجِرْهَُ إَِنََّ خََيْرََ مََنَََِ
)َ اسْتَأْجَرْتََ اَلْقَوِيَُّ اَلَْْمِينَُ )َالقصص: 72
And said one of them (the two women): “O my father!
9
Hire him! Verily, the best of men for you to hire is the
strong, the trustworthy.” (Q. 28:26).
It is about Moses (Mūsā a.s.) because of his honesty and
integrity one of the girls he had helped in watering their sheep
asked her father to employ him. The father’s name was Jethro
يَثْرَى(َ orَ يَثْرُوْن ) , the other name of Prophet Shu‘ayb a.s. (Other
commentators said that he was the nephew of Prophet Shu‘ayb).
Dishonesty is one of the signs of hypocrisy. Abū Hurayrah
narrated that the Prophet s.a.w. said:
آيَةَُ اَلْمُنَافِقَِ ثََلََ ثَ إَِذَا حََدَّثََ كََذَبََ وََإِذَا وََعَدََ أََخْلَفََ وََإِذَا اَؤتُمِنََ خََانََ )َرواه اَلبخاري(
There are three signs of the hypocrite: when he talks
he lies, when he promises he breaks it, and when he
is relied upon he betrays it (Reported by Bukhari)
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr narrated that the Prophet s.a.w. said:
أََرْبَ عَ مََنَْ كَُنََّ فَِيهَِ كََانََ مَُنَافِقًا خََالِصًا وََمَنَْ كََانَتَْ فَِيهَِ خََصْلَ ةَ مَِنْهُنََّ كََانَتَْ فَِيهَِ خَصْلَ ةَ مَِنَْ اَلنِّفَاقَِ حََتَّى يََدَعَهَا إَِذَا اَؤتُمِنََ خََانََ وََإِذَا حََدَّثََ كََذَبََ وََإِذَا عَاهَدََ غََدَرََ وََإِذَا خََاصَمََ فََجَرََ)رواه اَلبخاري(
Tََhere are four qualities of a pure (clear) hypocrite; if he
has one quality only, then he has a quality of hypocrisy until
he abandons it: if he is relied on he betrays, if he talks he lies,
if he promises he breaks it, and if he argues he acts
immorally (Reported by Bukhari)
What is meant by acting immorally, according to Ibn Baṭṭāl (d.
449/1057), the commentator of Bukhari’s collection of ḥadīths, is
“lying and misgiving” ) الَْكََذَِبَُ وَََالرَِّيَْبة (. What the Prophet means is that
sharing the dominant qualities of hypocrites does not means he has
turned into hypocrisy and apostasy, a dire warning and defamation
against these bad qualities.
Similarly, Anas r.a. narrated that the Prophet s.a.w. said:
لََ إَِيمَانََ لَِمَنَْ لَََ أََمَانَةََ لََهَُ وََلََ دَِينََ لَِمَنَْ لَََ عََهْدََ لََهَُ )َرواه أَحمد( There is no faith for a person who does not
possess amanah, [i.e., unreliable] and there is
no religion for one who does not keep his
10
promise.َ (Reported by Ahmad)
This indicates lack of faith, honesty and sincerity, not the loss
of faith, infidelity, and apostasy. It is like saying that a bottle is
empty, although it still contains little water.
A similar ḥadīth runs as follows:
مَنَْ غََشََّ فََلَيْسََ مَِنَّا )َرواه اَلترمذي)َ
Whoever cheats is not one of us
(Reported by al-Tirmidhī)
Before he became a prophet, Muhammad s.a.w. had been wellknown
for his honesty, and the people of Makkah called him “al-
Amīn”, (the reliable, trustworthy, loyal; upright, honest; faithful).
They had asked him to be judge in their disputes, and had entrusted
their goods to his custody. Before he left for Madinah to avoid their
persecution for his claim to be a prophet, he had entrusted their
goods to his cousin ‘Ali. Khadījah had employed him to sell her goods
in Syria, and because of his honesty people bought the goods he
brought with higher price to show their appreciation for his honesty.
This brought profit beyond his expectation, and Khadijah asked him
later to marry her. They married, and she became the first person
who believed in his message, a believer.
After he became prophet, his arch-enemy at that time, Abū
Sufyān, admitted to the Emperor Heraclius of his honesty when he
was asked about the new prophet. After learning his characters and
background, Heraclius told Abū Sufyān, “If I knew I could reach him
now, then I would go to him, and if I were in his presence then I
would gladly wash his feet.”
Honesty is inevitable in our daily-life. It is one of the
foundations of peace, from family to international relations. Our
dealings with others have to be based on trust. We trust everybody
until he cheats us, then we lose our trust on him. Everybody has to
be treated innocent until he is found guilty. If honesty is no longer in
a community, a society or a state then waits for its collapse and
destruction. Abū Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allah
s.a.w. said:
11
إَِذَا ضَُيِّعَتَْ اَلَْْمَانَةَُ فََانْتَظِرَْ اَلسَّاعَةََ قََالََ كََيْفََ إَِضَاعَتُهَا يََا رََسُولََ اَللََََِّّ
قَالََ إَِذَا أَُسْنِدََ اَلَْْمْرَُ إَِلَى غََيْرَِ أََهْلِهَِ فََانْتَظِرَْ اَلسَّاعَةََ )َرواه اَلبخاري(َ
If honesty (trust) is missed then wait for the time of its
destruction. He was asked, how it is missed O Messenger of
Allah? He said that if a case is relied upon unqualified
person then wait for the time of its destruction
(Reported by Bukhari)
What the Prophet means is that no matter how smart a person
is he is not qualified for a position as long as he or she lacks honesty.
What if someone cheats us, is it allowed to cheat him back,
according to Islamic teachings? The Prophet s.a.w. taught us to treat
everybody with honesty, even to the cheater. He said:
أَدَِّ اَلَْْمَانَةََ إَِلَى مََنَْ اَئْتَمَنَكََ وََلََ تََخُنَْ مََنَْ خََانَكََ )َرواه أَحمد و أَبو دَاود وَالترمذي(
Be honest to a person who is honest with you,َ
and do not betray the person who betrays you
(Reported by Ahmad, Abū Dā’ūd, and al-Tirmidhī).
However, Ibn Baṭṭāl comments further that trying to get back
our right taken by deceit does not include in the Prophet’s statement
above, as long as we do not take back more than what we deserve.
The example is thatَ Hind, Abū Sufyān’s wife, complained to the
Prophet that her husband was stingy and did not provide sustenance
for her and her children, and the Prophet allowed her to take herself
what she needed from her husband’s wealth without his approval,
because the maintenance was her right and his obligation.
Scholars hold different opinions whether it is possible or not to
get something else equals to the value of the thing taken from us
through cheating. Al-Shāfi‘ī allows it based on the story of Abū
Sufyān’s wife mentioned above. According to Abū Ḥanīfah it is
possible only to take something similar to it, gold for gold, silver for
silver, measured for measured, weighed for weighed. Mālik as
reported by al-Qāsim does not allow it, but in another report by
Ziyād he allows it, as long as it does not exceed what is needed.
12
As Muslims we believe that our whole body is amānah, a trust
that we have to take care of it, not to abuse it, and that we will be
responsible for what we have done with it in the Hereafter. Allah
said:
وَلََ تََقْفَُ مََا لََيْسََ لََكََ بَِهَِ عَِلْ مَ إَِنََّ اَلسَّمْعََ وََالْبَصَرََ وََالْفُؤَادََََ
)َ كُلَُّ أَُولَئِكََ كََانََ عََنْهَُ مََسْئُولًَ )َالْسراء: 62
And follow not (O man, i.e., say not, or do not or
witness not) that which you have no knowledge. Verily,
the hearing, and the sight, and the heart, of each of
those one will be questioned (by Allah) (Q. 17:36)
It includes spreading gossips which could lead to defamation.
Our job is amānah, a trust which we should perform the best
we can, even this very earth we are living in and its contents are
entrusted to us by Allah the Almighty to keep them in their best
condition. One of the six characteristics of the people promised with
Paradise is being faithful to their trusts and to their pledges (Q. 23:8)َ
as mentioned earlier. The treacherous person would be known in the
Hereafter. The Prophet s.a.w. said, as narrated by Ibn ‘Umar,
لِكُلَِّ غََادِ رَ لَِوَا ءَ يََوْمََ اَلْقِيَامَةَِ يَُعْرَفَُ بَِهَِ )َرواه اَلبخاري وَمسلم(
Every treacherous person will have a banner in the
Judgment Day by which he will be known
(Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)
In conclusion, among the good characters of good Muslims is
amānah, namely, honesty, faithfulness, reliability. They believe that
they will be responsible for keeping this amānah before Allah the
Almighty in the Hereafter. (CIVIC, 26 June, 2015)
المصادر:َ
المكتبة اَلشاملةَ
. 1858 (. قََامُوْسُ اَلْقُرْآن )َالْوُجُوْهُ وََالنَّظَائِر(. بَيروت, 1856َ \ الحسين اَلدَّامغَانِي )َت. 825َ
تفسير اَلطبري )َت. 618َ هَ)َ
تفسير اَلقرطبى )َت. 221َ هَ(
http://www.knightsofarabia.com/arabian/001/arabian00007.html
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ )امانة_)اسلَم
13
3. IT IS INTENTION THAT COUNTS
Umar ibn Al-Khattab r.a. reported: The Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings be upon him, said:
إِنَّمَا ا أ لَْ أ عمَا ل بِالنِّيَّةِ وَإِنَّمَا لِِ أ مرِ ئ مَا نَوَى فَمَ أ ن كَانَ أ ت هِ أ جرَ ت ه إِلَى اللَِّّ وَرَ سولِهِ
فَهِ أ جرَ ت ه إِلَى اللَِّّ وَرَ سولِهِ وَمَ أ ن كَانَ أ ت هِ أ جرَ ت ه لِ د أ نيَا يصِي بهَا أَ أ و ا أ مرَأَ ة يَتَزَوَّ جهَا
فَهِ أ جرَ ت ه إِلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إِلَ أ يه )رواه البخاري و مسلم(
Actions are (judged) by motives (intentions), so each man
will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah)
was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and
His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly
thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his
migration is to that for which he migrated.
(Reporter by Bukhari and Muslim)
This prophetic tradition (ḥadīth) is so important that Imam al-
Shāfi‘ī an Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said that it is one third of the
knowledge of Islam; it is related to about 70 topics of fiqh (Islamic
jurisprudence). It is because any human acquisition is either by his
heart, his tongue or his limbs, and intention is one of them.
Muslim scholars divide intention (niyyah) into two categories:
intention in matters of worship, and intention in worldly matters.
Intention in matters of worship is used by Muslim jurists as one of
many conditions for the validity of worship. It is intention that makes
distinction between obligatory and recommended prayers. When
you enter the mosque to pray, while you are standing for prayer you
make your intention whether you are going to perform an obligatory
prayer or a recommended one.
With regard to intention with worldly matters, Muslim jurists
have different views: The first view is that there is no need for
intention in matters of habitual actions, like drinking, eating,
sleeping, and wearing our clothes. The second view is that intention
is included in every action. If you eat to be full thanking Allah for his
blessing, or in order to make you strong in obeying Allah, you will be
rewarded. If you wear clothes to cover yourselves you will get
14
reward. But if your intention is to show off and to boast, then you
will become sinful. Therefore, any habitual and ordinary action, if it is
accompanied with intention, will turn into an act of devotion, a
religious observance in which you will be rewarded. If you build a
house to protect your family you will be rewarded for it. The Prophet
s.a.w. said to Sa‘d ibn Mālik in a long tradition, as follows:
...وَلَ أ ستَ بِنَافِ ق نَفَقَ ة تَ أ بتَغِي بِهَا وَ أ جهَ اللَِّّ إِلَِّ آجَرَكَ اللَّّ بِهَا
حَتَّى اللُّ أ قمَةَ تَ أ جعَل هَا فِي فِي ا أ مرَأَتِكَ ... )رواه البخاري(
… nothing you spend seeking Allah’s pleasure, except
that He will reward you for it, even the morsel you put
into your wife’s mouth … (Reported by Bukhari)
“Actions are (judged) by motives (intentions)”, means actions
are accepted or rejected, right or wrong are based on intention. The
expression “so each man will have what he intended” means the
reward of action is based on intention. Therefore, in order to get
reward for our good action we have to make good intention, namely,
sincerity for Allah’s sake, not as a show-off. In a ḥadīth qudsī
(namely, the idea is from Allah, but the wording is from the Prophet),
the Prophet s.a.w. said, that Allah the Almighty said:
أَنَا أَ أ غنَى الشُّرَكَاءِ عَنِ الشِّ أ ركِ مَ أ ن عَمِلَ عَمَل أَ أ شرَكَ فِيهِ مَعِى
غَ أ يرِى تَرَ أ ك ت ه وَشِ أ ركَ ه )رواه مسلم(
I am the most in not needing association, whoever acted
an action associating Me (with something else), I would
leave him with his associate (Reported by Muslim)
If someone prays not for the sake of Allah, but as show off,
hypocrisy, then his prayer will not be accepted by Allah. Allah said:
إِنَّ ا أ ل منَافِقِينَ يخَادِ عونَ اللَّّ وَ هوَ خَادِ ع ه أ م وَإِذَا قَا موا إِلَى الصَّلَةِ قَا موا
) كسَالَى يرَا ءونَ النَّاسَ وَلَِ يَ أ ذ ك رونَ اللَّّ إِلَِّ قَلِي ل )النساء: 241
Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He
Who deceives them. And when they stand up for the prayer,
they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they
do not remember Allah but a little (Q. 4:142)
15
The Prophet s.a.w. said:
مَ أ ن صَلَّى يرَائِي فَقَ أ د أَ أ شرَكَ وَمَ أ ن صَامَ يرَائِي فَقَ أ د أَ أ شرَكَ
وَمَ أ ن تَصَدَّقَ يرَائِي فَقَ أ د أَ أ شرَكَ )رواه أحمد(
Whoever prays to be seen has become a polytheist,
whoever fasts to be seen has become a polytheist, and
whoever gives charity to be seen has become
a polytheist (Reported by Ahmad)
Therefore, in order to be safe from Allah’s punishment in the
Hereafter, we have to be sincere in our intention, that all our deeds
are for Allah’s sake, and all our actions are a kind of devotion and
obedience to Him. Allah says:
ق أ ل إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَ ر مِ أ ثل ك أ م يوحَى إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَ ه ك أ م إِلَ ه وَاحِ د فَمَ أ ن كَانَ يَ أ ر جو لِقَاءَ
) رَبِّهِ فَ أ ليَ أ عمَ أ ل عَمَ ل صَالِ حا وَلَِ ي أ شرِ أ ك بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَ دا )الكهف: 221
Say (O Muhammad), “I am only a man like you. It has been
revealed to me that your God is One God (Allah). So whoever
hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work
righteousness and associate none as a partner
in the worship of his Lord.” (Q. 18:110)
While we are performing our devotion with right intention,
when we change our intention, then our devotion will become
unacceptable, like the intentions and the acts of hypocrites.
However, if we made an extra intention, for example, the imam
bows or prostrates longer than usual to be seen as a pious man by
his friends or people in the congregation, then this is a minor shirk
(idolatry), but the prayer is still valid and sound. There will be no
reward for doing longer prostration or bowing, as it is not purely for
Allah’s sake. However, if after performing the prayer, for example,
and someone comes to the imam and praises him, then he wants to
do the prayer of the khuṭbah better than before, for Allah’s sake,
there will be nothing wrong with it, because the praise came after
performing the prayer.
There are some good deeds where besides the reward in the
Hereafter, the reward in this world is also mentioned. For example,
16
Anas ibn Mālik and Abū Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet s.a.w.
said:
مَ أ ن سَرَّه أَ أ ن ي أ بسَطَ لَ ه فِي رِ أ زقِهِ أَ أ و ي أ نسَ أَ لَ ه فِي أَثَرِهِ
فَ أ ليَصِ أ ل رَحِمَ ه )رواه البخاري و مسلم)
Whoever wishes to have his sustenance increased
or his life span extended, he shall keep his good kinship
relationship (Reported by Bukhārī and Muslim)
Shaykh al-Albānī’s commentary on this ḥadīth is as follows:
The ostensible meaning of this ḥadīth is that Allah through
His Wisdom has made good kinship relationship as the motive
for long life, just like good character and good neighbourhood
as mentioned in some sound ḥadīths. But this is not contradictory
to what is known in religion by necessity that age has been fixed,
because this is considered final. It is like bliss and misery which
have been fixed for every person, and there has to be legal
reason for them. As faith increases with obedience and
decreases with disobedience, this does not contradict
what has been written in the Preserved Tablet.”
)14 / )صحيح الْدب المفرد , 2
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah says that there are two kinds of
appointed time of death: the absolute one which is known by Allah
only, and the restricted one. Referring to the above verse he says
that Allah ordered the angel to write his appointed time of death,
and said: “If he keeps his good kinship relationship I would increase
it,” but the angel did not know whether it would happen so that his
appointed time of death would be increased or not. It was Allah Who
knows the final decision which does not come earlier or later.
( 725 / . ( مجموع الفتاوى 8
Another example is that the Prophet s.a.w. said:
مَ أ ن قَتَلَ قَتِيل لَ ه عَلَ أ يهِ بَيِّنَ ة فَلَ ه سَلَ ب ه )رواه البخاري و مسلم(
Whoever kills a person (in the battlefield) with
indisputable evidence, the booty (he left) will be for
17
him (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)
Since the worldly reward is mentioned to incite the Muslims to
go to the battlefield to defend Islam besides the reward promised in
the Hereafter, it is possible to have double intention here: to obtain
booty if kills the enemy, and to obtain martyrdom if he is killed. But if
no worldly reward is mentioned, then only one intention is allowed:
to defend Islam. Similarly, if we keep good kinship relationship for
the sake of Allah, and at the same time we expect the worldly reward
with prosperity and long life, this is also possible. If our intention is
more towards the reward in the Hereafter than the worldly reward,
then we shall get more reward from it, and vice versa.
If we go to Makkah with the intention to perform the
pilgrimage, but at the same time we bring some goods to sell to
assist us in our travel expense, there is nothing wrong with it, as the
main intention is the pilgrimage, while trade is only a means to assist
us in our expense. But if our main intention is for trade, while
pilgrimage is only our secondary intention, then our reward for our
pilgrimage is based on the degree of our intention for it.
As the main motive or intention for going to the battlefield is to
defend Islam, and not to gain booty, Imam Mālik did not like the
leader of the army to tell his solders about the booty that they may
get, so that they would not forget the main intention, to defend
Islam.
The ḥadīth continues with the Prophet’s statement that
whoever migrates for some worldly things, namely business or for a
wife he might marry, then there will be no reward for his migration,
as it is intention that counts. It is like a man gives charity for Allah’s
sake, another man did the same, but to let people know how
generous he was, and another person did the same, so that the
recipient of charity would stop bothering him. The reward is only for
the person who gave charity for Allah’s sake.
In another ḥadīth the Prophet s.a.w. encouraged us to seek
knowledge and wealth with good intention. He said:
18
إِنَّمَا الدُّ أ نيَا لَِْ أ ربَعَةِ نَفَ ر عَ أ ب د رَزَقَ ه اللَّّ مَا لِ وَعِ أ ل ما فَ هوَ يَتَّقِي فِيهِ رَبَّ ه وَيَصِ ل فِيهِ
رَحِمَ ه وَيَ أ علَ م لِل فِيهِ حَ ق ا فَهَذَا بِأَ أ فضَلِ ا أ لمَنَازِلِ وَعَ أ ب د رَزَقَ ه اللَّّ عِ أ ل ما وَلَ أ م يَ أ ر ز أ ق ه
مَا لِ فَ هوَ صَادِ ق النِّيَّةِ يَق و ل لَ أ و أَنَّ لِي مَا لِ لَعَمِ أ ل ت بِعَمَلِ ف لَ ن فَ هوَ بِنِيَّتِهِ فَأَ أ ج ر همَا
سَوَا ء وَعَ أ ب د رَزَقَ ه اللَّّ مَا لِ وَلَ أ م يَ أ ر ز أ ق ه عِ أ ل ما فَ هوَ يَ أ خبِ ط فِي مَالِهِ بِغَ أ يرِ عِ أ ل م لَِ يَتَّقِي
فِيهِ رَبَّ ه وَلَِ يَصِ ل فِيهِ رَحِمَ ه وَلَِ يَ أ علَ م لِل فِيهِ حَ ق ا فَهَذَا بِأَ أ خبَثِ ا أ لمَنَازِلِ وَعَ أ ب د
لَ أ م يَ أ ر ز أ ق ه اللَّّ مَا لِ وَلَِ عِ أ ل ما فَ هوَ يَق و ل لَ أ و أَنَّ لِي مَا لِ لَعَمِ أ ل ت فِيهِ بِعَمَلِ
ف لَ ن فَ هوَ بِنِيَّتِهِ فَوِ أ ز ر همَا سَوَا ء )رواه الترمذي و أحمد(
This world is for four kinds of people only: a man endowed by
Allah with wealth and knowledge with which he fears his Lord,
keeps his good kinship relationship, and knows that Allah has
rights on him, and this is the highest position; a man given by
Allah knowledge, not wealth, but he has good intention, and
says, “had I wealth like so-and-so has, I would have done like
what so-and-so did, and he is sincere in his intention, then the
reward for both of them will be equal; a man given by Allah
wealth and not knowledge, so that he will be brought down
with his wealth unknowingly, and will not fear Allah with it,
and he will not keep good kinship relationship, and he does
not know Allah’s right on him, and this is the worst position;
and a servant who is given by Allah neither wealth nor
knowledge, and he says that had he wealth he would have
done the same with what so-and-so did, and because
of this intention both (the rich without knowledge
and the poor) will bear the same sin.
(Reported by Tirmidhi and Ahmad)
In conclusion: in doing things with good intention we shall get
reward, without intension, there will be no reward, and with bad
intention we will become sinful.
(CIVIC, 24 July, 2015)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
الشيخ عطية محمد سالم. شرح الْربعين النووية: المكتبة الإلكترونية
http://ahadith.co.uk/downloads/Commentary_of_Forty_Hadiths_of_
An-Nawawi.pdf
http://islamqa.info/ar/145514
19
4. AL-ḤASAN AL-BAṢRĪ (1)
One of the duties of the Prophet is to explain the Qur’ān to his
people. Allah says:
) وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ )النحل: 44
And We have also sent down to you (O Muhammad) the
Reminder (i.e., the Qur’ān), that you may explain clearly
what is sent down to them, and that they may
give thought (Q. 16:44)
وَمَا أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّّ لِتُبَيِّنَ لَهُمُ الَّذِي اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ وَهُدًى
) وَرَحْمَةً لِقَوْ م يُؤْمِنُونَ )النحل: 44
And We have not sent down the Book (the Qur’ān) to
you (O Muhammad), except that you may explain clearly
to them those things in which they differ, and (as)
a guidance and a mercy for a folk
who believe.(Q. 16:64)
After the death of the Prophet, his companions (ṣaḥābah) took
over and gave the explanation and commentary (tafsīr) of the
Qur’ān, among them were the four rightly-guided caliph (Abū Bakr,
‘Umar, ‘Uthmān, ‘Ali), although they did not give much about it, Ibn
Mas‘ūd, Ibn ‘Abbās, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, Zayd ibn Thābit, Abū Mūsā al-
’Ash‘arī, and Ibn al-Zubayr. Their principal teacher was Ibn ‘Abbās.
Then came the generation of the tābi’īn (successors) that
followed the generation of the ṣaḥābah. The scholars of tafsīr in this
generation lived in Makkah, such as Mujāhid (d. 104/722), ‘Aṭā’ (d.
114/732), and ‘Ikrimah (d. 105/723). In Madinah they were:
Muhammad ibn Ka‘b al-Qarẓī (d. 117/735), Abū ‘l-‘Āliyah al-Riyāḥī (d.
90/708), and Zayd ibn Aslam (d. 130/747). Their principal teacher
was Ubayy ibn Ka‘b. In ‘Irāq they were: al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d.
110/728), Masrūq ibn al-Ajda‘ (d. 43/482), and Ibrāhīm al-Nakhā‘ī (d.
95/713). Their principal teacher was Ibn Mas‘ūd, and their main
centres were Basrah and Kufah.
20
When the name “al-Ḥasan” is mentioned in the books of tafsīr
(commentary of the Qur’ān) he is not other than the well-known
Muslim scholar al-Ḥasan “al-Baṣrī” ( الحسن البصري ), “the native of
Basrah”. He was well-known not only for his deep knowledge, but
also for his wisdom and asceticism. He was a jurist, a theologian, a
preacher, who was famous for his eloquence and inspiring speeches,
a sufi (Islamic mystic), and a renowned follower of ‘Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib.
Al-Hasan was the son of two ex-slaves of Persian origin. His
father, Peroz (Yasār) was taken prisoner at a town of Maysān in Iraq.
He was then taken to Madinah where he met Khayrah who would be
al-Ḥasan’s mother. Yasār became the slave of Zayd ibn Thābit, who
was one of the famous scribes who recorded Divine revelation for
the unlettered Prophet, whereas Khayrah became the slave of
Ummu Salamah, the wife of the Prophet.
Al-Ḥasan was born in Madinah in 21/642 and was brought up in
the house of Ummu Salamah who freed his mother from slavery
after his birth. He was said to have met many companions of the
Prophet including seventy of them who joined the battle of Badr. It
was said that ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb prayed for him, and said "O Allah!
Make him well-versed in religion and make people love him." He
spent his early years with his family in Wādī l-Qurā near Madinah.
When al-Ḥasan was about fifteen years old he moved to Basrah
where he learned various branches of Islamic knowledge from the
Prophet’s companions who were living there, such as fiqh (Islamic
jurisprudence), ḥadīth (Prophet’s traditions), Arabic language and the
Qur’ān. He learned tafsīr, ḥadīth, and qirā’āt (variant readings) from
Ibn ‘Abbās. He learned the recitation of the Qur’ān from the tābi‘ī
Ḥaṭṭān ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Raqqāshī and the methodology of delivering
religious sermons, speeches and tales from the ṣaḥābah and the
poet al-Aswad ibn Suray‘ al-Tamīmī, the first story-teller of Basrah.
At that time religious story telling in the mosque appealed
people, but as many of them tended to exaggerate, even invented
stories for their personal benefit, such as to gain respect and fame.
Eventually, the story tellers, the quṣṣāṣ were banned from telling
21
their tales in the mosque of Basrah except al-Ḥasan, as he talked
about life after death and religious morality based of the Qur’ān, the
Sunnah of the Prophet and the revered companions.1
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was a great teacher. He had a big class in the
mosque of Basrah in which he taught people hadith, fiqh, the Qur’ān,
Arabic language, and rhetoric2. He also taught people in his house
about piety and asceticism. As a mufassir (a commentator of the
Qur’ān), his commentaries were mentioned several times in the
books of tafsīr (commentary of the Qur’ān). Some examples of his
commentaries are as follows:
( وَمَنْ جَاهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَاهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِ إِنَّ اللَّّ لَغَنِ ي عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ )العنكبوت: 4
And whosoever strives, he strives only for himself.
Verily, Allah stands not in need of any of the alamin
(mankind, jinn, and all that exists (Q. 29:6)
This means, according to al-Ḥasan, a man can struggle in the
way of Allah without striking a sword, namely, without going to the
1 One day the celebrated scholars Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Yaḥyā ibn
Mā‘īn entered a mosque where a story teller was delivering his tale. When he
said that he heard from Yaḥyā ibn Mā‘īn and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal said that the
Prophet said such thing, they looked at each other and asked whether any of
them had said it, and both denied it. So, after delivering the tale, they
confronted him, saying that they had never said such thing. The story teller
said, “I have never seen such foolish people like you! Do you think that you are
the only persons called Yaḥyā ibn Mā‘īn and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal?” Another
incident was when a story teller was eating while he has walking on the street.
When his friend told him not to do so in front of people, he said that they were
not people, but cows and donkeys. In order to prove it, he called people, and
when they gathered around him, he said: “O people, listen to what the Prophet
said. ‘Whoever is able to touch his nose with the tip of his tongue will enter
Paradise’. When people did so, he told his friend, “See, I have told you so.”
2 Rhetoric, which is called in Arabic ‘ilm al-balāghah ) علم البلاغة ( is a part of the
science of Arabic language besides naḥw ) النحو (, i.e., grammar, syntax, and ṣarf
الصرف( (, i.e., inflection. This Arabic rhetoric is divided into three branches: ‘ilm
al-ma‘ānī ) علم المعاني ( dealing with verbal expression of concepts and content;
‘ilm al-bayān ) علم البيان ( dealing with metaphorical language, in general,
rhetorical art of the Arabs; and ‘ilm al-badī‘ ) علم البديع ( dealing with figures of
speech, and in general, the art of beautiful style.
22
battlefield, even once. 3
) كَلا بَلْ رانَ عَلى قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا كانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ )المطففين: 14
Nay! But on their hearts were covered over
by what(sins) they earned (Q., 83:14)
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī’s explanation of this verse is that continuous
sin makes heart blind and dead. He said: "It is because of doing one
sin after another, until the heart becomes blind and dies."4
وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْْخِرَةِ
) حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ )البقرة: 201
And of them there are some who say: “Our Lord!
Give us in this world that which is good and in the
Hereafter that which is good, and save us from
the torment of the Fire!” (Q. 2:201)
Al-Ḥasan al-Basri’s commentary of this verse is that “the good
of this world” is knowledge and worship, and “the good of the
Hereafter” is Paradise.5
In a ḥadīth narrated by Anas r.a. reported by Imam Ahmad that
the Prophet s.a.w. visit a man who was very sick. The Prophet asked
him whether he had asked Allah about something. He said that he
used to say, “O Allah! Whatever punishment you saved for me in the
Hereafter, give it to me in this life.” The Prophet s.a.w. said to him,
“All praise is due to Allah! You cannot bear it. You should have said,
“Our Lord! Give us in this world…” citing the above verse. The man
began reciting this supplication, and he was healed.
According to al-Ḥasan asking forgiveness from Allah is the
solution of many problems. The classical commentator al-Qurṭubī
3 قال الحسن البصري: إن الرجل ليجاهد، وما ضرب يوما من الدهر بسيف , see Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr.
Another interpretation is that whoever struggles for his own sake, not for
Allah’s sake, then Allah would not need his struggle, see Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī.
4 عن الحسن، قال: وقرأ) كَلا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ( قال: الذنب على الذنب حتى يموت
قلبه , see Tafsīr al-Țabarī. . وقال الحسن البصري :هو الذنب على الذنب، حتى يعمى القلب، فيموت
وكذا قال مجاهد ابن جبر وقتادة، وابن زيد، وغيرهم , see Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr
5 عن الحسن:" ومنهم من يقول رَبنا آتنا في الدنيا حَسنة وفي الْخرة حَسنة"، قال: الحسنة في الدنيا:
العلمُ والعبادةُ، وفي الْخرة: الجنة , see Tafsīr al-Țabarī.
23
said that when a man complained to him concerning the drought,
another concerning his poverty, another lack of rain, another about
having no offspring, he advised each of them to ask forgiveness from
Allah. When they were doubtful of it, he said that it was not from his
own, but following what Allah said in surat Nūḥ (chapter 71), citing
the following verse:
فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا. يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِدْرَارًا. وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ
)12- بِأَمْوَا ل وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ جَنَّا ت وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ أَنْهَارًا )نوح: 10
I [i.e. Noah] said to them: Ask forgiveness of your Lord,
verily, He is Oft-Forgiving. He will send rain to you in
abundance, And give you increase in wealth and
children, and bestowed on you gardens, and
bestow on you rivers. (Q., 71:10-12)
Ibn Taymiyyah said that when the tyrant al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-
Thaqafī (40-95/660-714) became the governor of Iraq, al-Ḥasan al-
Baṣrī said that he was sent by Allah as a punishment, and they should
not repel it with their hands, but rather, they should be humble and
submissive. Yet, he criticized him in front of people. Al-Ḥajjāj built a
building for himself at Wāsiṭ (between Kufah and Basrah), then he
invited people to spend good time with him and pray for him.
When al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī saw the crowd around the building, he
advised them to keep away from worldly matters to seeking Allah’s
pleasure. He then said, “We have seen what the most evil person has
done, the Pharaoh had built bigger and higher building than what he
has built, but eventually Allah destroyed him and what he built. May
al-Ḥajjāj know that the inhabitants of the heaven curse him, and the
inhabitants of the earth mislead him.
One of the audiences who feared al-Ḥajjāj’s punishment asked
him to stop preaching, and said, “Enough, Abū Sa‘īd, enough!” But he
kept talking, saying that Allah had taken a covenant from the
scholars to make it known and clear to people, and not to hide it,
the same covenant betrayed by the People of the Book (Q., 3:178)
The next day, al-Ḥajjāj came and said to his people: “Woe on
you! A slave belonging to the people of Basrah criticized us as he
24
pleased, and none of you challenged him. By Allah, I shall pour his
blood on you, coward!” He ordered them to bring a sword, a naṭ‘
نطع( , a leather mat put under the person whose head would be cut
off), an executioner, as well as al-Ḥasan to him.
When al-Ḥasan came and saw the sword, the leather mat, and
the executioner, he moved his lips, and came to al-Ḥajjāj with dignity
and full confidence, whereas the audience worried for him. Seeing
this unexpected behavior of al-Ḥasan, he changed his attitude and
said: “Come here, Abū Sa‘īd, come here!” and offered him to sit on
his carpet. He looked at him, and started asking him various religious
issues which he answered very well and with confidence.
“You are the master of scholars, Abū Sa‘īd!” said al-Ḥajjāj, and
asked his servant to bring him various kinds of perfume, rubbed it to
al-Ḥasan’s beard, and then let him go. He was followed by al-Ḥajjāj’s
guards who told him that al-Ḥajjāj had changed his mind, and asked
him what he said when he moved his lips after seeing the sword and
the leather mat. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: “I was praying, ‘O my
Benefactor and my Protector in danger, make his torture cold and
safe for me, as You have made fire cold and safe for Abraham’.” He
was referring to the Qur’ānic verse Q. 21:69.
(CIVIC, 10 July, 2015)
:المصادر
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري )ت. 310 ه )
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 471 ه)
تفسير ابن كثير )ت. 774 ه(
1986\ د. عبد الرحمن رفعت باشا. صور من حياة التابعين للصف الثالث المتوسط 1406
Ahmad von Denffer, ‘Ulūm al- Qur’ān. Kuala Lumpur: A.S. Noordeen,
1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_of_Basra
www.tawheedmovement.wordpress.com
http://sunnahonline.com/library/biographies/365-al-hasan-al-basri
25
5. AL-ḤASAN AL-BAṢRĪ (2)
A Bedouin was passing by Basrah and asked, “Who is the
Master of the city?” It was said to him: “Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī.” The
Bedouin asked again: “How did he become their master?” They said:
“It is because he does not need their worldly wealth, but they are in
need of his knowledge.” He became a voluntary judge of Basrah in
102/ 720.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī did not like conducting debates in matters of
religion. For him this kind of debate would create doubt. When a
man asked him to debate with him about Islam, he replied that he
knew his religion, and if that man had lost his religion let him go and
look for it. His reply to some questions indicated his piety.
When he was asked whether Iblīs (the Devil) slept, he said had
Iblīs ever slept, then we would have time to have a rest. When he
was asked how he was, he answered that his condition was worse
than that of the people who were on board of a sinking ship in the
middle of the sea, each was hanging on a piece of wood to save
himself. In another time he said that his condition was like that of a
person awaiting death in the morning and in the evening, not
knowing whether he would survive through the night and in what
condition he would die.
When he was asked about the world and the Hereafter, al-
Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī, answered: “The world compared to the Hereafter is
like the place of sunrise and the place of sunset. Whenever you come
closer to one of them you would be farther away from the other.
With regard to this world, it starts with tiredness and ends with
annihilation. What is ḥalāl (legal, lawful, permitted) in it there is
ḥisāb (reckoning, accounting), and what is ḥarām (illegal, unlawful,
prohibited) in it there is punishment. Whoever becomes rich in it will
be tested, and whoever becomes poor in it would be sad.”
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was loved, respected and admired by his
contemporaries. One of them was a man who was called Abū
Qatādah al-‘Adawī. He advised people to follow him, and to keep
close to him, as Abū Qatādah had never seen a man who had similar
26
opinions to that of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb except him, and was one of
the most knowledgeable people on the ḥalāl (lawful) and the ḥarām
(unlawful) acts. His close neighbour, Khālid ibn Ṣafwān, said he had
never seen a man like him; his outward appearance and words were
identical to his inner reality and his deeds. When he enjoined what
was right he was the first one to do it, and when he forbade what
was wrong, he was the farthest away from it. He was never in need
of people, but people were in need of him.
Some wise sayings of Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī are as follows:
- Islam is the capital of a believer; it is always with him, he does not
leave it behind when he travels, and he does not entrust it to
another.
- Statements can only be correct with actions; statements and
actions can only be correct with an intention; statements, actions
and intention can only be correct if they are according to the
Sunnah. (The Sunnah of the Prophet is his path which we Muslims
should follow in order to reach our destination, namely, salvation
in the Hereafter, without which we would go astray)
- The person who acts without knowledge is like a wayfarer without
a way, and such a person ruins more than he fixes. Therefore seek
knowledge, in a way that doesn't harm your worship, and seek
worship, in a way that doesn't harm your knowledge seeking, for
there was a nation that sought worship and neglected knowledge,
until they went out with their swords against the ummah (nation)
of Muhammad s.a.w. Had they sought knowledge, it wouldn't have
led them to what they did.
- Evil has three foundations and six subsidiary branches. Its
foundations are: envy, covetousness, and love of the worldly life.
Its subsidiary branches are: love of leadership, love of boasting,
love of praise, love of filling oneself with food, love of sleep, and
love of relaxation.
- The goodness where there is no evil is: shukr (gratitude to Allah) in
times of well-being, and ṣabr (patience) in times of misfortune. But
27
many people are not thankful when they are blessed, and are not
patient when they are tried with misfortune.
- This world is but a dream that a sleeper sees—he delights in it for a
few moments, and then wakes up to face reality.
- In order to be followed as an example, a Muslim has to be a father
(mother) to young Muslims, a brother (sister) to other Muslims, or
a son (or daughter) to the elders.
- Whoever does not find happiness in the dhikr (remembrance) of
Allah, prayer, and reciting the Qu’ran, will not find it anywhere
else.
- Life is made up of three days: yesterday which has gone along with
all that was in it, tomorrow which you may never see, but today is
for you, so work on it.
- Do not sit idle, because death is constantly seeking you.
- Someone has said that no one should do the religious duty الأَمْرُ
بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ وَ النَّهْيُ عَنِ الْمُنْكَر (commanding what is good and prohibiting
what is wrong), except an infallible person, namely, a person who
does not make any mistake. Satan would like this statement, so
that no one would command what is right and forbid what is
wrong, as nobody is free from wrong-doing.
- If someone wants to know who he is, he should present himself to
the Qur’ān, namely to know how good or how bad he is according
to the teachings of the Qur’an.
- The best season is winter: its nights are long for those who want to
pray night prayers, and its days are short for those who want to
fast. This is contrary to the belief that the best season is summer,
especially among Western people, where they can spend longer
days enjoying themselves in the open air.
- We are people who would not do any act in public if we can do it in
private. So, in making du‘ā’ (supplication) we do it without sound,
but to whisper to our Lord.
- Do not feel safe from fitnah (test, calamity), and always ask Allah
for keeping your īmān (faith in Islam) at the time of death.
28
- The sign of forgiveness given to the person who has been on hajj
(pilgrimage to Makkah) is that he abandons the evils he used to
commit.
- A man seeking knowledge could be seen in humbleness in his
sight, in his tongue, in his hands, in his prayers, in his speech, and
his disinterest in worldly temptation. A man possessing a portion
of knowledge and put it into practice, it would be better for him
than the world and its contents.
- Verily, Allah lets a person enjoy a blessing for as long as He wills.
But when he is no longer thankful for it, He turns it into a
punishment.
- Do not detest the misfortunes that befall you, for what you detest
may be the cause of your salvation, and what you like may be the
cause of your ruin.
- You will never truly love Allah until you love obeying Him.
- Among the signs that Allah has turned Himself away from a
person is that he becomes occupied with that which does not
concern him.
If the reports are genuine, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī might have been
endowed with a special kind of knowledge given to selected pious
ascetic people called الْعِلْمُ الّلدُنِّي , namely, knowledge imparted directly
by Allah through mystic intuition, as mentioned in the Qur’an, as
follows:
) ... وَعَلَّمْنَاه مِنْ لَدُنَّا عِلْمًا )الكهف: 56
… whom [i.e. Khidr] We have taught knowledge
from Us (Q. 18:65)
It was related that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī saw some men was passing
by dragging a body of a dead man. He fell unconscious, apparently
from the shock. When he regained consciousness, he told his friends
that the dead man had been a pious man before, but he became an
apostate. How did he become an apostate? While on his way to the
mosque to pray, he saw a beautiful woman, and he fell in love with
her. When he asked her to marry her, she refused unless he followed
her religion, Christianity. As he could not control his passion any
longer he became Christian and married her.
29
Time passed by, the woman said to him: “You have forsaken
your religion which was more important in your life for the sake of
lust which has no value. Now, I am also forsaking my religion, but for
the sake of eternal bliss under the care of the One, the Self-
Sufficient.” Then she recited sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ, as follows:
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّّ أَحَ د . اللَّّ الصَّمَدُ . لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ .
)4- وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَ د ) الإخلاص: 1
Say (O Muhammad): "He is Allah, (the) One, al-
Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures
need, He neither eats nor drinks). He begets not, nor
was He begotten; And there is none co-equal or
comparable unto Him." (Q., 112:1-4)
When the people who heard her story asked her how she knew
and memorized these verses, she said that it was through a dream.
In her dream she was shown her place in Hell. She became terrified,
but the angel Mālik, the keeper of Hell, told her not to be afraid, as
Allah had ransomed her with that man, who would take her place in
Hell, while the angel Mālik took her hand and admitted her to
Paradise. She saw a line written in it as follows:
) يَمْحُو اللَّّ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيُثْبِتُ وَعِنْدَه أُ م الْكِتَابِ )الرعد: 93
Allah blots out what He wills and confirms (what
He will), and with Him is the Mother of the Book
(the Preserved Tablet). (Q. 13:39).
Then the angel recited surat al-Ikhlāṣ (Q., 112) to her, and she began
to repeat it, and she woke up memorizing it.
Another story was narrated by ‘Aṭṭār in his Muslim Saints and
Mystics that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī had a neighbour who had been a fireworshipper
for over seventy years called Simeon. When the man fell
ill nearing death, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī visited him, advised him to fear
Allah and to end his life by asking Allah’s forgiveness. The man told
him that he had been a fire-worshipper all his life, but Al-Ḥasan al-
Baṣrī persisted, and the man weeping accepted the belief in Allah. He
told him that when he died he would let people wash his body, put
30
him in the grave with his (al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī’s) hands, and place in his
(Simeon’s) hands the document declaring his conversion to Islam, as
evidence. Feeling guilty of forcing Simeon to convert, al-Ḥasan al-
Baṣrī fell asleep and had a miraculous dream: he saw Simeon
"glowing like a candle; on his head a crown, robed in fine raiment, he
was walking with a smile in the garden of Paradise." He was amazed
and Simeon thanked him for his warning, and he gave him (Simeon)
back the parchment containing the declaration of faith. When al-
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī woke up, he saw the parchment in his hand, and
thanked Allah for His mercy and asked for His forgiveness.
Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī passed away on the first of Rajab, which was
on Thursday night, 110 A.H./728 A.C. at the age of 89. His body was
washed and the funeral prayer for it was conducted after the Friday
prayer in grand mosque, where he had spent his time teaching and
calling people to the path of Allah. That day the entire people of
Basrah attended his funeral, that the mosque remained empty at the
hour of ‘aṣr (later afternoon) prayer. It was the first time and the
only time people did not pray obligatory prayers in that mosque.
One of many lessons we learn from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī is that
despite of his being the son of slaves he turned to become the most
honourable person in his time and one among highly respected
scholars in Islamic history. It is achievement that counts rather than
descent. (CIVIC, 14 August, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
) تفسير الطبري )ت. 913 ه)
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 571 ه)
تفسير ابن كثير )ت. 774 ه(
1435\ د. عبد الرحمن رفعت باشا. صور من حياة التابعين للصف الثالث المتوسط 1395
Ahmad von Denffer, ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. Kuala Lumpur: A.S. Noordeen,
.1991
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_of_Basra
www.tawheedmovement.wordpress.com
http://sunnahonline.com/library/biographies/365-al-hasan-al-basri
http://topfamousquotes.com/hasan-al-basri-quotes/
31
6. BERNARD NABABAN
This is the story of Bernard Nababan, born at Tebing Tinggi,
North Sumatra, Indonesia, on 10 November, 1966.1 He was the third
among seven children of a Christian family who wished him to be a
clergyman. His father was a clergyman at Huria Batak Protestant
Church and his mother was a conductress of hymns song in that
church. After finishing his study at Christian Teaching Education
School, he was admitted to Nomensen High School of Theology, a
school for prospective clergymen in Medan.
Bernard in this High School of Theology was active in attending
seminaries, and eventually he was appointed to be an Evangelist for
three and a half years at the church where his father was a
clergyman. As an Evangelist he was also active outside his school.
In 1989 Bernard Nababan and some of his friends were sent to
a Muslim area to assist its people as well as to spread Biblical
teachings, as Christianity stresses the significance of love and
compassion towards fellow human beings. He was very optimistic in
his mission, and explained it to the community leaders who offered
him to conduct a dialogue. In the dialogue they appreciated his
activity in assisting them materially, but not to spread Christianity,
and to convert them to Christianity
The community leaders said that Christianity was not for them,
but solely for the Children of Israel, as Jesus said, “I was sent only to
the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).2
They started opening various versions of the Bible, and mentioned
the weakness of the Bible one by one. They also discussed the
dialogue between K.H. Bahauddin Mudhari with a Christian in the
1 The date 10th of November is coincident with the Indonesian Hari Pahlawan
(Heroes’ Day), observed every year to commemorate heavy fighting between
Indonesian and British Allied forces at Surabaya on 10 November 1945. This
was less than three months after Indonesia’s Proclamation of Independence.
2It was Paul who propagated Christianity to non-Jews, violating the teaching of
Jesus, in his letters to the Corinthians (see 1 Corinthians 12:13). No wonder if
we say that the present Christianity is actually “Pauline Christianity”.
32
island of Madura entitled Dialog Ketuhanana Yesus (Dialogue
Concerning the Divinity of Jesus).3 The dialogue ended only after the
ādhān (the call for maghrib prayer).
When he returned to the boarding school the Dialogue left a
deep impression on him. He read the book dealing with a Muslim
and a Christian given to him impressed him more, that he read it
twelve times. He started to teach less often than usual for three days
consecutively. Apparently, the clergyman of the school noticed that
he had conducted a dialogue with someone who understood the
Bible. So, he told him: “It is unbelievable that you have been
defeated by people who know only the weakness in the Bible, while
you have learned it for 3.5 years, and you have also attended
seminars on Christianity.”
After deep contemplation Bernard decided to stop becoming a
prospective clergyman, and to leave the boarding school. At
midnight he left the boarding school for good. But, where should he
go? If he went home his parents would take him back to the
boarding school and would interrogate him thoroughly. He just took
a public transport not knowing where to go. In his flee he met a
Muslim man from Java. He explained to him his escape from his
school and parents, and that he was in a very grave condition. The
man took him to Jember in Eastern Java where he stayed with him
for one year and treated him like his brother. In return, he worked
with him and helped him in his work. He did not practice his religion
any longer, and he felt as he had lost guidelines.
While Bernard Nababan stayed in that house he felt
peacefulness, his host never asked of persuaded him to convert to
his religion, and highly respected freedom of religion. Bernard was
amazed by this attitude, and he began to be attracted to Islam. He
asked his host about Islam, and the host referred him to a scholar.
They went to the house of Shaykh Khatib ‘Umar, the leader of the
3 The book has been translated into English by myself in 1988 entitled Dialogue
between a Muslim and a Christian, with endnotes and 2 appendices; it can be
read by visiting http://www.muhamine.blogspot.com/
33
Islamic boarding school Rawḍatul ‘Ulūm. Bernard explained to him
his background, his religion and his religious activities, his doubt
about the truth of the Bible that contained contradiction in its verses
which indicated its weakness, and his wish to learn more about
Islam.
On hearing this Shaykh Khatib ‘Umar became very moved by his
story, and embraced Bernard spontaneously, saying: “You are a lucky
man, as Allah has given you knowledge, so that you know that there
are many weaknesses in the Bible. If you want to learn wholly about
Islam it will take long time, as Islamic teachings cover widely all kinds
of subjects. What is most important is learning and believing in the
principles of faith in Islam.”
Bernard, by then, realized the big gap between Islam and
Christianity which he believed. In Christianity he learned that there
were three Gods (the Dogma of Trinity), namely, God the Father,
God the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Christianity does not believe the
messengership of Muhammad s.a.w., and the Christians accused him
of being a “tukang kawin” (a person whose hobby was to marry
several women). They also believed in three Holy Scriptures only, the
Torah, the Zabur (Psalms of David), and the Bible. Christianity does
not believe in the torment in the grave, but all Christian will
definitely enter Heaven. The most important thing for them was the
crucifixion of Jesus to redeem the sin of people in this world.
The explanation of Shaykh Khatib ‘Umar extremely touched
Bernard’s heart, and he realized that it agreed with his conscience.
Comparing the two religions, Christianity and Islam, he came to the
conclusion that Islam was more rational than Christianity, and he
decided to embrace Islam.
The next day Bernard went to Shaykh Khatib Umar again to
express his intention to embrace Islam. He had learned comparative
study of religion for almost three years. The Shaykh was surprised
and asked whether he had thought it over, and Bernard answered
with “yes”.
34
Before conducting Bernard’s conversion to Islam in 1991,
Shaykh Khatib said: “As a matter of fact, you are not going to convert
to Islam, but to revert to Islam. It is because you were born Muslim,
and it is your environment that misguided you.4 So, in fact, Islam is
fiṭrah (natural disposition, innate character, instinct). It means that
the Islamization of human beings is sunnatullāh (Allah’s
prescription), Allah’s decision. Staying away from Islam is an
irrational act, whereas returning to Islam means returning to one’s
natural disposition.” Bernard became so moved to hear it, that he
shed tears unconsciously. Then the shaykh led him pronouncing the
shahādah (confession of faith), namely,
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لا إِله إلاَّ اللََّّ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُوْلُ اللََّّ
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear
witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The next day of the conversion (reversion) Bernard was
circumcised and changed his name with Syamsul Arifin Nababan.
He became a student of Shaykh Khatib in studying Islam thoroughly
in the boarding school Rawḍatul ‘Ulūm and strictly adhered to it
from1991 to 1993. Then he became home-sick. He was not only
permitted to go, but also was given a provision of Rp. 10,000 to
return to Northern Sumatra.
At home, none of his family recognized him, because he was
wearing gamīs (a kind of dress or gown worn by Arab males,
especially in Saudi Arabia), and a turban. He told them that he was
Bernard Nababan who had fled from home, and told them that he
had embraced Islam. His mother became chocked, his elder brothers
became very furious, and eventually he was expelled from home.
This eviction made him stronger in his determination. He went to
4 The shaykh was referring to the ḥadīth of the Prophet who said, as narrated
by Abū Hurayrah, كُ ل مَوْلُو د يُولَدُ عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ فَأَبَوَاهُ يُهَوِّدَانِهِ أَوْ يُنَصِّرَانِهِ أَوْ يُمَجِّسَانِهِ كَمَثَلِ الْبَهِيمَةِ
تُنْتَجُ الْبَهِيمَةَ هَلْ تَرَى فِيهَا جَدْعَاءَ . “Every baby is born with natural disposition (to be a
Muslim); it is then his parents who make him a Jew, or a Christian, or a Magian,
like the animal, do you see any of it with amputated limbs?” (Reported by
Bukhārī, Muslim, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal).
35
several cities and towns to propagate Islam. His speeches were
warmly welcomed by his audience. Eventually, he became stranded
in Jakarta and moved to it. His da‘wah (calling to Islam) activity
increased and developed. In the meantime, he got scholarship to
study Islam at LIPIA (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Islam dan Arab),
Ma‘had al-‘Ulūm al-Islāmiyyah wa ’l-‘Arabiyyah (the Institute of
Islamic Knowledge and Arabic Language) in Jakarta from 1996 till
1999. From 1998 to 2001 he attended IAIA (Institut Agama Islam Al-
Aqidah), Al-‘Aqidah Institute of Islamic Studies in Jakarta, and in
2003 he attended the Qur’anic Studies at IIQ (Insitut Ilmu Qur'an),
Institute of Qur’anic Knowledge in post graduate level.
In 1997 he was invited by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to
perform the ḥajj (pilgrimage to Makkah), the fifth principle of Islam.
Upon his return he succeeded in converting two of his brothers to
Islam, and to propagate Islam. He started preaching from mosque to
mosque, and from office to office. He also had a chance to deliver his
speeches in the U.S.A. and Australia.
One of many of his achievements was that he founded an
Islamic boarding school called An Naba’ Centre located in Bentaro
area, South Tangerang, for new Muslims. There were about sixty of
them, coming from various areas in Indonesia. He also became the
Chairman of Majlis ‘Ulama’ Indonesia (Ketua MUI, Chairman of the
Council of Muslim scholars) at Ciputat, Indonesia.
Syamsul Arifin Nababan attended seminars on Islam in Indonesia
as well as abroad. They are chronologically as follows:
- A one day Seminar on Comparative Religion (held in Medan at
Asrama Haji on February 14th, 2006).
- International Seminar on Islamic Brotherhood: An Indonesian
Experience (held in Singapore, May 17th, 1998).
- International Seminar on Islam as a Universal Religion (rahmatan
lil’alamin) (held in Sydney and Melbourne Australia on September-
October 1th-10th 2007).
- International Seminar on Human Rights on Qur’anic Perspective
(held in Malaka, Malaysia on May 19th 1998).
36
Bernard Nababan whose parents wanted him to become a
clergyman, but Allah had another plan. He became, not only a
Muslim and changed his name to Syamsul Arifin Nababan, but also a
dā‘iyah, a person who invites people to Islam through his speeches.
He said that his family name NABABAN was unique, that even if you
read it backward it will remain the same, NABABAN. His articles,
books, and unpublished papers chronologically are as follows:
- Debate on Islam versus Christianity, on CD, 2004.
- Reflection and Internalisation of Sacrifice Values on a New
Indonesian Perspective, Waspada News Paper, 2006.
- The Prophet Jesus on Qur’anic Perspective, 2006.
- The Critique of the Qur’an towards the Bible, 2006
- National Seminar on “Peace and Human Rights In Islamic
Perspective” (held in Papua on December 13th, 2006).
- The Mentioning of Prophet Muhammad in the Bible, 2007.
- The Urgency of Studying Comparative Religion, 2007.
- An Interview of Spiritual Experiences, Tarbawi and Gontor
Magizine, 2008.
- A 100 Questions on Comparative Religion, 2008.
- Questioning on Authenticity of Bible, 2008.
- A Collection of Islamic Friday Sermon, 2008.
- The Actual Sermons of Ustadz Nababan, 2008.
- The Rejection of the Bible against Jesus’s Divinity (n.d.).
May Allah reward him for his dedication to Islamic propagation.
CIVIC, 21 August, 2015
Bibliography:
Al-Maktab ah al-Shāmilah
Holy Bible. New International Version
https://islamislogic.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/bernard-nababanmantan-
pendeta-ragu-pada-isi-alkitab/
http://www.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/mualaf/11/08/30/
lqq91u-berawal-dari-buku-pe
37
7. ABŪ HURAYRAH (1)
One of the companions of the Prophet who narrated the
ḥadīths (traditions) of the Prophet the most was Abū Hurayrah. He
was the most prolific narrator of ḥadīths as he had narrated about
5,375 ḥadīths despite the three years he spent in the Prophet’s
company. Imām al-Bukhārī said that more than eight hundred people
among the ṣaḥābah (the Prophet’s companions) and the tābi‘īn
(people belonging to the generation following that of the ṣaḥābah)
who reported from him, including Ibnn ‘Abbās, Ibn ‘Umar, Jābir ibn
‘Abd Allāh, and Anas ibn Mālik.
Abū Hurayrah was born in Yemen of al-Dawsī al-Azdī tribe in 19
BH (before Hijrah)/603 CE, and was named at birth ‘Abd Shams
(“Servant of the Sun” or “Worshipper of the Sun”). His father Ṣakhr
(“Rock”) had died, leaving him with his mother Maymūnah bint
Ṣubayḥ without any other relative. When Ṭufayl ibn ‘Amar, the
chieftain of his tribe, returned after meeting the Prophet, Abū
Hurayrah was one of the first to answer the call to Islam among his
tribe. He was a boy of sixteen years old.
When Abū Hurayrah came with his mother to Madīnah in the
seventh year after Hijrah (629 CE) the Prophet was at the campaign
of Khaybar, so he stayed in the mosque among the Ahl al-Ṣuffah.1
Because of hunger he staggered, and people pressed their feet on his
neck, mistakenly thinking that he was being attacked by epilepsy. He
was a little over 33 at that time, was single without a wife or a child.
The Prophet changed his name with ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, and when he
saw him carrying a kitten, he gave him the nickname “Abū Hurayrah”
(lit. “Father of a Kitten”, meaning “the Owner of a kitten”).2
1 Ṣuffah is a shelter at the backside of the Prophet’s mosque prepared for poor
people among his companions who did not have either a place to live or a
relative to stay with. They were called Ahl al-Ṣuffah (“the people living in the
Shelter”) or Aṣḥāb al-Ṣuffah (“the Companions of the Shelter”).
2 It is said that Abū Hurayrah in pre-Islamic era was a sheep tender. One day he
found a stray kitten, took care of it as a company, and in the evening, he put it
on a branch of a tree, for fear of being attacked by wild animals a night. The
next morning he took it again to accompany him in tendering sheep. He was
then called “the Owner of a Kitten” (“Abū Hurayrah”).
38
When Abū Hurayrah’s mother was still an idolater and rejected
to embrace Islam and said some bad words about the Prophet he
came to him crying, and asked him to pray for her to accept Islam.
When he returned home he heard the splashing of water and her
mother told him to wait. When she came out and let him get in she
was dressed and pronounced the shahādah, “I bear witness that
there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the
Messenger of Allah.” He came again to the Prophet with tears of joy
of the good news of his mother’s conversion to Islam. But because
he and his mother were strangers and had no relative, he asked the
Prophet to pray for them. The Prophet prayed that Allah would make
people love them.3
Abū Hurayrah remained courteous to his mother throughout
his life. Before leaving home he stood at the door of her room and
greeted her and prayed for her, and his mother answered his
greeting also with prayer. He also used to say to her, “May Allah have
mercy on you as you cared for me when I was young.” His mother
replied, “May Allah have mercy on you as you delivered me from
being lost when I was old.”
Abū Hurayrah once rebuked a young man whom he thought
less respective to his parent. He saw a young man walking with an
old man. He asked the young man about the old one. When he
learned that he was his father, he advised him not to call his father
by his name, not to walk in front of him, and not to sit before him
(while his father was standing).
When some people complained that Abū Hurayrah narrated
from the Prophet more than they did, he said that his muhājirīn
(emigrant) brothers were busy in the market, whereas his anṣār (the
people of Madinah who assisted the muhājirīn) brothers were busy
working in their fields and gardens. But he (Abū Hurairah) used to
stick to the Prophet, kept accompanying him wherever he went,
contented with what would fill his stomach and he used to attend
3The Muslims loved him when they heard Abū Hurayrah’s name was
mentioned, and considered him blessed by Allah with unfailing memory,
except people among the Shī‘ah who considered him unreliable transmitter.
39
that which they used not to attend, and he used to memorize that
which they used not to memorize. (Reported by Bukhari)
When Abū Hurayrah became extremely hungry he placed a
stone on his stomach. One day Abū Bakr was passing by, and he
asked him about the meaning of a verse of the Qur’ān—although he
knew it-- expecting to be invited for a meal, but this did not happen.
He tried also with ‘Umar, but ‘Umar told him smilingly that he could
not invite him as he had nothing to feed him. When the Prophet was
passing by, he realized that he was hungry. He asked him to follow
him to his house. He found a bowl of milk sent by someone, and
asked Abū Hurayrah to go to the Aṣḥāb al-Ṣuffah and to invite them.
They were the emigrant who had no home, business or work, but
were the first to respond to any call for jihad against disbelievers.
They came and all of them drank from the bowl of milk, and still had
some for the Prophet and Abū Hurayrah. In another occasion the
Prophet invited them and presented to them a plate of dates, each
with two dates, whereas Abū Hurayrah also took two dates, one for
himself and another for his mother.
When people thought that he had done too much, one day he
stood at the door of the mosque. Whenever someone came out he
asked him what the imām had read in the ‘ishā’ (night) prayer, and
some of them became confused. He then said to them: “You have
just now prayed with the imām, and yet you forget what the imām
cited in his prayer, now you want to be like me in memorizing the
ḥadīths of the Prophet.”
Abū Hurayrah also said that he narrated many ḥadīths
because Allah said:
إِ ن ال ذِي ن يكْتُمُو ن ما أ نْ زلْ نا مِ ن الْ بيِّ ناتِ والْهُ دى مِنْ بعْدِ ما ب ي ناه لِل ناسِ
فِي الْكِ تابِ أُول ئِ ك يلْ عنُهُمُ اللّ و يلْ عنُهُمُ ال لَّعِنُو ن . إِ لّ ال ذِي ن تابُوا وأ صْل حُوا
و ب ينُوا فأوُل ئِ ك أ تُوبُ عل يْهِمْ وأ نا ال ت وابُ ال رحِيمُ .
)061- 061 البقرة: 051 (
40
Verily, those who conceal the clear proofs, evidences and
the guidance, which We have sent down, after We have made
it clear for the people in the Book, they are the ones cursed by
Allah and cursed by the cursers. Except those who repent an
do righteous deeds, and openly declare (the truth which
they concealed). These, I will accept their repentance.
And I am the One Who accepts repentance, the
Most Merciful. (q. 2:159-160)
Had it not been for the two verses in the Qur'an as mentioned above,
he would not have narrated a single ḥadīth.
After the death of the Prophet Abū Hurayrah went to the
market and told people that the inheritance of the Prophet was
being distributed in the mosque, and urged them to come to have
their share in the inheritance. So, they came to the mosque, but they
found nothing distributed, so they came to him, saying that there
was nothing there distributed. He asked them what they had seen in
the mosque. When they told him that what they had seen there
were people praying, reading the Qur’ān, and discussing about ḥalāl
and ḥarām. “That is the inheritance of the Prophet,” said Abū
Hurayrah.
At the time of Abū Bakr he took part in the battle against the
apostates and deniers of zakat, and in the battle of Yarmuk against
the Romans. At the time of ‘Umar he was appointed Governor of
Bahrayn Province (Eastern part of the Peninsula) for two and a half
years, as ‘Umar did not keep anyone in any important position for
long. Abū Hurayrah returned to Makkah with wealth. ‘Umar asked
him how he became rich, he informed him that he traded in his spare
time and earned profits, gifts from people as well as piling his own
salary. ‘Umar said: “Nay! I believe since you were the Governor, they
traded with you on favorable terms in order to win your favor. You
better cut it into two and deposit one half in the public treasury.”
41
Abū Hurayrah did not protest and did not say, for example, “I
acquired my wealth through ḥalāl (lawful) means, and it is up to me
how much I shall give to the public treasury.” Instead, he agreed with
‘Umar’s suggestion. He must have thought of the accountability in
the Hereafter, and therefore he was happy to deposit half of his
wealth to the bayt al-Māl (Public Treasury).
‘Umar offered him again to employ him, but he declined.
‘Umar asked him why he rejected the position and said:
“You have rejected the position which had been asked by a
person better than you.”
“Who was that person,” asked Abū Hurayrah.
“Yūsuf son of Ya‘qūb a.s.” said ‘Umar.
“Yūsuf was a prophet, and son of a prophet, and I am just Abū
Hurayrah son of Umaymah. I am after three things or two,” said Abū
Hurayrah.
“Do you mean five?,” asked ‘Umar
“I fear to speak without knowledge and judge without wisdom,
my back beaten, my wealth taken, and my honour abused,” said Abū
Hurayrah.
At the time of ‘Uthmān when he was in his house surrounded
by his enemy who wanted to kill him, Abū Hurayrah was with him to
defend him. But ‘Uthman told him to lay down his sword, because it
is him, not Abū Hurayrah whom they wanted. So, he threw his
sword, and since then, he did not know where it was.
When the caliph Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam wanted to test Abū
Hurayrah’s memory, he sat him in a room, and unknown to him, a
scribe behind a curtain was ordered to write down whatever he said.
A year later, he called Abū Hurayrah again to recall the ḥadīths he
had said before, and it was the same with what the scribe had
recorded without any mistake, indicating his strong memory.
42
While Abū Hurayrah was sick and lying in his bed the caliph
Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam visited him and found him weeping. When he
asked him why he was weeping, he said: “I am not weeping because
of leaving this world of yours, but I am weeping because of the long
journey, lack of provision, and I am standing at the end of the road
leading either to Heaven or Hell, and I do not know which one I shall
follow.” The caliph said to him: “May Allah heal you, O Abū
Hurayrah.” But he prayed: “O Allah, I like to meet You, so like also to
meet me, and make it quick.” No sooner than the caliph left his
house, he passed away. He died in 59 AH/681 CE in Madinah at the
age of 78 and was buried at al-Baqī‘ cemetery.
(CIVIC, 28 August, 2015)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
الشيخ عطية محمد سالم. شرح الأربعين النووية: المكتبة الإلكترونية
http://islamqa.info/ar/145514
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hurairah
http://www.islamicweb.com/beliefs/cults/defend_abuhurayrah.htm
http://islamstory.com/ الصحابي_أبو هريرة
http://sunnahonline.com/library/history-of-islam/306-abu-hurayrah
www.nabulsi.com/blue/ar/art.php?art=2566
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_view_of_Abu_Huraira
http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/index/topicDetail/id/58
http://articles.islamweb.net/media/index.php%3Fpage%3Darticle%2
6lang%3
43
8. ABŪ HURAYRAH (2)
Abū Hurayrah’s company with the Prophet lasted about three
years. He came to Madinah when the Prophet was at Khaybar
campaign at the 7th year of Hijrah. It was in the month of Ṣafar, and
he passed away in Rabī‘ al-Awwal, 11th year of Hijrah, so that they
spent over four years. But Abū Hurayrah said that he had
accompanied the Prophet for over three years. He did not count the
time when the Prophet was away from Madinah when he did not
accompany him, but was left behind in Madinah.
It is said that there are 5,374 ḥadīths narrated by Abū Hurayrah
in the books of ḥadīths in these three years of accompanying the
Prophet. These three years equal to over 1,050 days. If Abū Hurayrah
narrated averagely five ḥadīths a day, the total would be over 5,255
ḥadīths. A ḥadīth technically, is not only what the Prophet said, but
also what he did, what he approved, either a statement, an act done
in front of him, or heard by him. It also includes a statement
concerning the behaviour and character of the Prophet, such as how
the Prophet went out to pray, etc. In this case, it would not be
difficult for Abū Hurayrah to narrate the approximate five ḥadīths a
day.
It is not an exaggeration that Abū Hurayrah narrated over 5,000
ḥadīths if we consider the following case:
a. A ḥadīth could be sound (ṣaḥīḥ), weak (ḍa‘īf), and even invented,
fabricated (mawḍū‘), for example, a ḥadīth claimed to have been
narrated by Abū Hurayrah, but he did not narrate it. We still call it
a ḥadīth, an invented one, to record it in history, so that we know
that it is not genuine.
b. A ḥadīth consists of matn (text) and sanad (chains of
transmitters), in order to know who said so from whom, whether
the persons are reliable, have strong memory, or unreliable, liars,
etc. One matn could have more than one sanad, but the matn
remains the same. If there are ten sanads, scholars of ḥadīths do
not count it one ḥadīth based on its matn, but ten ḥadīths based
44
on its sanad, some of them could be sound or weak based on the
quality of its transmitters.
c. Some of the ḥadīths narrated by Abū Hurayrah were not directly
from the Prophet, but he took them from the ṣaḥābah who were
earlier than him, as he started to accompany the Prophet only on
the 7th year of the Hijrah. Before that he took the ḥadīths from
them.
d. Abū Hurayrah was with the Prophet in Madinah in four years
because he did not count the time when the Prophet was outside
Madinah. It does not mean that he did not see the Prophet in one
year. He might have narrated some ḥadīths in that period.
Shaykh Muhammad Rashīd Riḍā says that there are many
factors leading to narrating many ḥadīths by Abū Hurayrah, as
follows:
1. He intended to preserve the sayings of the Prophet and his actual
condition, so that people would get benefit from them.
Therefore, he kept accompanying him and asked him question,
whereas some companions did not venture to ask him, except in
case of necessity. Ubayy ibn Ka‘b said that Abū Hurayrah was
courageous in asking the Prophet questions which other than him
would not ask him. One example was reported by Bukhārī, as
follows:
قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ هَ اللّ مَنْ أَسْعَدُ النَا ه س ه بشَفَاعَ ه تكَ يَوْمَ الْ ه قيَامَ ه ة فَقَالَ لَقَدْ ظَنَنْتُ
يَا أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ أَنْ لَ يَسْأَلَ ه ني عَنْ هَذَا الْحَ ه دي ه ث أَحَ د أَوَلُ ه منْكَ ه لمَا رَأَيْتُ ه منْ
ه حرْ ه صكَ عَلَى الْحَ ه دي ه ث أَسْعَدُ النَا ه س ه بشَفَاعَ ه تي يَوْمَ الْ ه قيَامَ ه ة مَنْ قَالَ لَ
إهلَهَ إهلَ اللَّ خَالهصًا ه منْ ه قبَ ه ل نَفْ ه س ه )رواه البخاري و أحمد(
I (Abū Hurayrah) said: “O Messenger of Allah, who will be the
luckiest people with your intercession in the Resurrection Day?”
He said: “I thought O Abū Hurayrah that nobody would ask me
about this matter before you because I see your eagerness
about it; the luckiest people with my intercession in the
Resurrection Day is the one who say sincerely
from himself, that there is no god but Allah.”
(Reported by Bukhārī and Aḥmad)
45
2. Abū Hurayrah was constantly with the Prophet’s company,
following him even when he visited his wives and companions,
even in the middle of the street, in order to get learn from it.
Therefore, this short period of accompanying the Prophet is
equal to many years the ṣaḥābah spent in accompanying the
Prophet. Many of them did not see him except in the time of
prayer, or meeting with him, or visiting him for important
matters. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said that Abū Hurayrah was better
than him and knew more about what happened. He also said to
him: “You have accompanied the Messenger of Allah the most,
and you know the most about his ḥadīths. Ṭalḥah ibn ‘Ubaydillah
said, ‘There is no doubt that Abū Hurayrah heard what we do
not hear.”
3. Abū Hurayrah had strong memory which was the characteristic of
many people living in the desert in the time of Bedouin life where
they relied on their memory. They said that if people relied on
their writing their memory would become weak, and they were
proud of their strong memory. Imām al-Shāfi‘ī and al-Bukārī both
admitted that Abū Hurayrah was the reporter of ḥadīths who
memorized the most in his time. ‘Umar also admitted it and told
Abū Hurayrah: “You are the one who accompanied the
Messenger of Allah the most, and who preserved his ḥadīth the
most.”
4. The good news from the Prophet that he would have strong
memory. Abū Hurayrah complained to the Prophet for his short
memory, that he heard many narrations from him, but he forgot
them. The Prophet told him to spread his garment. He did, and
the Prophet moved his hands as if filling them with something,
then emptied them in Abū Hurayrah’s garment, and said: “Take
and wrap this sheet over your body." He did it, and after that he
never forgot anything he heard from the Prophet (Reported by
Bukhari). He said that nobody memorized the sayings of the
Prophet more than himself except ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr, because
he was literate and was allowed by the Prophet to write what he
heard from him.
46
5. The Prophet’s prayer for Abū Hurayrah. A man came to Zayd ibn
Thābit asking about something. He said, ”You must go to Abū
Hurayrah, for while I, he and So-and-so were in the mosque
doing our du ‘a’ (supplication), the Prophet came, sat down and
said, “Go back to where you are.” So, I and my companion made
our du’a, and the Prophet said, “āmīn”. Then Abū Hurayrah
made his du’a and said: “O Allah, I ask You like what they have
asked You, and I ask You knowledge which would not be
forgotten,” and the Prophet said, “āmīn!” So, we said, “We ask
Allah knowledge which would not be forgotten,” and the
Prophet said, “The Dawsi man (meaning Abū Hurayrah) has
overtaken you.” (Reported by al-Ḥākim). Abū Hurayrah occupied
himself in narrating ḥadīths intentionally, because he memorized
them in order to spread them, whereas the majority of the
ṣaḥābah mentioned the ḥadīths out of necessity only dealing
with a legal judgment, fatwa or in giving evidence. A person who
occupies himself with something would remember it the most,
whether with an occasion or without it, as his objective was
teaching itself.
6. Abū Hurayrah narrated what he heard and what was narrated by
others among the ṣaḥābah, and eager to know the narration of
earlier ṣaḥābah, such as Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b,
Usāmah ibn Zayd and ‘Ā’ishah. He mentioned them by name, but
sometimes, he did not mentioned them.
The contemporary scholar in his essay “In Defence of Abu
Hurayrah” says that the main sources of these allegations against
Abū Hurayrah are the Shī‘īs and the students of Orientalists. For the
former, many examples are found in the work of the Lebanese Shī‘ī
‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Sharaf al-Dīn al-Amalī entitled Abū Hurayrah. These
examples were refuted by Dr. Muhammad Ajāj al-Khaṭīb (Professor
at the University of Damascus, Colleges of Sharī‘ah and Education) in
his Master’s thesis entitled السُّنَةُ قَبْلَ التَدْ ه ويْن (the Sunnah before Its
Compilation) (Cairo, 1963), and his work Abū Hurayrah Rāwī al-Islām
(Abū Hurayrah the Reporter of Islam) (Cairo, 1962). With regard to
the latter, most of the arguments of the Orientalists were
47
summarized by the Egyptian Maḥmūd Abū Rayyah in his work أَضْوَا ء
عَلَى السُّنَ ه ة المُحَمَ ه ديَة (Enlightenment on the Muhammadan Sunnah)
(Cairo, 1958) where he attempted to show that the whole Sunnah,
namely ḥadīths attributed to the Prophet were nothing but
fabrication and lies, and therefore, Abū Hurayrah’s genuineness was
questionable. He was known later as one of the exponents and
champions of the Inkār al-Sunnah (Rejection of Sunnah), followed by
the self-claimed prophet Dr. Rashad Khalifa, and presently, Dr.
Ahmad Sobhi Mansour the founder of Ahl al-Qur’ān (the Qur’ānist),
now living in the USA.
Abū Rayyah’s arguments were challenged by many scholars,
such as Dr. Muṣṭafā al-Sibā‘ī, the founder of Muslim Brotherhood in
Syria, in his thesis entitled السُنَةُ وَ مَكَانَتُهاَ ه فى التَشْ ه ريْ ه ع الإسْلاَ ه مي (the Sunnah
and Its Position in the Islamic Legislation) (Cairo, 1961), Shaykh ‘Abd
al-Razzāq Ḥamzah, the Head of Dār al-Ḥadīth in Makkah, and the
Imām of Masjid al-Ḥarām, in his book entitled ظُلُمَاتُ أَ ه بيْ رَيَة أَمَامَ السًّنّ ه ة
النَبَ ه ويَة (the Darkness of Abū Rayyah before the Prophetic Sunnah)
(Cairo, n.d.), and Shaykh ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyā, the librarian of
Masjid al- al-Ḥarām, his book is entitled الَْْنْوَارُ الْكَا ه شفَة لهمَا ه في ه كتَا ه ب أَضْوَا ء
عَلَى السُّنَ ه ة ه منَ الزَلَ ه ل وَ التَضْلهيْل وَ المُجَازَفَة )القاهرة, 1731 ه( . A comprehensive
work defending most of the objections against Abū Hurayrah is that
of an Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood scholar, ‘Abd al-Mun‘im Ṣāliḥ al-‘Alī
al-‘Izzī, entitled )1937\ ه دفَا ع عَنْ أَ ه بيْ هُرَيْرَة )بغداد, 1797
The allegation that ‘Umar beat Abū Hurayrah with a shield for
relating too many ḥadīths and accused him lying is not found in the
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, but by the Shī‘ī Mu‘tazilī Ibn Abī ’l-Ḥadīd in his
commentary of Nahj al-Balāghah quoting another Shī ‘ī Mu‘tazilī Abū
Ja‘far al-Iskāfī without sanad (chains of transmitters), and therefore
cannot be verified. ‘Umar never beat Abū Hurayrah.
Bishr al-Marīsī’s claim that ‘Umar said that Abū Hurayrah was
the greatest liar among the narrators of ḥadīths was responded by
al-Dārimī in his book , رَدُّ الإمَام الدَار ه مي عُثْمَان بْ ه ن سَ ه عيْد عَلَى ه بشْ ه ر الْمَ ه ريْ ه سي الْعَ ه نيْد
in which he said that it would be unlikely that ‘Umar accused him of
being a big liar, but at the same time he appointed him in charge of
48
important posts. Moreover, ‘Umar’s grand-sons, among whom were
Sālim ibn ‘Abd Allāh, and Ḥafṣ ibn ‘Āṣim related ḥadīths from Abū
Hurayrah from the Prophet. If Abū Hurayrah were a liar, ‘Umar
would have warned his grand-sons from taking ḥadīths from him.
Although ‘Ā’ishah corrected Abū Hurayrah‘s mistakes in the
ḥadīths, she did not accuse him of being a liar. For example, he said
that a person who was still in the state of janābah (major ritual
impurity) till morning in Ramaḍān was not allowed to fast, based on
a ḥadīth he heard from Faḍl ibn ‘Abbās and not the Prophet. This was
also the view of some tābi‘ī such as ‘Ā’ishah’s nephew ‘Urwah ibn al-
Zubayr. This was also the view of Țāwūs, ‘Aṭā’, Sālim ibn ‘Abd Allāh
ibn ‘Umar, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, and Ibrāhīm al-Nakhā‘ī. ‘Ā’ishah said
that it was allowed to fast for people who were in a state of full ritual
impurity. Imān al-Zarkashī said the legal judgment of the ḥadīth had
been abrogated, but Abū Hurayrah did not know it.
These are some examples of allegations against Abū Hurayrah
and had been replied by our Muslim scholars.
(CIVIC, 3 September, 2015)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
الشيخ عطية محمد سالم. شرح الْربعين النووية: المكتبة الإلكترونية
http://islamqa.info/ar/126377
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hurairah
http://www.islamicweb.com/beliefs/cults/defend_abuhurayrah.htm
http://sunnahonline.com/library/history-of-islam/306-abu-hurayrah
www.nabulsi.com/blue/ar/art.php?art=2566
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_view_of_Abu_Huraira
http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/index/topicDetail/id/58
http://articles.islamweb.net/media/index.php%3Fpage%3Darticle%2
6lang%3
49
9. IRENE (IRENA) HANDONO
Last Sunday (6 September 2015) the Indonesian/Muslim
community in Canberra was visited by one of prominent da‘is
(Islamic callers) in Indonesia, called Hajjah Irene Handono. She was
on her tour in some cities in Australia, such as Sydney, Canberra, and
Melbourne. Like many people who have found Islam and propagate
it, such as Yusuf Estes and Gary Miller, Irene Handono is also active in
propagating it as well as founding a foundation to assist new Muslim
ladies. How she found Islam and some of her activities are as follows:
Irene Handono was born on 20th of July 1954 in Surabaya,
Eastern Java, Indonesia, and was raised in a pious Catholic family.
She was baptized when she was still a baby, and attended school like
other children, but she also attended private religious courses. As a
teenager she was active in the Church organization. It was her wish
to serve God with her whole life, and as a Catholic it was living in
monastery which was the noblest life. Becoming a religious sister
was the only purpose of her life.
Irene Handono’s early life was a prosperous one. Her family’s
house was very big, and she was of Chinese ethnicity, the youngest
and the only female of five children of the family. Her father was a
well-known business man in Surabaya, and one of the main
contributors to the Church. She was endowed with many talents, as
her academic achievements were always satisfactory, and she was
appointed the youngest chairperson in one of Church organizations.
After finishing her high school education Irene Handono’s wish
to become a religious sister became stronger and stronger, especially
after noticing interaction among youth. Her parents became
astonished, as they would be separated from their only daughter,
but as pious parents they eventually consented. On the contrary, her
elder brothers were proud of having a pious sister.
In the monastery there were only two sisters who were given
double duty, including Irene Handono, namely, attending the
education in the monastery and the Institute of Theological
Philosophy. She attended the Faculty of Comparative Religion,
50
Department of “Islamology”. It was here that for the first time she
learned about Islam. At the introduction lecture, the lecturer said
that the best religion was Christianity, whereas other religions were
not good. Islam, he said, was bad, by giving examples, such as: “Who
are poor in Indonesia? Who are uneducated, dirty, vile, living at the
flooded plain of the river? Who are those who used to lose footwears
every Friday, who cannot be united, who become terrorists?
They are Muslims, so their religion Islam is bad.”
Irene Handono said that this conclusion had to be verified. She
said that other countries like Philippines, and Mexico, where the
majority of their peoples are Christians were not better. Even the
state of Israel was created by plundering the land of the Palestinians.
Therefore, Islam was not a symbol of evilness, and she was
interested in learning further about Islam from its sources, the
Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth, and she was allowed to do so by her priest
with one condition, namely, finding the weakness of Islam.
When she opened the Qur’ān she did not know anything about
it as it was written in Arabic. So, she took its translation, and started
reading it, not from its beginning which was at the right side, but
from the end which was at the left side of the book. The first thing
she read was sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ (chapter 112) which read:
Say: He is God, the One and Only. God, the Eternal,
Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten. And
there is none like unto Him (A.Y. Ali’s translation)
After reading this she said to herself: “This is good, and is
acceptable.” The next day in the morning the lecturer in his lecture
on theology said that God was one, but had three personalities,
namely God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Three gods
in one, one god in three and this is called Trinity or Triunity. At night
she read sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ again, stating ”God is One.” She said to
herself, “This is the right one.”
The next day she said to her priest that she did not understand
yet the true nature of God.” The pastor went to the blackboard and
drew an equilateral triangle where AB=BC=CA. He explained that it
51
was one triangle but had three sides which meant that God is one
but has three personalities: God the Father has the same authority
with God the Son, and has the same authority with the Holy Ghost.
She argued that if it were so, one day with the advance of science
and technology God with three personalities would not be able to
handle this world, that there should be another personality so that
He would have four personalities. The pastor said that it would be
impossible, but she said it could be. She drew a circle and a
quadrangle inside it. But the pastor said that it was not allowed
because it was a dogma made by Church leaders. She asked what to
do if she did not understand that dogma, and the pastor answered
that she should just accept it, whereas doubting it would be a sin.
One day Irene Handono asked her pastor who made the pulpit,
the chair and the table. As her pastor asked her to answer it herself
she said they were made by the carpenter. They would remain made
of wood; they would never become a carpenter. A human being will
remain a human being till the Doomsday and would not be able to
make himself God, and God cannot be treated like a human being.
Her argument with her Pastor was that God created the universe
including human beings as His slaves (servants). If any human being
appointed another human being as God, this appointment would be
invalid. She learned from the Church history that Jesus was called
God for the first time, and was appointed God by the Roman
emperor Constantine in 325 at the Council of Nicaea. Jesus never
said, “I am your God” in the bible of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
In the next meeting Irene Handono said that she did not find
any weakness in the Qur’ān, and she was sure that nobody could.
She kept reading the translation of the Qur’ān until she made a
conclusion that the right religion was only one, Islam. She learned
the true Mary in the Qur’ān, sūrat Maryam (chapter Mary), whereas
in the Catholic doctrine her position was extraordinarily high, that
almost every prayer was said through her intercession. Strangely
enough, there was no bible of Mary. However, she converted to
Islam six years later.
52
Irene Handono left the monastery and continued her study at
Atmajaya University, and married a Catholic man, hoping that after
marriage she would not be engaged in matter of religion. But this did
not happen. She had long discussions with her husband who was an
activist student. The discussions turned into debate and quarrels, as
she always defended Islam. The gap between her and her husband
became wider and wider, until it reached its climax. She realized that
her marriage is on the rock. She found a Muslim scholar who would
teach her about Islam, as she had learned about it through reading
only. His name was (the late) K.H. Misbah, former Chairman of the
Council of ‘Ulamā’ (Muslim scholars) of Eastern Java. When she told
him her intention to embrace Islam, he told her that to become
Muslim was easy but she had to be ready to bear the consequence.
When she said that she was ready with it, he asked:
“Do you know the consequence?”
“Yes, I know, my marriage,” she said.
“Which one do you prefer, your marriage or Islam?” he asked.
“Islam,” she answered firmly.
She declared her shahadah in front of him. It was in the year 1983 in
the Al-Falah mosque in Surabaya when she was 26 years old. Her 5
years of marriage endowed with two sons and one daughter ended
with divorce. However, all her children became Muslims.
One day before Ramadan that year she started praying. One of
her elder brothers was looking for her. When he opened the door of
her room he was surprised to find a woman praying. He closed the
door thinking that another woman was praying. The next day the
same thing happened and he learned that it was his sister, who was
praying. He was stunned, shocked, unable to speak his face became
red and pale. Since then her family relationship became damaged.
Her religion was not acceptable, and she had to leave the house. She
rent a modest house in Surabaya. As the only daughter in the family,
her mother visited her occasionally. She did not accept Islam, as she
had already had negative thinking about Islam. Six years later her
mother passed away, and since then there were no contact any
longer with the members of the rest of her family.
53
In 1992 Irene Handono performed the pilgrimage to Makkah.
She expressed her feeling since she became Muslim, and “complaint”
to Allah. “O Allah, as You have preordained me to become Muslim,
why didn’t You make me a daughter of Muslim parents, like most of
my brothers and sisters in faith? In this way I would not have to
endure much suffering. Why should my life journey become so
intricate and complicated like this?” In the Masjid al-Ḥarām
(Inviolable Mosque) Irene Handono thanked Allah for His guidance
and asked Him forgiveness. She felt and enjoyed the bliss of faith and
Islam, which, according to her, might not have been enjoyed by
people who had become Muslims since seven generations.
Allah gave her the power and ability to deliver speeches and to
call people to Islam, not only in Surabaya, but she was also invited
several times to deliver her speeches about Islam in Jakarta. Allah
endowed her blessings including meeting and marrying Masruchin
Yusufi, a Muslim scholar, a widower with five children. They both
were active in propagating Islam even in remote villages in
Indonesia. She said that the challenge was so big, but she had
conviction that her life and her death were only for the sake of Allah.
Irene Handono wrote many books, among which are as follows:
- Perayaan Natal 25 Desember: Antara Dogma & Toleransi
(Christmas celebrations on 25th December: between Dogma and
Tolerance) in which she explained, among others, why casuarina
tree is used as a Christmas tree, while there is no such tree in
Palestine, and why the Christmas falls on the 25th of December.
- Islam Dihujat (Islam is Blasphemed) to respond Robert Morey’s
book Islamic Invasion which has become a guide book by the
Church the world over, and which she thought was worse than
Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, because it said, among others,
that the Prophet suffered from epilepsy and sexual abnormality.
Speaking about Christianization Strategy in Indonesia she said
that the Christians build 1,000 schools free of charge, so that
Muslims who are unable to bear the expense of their children’s
education have to send them in these Christian schools where they
54
will learn about Christianity and could eventually become Christians.
Dr. Suradi, a Christian physician who treated his patients free of
charge, said not to hesitate in doing Christianization among Muslims,
as there were 10 % only among them who understand the Qur’ān.
Other methods of Christianization are: publishing the Bible in
Arabic to be read like chanting the verses of the Qur’ān as those who
are not familiar with the Qur’ān would be deceived; the calligraphy
of the Bible Matthew made similar to that of the Qur’ān. For this
purpose cheating is permitted as the Bible said: “Someone might
argue, ‘If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases
his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?’” (Romans 3:7).
Among Christianization projects in Indonesia are: Jericho and
Andalas for Christianizing Java and Sumatra respectively, and Joseph
2004 to have a Christian president, at least a Muslim by name only.
In October 2004 Hajjah Irena Handono established the “Irena
Center”, Lembaga Pembinaan Muallaf dan Pembentengan Aqidah
(The Institution for Guiding Converts and Defending the Faith) and is
in the process of establishing an Islamic Boarding School for Female
Converts at Sentul near Bogor, West Java. For those who like to
donate they can deposit it at the Indonesian National Bank, BNI, Cab.
Bendungan Hilir, Jakarta, Acc. No. 92 2929 929. There are over three
hundred female converts in her institution. For consultation she can
be contacted at irena_center@yahoo.com/ Ph. 021-88855562.
(CIVIC, 11 September, 2015)
Bibliograhy:
The Holy Bible, New International Version
https://www.facebook.com/notes/3-islam-forever-3/kisah-muallafhj-
irene-handono-/324716940874925
https://twitter.com/IRENA_CENTER
http://swaramuslim.net/comments.php?id=1529_0_1_0_C
http://www.warungustad.com/strategi-kristen-untuk-memurtadkanislam/
http://www.voaislam.com/read/christology/2014/01/11/28592/
irene-handono-paulus-perombak-ajaran-esus/#sthash.sxMRRjjk.dpbs
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10. SACRIFICE
Next week, on the 24th of September 2015 the Muslims
around the world will celebrate the festival of Eid al-Adha, the
festival of sacrifice. It commemorates the willingness of
Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismael.1 Iblīs (Satan)
persuaded him not to do so, telling him that Allah would never
order something bad like sacrificing his son. Prophet Abraham
threw stone at him, ignoring his advice in obeying Allah without
any condition, whether rational or irrational. It is a total
obedience. This is an example of total submission to Allah,
whereas Iblīs, using his analogy but polluted with envy,
disobeyed Allah when he was ordered to pay respect to Adam.
It is because he was created from fire, while Adam was created
from clay. He thought that fire was better than clay, and
therefore he who was created from fire was not supposed to
bow to Adam who was created from clay, even it was Allah’s
order. He was supposed to have totally obeyed Him without
any reservation, because it was Allah Who created him. That is
what Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael did: total
submission and obedience to Allah, and we are supposed to do
the same. At the last moment Allah replaced Isma’il with a ram
to be sacrificed.
Following this example the Muslims all over the world
who are affluent are urged to share their fortune by sacrificing
a goat, a sheep, a cow, or a camel. The meat is to be divided in
three parts: a part is to be distributed to the poor, the other
1 According to the Bible, it was Isaac who would be sacrificed instead of
Ishmael. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you
love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt
offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” (Genesis 22: 2).
This verse means, either Ishmael was not considered Abraham’s son, or
Ishmael was not loved by his father, Abraham. Neither of these
statements is acceptable in Islam. In fact the genuineness of the Bible in
general is doubted, and the Genesis in particular, which is like a weak
ḥadītḥ. Genesis 22: 12 states the Isaac was his only son.
56
part to his relatives, and the remaining for himself and his
family. It is the piety that reaches Allah, not the meat and the
blood, as mentioned in the Qur’ān,
لَ نْ يَْنَالَْ اْللََّْ لُْحُومُهَا وَْلَْ دِْمَاؤُهَا وَْْلَكِ نْ يَْنَالُهُْ اْلتَ قوَى مِْ نكُ مْ كَْذَلِكَْ سَْخَرَهَاْْ
)ْ لَكُ مْ لِْتُكَبِّرُوا اْللََّْ عَْلَى مَْا هَْدَاكُ مْ وَْبَشِّرِْ اْ لمُ حسِنِينَْ )ْالحج: 73
It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah,
but it is piety from you that reaches him. Thus have We
made them subject to you that that you may magnify
Allah for His Guidance to you. And give glad tidings
(O Muhammad) to the doers of good. (Q. 22:37)
Anas r.a. said: “While we were with the Messenger of
Allah in the mosque, he dozed off into a slumber. Then
he lifted his head smiling. We said, ‘O messenger of Allah!
What has caused you to laugh?’ He said, “Verily, a surah
(chapter) was just revealed to me’, then he cited,
)7- إِنَا أَْ عطَ ينَاكَْ اْ لكَ وثَْرَْ.فَصَلِّْ لِْرَبِّكَْ وَْا نحَر.إِنَْ شَْانِئَكَْ هُْوَا لَْ بتَرُْ)الكوثر 1
Verily, We have granted you (O Muhammad)
al-Kawthar. Therefore, turn in your prayer to your
Lord and sacrifice (to Him only), For he who hates you
(O Muhammad), he will be cut of (from posterity
and every good thing in this world and
in the Hereafter) (Q. 108, 1-3)
Then he said, ‘Do you All know what is al-Kawthar?’
We said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said,
“Verily, it is a river that my Lord, the Mighty and Majestic
has promised me and it has abundant goodness. It is
a pond where my Ummah will be brought to on the day
of Judgement. Its containers are as numerous as the stars
in the sky. Then a servant of Allah from among them will
be (prevented from it) and I will say: “O Lord! Verily, he
is from my Ummah (followers). Then: “He (Allah)
will say, “Verily, you do not know what he
introduced (or innovated) after you.
57
(Reported by Muslim Abū Dā’ūd, and al-Nasā’ī)
The Arabs called anything abundant in number, degree
and significance kawthar. Sufyān said that when an old woman
was asked what her son brought with him from his traveling,
she answered kawthar, meaning lots of goods. Therefore
Qur’ān commentators say that that kawthar in the above verse
generally means anything good in abundance, such as the
Qur’ān and wisdom, besides the name of the river in Paradise
given to the Prophet.
Then Allah ordered the Prophet and the Muslims to make
obligatory and optional prayers, and to give sacrifice of animals
solely and sincerely for Allah. The term naḥr has two meanings:
upper portion of the chest, namely, putting the right palm on
the top of the left palm on the upper chest while praying, and
slaughtering, namely, giving sacrifice by slaughtering animals as
sacrifice. Both meanings are applicable to the above verse.
The verse “For he who hates you (O Muhammad), he will
be cut of (from posterity and every good thing in this world and
in the Hereafter) was revealed in replying the following
allegations:
1. Al-‘Āṣ ibn Wāil. Whenever the Prophet was mentioned in his
presence he would say; “Leave him, for he is a man who is
cut off having no descendants. So when he dies he will not
be remembered.” (Narrated by Ibn ‘Abbās, Mujāhid, Sa‘īd
ibn Jubayr, and Qatādah)
2. Ka‘b ibn Ashraf and a group of disbelievers. The Quraysh
people told him that he was the leader of the people, and
asked him his opinion about the worthless man who was cut
off from his people (meaning the Prophet), while they were
the custodians of the Ka‘bah and water suppliers to the
pilgrims. He answered that they were better than him.
(Narated by Ibn ‘Abbās recorded by al-Bazzār).
58
3. Abū Lahab. When a son of the Prophet died, Abū Lahab
went to the idolaters, and said, “Muhammad has been cut
off (i.e. from progeny) tonight.” (Reported by ‘Aṭā’)
The verse replied that having no son his remembrance
would not be cut off. On the contrary, Allah preserved his
remembrance. He is the only person remembered, mentioned
by name, loved and respected the most by Muslims consisting
of one-sixth of the world population. His name is mentioned in
the adhān (calling for prayer), as well as in prayer.
There are six terms for “sacrifice” in the Qur’ān: (1)
dhabḥ (slaughtering) used in the Qur’ān as a sacrifice for other
than Allah, such as idols, as in Q. 5:3, and the slaughtered
animal is called dhabīḥah; (2). qurbān (sacrifice, offering) as in
Q. 3:183 in which the Jews would not accept a Messenger
unless he gives an offering devoured by fire from heaven; in Q.
5:23 it is about the offering of the two brothers Hābīl (Abel)
and Qābīl (Cain); in Q. 46:28 the term qurbān is not the sacrifice
or offering, but “a means to be close to Allah, a way to
approach Allah,” as the term is derived from the word qaruba
or qariba meaning “to be near, to come near”, so that qurbān
literally means “something made to become closer to Allah,”
and could be an offering, and also by worshiping idols, as the
Quraysh idolaters said, “We worship them only that they may
bring us near to Allah…” (Q. 79:7); a weak ḥadīth said “The
daily prayer is the qurbān i.e., a means to become near to
Allah) of every pious man (3) Naḥr is a kind of sacrifice by
cutting the jugular veins, as mentioned above; (4) uḍḥiyah is
used for annual sacrifice by pilgrims in Makkah; (5) hady
(animal of sacrifice) is offered when the Prophet and the
Muslims were prevented from completing their pilgrimage,
ending with the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah to avoid bloodshed.
They sacrificed the hady, shaved their heads, and ended their
state of iḥrām, and returned home (Q. 2:196); hady is also the
animal brought to Makkah for penalty of killing animal while
one is in the state of iḥrām (Q. 5:2, 95, 97); (6) mansak
59
(religious ceremonies) as mentioned in Q. 22:34, interpreted by
Mujāhid as shedding blood of animals, namely, sacrifice.2
Muslim scholars hold different views concerning the legal
judgment of the sacrifice (qurbān or uḍḥiyah). The vast majority
of them say it is Sunnah Mu‘akkadah (definitely recommended
act). This is the view of Shāfi‘ī, and Mālikī schools, and the wellknown
view of Aḥmad. The other view is that it is wājib
(obligatory) according to Ḥanafī school, one of the two views of
Aḥmad and Mālikī school, this is also the view of Ibn Taymiyyah
of Ḥanbalī school. It is important to note here, that there is
difference between wājib and farḍ according to Ḥanafī school.
Wājib is obligatory but without strong evidence, such as
sacrificing on the Ied al-Adha day. On the other hand, farḍ is
something with strong evidence, such as performing the fivedaily
prayers and fasting in the month of Ramadan. For them,
they are not wājib but farḍ. For others both are the same.
Some conditions for the validity of the qurbān are as
follows:
1. The slaughtering process must be carried out in accordance
to the Sharī‘ah: it has to be with a sharp knife or object, no
gun, no electric shock or carbon dioxide.
2. The animal should be laid on its left side, its face pointing
towards the Qiblah, and slaughtered quickly.
4. Before slaughtering recite بِ سمِ هْ اللِّ اْللُّ أَْ كبَر “Bismillāh Allāhu
Akbar (In the name of Allah, Allah is Great).
5. At least three of the four veins in the throat of the animal
must be cut.
2ْ Al-Qurṭubī said: يُقَالُْ: نَْسَكَْ ذَْا إِ ذَْبَحَْ يَْ نسُكُْ نَْ سكًا. بِْيحَةُْ وَالذَ نَْسِيكَةٌ، وَْجَ معُهَا نُْسُكٌ، وَْمِ نهُْْ
البقرة: 191ْ (. وَْالنُّسُكُْ أَْ يضًا اْلطَاعَةُْ. وَْقَالَْ اْ لَْ زهَرِيُّْ فِْيْ (ْ »" قَ ولُهُْ تَْعَالَى:" أَْ وْ صَْدَقَ ةْ أَْ وْ نُْسُ كْ
قَ ولِهِْ تَْعَالَى:" وَْلِكُلِّْ أُْمَ ةْ جَْعَ لنا مَْ نسَكاًْ": إِْنَهُْ يَْدُلُّْ عَْلَى مَْ وضِعِْ اْلنَ حرِْ فِْي هَْذَا اْ لمَ وضِعِ، أَْرَادَْ مْكانْ
نسك. جَْعَ لنا مَْ نسَكاًْ":. وَْقَالَْ اْ لفَرَاءُْ: اْ لمَ نسَكُْ فِْي كَْلََمِْ اْ لعَرَبِْ اْ لمَ وضِعُْ اْ لمُ عتَادُْ فِْي خَْ ي رْ أَْ وْ شَْ رْ.ْ
وَقِيلَْ مَْنَاسِكُْ اْ لحَجِّْ لِْتَ ردَادِْ اْلنَاسِْ إِْلَ يهَا مِْنَْ اْ لوُقُوفِْ بِْعَرَفَةَْ وَْرَ ميِْ اْ لجِمَارِْ وَْالسَ عيِْ. وَْقِيلَْ: مَْ نسَكًاْ
عِيدًا، قَْالَهُْ اْ لفَرَاءُْ. وَْقِيلَْ: حَْ هً جا، قَْالَهُْ قَْتَادَةُْ. وَْا لقَ ولُْ اْ لَْوَلُْ أَْ ظهَرُ، لِْقَ ولِهِْ تَْعَالَى: )ْلِيَ ذكُرُوا اْ سمَْ اْللَِّْْ
عَلى مَْا رَْزَقَهُ مْ مِْ نْ بَْهِيمَةِْ اْ لَْ نعامِْ( أَْ يْ عَْلَى ذَْ بحِْ مَْا رَْزَقَهُ مْ. فَْأَمَرَْ تَْعَالَى عِْ ندَْ اْلذَ بحِْ بِْذِ كرِهِْ وَْأَ نْْ
يَكُونَْ اْلذَ بحُْ لَْهُ، لَِْْنَهُْ رَْازِقُْ ذَْلِكَْ )ْتفسير اْلقرطبي(
60
6. It has to be completely dead before it can be skinned or cut
into pieces.
Animals that are impaired, such as sick, blind, crippled,
wounded, etc. cannot be slaughtered as qurban. Their
minimum age as follows: sheep (male and female) at least 6
months (one share); goats (male and female), at least one year
(one share); cows, oxen, buffaloes, at least two years (7
shares); and camels (male and female), at least 5 years (7
shares). The period for the sacrifice is 3 days, starting after the
Eid prayer of 10 Dhul Hijjah till before sunset on the 12th of
Dhul Hijjah according to Ḥanafi, Mālikī, and Ḥanbalī schools,
and 4 days till before sunset the following day, namely on the
17th of Dhul Hijjah, according to Shāfi‘ī school. It can be done
preferably on the day time. The exception is if the animal to
be slaughtered ran away, and was caught later, or the person
entrusted for slaughtering was asleep or forgot it, then it can
be slaughtered after the lapse of the period. It is like a person
who forgets to pray, he has to do it the time he remembers it.
It is not acceptable to replace qurbān with money, or the
institution of qurbān would be forgotten, whereas these
livestock are for us to eat. Let our poor Muslim brothers and
sisters share the taste of the meat and have benefits from it,
including Vitamin B12 in it.
(CIVIC, 18 September, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اْلشاملة
تفسير اْلطبري )ْت. 713ْ هْ)
تفسير اْلقرطبى )ْت. 131ْ هْ(
تفسير اْبن كْثير )ْت. 337ْ هْ(
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ أضحية
http://www.answeringislam.org/Books/Zwemer/atonement.ht
m
https://islamic-relief.com.au/1367/qurban-faqs/
spreadingthetruthofislam.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/what-isqurban.
html
61
11. REFUGEES
In order to avoid the persecution of the Quraysh idolaters
in Makkah the Prophet ordered in the early period of Islam his
followers to emigrate to a safe place: in Ethiopia and then in
Madinah. There were three kinds of people in response to this
order to emigrate: (a) those Muslims who obeyed this order
and emigrated to Madinah; (b) those Muslims who preferred to
stay in Makkah for worldly reason, pretending not to be
Muslims to avoid their persecution; (c) children and those who
were sick and old, and were unable to emigrate, such as
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās and his mother.
When the Battle of Badr took place in the 2nd year of
Hijrah those who preferred to stay in Makkah were forced to
join the Quraysh army, or they would disclose their belief in
Islam, and be persecuted. Ibn ‘Abbās said that some people
among the Quraysh army who were secretly Muslims were hit
in the battlefield. Their fellow Muslims in the Muslim army
recognized them and prayed to Allah that they might be
forgiven for joining the disbelievers in the battlefield. Then
Allah revealed the following verses:
إِ نَّ اَّل ذِي نَّ ت و فاهُمَُّ اَّلْ م لَئِ كةَُّ ظالِمِي أَّ نْفُسِهِمَّْ قالُوا فَِّي مَّ كَُّنْتُمَّْ قالُوا كَُّ ناََّّ
مُسْ تضْ عفِي نَّ فَِّي اَّلْْ رَّْضَِّ قالُوا أَّ ل مَّْ تكُنَّْ أَّ رْضَُّ اللَِّّ واسِ ع ةَّ فتُ هاجِرُواََّّ
فِي ها فأوُل ئِ كَّ مأْ واهُمَّْ ج ه نمَُّ و سا ءتَّْ مصِي را. إَِّ لَّّ اَّلْمُسْ تضْ عفِي نَّ مَِّ نَََّّّ
الرِّ جالَِّ والنِّ ساءَِّ والْوِلْ دانَِّ لَّّ يسْ تطِيعُو نَّ حَِّيل ةَّ و لَّّ يهْ تدُو نَََّّّ
سبِي لََّ. فأوُل ئِ كَّ ع سى اللَُّّ أَّ نَّْ يعْفُ وَّ عنْهُمَّْ و كا نَّ اللَََُّّّّ
)َّ77- عفُ وا غفُو را )َّالنساء: 79
Verily, as for those whom angels take (in death)
while they are wronging themselves (as they stayed
among the disbelievers even though emigration was
obligatory for them), they (angels) say (to them):
“In what (condition) were you?” They reply: “We were
weak and oppressed on the earth.” They (angels) say:
“Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to
emigrate therein?” Such men will find their Abode in Hell—
62
what an evil destination! Except the weak ones among
men, women and children who cannot devise a plan [i.e.,
cannot find the way], nor are they able to direct their
way. These are they whom Allah is likely to forgive,
and Allah is Ever Oft-Pardoning, Oft-
Forgiving (Q. 4:97-98)
When the Muslims who remained in Makkah knew that
Allah would not forgive them for not emigrating to Madinah,
they started emigrating. But the Makkan idolaters chased them
and persecuted them. Then the following verse was revealed,
ومِ نَّ اَّل ناسَِّ منَّْ يقُولَُّ آَّ م نا بَِّا للَِّّ فإِ ذا أَُّوذِ يَّ فَِّي اللَِّّ ج ع لَّ فَِّتْ ن ةَّ اَّل ناسَِّ
ك ع ذابَِّ اللَِّّ ول ئِنَّْ جا ءَّ نصْ رَّ مَِّنَّْ ربِّ كَّ لَّ يقُولُ نَّ إَِّ نا كَُّ نا م عكُمَّْ أَّ ول يْ سَّ )َّ اللَُّّ بَِّأ عْل مَّ بَِّ ما فَِّي صَُّدُورَِّ اَّلْ عال مِي نَّ )َّالعنكبوت: 01
Of mankind are some who say: “We believe in Allah.” But if
they are made to suffer for the sake of Allah, they consider
the trial of mankind as Allah’s punishment; and if victory
comes from your lord, (the hypocrites) will say: “Verily,
we were with you (helping you).” Is not Allah Best
Aware of what is in the breasts of the Alamin
(mankind and jinn)? Q. 29:10)
When they were told about the above verse they became
very sad and lost hope for migrating to Madinah. However,
they were told that Allah had given them a way out, as another
verse was revealed to relieve them from being hopeless, as
follows:
ثُ مَّ إَِّ نَّ ر ب كَّ لَِّل ذِي نَّ ها جرُوا مَِّنَّْ بعْدَِّ ما فَُّتِنُوا ثَُّ مَّ جا هدُوا
)َّ و ص برُوا إَِّ نَّ ر ب كَّ مَِّنَّْ بعْدِ ها لَّ غفُو رَّ رحِي مَّ )َّالنحل: 001
The, verily, your Lord for those who emigrated after
they had been put to trials and thereafter strove hard
and fought (for the Cause of Allah) and were patient,
verily your Lord afterward, is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. (Q. 16:110)
63
So, they started emigrating again, and when they were
overtaken by the idolaters, they fought back, some were saved
and others were killed. Anyway, Allah has forgiven them for
their delay in emigrating.
This was the hijrah (migration) in the time of the Prophet,
moving to a place to avoid persecution, where Islam could be
practiced without any problem, in modern technical term, it is
called “taking refuge”, and muhājirīn are refugees rather than
migrants. A migrant is a person who chooses to leave his
country to find a job, to study or to be reunited with his family.
On the other hand, a refugee is a person who has fled
persecution, has sought and granted protection, and person
seeking refuge due to a natural disaster. An asylum seeker is
someone seeking protection because they have a well-founded
fear of being persecuted for reasons of their race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular
social group. An asylum seeker could also be someone who is
fleeing other serious human rights violations, including torture
or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. He
may be (1) residing in a refugee camp waiting for an
opportunity to return to their home country, or (2) waiting for
resettlement in another country, or (3) may have been
resettled in another country such as Australia.
Before becoming a refugee, a person has to be an asylum
seeker, seeking protection because of fear of being persecuted
because of his race, religion, nationality, political opinion or
membership of a particular social group. He could also be
someone who is fleeing other serious human rights violations,
including torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or
punishment.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 the
number of refugees increased till it reached over 4 million
refugees around the world in 2007, including 2 million in
neighbouring Middle East countries, and 1.9 million in Iraq,
64
which means 15 % of the Iraqi people had left their homes.
There are over 1.2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria which had 18
million populations, and by 2009 Jordan which had only 6
million populations, had taken 700,000 Iraqi refugees.َّ In 2011
one-quarter of the population of Jordan were refugees.
Due to the conflict in Iraq refugees immigrate to Pakistan
and Syria. About 1.8 million refugees were hosted in Pakistan.
About 2.8 million people from Afghanistan took refuge in 69
different asylum countries whereas bout 1.9 million Iraqis have
moved, mostly to neighboring asylum countries.
About three weeks ago, an Egyptian billionaire, Naguib
Sawiris, offered to buy an island belonging to Greece or Italy for
Syrian refugees. He said:
“Greece or Italy sell me an island, I’ll call its
independence and host the migrants and provide
jobs for them building their new country.”
Naguib Sawiris
Egyptian billionaire
Agence France-Presse
He was also reported by Agence France-Presse as follows:
“Sawiris said an island off Greece or Italy could cost
between $10 million and $100 million, but added
the ‘main thing is investment in infrastructure.’”
Agence France-Presse
One of the Arab countries which hosts the Syrian refugees
with generosity is Lebanon with over one million Syrian
refugees, equal to one-quarter of its population. Compared to
USA, it is like hosting 75 million refugees. The non-Arab
neighbouring country, Turkey which has 70 million populations,
hosts 1.6 million Syrian refugees.
The condition of the people of Syria in 2011 was that out
of 22.4 million of its inhabitants, about 200 thousand deaths, 4
65
million refugees, and 7.5 million are internally displaced. So,
less than half of its population remain in their homes.
We do not know when the misery of the refugees will
end, as long as the two contending parties, the government
and those who revolt against it do not find any solution for
their disagreement. The Prophet had already warned us against
revolting against impious rulers, as long as they do not order
people to disobey Allah. The Prophet s.a.w. said:
عل ى اَّلْ مرْءَِّ اَّلْمُسْلِمَِّ اَّل سمْعَُّ وال طا عةَُّ فَِّي ما أَّ ح بَّ و كرِ هَّ إَِّلَّّ أ نَّْ يَُّؤْ م رَّ بَِّ معْصِ ي ةَّ فإِنَّْ أَُّمِ رَّ بَِّ معْصِ ي ةَّ فلََّ سمْ عَّ ولَّّ طا ع ةَّ )َّرواه اَّلبخاري وَّ مَّسلم وَّ أَّبو دَّاؤد وَّالنسائي وَّ أَّحمد( .ََّّ
Upon the person is hearing and obeying concerning
what he likes and what he dislikes, unless he is ordered to
do an act of disobedience [to Allah]. If he is ordered to
do an act of disobedience, there is no hearing or
obeying.” (Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim,
Abū Dā’ūd, al-Nasā’ī and Aḥmad)
Revolting against impious or oppressing rulers could
lead to destruction more than if they obeyed them. Scholars
who adhere to removing impious rulers say that it should be
done by fighting them on condition that bloodshed among
Muslims which is called fitnah, namely, riot, discord and civil
strife would be avoided.
One of the means to bring down an impious ruler
peacefully is by rejecting any government position in his
cabinet. On the 21st of May 1998 Former President Suharto
who had ruled Indonesia for 32 years tendered his resignation
from presidency. The main reason is that the condition of the
country at that time was so desperate that all members of his
cabinet resigned, and nobody would replace them. He could
have ignored the demonstration of thousands of students at
the Parliament Building demanding his resignation, but without
members of Cabinet to assist him he would not be able to rule
the country. This boycott policy was very effective at that time
66
Another example is Shah of Iran who took power in 1953
with the help of the CIA. He abolished political parties, and
some of their members had been exiled; others had been
imprisoned or tortured by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police.
Demonstrations against the Shah commenced in October
1977, became intensive in January 1978. That year strikes and
demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah imposed
martial law in Tehran and the troops reluctantly fired on
demonstrators killing more than 500 people, as their brothers
and other relatives might have been among them. This
incident, known later as “Black Friday”, did not deter the
demonstrators. On January 16, 1979 the Shah left Iran for exile,
and died in July, 1980. Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to
Iran greeted by several million Iranians.
Persistent and continuous peaceful demonstrations could
work in bringing down impious rulers. Allah knows best.
(CIVIC, 25 September, 2015)
المصادر:َّ
المكتبة اَّلشاملةَّ
تَّفسير اَّلطبري )َّت. 001َّ هَّ)َّ
تفسير اَّلقرطبى )َّت. 190َّ هَّ(
تفسير اَّبن كَّثير )َّت. 997َّ هَّ)
tَّtps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/03/26/the-iranianrevolution-
of-1979/#sthash.LdqMYH4z.dpuf
http://www.redcross.org.au/asylum-seekers-refugeesfacts.
aspx
http://madrasato-mohammed.com/
maowsoat_aqida_sunnah_02/pg_108_0007.htm
http://sh.rewayat2.com/siasahe/Web/32289/001.htm
http://www.ansarsunna.com/vb/showthread.php?t= ."بر 35175
http://www.yasour.org/news.php?go=fullnews&newsid=20646
http://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/ini-momen-momenmenegangkan-
jelang-soeharto-lengser-21-mei-1998.html
67
12. RELIGION AND BLASPHEMY (1)
Allah says addressing the whole mankind, as follows:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّا س إِنَّا خَلَقْنَا كمْ مِنْ ذَكَ ر وَأ نْثَى وَجَعَلْنَا كمْ ش عوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَف وا
) إِنَّ أَكْرَمَ كمْ عِنْدَ اللَِّّ أَتْقَا كمْ إِنَّ اللَّّ عَلِي م خَبِي ر )الحجرات: 31
O mankind! We have created you from a male
and a female, and made you into nations and tribes
that you may know one another. Verily, the most
honorable of you with Allah is that (believer)
who has the most pious (Q. 49:13)
The Qur’ān commentator Mujāhid ibn Jabr (21-104/642-
722) said that the Arabs in the past knew each other by
knowing their names, their parents’ names and the names of
the tribes to which they belonged. Sufyān al-Thawrī (97-
161/716-778) said that the Ḥimyar people who resided in
Yemen dealt with each other according to their provinces,
while the Arabs in Ḥijāz (Western Arabia) dealt with each other
according to their tribes. As every tribe has its own tribal
language it is estimated that up to 7,000 different languages
are spoken around the world, and about 90% of them are
spoken by less than 100,000 people.
Knowing one another implies learning from each other’s
characteristics, traditions, cultures and religions. The concept
of religion is constituted of three factors, namely, God,
Universe and Man. These have connection with the concept of
salvation. Hence, former President to World Federation of
Islamic Mission and Islamic Centre in Karachi, Muhammad Fazlur-
Rahman Ansari in his lecture at the Tokyo mosque in 1960
divided the world religions into two categories: (1) Religions of
Salvation, and (2) Religions of Fulfilment.
Religions of Salvations are generally all religions with the
exception of Islam, which belongs to Religion of Fulfilment.
Religions of Salvation are divided into two categories:
68
a. those whose concept of salvation is linear, namely, the
advance of human life is linear, passing through the gateway
of death, to continue beyond the grave, until it reaches
heaven or hell. Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity
belong to this category.
b. those whose concept of salvation is cyclic, namely, the
continuous transmigration of souls in cycle upon cycle until
it reaches heaven (Moksha in Hinduism, and Nirvana in
Buddhism). Hinduism and Buddhism belong to this category.
On the other hand, the concept of fulfilment in Islam is
that the world is essentially good, God is Absolutely Good, and
all His actions are good, human personality are good and social
relations are also good. All human beings are born sinless which
is contradictory to Christian teachings that all human beings are
born in sin inherited from Adam and Eve. A person who inherits
any kind of defect or sickness is not a kind of condemnation,
but a test, he has to find a cure for it, and to be patient with it,
and Allah would reward him for his patience.
Allah has given human beings with certain facilities and
powers to be used in its utmost for their own prosperity and
welfare in this earthly life. This is also a kind of devotion
besides performing the five-daily prayers, fasting in Ramadan,
etc. Allah has created the whole contents of the earth for them
(Q. 2:29), and neglecting them is therefore, renunciation of
worldly life is not the teaching of Islam.
Hinduism in the strict sense of the word is more of a
social order than a religion. A Hindu can be a person who
believes in one God, three gods, millions of gods, or even no
god. It is said that it is the most undefinable religion in the
world, as it is actually the story of the race of Aryans of Central
Asia. When they conquered the northern plains of India they
brought with them certain beliefs of nature-worship and
certain principles of social organization, and at the same time
they absorbed the beliefs and social habits of their subjects.
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Their beliefs mixed together, and conflicting beliefs and
mutually fighting gods and goddesses were tolerated and
accommodated. Therefore, Hinduism is a number of religious
systems, and the only common doctrines are of the karma and
transmigration of the soul.
Hinduism is for the Indians, like Judaism for the Jews.
Both are religions of their respective races. Unlike Islam and
Christianity which are missionary religions, Hinduism does not
believe in conversion to Hinduism. If a Hindu is born he is
bound to racial and caste-system. He is born either as a
Brahmin (the highest caste), a Kshatriya, a Vaishya, or a Sudra,
and he cannot change his caste, no matter how great his
achievement is in life. A Brahmin remains holy, and the Sudra
remains unholy, and this remains unchangeable. Like in
Judaism where a non-Jewish is considered inferior, a non-Hindu
is also considered inferior in Hinduism.
The word karma is originally from the Sanskrit word
karman, meaning “action, effect, and fate.” Karma in Hinduism
as well as in Buddhism is (3) “the sum of a person’s actions in
this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their
fate in future existences.” It is also (2) “action, seen as bringing
upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life
or in a reincarnation; in Hinduism it is one of the means of
reaching Brahman.” It is also (1) “intentional ‘action’; the
workings of cause and effect, whereby virtuous actions lead to
happiness and non-virtuous actions lead to suffering.” In
Theosophy1 karma is “the cosmic principle according to which
each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation
according to that person's deeds in the previous incarnation.” It
is the rule of cause and effect: “As you sow, so you reap”
(Galatians, 6:7). Salvation in Hinduism is cyclic, namely, in order
1 Theosophy is any religious or philosophical system based on intuitive
insight into the nature of the divine, but especially that of the
Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky
and Colonel H.S Olcott
70
to attain to Salvation the human being must undergo cycles
upon cycles of rebirth. If a person commits more vices than
virtues in this life, he will be born again in this world in a lower
caste, or even in a lower category of existence, such as animals
and insects. This is a kind of punishment, until he breaks the
cycles of rebirth and enters the heaven (Moksha).
In rejecting these views of karma and transmigration of
the soul F.R. Ansari mentions three arguments, as follows:
1. It is necessary that every man has to have a complete
picture of his previous life in order to realize his suffering or
benefiting on any occasion in this life, but this does not
happen. Therefore, the purpose of his rebirth would not be
acceptable. In other words, it is like a man is being punished
without knowing his mistake.
2. Like an immature seed, we do not bring it back and paste it
to its tree, but rather we select the mature seed to grow a
better tree. Similarly, a person who is not pure or mature
enough to achieve Salvation should not be brought back to
be pasted in the earthly life, but rather he should be
provided with conditions whereby his impurity and
immaturity may be put right, so that he might proceed to
the path of evolution.
3. Evolution is an established law of the human personality and
the universe which is always linear, whereas transmigration
of the souls is cyclic, and therefore it is unacceptable.
Buddhism was born in India as a revolt against some
principles and institutions of Hinduism, especially against castesystem
and holding the idea of the impersonal concept of God
or of non-existent of God. The doctrines of Karma and Awa
Gawan were retained. No wonder that some scholars who
incline to regard Buddhism as one of many sects of Hinduism.
The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama, a
Hindu prince who left his house in search of solution for the
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human sufferings. After years of contemplation and meditation
he attained Buddhahood, namely, Enlightenment, under a
bodhi tree at Buddh-Gaya in the province of Bihar, India. He
found the solution to conquer suffering, namely, to negate all
desires. The world in unreal, like an illusion, a trap, and the
wise person (Buddhist) has to cut off all his relations with the
world. His life should be a roaming beggar who has no home,
and no worldly duty. Even Gautama himself when he returned
to his naïve place he did not visit his wife.
The concept of Buddhism that everything is like an illusion
means that it appeared to exist in one way, but actually it exists
in another way. It is like the optical illusion where a line can
look longer than another line, but actually is shorter. Another
example is that the ocean consists of a series of separate waves
that come and go. But if we look beneath the surface, we shall
find that the ocean is vaster and more mysterious than what
we initially believed.
There are three main sects in Buddhism: (a) the
Mahayana was so called, because they were the majority
Group at the Council of Patna; it allows social relations as a
natural and necessary evil. (b) the Hinayana, the minority
group, the most orthodox, the most loyal to the spirit and the
teaching of Buddha, and they believed in asceticism; and (c) the
Zen Buddhism was a new version of Buddhist philosophy which
permits and promotes militarist aspirations among militarist
Japanese.
The doctrine of transmigration of souls or incarnation has
no solid foundation in human experience. Many people believe
in some form of reincarnation. Testimony of people who claim
to recall people, places, things and events from what they
believe could be their past lives. Under hypnosis many people
recall the detail of their previous lives.
Stephen Wagner, the paranormal phenomena expert in
his article The Mystery of Past Life Recall related this story:
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“In 1824, a nine-year-old boy named Katsugoro, the son of a
Japanese farmer, told his sister that he believed he had a past
life. According to his story, which is one of the earliest cases of
past life recall on record, the boy vividly recalled that he had
been the son of another farmer in another village and had died
from the effects of smallpox in 3830….”
Stephen Wagner’s commentary on this story is this: “Past
life recall is one of the most fascinating areas of unexplained
human phenomena. As yet, science has been unable to prove
or disprove its genuineness. Even many who have investigated
claims of past life recall are unsure whether it is an historical
recollection due to reincarnation or is a construction of
information somehow received by the subconscious. Either
possibility is remarkable. And like many areas of the
paranormal, there is a propensity for fraud that the serious
investigator must watch out for. It's important to be sceptical
about such extraordinary claims, but the stories are
nonetheless intriguing.”
(CIVIC, 2 October, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري )ت. 130 ه)
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 173 ه)
تفسير ابن كثير )ت. 777 ه)
Ansari, F.R. Which Religion. Karachi: The World Federation of
Islamic Missions, Islamic Centre, 1969
Landaw, Jonathan, & Bodian, Stephan. Buddhism for Dummies.
Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2003.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/guide/languages.shtml
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/karma
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/karma
http://paranormal.about.com/od/reincarnation/a/The-
Mystery-Of-Past-Life-Recall.htm
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13. RELIGION AND BLASPHEMY (2)
Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people, although
many of them have abandoned or neglected it. It is the religion
brought by Prophet Moses (Mūsā) a.s. It is over 3,500 years
old, and keeps developing. Its holy book is called Torah
revealed to Prophet Moses, but the present day Torah (Old
Testament) is no longer the pure revelation revealed to
Prophet Moses, as it contains the collection of texts upon
which Judaism was based.
Although the Torah contains the idea of pure
monotheism, we also find primitive and blasphemous notions,
among which are as follows:
1. God (Yahweh, Jehovah) has limited power. The Old
Testament said:
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he
had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested. And
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all work of
creating that he had done.”
(Genesis 2:2-3)
The idea of resting for God implies His being tired
and having limited power. This is not the nature of God
the Almighty Who is infinite in His Being and all His
Attributes.1
1 The creation of the heavens and the earth in six days is also mentioned
in the Qur’ān seven times (Q. 7:54, 10:3, 11:7, 57:4, “and all that is
between them” Q. 25:59, 32:4, and 50:38), but Allah did not rest on the
seventh day, for He was and is always the “most powerful” and the
“almighty”; He has 99 names which are also His attributes indicating His
majesty and omnipotence. “Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him”
(Q. 2:255), “Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that
He says to it, ‘Be!’ – and it is!’” (Q. 36:82); “When He decrees a matter,
He only says to it: ‘Be!’ – and it is.” (Q. 2:117’ 3:47, 19:37).
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2. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart
was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he
had made man on earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
(Genesis 6:5-6)
3. God refused to forgive Adam. As for Eve, the punishment is
as follows: “To the woman he said: ‘I will greatly increase
your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to
children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will
rule over you.’” (Genesis 3: 16). As for Adam, the
punishment is as follows: “To Adam he said, ‘Because you
listen to your wife and ate from the tree about which I
commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it.’ Cursed is the
ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.’” (Genesis 3: 17)2
4. God in the Old Testament was portrayed like human
beings:
a. He moulds man like a potter, planted a garden in Eden
(Genesis 2: 7, 8).
b. He walked in the garden (Genesis 3: 8).
c. He made garments of skin for Adam and his wife
(Genesis 3: 21).
d. He came down from heaven to see the building of the
Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5).
e. He with two angels ate and drank with Abraham
(Genesis 18:1, 8). The Qur’ān also mentioned the three
guests of Prophet Abraham. All were angels in human
forms. The Qur’an commentator Ibn ‘Abbās said that
they were: Jibrīl (Gabriel), Mīkā’īl (Michael), and Isrāfīl
2 It is mentioned in the Qur’ān that Adam asked forgiveness from Allah.
He said: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If you forgive us not,
and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers.”
(Q. 7:23). “…. And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance).
Verily, He is the One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most
Merciful.” (Q. 2:37)
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(the angel who will sound the trumpet on the Day of
Resurrection). Being angels they did not touch the
food, which made him scared, but they told him not to
fear, as they were angels sent by Allah to punish the
people of Prophet Lot. (Q. 51:24-28; 15:51-53)
f. He appeared as a man and struggled with Jacob. He
was overcome by him, and told him that his name was
no longer Jacob but Israel, because had overcome God
and men (Genesis 32:22-32); in Hosea 12:4 Jacob
struggled with an angel and overcome him.
5. There is incompatibility between good and merciful God
according to theologians and that portrayed in the Bible,
such as:
a. God commanded atrocities commanded the Israelites
to enslave the cities which made peace with them, …
and to completely wipe out all the inhabitants of the
city (Deuteronomy 20:10-17) . He commanded Moses
to kill every male (Numbers 31:7, 17).
b. He condones the murder of children. While Elisha was
on his way to Bethel some small boys jeered at him,
saying “Go up, you baldhead!” He cursed them in the
name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out from
the woods and tore forty-two of the boys (2 Kings 2:22-
24)
In Christianity monotheism is of a peculiar or a special
type, namely, the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and
the Holy Ghost, (and to some, instead, Goddess the Mother),
Three in One, and One in Three, three individuals or definite
persons in One, and therefore, Christianity is not purely
monotheistic.
Christians believe in the doctrine of the original sin. The sin
was inherited from Adam when he disobeyed God by eating the
forbidden fruit of the tree of life. Therefore all mankind after
Adam are born sinful and sinners. Paul of Tartarus in his letter
to the Church in Rome he says:
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Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one
man, and death through sin, and in this way death came
to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)
There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one
who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned
away, they have together become worthless; there is no
one who does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12)
This sin is the consequence of being the human nature
deprived from its origin holiness and justice, a sin “contracted”
and not “committed.” For the remission of this Paul’s doctrine
of the original sin babies are baptized after birth as soon as
possible. The well-known Catholic theologian St. Thomas
Aquinas (1225-1274 CE) says that as original sin incurs
everlasting punishment, children who have not been baptized
and died in original sin will not see the kingdom of God.
However, no ordinary man could get rid of the “original sin”
except someone without sin, namely, Jesus who was the
incarnation of God to “redeem” or pay with his life and to bear
the burden on sins of mankind (who believed in him) by
suffering and dying on the Cross. So, God as the Father
sacrificed His Own Son, which was the incarnation of Him. Here
lie the doctrines of the Atonement and of Incarnation. In his
letter to the Romans Paul said:
God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement,
through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his
justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins
committed beforehand unpunished. (Romans 3:25)
The Christian theologian David Craig explains in his book
What Christian Believe the doctrine of atonement as follows:
The Doctrine of Atonement claims that Jesus has
borne the penalty instead of humans so that God can
freely forgive sin. The sin, elsewhere called ‘Original Sin’,
has been punished but instead of sinful humanity paying
the price for its fallen state, it was Jesus, a sinless victim,
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who paid the price and was executed. Jesus becomes a
substitute for each person. Sacrificial theories refer to Jesus
as a sinless offering who makes universal expiation of
the stain of sin. Atonement is seen as a victory against
evil and sin personified in the devil.
The doctrine of the original sin has been criticised by
many Christian scholars, such as Prof. John Bowker, former
Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge. He says that there is no
original sin in the stories of Genesis which belong first to the
Jews. What the Christians call “the Fall” according to the Jews is
“a fall upwards, a fall into new opportunities of being human.”
Jesus himself did not teach the original sin. For him a child
is born free from sin, as mentioned in Mathew as follows:
Then little children were brought to Jesus for him
to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the
disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said,
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder
them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as
these.” When he had placed his hands on them,
he went on from there. (Matthew 19:13-15)
Jesus also said:
“See that you do not look down on one of these
little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven
always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 18:10)
This Teaching of Jesus is in line with the teachings of
Islam. The Prophet s.a.w. said,
كُ لُّ مَُّوْلُو دُّ يُُّولَدُُّ عَُّلَى اُّلْفِطْرَةُِّ فَُّأَبَوَاهُُّ يُُّهَوِّدَانِهُِّ وَُّيُنَصِّرَانِهُِّ
أَُّوُّْ يُُّمَجِّسَانِهُِّ... )ُّرواه اُّلبخاري(
Every child is born on fitrah (sinless), but it is his
parents that make him a Jew or a Christian or
a Magian… (Reported by Bukhārī)
78
It is also mentioned in the Old Testament that everyone
dies with his own sins, as follows:
The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will
will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share
the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man
will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked
will be charged against him. (Ezekiel 18:20)
Instead, everyone will die for his own sin;
whoever eats sour grapes—his own teeth will
be set on edge. (Jeremiah 31:30)
This doctrine is confirmed by the Qur’an, as follows:
) ... وَُّلَُّ تَُّزِرُُّ وَُّازِرَةُّ وُِّزْرَُّ أُُّخْرَى... )ُّالأنعام: 164
…No bearer of burdens can bear the burden
of another… (Q. 6:164)
The Old Testament also states that the children cannot
be punished because of the sin or crime of their parents and
vice versa, as follows:
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children,
nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to
die for his own sin. (Deuteronomy 24:16)
This is the teaching of true religions taught by prophets
sent by Allah to mankind. (CIVIC, 9 October, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اُّلشاملة
تفسير اُّلقرطبى )ُّت. 671ُّ هُّ )
تفسير اُّبن كُّثير )ُّت. 774ُّ هُّ(
Ansari, F.R. Which Religion. Karachi: The World Federation of
Islamic Missions, Islamic Centre, 1969
Yaacob, Mohd Amin. Christianity through the Lenses of
Christian and Muslim Scholars. Kuala Lumpur: C S Multi
Print Sdn. Bhd, 2004
Holy Bible: New International Version
http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/godbible.html
79
14. THE MEANINGS OF KHAYR (GOOD) IN THE QUR’ĀN (1)
In order to understand the verses of the Qur’ān
extensively we have to learn the sciences of the Qur’ān laid
down by earlier scholars of the Qur’ān. One of these sciences is
Asbāb al-Nuzūl (“the causes of revelation”), means the
occasions that led to the revelation of a particular verse. Al-
Zarkashī (d. 794/1392) who mentioned forty-seven sciences of
the Qur’ān in his Burhān put asbāb al-nuzūl in the first place.
Al-Suyūṭī (d. 991/1505) who mentioned eighty sciences put it in
the ninth place in his Itqān. Without knowing it the verse of the
Qur’ān might be misunderstood. One of the verses commonly
misunderstood is the following verse:
إِ نَّ اَّل ذِي نَّ آَّ منُوا وال ذِي نَّ هادُوا وال ن صَّا رى وال صابِئِي نَّ م نَّ
آَّ م نَّ بَِّا للَِّّ وا ل ي ومَِّ اَّ لْخِرَِّ و عمِ لَّ صالِحًا فل هُ مَّ أَّ جرُهُ مَّ عَِّ ن دَّ ربِّهِ مَّ
( و لَّ خ و فَّ عل يهِ مَّ و لَّ هَُّ مَّ ي ح زنُو نَّ )َّالبقرة: 22َّ
Verily, those who believe and those who are
Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes
in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous
good deeds shall have their reward with their
Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor
shall they grieve (Q. 2:62)
This verse was revealed in answering the question of
Salmān al-Fārisī about the monks with whom they had prayed
in their churches, expecting the advent of Prophet Muhammad
in Arabia, and advised Salmān to follow the new prophet
whenever he met him. Then the above verse was revealed to
explain that not only these monks, but the Jews before the
advent of Prophet ‘Īsā (Jesus), and the Christians before the
advent of Prophet Muhmmad s.a.w. would be safe. But those
who do not want to follow the new prophet, namely, the Jews
after the advent of Prophet ‘Īsā, and the Christians after the
advent of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. would not be safe.
If we read this verse to the Jews and the Christians
without explaining its meaning they would think that they do
80
not have to become Muslims to attain salvation, and the
Muslims do not have to invite non-Muslims to Islam. To correct
misunderstanding, Allah revealed the following verse:
و م نَّ ي ب تغَِّ غ ي رَّ اَّ لِْ س لَمَِّ دَِّينًا فل نَّ يَُّ ق ب لَّ مَِّ نهَُّ وهُ وَّ
) فِي اَّ لْخِ رةَِّ مَِّ نَّ اَّ ل خاسِرِي نَّ )َّآل عَّمران: 85
And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam,
it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter
he will be one of the losers (Q. 3:85)
Another branch of Qur’ānic science is called لوُجُ وهُ وال نظّائرفِي
ا لقُ رآن (al-wujūh wa ’l- naẓā’ir fī al-Qur’ān) translated as
“homonyms and synonyms in the Qur’ān.” Al-Zarkashī put it in
number four of the 47 branches of the Qur’ānic science in his
work al-Burhān, whereas al-Suyūtī put it in number 39 of the 80
branches in his work al-Itqān.
Homonym is one of the five classes of Typographic
Paronomasia. Paronomasia is the use words having similar
sounds but different meanings. It is divided into Typographic
Paronomasia and Visual Paronomasia. Homonym is the
combination both homographs (the use of words that sound
the same and have different meanings such as sun and son;
plain = easy to see, to hear or to understand, and plane= flat or
level surface) and homophones (words that are spelt the same
but have different meanings such as advert to = refer to, and
advert = (GB col.) advertisement). So, homonyms is where the
sounds and the spellings of two or more words are exactly the
same, but have different meanings, such as 60 seconds = 1
minute, second hand = used, not new; second class = lower
class. Here we have identical words but have different
meanings.
Al-naẓā’ir is close to synonyms, namely a word which has
many meanings, such as the word ع ين in Arabic has many
meanings: letter ع, eye, spring, source, prime (of something).
Here we have one word which has many meanings. In the
Qur’ān we may find words which has many meanings, such as
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fitnah, such as: temptation, trial, sedition, riot, discord,
dissention, civil strife we are having now in the Middle East. In
Indonesia we mistakenly translate fitnah as “slander” which is
in Arabic iftirā’ ) إ فتِ راء ( and “consider” it worse than killing.
The term khayr ( خ ير ( as an adjective literally means:َّ good;
excellent, outstanding, superior, admirable; better; best. As a
noun it means: “good thing, blessing; benefit, interest,
advantage; welfare; charity.” Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d.
425/1132) gives the definition of khayr (good thing) as follows:
it is what everybody wants, such as: ‘aql (intelligence), ‘adl
(justice), faḍl (superiority, favor, kindness), and useful thing. It
is the opposite of sharr (evil, calamity, injustice, harm,
wickedness, vice). He divides the good thing into two
categories: (a) absolute good, namely, something which is
always liked by anybody in any case, such as Paradise, and (b)
relative good, such as wealth; it could be good for one person
in one case, but bad for another in another case. Therefore,
wealth is also called “good thing” relatively, as we shall see.
Al-Dāmaghānī (d. 478/1085) mentions eight meanings of
the term khayr in the Qur’ān, whereas Ibn al-Jawzī (d.
597/1201) mentions twenty-two meanings. Three out of the
eight examples mentioned by both of them are as follows:
ا ل مال . 1 (wealth), as in the following verses:
كُتِ بَّ ع ل يكُ مَّ إَِّ ذا ح ض رَّ أَّ ح دكُمَُّ اَّ ل م وتَُّ إَِّ نَّ ت ر كَّ خ يرًا اَّ ل وصِ يةَََُّّّ
)َّ لِ ل والِ د ينَِّ وا لْ ق ربِي نَّ بَِّا ل م عرُوفَِّ حقًّا عل ى اَّ لمُ تقِي نَّ )َّالبقرة: 180
It is prescribed for you, when death approaches
any of you, if he leaves wealth, that he makes
a bequest to parents and next of kin, according
to reasonable manners. (This is) a duty
upon the pious (Q. 2:180)
There are two views concerning this verse:
(a) Those who say that the bequest for the parents is 2/3 of
the wealth, for the relatives 2/3 of the remaining 1/3,
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namely, 2/9 of the wealth, and the bequest for nonrelatives
will be 1/9 of the wealth, which is also the view
of al-Ḥasan.
(b) The other view says that the verse is abrogated
(specified) with the verse dealing with the law of
inheritance, so that the parents and the relatives will
have legal shares in the inheritance, and the bequest will
be to the relatives who do not have share of it. This is
also the view of Qatādah. Those who have share will not
get a bequest. The verse in question runs as follows:
لِلرِّ جالَِّ نصِي بَّ مَِّ ما ت ر كَّ اَّ ل والِ دانَِّ وا لْ ق ربُو نَّ ولِلنِّ ساءََِّّ
نصِي بَّ مَِّ ما ت ر كَّ اَّ ل والِ دانَِّ وا لْ ق ربُو نَّ مَِّ ما ق لَّ مَِّ نهَُّ أَّ وََّّ
)َّ كثُ رَّ نصِيبًا م فرُوضًا )َّالنساء: 7
There is a share for men and a share for women
from what is left by parents and those nearest
related, whether, the property be small or
large—a legal share.(Q. 4:7)
The explanation of the Qur’ān dealing with the
distribution of wealth in inheritance is given in more
details in the Qur’ān, more than that of praying and
fasting, such as Q. 4:11.
ي سأ لُو ن كَّ ما ذا يَُّ نفِقُو نَّ قَُّ لَّ ما أَّ ن ف قتُ مَّ مَِّ نَّ خ ي رَّ فلِ ل والِ د ينَِّ وا لْ ق ربِي نَََّّّ
)َّ وا ل ي تا مى وا ل م ساكِينَِّ وا بنَِّ اَّل سبِيلَِّ )َّالبقرة: 215
They ask you (O Muhammad) what they should
spend. Say: Whatever you spend of good (i.e. wealth)
must be for parents and kindred and orphans and
the needy and the wayfarer … (Q. 2:215)
A companion of the Prophet called ‘Amr ibn al-
Jamūḥ ) ع مرو بنَِّ اَّ ل جمُوحَِّ ( told the Prophet that he had much
wealth and asked him where to spend it as charity, then
the above verse was revealed.
الْ ي مان . 2 (faith), as in the following verses:
ول وَّ علِ مَّ اللَُّّ فَِّيهِ مَّ خ يرًا لْ س م عهُ مَّ ول وَّ أَّ س م عهُ مَََّّّ
)َّ ل ت ول وا وهُ مَّ مَُّ عرِضُو نَّ )َّالْنفال: 23
83
Had Allah known of any good (i.e., faith) in them,
He would indeed have made them listen; and even if
He had made them listen, they would but have turned
away with aversion (to the truth) (Q. 8:23)
Had they faith they would have listened to the
arguments and evidence. They also asked the Prophet to
revive Quṣayy ibn Kilāb and others to testify the
messengership of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Had they
faith they would have heard the answer of all what they
had asked. However, had this happened they would still
disbelieve, as Allah had sealed their hearts.
Before the battle of Badr the Prophet had come to
know that some of the Banī Hāshim clan and others were
forced to accompany the Quraysh pagans to fight the
Muslims, such as al-‘Abbās, and not to harm them. Among
the captive were al-‘Abbās, his two nephews and one ally.
As captives were to pay ransom for their release, he told
the Prophet that he had been Muslim before, so that he
should not pay ransom. The Prophet said, Allah only knew
whether he was a Muslim, and if so, Allah would reward
him for it. But being a captive he had to pay ransom.
When he said that he had no money, the Prophet told him
that he had promised his wife to give the money he had
buried to the children of al-Faḍl, ‘Abdullah, and Quthan, if
he died in the battlefield. This was a secret which was
revealed to the Prophet. After paying the ransom, Allah
revealed the following verse:
يا أَّ يُّ ها اَّل نبِيَُّّ قَُّ لَّ لَِّ م نَّ فَِّي أَّ يدِيكُ مَّ مَِّ نَّ اَّ لْ س رى إَِّ نَّ ي عل مَِّ اللَُّّ
فَِّي قَُّلُوبِكُ مَّ خ يرًا يَُّ ؤتِكُ مَّ خ يرًا مَِّ ما أَُّخِ ذَّ مَِّ نكُ مَّ و ي غفِ رَّ
)َّ لَّ كُ مَّ و اللَُّّ غفُو رَّ رحِي مَّ )َّالْنفال: 70
O Prophet (Muhammad)! Say to the captives
that are in your hands: “If Allah knows any good
(i.e. faith) in your hearts, He will give you something
better than what has been taken from you,
84
and He will forgive you, and Allah is Oft
Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Q. 8:70)
الْ سلَم . 3 (Islam) as in the following verses:
)َّ م نا عَّ لَِّ ل خ يرَِّ مَُّ ع ت دَّ أَّ ثِي مَّ )َّالقلم: 12
Hindered of good (i.e., Islam), transgressor,
sinful (Q. 68:12)
Ibn ‘Abbās says that it is about the person who
prevents his son and his relatives from converting to
Islam. Al-Ḥasan says that it is about a person who said to
his relatives that he would not get benefit at all from
their becoming Muslims.
) م نا عَّ لَِّ ل خ يرَِّ مَُّ ع ت دَّ مَُّرِي بَّ )َّق: 25
Hindered of good (i.e., Islam),
transgressor, (Q. 50:25)
This verse was revealed concerning al-Mughīrah
who prohibited his nephews from converting to Islam.
Another interpretation is that of al-Ḥasan and Qatādah
who say that it is about a person who prohibited people
from paying the obligatory charity, the zakat.
(CIVIC, 16 October, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اَّلشاملة
1085 (. قامُ وسَُّ اَّ لقُ رآن )َّا لوُجُ وهَُّ وال ن ظائِر). بَّيروت,ََََّّّّ \ الحسين اَّل دام غانِي )َّت. 478َّ
.1983
1201 (. نَُّ ز هة اَّ لْ عيُنَِّ اَّل ن واظِرَِّ فَِّ يَّ عَِّ لمَِّ اَّ لوُجُ وهَِّ وَّ اَّل ن ظائِر.َّ \ ابن اَّلجوزي )َّت. 597َّ
.1985\ بيروت: مَّؤسسة اَّلرسالة, 1405َّ
1132 (. مَُّ ف ر دات أ ل فاظَِّ اَّ لقُ رآن. دَّمشق: دار اَّ ل قل م,َّ \ الراغب اَّلْصفهاني )ََّّت. 425َّ
.1992\1412
تفسير اَّلطبري )َّت. 310َّ هَّ)
تفسير اَّلقرطبى )َّت. 271َّ هَّ)
تفسير اَّبن كَّثير )َّت. 774َّ هَّ)
Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi, Atlas of the Qur’ān. Riyadh,
Darussalam, 2003
http://literarydevices.net/paronomasia
85
15. THE MEANINGS OF KHAYR (GOOD) IN THE QUR’ĀN (2)
The remaining examples for the various meanings of
khayr in the Qur’an given by al-Dāmaghānī and Ibn al-Jawzī are
as follows:
الْعَافِيَة . 4 (good heath, well-being), as in the following verses:
وَإِنْْ يَْمْسَسْكَْ اْللَّْه بِْ ه ض رْ فَْلَْ كَْاشِفَْ لَْ ه هْ إِْلَّْ هْ هوَْ وَْإِنْْ يَْمْسَسْكَْ
( بِخَيْ رْ فَْ ه هوَْ عَْلَى هْ ك لْ شَْيْ ءْ قَْدِي رْ )ْالأنعام: 71
And if Allah touches you with harm, none
can remove it but He, and if He touches you
with good (i.e., good health), then He is
Able to do all things (Q. 6:17)
According to al-Țabarī and al-Qurṭubī the term khayr in
the above verse means: good health, prosperity and
blessing. The similar verse is Q. 10:107.
الأَجْر . 5 (recompense), as in the following verse:
( وَالْ ه بدْنَْ جَْعَلْنَاهَا لَْ ه كمْْ مِْنْْ شَْعَائِرِْ اْللَِّْ لَْ ه كمْْ فِْيهَا خَْيْ رْ... )ْالحج: 63
And the Budn (cows, oxen, or camels driven to be
offered as sacrifices by the pilgrims at the sanctuary
of Makkah), We have made them for you as among
the Symbols of Allah, wherein you have much
good (i.e., recompense)… (Q. 22:36)
The Qur’ān commentators Mujāhid, al-Ḥasan as well as alȚabarī
say that the term khayr in this verse is the reward in
the Hereafter for the sacrifice, while in this world the
benefits taken from these animals.
الأَفْضل . 6 (the best), as in the following verses:
( وَقهلْْ رَْ بْ اْغْفِرْْ وَْارْحَمْْ وَْأَنْتَْ خَْيْ ه رْ اْلرَاحِمِينَْ )ْال ه مؤْمِ ه نوْن: 771ْ 118
And say (O Muhammad): “My Lord! Forgive
and have mercy, for You are the Best of those
who show mercy!” (Q. 26:771)
86
Forgiveness means erasing the sin of a person and
concealing it from people, whereas mercy means guiding
and making him succeed in his sayings and his deeds.
وَإِنْْ كَْانَْ طَْائِفَ ةْ مِْنْ ه كمْْ آْمَ ه نوا بِْالَذِي أْهرْسِلْ ه تْ بِْهِْ وَْطَْائِفَ ةْ لَْمْْ هْ يؤْمِ ه نْوا
( فَاصْبِ ه روا حَْتَى يَْحْ ه كمَْ اْللَّْه بَْيْنَنَا وَْ ه هوَْ خَْيْ ه رْ اْلْحَاكِمِينَْ )ْالأعْرَاف: 78
“And if there is a party of you who believe in that
with which I have been sent and a party who do not
believe, so be patient until Allah judges between
us, and He is the Best of judges.”(Q. 1:11)
This is about Prophet Shu‘ayb who was told by Allah to
be patient for the disbelief of a party of his people.
الطَعَام . 7 (food, meal), as in the following verse:
) فَقَالَْ رَْ بْ إِْ ني لِْمَا أَْنْزَْلْتَْ إِْلَيَْ مِْنْْ خَْيْ رْ فَْقِي رْ )ْالقصص: 22
… and said: “My Lord! Truly, I am in need of
whatever good (i.e., food) that You bestow
on me!” (Q. 28:24)
Ibn ‘Abbās said that when Prophet Moses a.s. ran
away from the Pharaoh he became very hungry. After
helping the two young women watering their sheep he took
refuge under the shade and prayed, citing the above verse.
If we are thirsty the best thing we’ll need is water, when we
hungry, food, and when we are sleepy, sleep.
الظَفَر . 8 (victory), as in the following verse:
وَرَدَْ اْللَّْه اْلَذِينَْ كَْفَ ه روا بِْغَيْظِهِمْْ لَْمْْ يَْنَالهوا خَْيْرًا وَْكَفَى اْللَّْه
( الْ ه مؤْمِنِينَْ اْلْقِتَالَْ وَْكَانَْ اْللَّْه قَْوِ يا عَْزِيزًا )ْالأحزاب:) 22
And Allah drove back those who disbelieved in
their rage, they gained no advantage (i.e. victory).
Allah sufficed for the believers in the fighting (by
sending against the disbelievers a severe wind
and troops of angels). And Allah is Ever
All-Strong, All-Mighty.(Q. 33:25)
Al-Țabarī gives the meaning of khayr in this verse as
87
wealth (booty) and captives”. Allah said that in the Battle
of Confederates in 5 AH despite their blockading Madinah
for 24 days they got nothing, neither spoil of war, nor
captive. Those who joined this battle were: Quraysh and
Ghaṭfān, Banū Murrah, Banū Asad, Ashja‘, Fazārah, Banū
Kinānah, and Banū Sulaym tribes. This was the biggest
military campaign taken by the tribes of Arabia to crush
Islam and the Muslims once and for all, but failed. From
now on the table has turned, and the Quraysh pagans were
on defensive instead of offensive position.
The remaining examples for the various meanings of
khayr in the Qur’an given by Ibn al-Jawzī are as follows:
الخَيْل . 9 (horses), as in the following verse:
فَقَالَْ إِْ ني أَْحْبَبْ ه تْ هْ حبَْ اْلْخَيْرِْ عَْنْْ ذِْكْرِْ رَْْ بي حَْتَى
تَوَارَتْْ بِْالْحِجَابِْ )ْص: )ْ 62
He said: “I did love the good (these horses)
instead of remembering my Lord (in my ‘Asr
prayer), till the time was over, and (the sun)
had hidden in the veil (of night) (Q. 38:32)
This is the meaning given by al-Qurṭubī and al-Suddī,
but in another report al-Suddī also said that it means
“wealth.” Al-Qurṭubī said that letter “l” ( ل) and letter “r”
ر) ) sometimes interchange in Arabic, such as انْهَمَلَتِْ اْلْعَيْ ه نْ
وَانْهَمَرَتْ،ْْ meaning “the eye shed tears” where the verb هَمَرَْ
and هَمَلَْ are the same, namely, “to shed tears.” The other
example is the verb خَتَرَْ and خَتَلَْ both mean “to cheat.”
Therefore, according to al-Farrā’ the word الْخْيْر and الخَيْل
among the Arabs have the same meaning, namely, the
horses. This verse is about Prophet Sulaymān (Solomon)
who was busy looking at his horses that he missed the time
of ‘aṣr prayer out of forgetfulness until sunset.
الْقهرْآن . 10 (Qur’ān), as the following verse:
مَا يَْوَ دْ اْلَذِينَْ كَْفَ ه روا مِْنْْ أَْهْلِْ اْلْكِتَابِْ وَْلَّْ اْلْ ه مشْرِكِينَْ أَْنْْ
ه ينَزَلَْ عَْلَيْ ه كمْْ مِْنْْ خَْيْ رْ مِْنْْ رَْ ب ه كمْْ وَْاللَّْه يَْخْتَ صْ بِْرَحْمَتِهِْ مَْنْْ يَْشَا ه ءْ
88
( وَاللَّْه هْ ذو اْلْفَضْلِْ اْلْعَظِيمِْ )ْالبقرة: 702
Neither those who disbelieve among the people of
the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and idolaters
like that there should be sent down to you any
good (i.e. the Qur’an) from your Lord. But Allah
chooses for His Mercy whom He wills. And Allah
is the Owner of Great Bounty (Q. 2:105)
Muhammad Asad said that the term khayr in the
above verse is “revelation” which he called “the highest
good.” He said further: “The allusion here is to the
unwillingness of the Jews and the Christians to admit that
revelation could have been bestowed on any community
but their own.” ‘Alī ibn Abī Țālib’s commentary on “Allah
chooses for His Mercy whom He wills” as “Allah chooses
His prophethood to Muhammad s.a.w. The Mercy in this
verse according to some is the Qur’ān, and according to
others, it is in general all kinds of mercy given by Allah to
His servants in ancient as well as modern times”
أَنْفَ ه عْ . 11 (more beneficial), as in the following verse:
مَا نَْنْسَخْْ مِْنْْ آْيَ ةْ أَْوْْ هْ ننْسِهَا نَْأْتِْ بِْخَيْ رْ مِْنْهَا أَْْوْْ مِْثْلِهَا أَْلَمْْ
( تَعْلَمْْ أَْنَْ اْللََّْ عَْلَى هْ ك لْ شَْيْ ءْ قَْدِي رْ )ْالبقرة: 703
Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We abrogate or
cause to be forgotten, We bring a better (more
beneficial) one or similar to it. Know you not that
Allah is Able to do all things? (Q. 2:106)
The term ayah abrogated in this verse is either the
verse or the revelation or even both. The abrogation of the
verse means the legal judgment in it is abrogated and
replaced with another verse containing a new legal
judgment. For example, the Qur’ān 73:31 mentions that
strong drink and good nourishment are made from datepalm
and grapes, which means that strong drink is ḥalāl
(permitted). The Qur’ān 2:279 says that there is benefit in
drinking alcohol, but the sin in it is greater. This means that
89
drinking alcohol is not recommended, but still permitted.
The Qur’ān 2:26 says that it is prohibited to pray while one
is drunk. This means alcohol is bad, but is tolerated. The
Qur’ān prohibited alcohol as the handwork of Satan. This
last verse “abrogates” the legal judgment of alcohol in
previous verses. Modern scholars who deny the existence
of abrogation which they call “the doctrine of abrogation”
in the verses of the Qur’ān call this procedure تَخْصِيْ ه صْ اْلْعَام
(specification of general term), orْ تَْقَيِي ه دْ اْل ه مطْلَق (restricting the
unrestricted), and إظْهَا ه ر هْ حكْ مْ بِْْطَرِيْقَةِ اْلتَدَ رج (presenting a legal
judgment in stages). Alcohol is always and remains ḥarām
(prohibited, unlawful), but the early Muslims who had
been heavy drinkers were told to stop drinking only when
they became strong enough in their faith to avoid it. The
verses dealing with alcohol are still there in the Qur’ān to
remind us of Allah’s blessing in prohibiting alcohol in
stages, as He had promised us not to burden us beyond our
ability (Q. 2;213). Therefore, “abrogation” does not imply
either the cancellation of the specific ordinance or the total
elimination of the verses from the context of the Qur’ān.
The abrogation of revelation means the replacement
of earlier revelations with the newer and better one. It is
the abrogation of the Torah (Tawrāt) and the Gospel (Injīl)
replaced with the Qur’ān. Muhammad Asad who translates
ayah as “message” says that “… if we read this verse in
conjunction with the preceding one, which states that the
Jews and the Christians refuse to accept any revelation
which might supersede that of the Bible: for, if read in this
way, the abrogation is the one related to the earlier divine
messages and not to any part of the Qur’ān itself.”
رَخْ ه صْ اْلأَسْعَار . 12 (cheapness of price), as in the following verse:
وَإِلَى مَْدْيَنَْ أَْخَا ه همْْ هْ شعَيْبًا قَْالَْ يَْا قَْوْمِْ اْعْ ه ب ه دوا اْللََّْ مَْا لَْ ه كمْْ مِْنْْ
إِلَ هْ غَْيْْ ه رهْه وَْلَّْ تَْنْقه ه صوا اْلْمِكْيَالَْ وَْالْمِيزَانَْ إِْ ني أَْرَا ه كمْْ بِْخَيْ رْ
( وَإِ ني أَْخَا ه فْ عَْلَيْ ه كمْْ عَْذَابَْ يَْوْ مْ هْ محِي طْ )ْهود: 12
90
And to Madyan (Midian) people (We sent) their
brother Shu‘ayb. He said: “O my people! Worship
Allah, you have no other god but Him, and give
no short measure or weight. I see you in prosperity
(i.e. the low price of goods) and
verily, I fear for you the torment of
a Day encompassing (Q. 11:84)
The interpretation of khayr as “the low price of goods”
is that of Ibn ‘Abbās and al-Ḥasan. Ibn ‘Abbās said further
that “the torment of a Day encompassing” means “the day
when the price of goods increase.” Qatādah and Ibn Zayd
both say that the term means prosperity in this world. AlȚabarī
also holds the same view and said that the term
means prosperity in this world including the low price of
goods. Ibn Kathīr’s interpretation of the verse “I see you in
prosperity” is that it means “in your livelihood and your
provisions. And verily, I fear that you will be deprived of
this bounty that you are enjoying by violating Allah’s
prohibitions.” (to be continued)
(CIVIC, 23 October, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اْلشاملة
7012 (. قَْا ه موْ ه سْ اْلْ ه قرْآن )ْالْ ه و ه جوْهْه وَْالنَظَائِر(. بْيروت،ْ \ الحسين اْلدَامغَانِي )ْت. 211ْ
.7916
207ْ (. هْ نزْهَة اْْلأَعْ ه ينِْ اْلنَوَاظِرِْ فِْيْْ عِْلْمِْ اْلْ ه و ه جوْهِْ وَْْ اْلنَظَائِر.ْ \ ابن اْلجوزي )ْت. 291ْ
.7912\ بيروت: مْؤسسة اْلرسالة، 7202ْ
7762 (. هْ مفْرَدَات أَْلْفَاظِْ اْلْ ه قرْآن. دْمشق: دَْار اْلْقَلَم،ْ \ الراغب اْلأصفهاني )ْْت. 222ْ
.7992\7272
7911\ .محمد بْن اْلقاسم اْلأنباري. كْتاب اْلأضاد. بْيروت: اْلمكتبة اْلعصرية، 7201ْ
تفسير اْلطبري )ْت. 670ْ هْ)
تفسير اْلقرطبى )ْت. 317ْ هْ)
تفسير اْبن كْثير )ْت. 112ْ هْ)
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar
al-Andalus, 1964.
http://literarydevices.net/paronomasia/
91
16. THE MEANINGS OF KHAYR (GOOD) IN THE QUR’ĀN (3)
الصَّلاح . 13 (good or proper condition, righteousness), as in the
following verse:
وَالَّذِينََ يََبْتَغُونََ اَلْكِتَابََ مَِمَّا مََلَكَتَْ أََيْمَانُكُمَْ فََكَاتِبُوهُمَْ
( إِنَْ عََلِمْتُمَْ فَِيهِمَْ خََيْرًا... )َالنور: 33
And such of your servants as seek a writing
(of emancipation) give them such writing,
if you find that there is good and honesty
(i.e., righteousness) in them…(Q. 24:33)
It is Allah’s command to slave-owners to write a
contract of emancipation for their slaves if they ask them,
provided that there is khayr with them. Some say it is
righteousness, others say honesty, wealth, and a skill and
ability to earn.
The verse continues with …وَآتُوهُمَْ مَِنَْ مََالَِ اَللََِّّ اَلَّذِي آَتَاكُمَْ
and give them something out of the wealth of Allah which
He has bestowed upon you… means that these slaves have
right and share in the wealth of the zakat. It is Allah’s
command to the believers to help in freeing them, until
there will be no more slave among Muslims.
الْقُوَّةَُ وَََ اَلْقُدْرَة . 14 (power and ability), as in the following verse:
أَهُمَْ خََيْ رَ أََمَْ قََوْمَُ تَُبَّ عَ وََالَّذِينََ مَِنَْ قََبْلِهِمَْ أََهْلَكْنَاهُمَْ
) إِنَّهُمَْ كََانُوا مَُجْرِمِينََ )َالدُّخَان: 33
Are they better (i.e., more powerful) or the people of
Tubba‘ and those before them? We destroyed them
because they were indeed criminals (Q. 44:37)
Tubba‘ was the title of the ancient powerful Ḥimyar
kings who ruled for centuries over Southern Arabia.
Despite their power they were eventually overcome by
the Abyssinians in the 4th century. These people denied
the truth of resurrection and Allah’s judgment (Q. 50:14)
الدُّنْيَا . 15 (the world), as in the following verse:
( وَإِنَّهَُ لَِحُ بَ اَلْخَيْرَِ لََشَدِي دَ )َالْعَادِيَات: 8
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And verily, he is violent in the love
wealth (i.e. the world) (Q. 100:8)
Ibn Zayd says that the term khayr in this verse means
“the world”, i.e., people extremely love this material world.
Other commentators say that the word khayr in this verse
means “wealth”. The word shadīd basically means “strong,
powerful, violent.”But if it is related to the wealth, it
could mean mutashaddid (strict, rigid) and bakhīl (greedy,
covetous, miser, stingy). Therefore, the above verse
means: (a) He is severe in his love of wealth, and (b) He is
covetous and stingy due to the love of wealth. Both are
correct complementing each other.
الإصْلاح . 16 (correction, betterment, restoration), as in the
following verse:
وَلْتَكُنَْ مَِنْكُمَْ أَُمَّ ةَ يََدْعُونََ إَِلَى اَلْخَيْرَِ وََيَأْمُرُونََ بَِالْمَعْرُوفَِ
( وَيََنْهَوْنََ عََنَِ اَلْمُنْكَرَِ وََأُولَئِكََ هَُمَُ اَلْمُفْلِحُونََ )َآل عَمران: 104
Let there arise out of you a group of people
inviting to all that is good (i.e. Islam), enjoining
ma‘ruf and forbidding munkar. And It is they
who are the successful (Q. 3:104)
Probably it is not appropriate to use iṣlāḥ as the
meaning of the khayr in the above verse, but rather Islam
as put by al-Țabarī. There are two views whether the whole
Muslims are enjoined to call people to Islam, or some of
them only. According to the classical Arabic philologist
Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Anbārī (d. 328/940), it is the
whole Muslims, as sometimes مِنَْ (of, from, among) mean
كُلَُّ (all), so that the expression مِنْكُمَْ (of you) means كُلُّكُمَْ (all of
you). He says that the position of مِنَْ is لِلتَّجنِيْس (to indicate
paronomasia), namely, “of you Muslims” and not from
non-Muslims. The example in the Qur’ān is, فََاجْتَنِبُوا اَل رجْسََ مَِنََ
) الَْْوْثَانَِ... )َالحج: 30 … so shun the abomination (worshiping)َ
of idol…َ (Q. 22:30) which means فَاجْتَنِبُوا اَلَْوْثَانََ اَلَّتِي هَِيََ رَِجْس
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“so avoid (worshiping) idol which is a dirty thing”, as any
idol is dirty, all of them.
The other view is that of Al-Qurṭubī who says that the
injunction to call people to Islam is exclusively for scholars,
as not all Muslims are scholars, because it is فَرْضَُ كَِفَايَة (a
collective duty), not فَرْضَُ عََيْن (an individual duty). These
scholars are chosen people. Among the chosen people are
as mentioned in the following verse:
الَّذِينََ إَِنَْ مََكَّنَّاهُمَْ فَِي اَلََْْرْضَِ أََقَامُوا اَلصَّلَاةََ وََآتَوُا اَلزَّكَاةََ
( وَأَمَرُوا بَِالْمَعْرُوفَِ وََنَهَوْا عََنَِ اَلْمُنْكَرَِ... )َالحج: 41
Those (Muslim rulers) who, if We give them power
in the land (they) perform the prayers, pay the zakat, and
they enjoin ma’ruf and forbid munkar…(Q. 22:41)
In my view, both views are acceptable, as Islam is a
missionary religion, and every Muslim has to be involved in
it. In the lowest level, even without talking, we still can use
our body language, indicating that we are humble not
arrogant, generous and not stingy, honest and not tricky,
etc. We are not perfect, but we have some Islamic
characters which we should let non-Muslims know in our
dealing with them. We can say “I am not a good Muslim,
but Islam prohibits such-and-such thing.” In the highest
level, it is the job of Muslim scholars, such as the late
Ahmad Deedat (d. 2005) of South Africa who had debated
five Christian scholars, and challenged Pope John Paul II for
a public debate in the Vatican Square in 1984, Dr. Zakir
Naik of India, Dr. Gary Miller of Canada, Yusuf Estes of the
USA, and Abdur-Raheem Green of UK, to mention a few.
الْوَلَدَُ اَلصَّالِح . 17 (suitable child), as in the following verse:
... فَإِنَْ كََرِهْتُمُوهُنََّ فََعَسَى أََنَْ تََكْرَهُوا شََيْئًا
( وَيَجْعَلََ اَللََُّّ فَِيهَِ خََيْرًا كََثِيرًا )َالنساء: 19
… If you dislike them, it may be that you dislike
a thing though which Allah brings a great
deal of good (i.e., pious children) (Q. 4:19)
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This verse is about Allah’s order the Muslims not to
treat widows with harshness to take away part the dowry
given to them. If they do not like them, Allah may bring
good things to them. So far, no other commentators say
that khayr in this verse means “suitable child”, except Ibn
al-Jawzī.
الْعِفَّة . 18 (abstinence, uprightness, righteousness, chastity) and
وال صيَانَة (preservation, protection, guarding), as in the
following verse:
لَوْلََ إَِذَْ سََمِعْتُمُوهَُ ظََنََّ اَلْمُؤْمِنُونََ وََالْمُؤْمِنَاتَُ بَِأَنْفُسِهِمَْ
( خَيْرًا وََقَالُوا هََذَا إَِفْ كَ مَُبِي نَ )َالنور: 12
Why then did not the believers, men and women,
when you heard it (the slander), think good (chastity)
of their own people and say: “This (charge) is
an obvious lie?” (Q. 24:12)
This verse is about the accusation of the Prophet’s
wife ‘Ā’ishah of indecency by hypocrites, and when the
believers heard about it they knew that she was innocent
and the accusation was an obvious lie, as confirmed by the
Qur’ān.
حُسْنَُ اَلَْدَب . 19 (good behavior), as in the following verse:
وَلَوَْ أََنَّهُمَْ صََبَرُوا حَََتَّى تََخْرُجََ إَِلَيْهِمَْ لََكَانََ خََيْرًا
( لَهُمَْ وََاللََُّّ غََفُو رَ رََحِي مَ )َالحجرات: 5
And if they had had patience till you could come out to
them, it would have been better (i.e., good behavior) for
them. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.(Q. 49:5)
The verse is about a delegation of the Arabs among
them was al-Aqra‘ ibn Ḥābis al-Tamīmī who called the
Prophet from behind his dwellings, whereas the good
behaviour would be waiting for him till he came out.
النَّوَافِل . 20 (supererogatory performance), as in the following
verse:
( وَجَعَلْنَاهُمَْ أََئِمَّةًَ يََهْدُونََ بَِأَمْرِنَا وََأَوْحَيْنَا إَِلَيْهِمَْ فَِعْلََ اَلْخَيْرَاتَِ… )الْنبياء: 33
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And We made them leaders, guiding (mankind)
by Our Command, and We revealed to them the
doing of good deeds, performing the prayers
(i.e., supererogatory performance)…(Q. 21:73)
This verse is about Prophet Abraham and his
descendants Isaac and Jacob who were made prophets and
leaders, and inspired to do good deeds. Al-Qurṭubī simply
said “good deeds” here means “obedience” to Allah.
النَّافِع . 21 (beneficial, profitable, useful thing), as in the following
verse:
...وَلَوَْ كَُنْتَُ أََعْلَمَُ اَلْغَيْبََ لََسْتَكْثَرْتَُ مَِنََ اَلْخَيْرَِ وََمَا مََسَّنِيََ اَلسُّوءَُ
( إِنَْ أََنَا إَِلََّ نََذِي رَ وََبَشِي رَ لَِقَوْ مَ يَُؤْمِنُونََ )َالْعراف: 188
“…If I had the knowledge of the Unseen, I should
have secured for myself an abundance of wealth,
and no evil should have touched me. I am but
a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to
a people who believe.”(Q. 3:188)
Both term الْغَيْب (the Unseen) and الْخَيْر (the good
deed) are in general sense, mean: (a) If I knew what Allah
wanted me to do before hand, I would have done it. (b) If I
knew when I would win the war I would have fought, so
that I would not be defeated. (c) If I knew the year of
drought, I would have stored what would be sufficient for
me in the time of the drought (Ibn ‘Abbās’s interpretation).
(d) If I knew the merchandise that would sell well, I would
have bought it in the time of its slump. (e) If I knew when I
would die, I would have increased doing good deeds (al-
Ḥasan and Ibn Jurayj’s interpretation). (f) If I knew the
unseen I would have done what I was required to do. All
these interpretations in al-Qurṭubī’s view make sense.
“and no evil should have touched me” means (a) The
Prophet said that he was not insane as they had claimed
him to be, (b) The Prophet said further that if he had
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known the unseen he would have taken precaution against
evil, but he was just a warner (al-Qurṭubī’s commentary)
الْخَيْرَُ اَلَّذِي هَُو ضَِدَُّ اَلشَّ رَ . 22 (good thing which is the opposite of bad
thing), as in the following verse:
قُلَِ اَللَّهُمََّ مََالِكََ اَلْمُلْكَِ تَُؤْتِي اَلْمُلْكََ مََنَْ تََشَاءَُ وََتَنْزِعَُ اَلْمُلْكََ مِمَّنَْ تََشَاءَُ وََتُعِزُّمَنَْ ( تَشَاءَُ وََتُذِلَُّ مََنَْ تََشَاءَُ بَِيَدِكََ اَلْخَيْرُإِنَّكََ عََلَى كَُ لَ شََيْ ءَ قََدِي رَ )َآل عَمران: 22
Say (O Muhammad): “O Allah! Possessor of the
kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You will,
and You take the kingdom from whom You will, and
You endue with honour whom You will, and You
humiliate whom You will. In Your Hand is he good.
Verily, You are Able to do all things.”(Q. 3:22)
Ibn ‘Abbās and Anas ibn Mālik said that when the
Prophet s.a.w. conquered Makkah he promised his people
the kingdom of Persia and Rome. The hypocrites and the
Jews of Madinah said, “Impossible! How could he do that,
as they are more powerful and more unconquerable? Are
not Makkah and Madinah sufficient for him that he
becomes ambitious to conquer the kingdoms of Persia and
Rome?” Then Allah revealed the above verse. It was also
said that the verse was revealed to refute the claim of the
Christians on Najrān the divinity of ‘Īsā (Jesus) a.s. in spite
of his ability to do miraculous things, such as to revive the
dead (al-Qurṭubī’s commentary)
(CIVIC, 30 October, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اَلشاملة
1201 (. نَُزْهَة اََلَْعْيُنَِ اَلنَّوَاظِرَِ فَِيَْ عَِلْمَِ اَلْوُجُوْهَِ وَََ اَلنَّظَائِر.َ \ ابن اَلجوزي )َت. 593َ
.1985\ بيروت: مَؤسسة اَلرسالة, 1405َ
تفسير اَلطبري )َت. 310َ هَ)
تفسير اَلقرطبى )َت. 231َ هَ)
تفسير اَبن كَثير )َت. 334َ هَ)
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar
al-Andalus, 1964.
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17. DID THE PROPHET EVER CONTRADICT THE QUR’ĀN?
Did the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. ever say something
contradictory to what is in the Qur’ān? One of the duties of the
Prophet mentioned in the Qur’ān was to explain it to people.
Allah says,
) وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ )النحل: 44
And We have also sent down to you (O Muhammad)
the Dhikr [reminder (i.e., the Qur’ān)], that you may
explain clearly to men what is sent down to them,
and that they may give thought (Q. 16:44)
The Prophet was ordered by Allah to explain the rulings,
the promise and the threat mentioned in the Qur’ān orally and
practically. He would explain and specify what Allah mentions
in general sense in the Qur’ān, such as the rulings dealing with
prayer, zakat and others (al-Qurṭubī’s commentary). Allah
ordered the Prophet to explain what He meant in the Qur’ān,
because the Prophet knew what He meant, because he
adhered to it, and because he was the best of creation and the
leader of the Children of Adam (Ibn Kathir’s commentary). His
sayings and statements, actions and tacit approvals which we
call Ḥadīth (Prophet’s tradition) reach us through chains of
narrators, some are reliable, and others are not. Through
studying the biography of each of these narrators scholars
evaluate the ḥadīth whether it is accepted as sound, or
doubted, or even rejected, because of the narrators’ weak
memory, dishonesty, etc.
Before answering this question, we also learn that beside
the Prophet, the Qur’ān also explains itself, so that verses of
the Qur’ān dealing with one topic have to be studied to know
which verse explain what. Therefore, there is no contradiction
in the verses of the Qur’ān, and those who claim its existence
have not learned extensively the Qur’ān and its tools known as
عُلُوْمُ الْقُرْ آن (Sciences of the Qur’ān). Allah does not contradict
Himself in the Qur’ān.
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Back to the topic, one of the ḥadīths which seems to
contradict the Qur’ān is as follows:
مَا « عَنْ أَبِى هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَّ النَّبِىَّ -صلى الله عليه وسلم- قَالَ
مِنْ أَحَ د يُدْخِلُهُ عَمَلُهُ الْجَنَّةَ . فَقِيلَ وَل أَنْتَ يَا رَسُولَ اللهَِّ قَالَ
وَل أَنَا إِل أَنْ يَتَغَمَّدَنِى رَبِّى بِرَحْمَ ة )رواه مسلم(.
Abū Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet s.a.w.
said: “Nobody will enter Heaven by his deeds.” He
was asked: “Even you, O Messenger of Allah?” He
said: “Not even me, except that my Lord protects
me with His grace.”(Reported by Muslim)
This means, based on this ḥadīth, despite our good deeds,
our effort to enter Heaven would be without avail, except with
Allah’s grace. This ḥadīth is apparently contradictory to the
following Qur’ānic verse:
الَّذِينَ تَتَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلََئِكَةُ طَيِّبِينَ يَقُولُونَ سَلََ م عَلَيْكُمُ
) ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ )النحل: 23
Those whose lives the angels take while
they are in a pious state (i.e, pure from all evil,
and worshipping none but Allah Alone) saying
(to them): Peace be on you enter you Paradise
because of that (the good) which you used to
do (in this world).” (Q. 16:32)
According to this verse the angel will tell pious people to
enter Paradise for their good deeds in this world, either as a
good tiding, or it will be said to them in the Hereafter (al-
Qurṭubī’s commentary). Allah will recompense pious people
who have been made good by Allah with “cleanness in their
faith and purity in their practicing Islam in their lives and in
their death.” (al-Ṭabarī’s commentary).
The above ḥadīth does not object totally the validity of
good deeds for the condition of entering Paradise, but rather it
gives conditions and restrictions for their validity. In other
words, people with good deeds in this world will not
automatically enter Paradise as if they have the key of it. There
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are conditions for the acceptance of good deeds. Any good
deed has to be done with ikhlāṣ, sincerity, for the sake of Allah
Alone, not for the worldly gain, not for riyā’ (show off). It has to
be done with tawāḍu‘ (humbleness, humility), that it is done
for Allah’s pleasure with worry and uncertainty that He might
not fully accept it, because of its shortcomings. People who
fulfill these conditions would definitely enter Paradise with
their good deeds as mentioned in the above verse and as
promised by Allah in the Qur’ān, namely, the reward of
accepted good deeds will be Paradise.
With regard to people who do good deeds without
fulfilling these conditions, their good deeds will not be
accepted, and therefore they will not enter Paradise, unless
Allah forgives them, and this is what is meant by the above
ḥadīth. Without Allah’s mercy and forgiveness, people who do
good deeds with arrogance, thinking that Allah would
automatically admit them to Paradise disregarding the quality
of these deeds will be disappointed in the Hereafter that these
deeds would not be acceptable.
Like the Qur’ān which has sciences ) عُلُوْمُ الْقُرْآن ( to study in
order to understand it, the ḥadīth of the Prophet also has
sciences ) عُلُوْمُ الْحَدِيْث ( to understand it. For the asbāb al-nuzūl
(occasions which led to the revelation of the verse of the
Qur’ān), we also have asbāb al-wurūd (occasions which led to
the statement/saying/ḥadīth of the Prophet) which shall be
dealt with in due course. The Ḥadīth or Sunnah1 of the Prophet
cannot be fully understood literally by people who have no
background in Islamic knowledge. The Prophet had talked to
different kind of people in different occasions and times about
different subjects within 24 years, and it is the duty of Muslim
1 Sunnah (pl. sunan) is properly a custom or practice, and later narrowed
down to the practice of the Prophet or a ḥadīth. Sunnah includes the
Prophet’s sayings, deeds and tacit approvals. In this respect it is often
synonymous with Ḥadīth in general sense. Sunnah dealing with legal
judgment means meritorious.
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scholars to explain what the Prophet meant in his statement, or
he would be misunderstood by Muslim laymen, let alone non-
Muslims who keep trying to find any shortcoming in the
Qur’ān.
One of the things that hinder the progress of Islam is the
presentation of Islam by people who have no sufficient
background of Islam, so that they explain the ḥadīth out of
context, and give their personal judgment based on it. For
example, they say that Islam is the a continuous arm struggle
between Muslims and non-Muslims, as the Prophet said: إِنَّ
أَبْوَابَ الْجَنَّةِ تَحْتَ ظِلََلِ السُّيُوفِ )رواه مسلم( Verily, the doors of Paradise
are under the shadows of the swords (Reported by Muslim),
whereas, in fact, the Prophet said it when the Muslim army are
facing their enemy in the battlefield.2 Others may think that
having wealth is the opposite of piety, or zuhd, whereas
poverty is the right way to the Hereafter. Some others
misunderstand the term taqdīr, so that they would never try to
improve their condition morally, physically, socially,
economically, etc. because they associate taqdīr with fatalism.
The late Shaykh Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (d. 6991)3 in
answering question no. 40 out of 100 questions in his book مائة
سؤال عن السلَم (One Hundred Questions about Islam, pp. 177-
2 A similar ḥadīth indicating that the Prophet said it when he was facing
the enemy is this. He said لَ تَمَنَّوْا لِقَاءَ الْعَدُوِّ وَسَلُوا اللهَّ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ الْعَافِيَةَ فَإِذَا لَقِيتُمُوهُمْ
فَاصْبِرُوا وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ الْجَنَّةَ تَحْتَ ظِلََلِ السُّيُوفِ )رواه البخاري و مسلم و أحمد و أبو داؤد و
غيرهم( “… do not wish to meet the enemy, and ask Allah the Almighty
well-being, so when you meet them be patient, and be informed that
Paradise is under the shadows of swords …” (Re[ported by al-Bukhārī,
Muslim, Abū Dū’ūd, Aḥmad and others)
3 Shaykh Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1335-1416/1917-1996) was an Egyptian
Muslim scholar and thinker, and one of prominent and influential
Muslim scholars of the 20th century who called for Islamic concepts in
modern time and opposed religious extremism and exaggeration. He
wrote over fifty books, and his criticism over the ruling systems in the
Muslim world was one of many problems he was facing during his stay in
Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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178) gives us more explanation about this issue. He said that
misunderstanding the Sunnah of the Prophet will cause
confusion among Muslims. These people, who do not know
about the wisdom of the Qur’ān, do not have any sense of the
Arabic literature, have no knowledge of human spirit and the
condition of the community, never learned extensively about
the biography of the Prophet and various situations he had
gone through, either favourable or miserable. They are unable
to make distinction between daily routine and religious acts.
For these people, what they consider the Sunnah are eating
with sitting cross-legged on the floor and not at the table,
brushing teeth with siwāk (a small stick used for cleaning and
polishing the teeth) rather than with toothbrush, washing after
urinating or defecating with stone rather than with toilet paper
(and of course cleaner with water); they stick the end of their
turbans outward till the napes of their necks, they give priority
to wearing white and loose garments, and for women to
covering their whole body, including their faces.
Shaykh al-Ghazīlī said further that these people consider
that all customs and traditions of the Bedouin Arabs are in
general the Sunnah of the Prophet. As the customs of the Arabs
put women in the second position within the community in the
name of Islam, they are not allowed to frequent the mosque,
are not allowed to seek knowledge at schools, to participate in
propagating and defending Islam in military field, etc. The case
is contrary to people who fully understand the Ḥadīth of the
Prophet. They know that these customs and traditions are
wrong and contradictory to the Qur’ān and the Sunnah of the
Prophet. However, some of those who consider themselves
experts of Islam defend their “self-claimed truth” fanatically,
and claimed that those who are not with them to be strongly
influenced by modern culture.
According to Shaykh al-Ghazālī, although the Sunah of the
Prophet is the second source of Islam after the Qur’ān, in order
to avoid confusion, there are some people only who are
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required to learn it extensively. They are the ‘ulamā’ (Muslim
scholars) who have learned religious knowledge extensively,
those who are involved directly with it, such as Muslim leaders,
judges, dā‘iyah (Islamic propagators), and experts in the special
fields where mastering the knowledge of Ḥadīth is highly
required. As for laymen, if they can understand just forty
ḥadīths it would be sufficient for them. In any case, people who
do not understand the Qur’ān should not cite ḥadīths or give
fatwa (formal legal opinion) on Islam concerning the affairs of
other people.
Shaykh al-Ghazālī had ever witnessed a group of errand
lads who made themselves busy in teaching the Sunnah. Then
they moved to Yemen hoping that the revival of Islam would
start from there. It is the revival which is extremely far away
from reality in life and from the possibility of conquering the
world. They might hope that some pious jinn would help them
and provide them with bombs in war time and with food,
clothes and medicines in peace time. He said that this is a kind
of madness which has many varieties and manifests itself in
many ways ) .)الْجُنُوْنُ فُنُوْن
(CIVIC, 6 November, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري )ت. 263 ه)
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 176 ه)
تفسير ابن كثير )ت. 774 ه)
محممد الغزالي. مائة سؤال عن السلَم. القاهرة: نهضة مصر, الطبعة الرابعة,
3332 م
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ محمد الغزالي
103
18. OUT OF CONTEXT
There is no doubt that Islam is the fastest growing
religion, not only because of mass conversion to it, but also
because of rapid increase of already high birth rate of its
followers. Even without conversion Islam would become one
day the greatest religion in the world, while it is now still in the
second position after Christianity. We have witnessed that
many churches in the West (Europe, America and Canada) have
been turned into mosques because of lack of church
attendants. It is not an exaggeration that some Christians are
only so by name, as they attend the church three times only in
their lifetimes: (a) when they were born and brought to the
church to be baptized; (b) when they got married and came by
himself voluntarily to the church, and (c) when they die they
are carried to the church.
According to Pew Research Center concerning the Future
of world religions on the Population Growth Projections from
2010 to 2050, the Christian world population will increase from
2.17 billion to 2.92 billion, but the percentage will remain,
31.4% of world population, whereas Islam in the same period
will increase from 1.6 billion to 2.76 billion, the percentage
will increase from 23.2 % to 29.7 %, so that in 2050 the number
of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around
the world. Their number will be equal in 2070, approximately
32.3%, but in 2100 Islam (34.9%) will be ahead of Christianity
(33.8%). In 2050 Muslims will make up 10% over the population
of Europe, whereas in India although the Hindu religion will
remain the majority, it will have the largest Muslim population
of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
There is also no doubt that Islam is the most
misunderstood religion, even by Muslims themselves, let alone
non-Muslims. Some of the Muslims may think that the
injunction of applying penalty against committed crimes should
be applied individually rather than collectively, in this case, the
104
ruler or the government. In other words, they may think that it
is an individual duty rather than a collective one, so that they
may take the law into their own hands. When the ruler acts
slowly out of carefulness they may revolt against it and brand it
an irreligious one. Although the Qur’an was revealed in بِلِسَا نٍ
) عَرَبِ يٍ مٍُبِي نٍ )ٍالشعراء: 591 “In the plain Arabic language” (Q.
26:195), it does not necessarily mean that everybody whose
mother-tongue is Arabic can understand it clearly, because it
was revealed fourteen centuries ago. Even English speaking
people would have difficulty in understanding the language of
the English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare (d. 1616)
of the 16th and 17th century, let alone the language of the
English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) of the 14th century.
One of many verses cited by non-Muslims to discredit
Islam as an aggressive religion which promotes intolerance is as
follows:
قَاتِلُوا اٍلَّذِينٍَ لٍٍَ يٍُؤْمِنُونٍَ بٍِاللٍَِّّ وٍَلٍَ بٍِالْيَوْمٍِ اٍلْْخِرٍِ وٍَلٍَ يٍُحَرِّمُونٍَ مَا حٍَرَّمٍَ اٍللٍَُّّ وٍَرَسُولُهٍُ وٍَلٍَ يٍٍَدِينُونٍَ دٍِينٍَ اٍلْحَقٍِّ مٍِنٍَ اٍلَّذِينٍَ أٍُوتُوا اٍلْكِتَابٍَ )ٍ حَتَّى يٍُعْطُوا اٍلْجِزْيَةٍَ عٍَنٍْ يٍَ دٍ وٍَهُمٍْ صٍَاغِرُونٍَ )ٍالتوبة: 99
Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in
the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden
by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad s.a.w.) and
those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e.,
Islam among the people of the Scripture (Jews and
Christians) until they pay the jizyah with willing
submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Q. 9:29)
This verse was revealed in the year 9th of Hijrah when the
Prophet had become the sole de facto ruler of the Arabian
Peninsula. One year earlier he and his army had conquered
Makkah without any resistance, and later that year subjugated
the enemy at the battle of Ḥunayn, which was the last
campaign. The conflict with the Quraysh idolaters had been
settled as they entered into Islam. The Prophet as the head of
the city-state Madinah had made a treaty with the Jewish
105
people. Two years earlier the Jews of Khaybar were banished
for their betraying the treaty.
When the above verse was revealed there was no longer
any threat or resistance or any danger from non-Muslims inside
the country. It was revealed in the year called in Islamic history
عَامُ اٍلْوُفُود , “the Year of Deputation,” where over seventy
delegations came to Madinah to meet the Prophet for various
reasons. The delegates kept coming even after the 10th of
Hijrah. The delegates from Hawāzin and Tamīm tribes came to
ask the Prophet to release the captives among their people.
Others came to ask the Prophet’s guarantee of protection, that
he would not attack them. Others came to express their
intention to become Muslims. Some came to express their
intention to pay jizyah (“protection” tax for non-Muslims
instead of zakat for Muslims). Some came to conduct a
dialogue with the Prophet, such as the delegation from
Christian Najrān consisting of sixty horsemen. Twenty-four
among them were their chiefs, and three of them were their
leaders. They were ‘Abdul Masīḥ (titled “al-‘Āqib”, “the
Subsequent”) who gave advice and made decision, al-Ayham,
also known as Sharahbīl (titled “al-Sayyid”, “the Master”) their
leader in the journey and social gathering, and Abū Ḥārithah
ibn ‘Alqamah (titled “al-Usquf”, “the Bishop”) their priest and
religious leader. This Najrān tribe was big enough, consisting of
73 villages, having 100.000 men as its army.
As the delegates did not want to embrace Islam even
after the Prophet cited the Qur’an to them, they asked him
about Jesus (‘Isā a.s.). The Prophet later received revelation
answering the question, as follows:
إِنٍَّ مٍَثَلٍَ عٍِيسَى عٍِنْدٍَ اٍللٍَِّّ كٍَمَثَلٍِ آٍدٍَمٍَ خٍَلَقَهٍُ مٍِنٍْ تٍُرَا بٍ ثٍُمٍَّ قٍَالٍَ لٍَهٍُ كٍُنٍْ فٍَيَكُونٍُ.ٍٍ
الْحَ قٍ مٍِنٍْ رٍَبِّكٍَ فٍَلٍَ تٍَكُنٍْ مٍِنٍَ اٍلْمُمْتَرِينٍَ. فٍَمَنٍْ حٍَاجَّكٍَ فٍِيهٍِ مٍِنٍْ بٍَعْدٍِ مٍَا جٍَاءَكٍٍَ
مٍِنٍَ اٍلْعِلْمٍِ فٍَقُلٍْ تٍَعَالَوْا نٍَدْعٍُ أٍَبْنَاءَنَا وٍَأَبْنَاءَكُمٍْ وَنِسَاءَنَا وٍَنِسَاءَكُمٍْ وٍَأَنْفُسَنَاٍٍ
)ٍ وَأَنْفُسَكُمٍْ ثٍُمٍَّ نٍَبْتَهِلٍْ فٍَنَجْعَلٍْ لَعْنَتٍَ اٍللٍَِّّ عٍَلَى اٍلْكَاذِبِينٍَ )ٍ آٍل عٍمران: 15
Then whoever disputes with you concerning him [Jesus,
106
‘Īsā a.s.] after (all) this knowledge that has come to you
[i.e., ‘Īsā being a slave of Allah and having no share in
divinity], say (O Muhammad): “Come, let us call our sons
and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves
and ourselves – then we pray and invoke (sincerely)
the Curse of Allah upon those who lie.” (Q. 3:61)
The next day the Prophet came with his daughter
Fāṭimah, his grandsons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn to meet them, gave
his answer according to the revelation, and challenged them
with mubāhalah, (i.e., the act of invoking Allah for curses
against whoever is not telling the truth among the two
contenders, the Prophet and his daughter and grandsons on
one side, and the delegations of Najrān on the other). Fearing
for their lives and thinking the he might be a true prophet, they
decided to cancel the mubāhalah. Instead, they remained
Christians, conducted a peace treaty with him, and asked him
to send them a trusted man as a judge and to collect jizyah,
then returned home. It is said that both leader ‘Aqīb and al-
Sayyid embraced Islam upon their return to Najrān. Islam
spread among the people of Najrān the Prophet sent ‘Ali ibn
Abī Ṭalib to collect zakat from the Muslims among them.
Therefore, it is very wrong to say that the Muslims are
enjoined to fight any non-Muslim based on the above verse.
The above verse was revealed to indicate the second phase of
Islam, to defend it from the outside threat. At that time the
Romans killed people who converted to Islam in Syria. One
example was Farwah ibn ‘Amr al-Judhāmī, the Roman Governor
at Ma‘ān who converted to Islam. He sent a delegation to the
Prophet to let him know of his conversion. The Prophet gave
him a white horse in return of his conversion to Islam. The
Roman emperor at that time wanted him to return to
Christianity, but he rejected. He was arrested and imprisoned.
Eventually, he was crucified in Palestine, and beheaded near a
spring called ‘Afrā’ ) .)عَفْرَاء
107
For this reason Allah revealed the above verse to the
Prophet for the first time to fight the People of the Book (Jews
and Christians) in this case the army of the Christian Roman
empire for their persecuting the Muslims in Syria. He called
people in Madinah and surrounding areas to defend their
Muslim brothers and to fight the Romans. They responded his
call, and mobilized about 30.000 fighters and 10.000 horsemen.
This was called in Islamic history the Tabūk expedition.
The campaign would eventually end with treaty, that they
paid jizyah, namely head-tax willingly and obediently, provided
that they can easily afford it. The term jizyah literally means “a
compensation” (in lieu of something else”) for the protection of
non-Muslims under Muslim rule against foreign attack,
especially the Romans. It is also a compensation for their being
relieved from joining the Muslim army. It is for them less than
what the Muslims have to pay as zakat (head tax and property
tax) and others, such charity (ṣadaqah), solemn pledge (nadhr),
penance for violating certain religious regulations (kaffārah),
etc. Moreover, these non-Muslims under the Muslim rule
called ahl al-dhimmah (people under protection), or simply
dhimmī (protected person) are exempted from joining the
Muslim army, and when they became old they would get
assistance from the state treasury (bayt al-māl) like what Caliph
‘Umar did with poor dhimmīs. Abū ‘Ubaydah ‘Āmir ibn al-Jarrāh
imposed jizyah on the people of Ḥimṣ for their protection
against the Romans. When his army was infected with plague
and was no longer able to protect the inhabitants of Ḥimṣ
against the Roman invasion, he returned the jizyah to them.
Some of the dhimmis are exempted from paying jizyah.
They are: (a) all women (b) all males who have not reached full
maturity (c) old men (d) all sick or crippled men, and (e) priests
and monks. Non-Muslims citizen who voluntarily join military
service are also exempted from paying jizyah. Like the Jews and
the Christians the Magians also pay jizyah, because the Prophet
108
said that they have to be treated like the people of the Book
(the Jews and the Christians). All Muslim scholars agree with it.
Abū Ḥanīfah said that all non-Muslims under the Muslim rule
have to pay jizyah, disregarding their faiths, because, according
to him, all disbeliefs belong to one religion, namely,
disbeliefٍ ) الٍْكٍُفٍْرٍُ كٍٍُلٍ هٍُ مٍٍِلٍَّ ةٍ وٍٍَاحٍِدٍَة ( “all infidelity belong to one religion".
Most of the followers of Imām Mālik hold this view, but
according to al-Shāfi‘ī the jizyah should be imposed on
exclusively the Jews, the Christians, and the Magians.
In conclusion, the injunction of fighting the Jews and the
Christians was basically directed to the Romans among them
who started hostility by persecuting Muslims in their territories.
Muslims have right to defend their Muslim brothers. When the
enemies surrendered they were asked to pay jizyah if they
could afford it, and they did not have to pay war reparation as
Germany and Japan did after the Second World War. The kind
of “humiliation” and the “burden” of paying jizyah they
suffered would be removed automatically when they become
Muslims. Let those who used to attack Islam as an aggressive
religion citing this above verse avoid it, and let those who
abandon Islam based on this verse return to it.
(CIVIC, 13 November, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اٍلشاملة
تفسير اٍلطبري )ٍت. 053ٍ هٍ)
تفسير اٍلقرطبى )ٍت. 175ٍ هٍ)
تفسير اٍبن كٍثير )ٍت. 777ٍ هٍ)
محمد أٍبو زٍهرة.)ت 1394 ه\ 1974 م(. زٍهرة اٍلتفاسير. دٍار اٍلفكر اٍلعربي
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’ān. Gibraltar: Dar
al-Andalus, 1964.
Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi. Atlas of the Qur’ān. Riyadh, Maktaba
Dar-us-Salam, 2003
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ فروة_بن_عمرو_الجذامي
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-
2010-2050/ٍ
109
19. ASBĀB AL-WURŪD
The Muslim scholar Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (691-
751/1292-1349) said that the root of every bid‘ah (innovation)
and deviation in Islam is misunderstanding what Allah and His
Messenger had intended; it is even the source of every mistake
in the principles and branches of religion, especially if it is
accompanied with bad intention."
Allah said in the Qur’ān that He had perfected Islam, had
completed His Favour upon us, and had chosen for us Islam as
our religion (Q. 5:3). However, many Muslims still do not fully
understand the meanings and the laws derived from it. Muslim
scholars have different levels of understanding its meanings
and these laws, as nobody knows it entirely except Allah. Allah
gives different levels of knowledge and wisdom to His servants,
and this is Allah’s Wisdom, so that they have to learn from each
other, and come to mutual understanding and agreement.
Among the Prophet’s companions some of them who
were more knowledgeable than the others or who had better
quality than the others: the most knowledgeable on farā’iḍ
(the law of inheritance) was Zayd ibn Thābit, the most
knowledgeable on the reading of the Qur’ān was Ubayy ibn
Ka‘b, on what is ḥalāl (legal, permitted) and on what is ḥarām
(illegal, prohibited) was Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal, on the interpretation
of the Qur’ān was ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās, the most
compassionate towards the Muslims was Abū Bakr, the most
strict on Allah’s command was ‘Umar, the most shy was
‘Uthmān, and it was reported that the most knowledgeable on
judicial decision was ‘Alī, whereas the amīn al-ummah (the
trusty of the community) was Abū ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ.
Among the importance science in understanding the
ḥadīth is أَسْبَابُ وُرُوْدِ الْحَدِيْث (the reasons for the mentioning the
ḥadīth), or simply called asbab al-wurūd. There are many
benefits of knowing it, among which are as follows:
1. Understanding the motive of the ḥadīth, such as:
110
لَيْسَ مِنَ الْبِ ر الصَّوْمُ فِي السَّفَرِ )رواه البخاري وغيره(
It is not part of piety to fast in traveling
(Reported by Bukhārī and others)
The Prophet said it when he saw fasting people suffering.
But in normal condition, he did not criticize people who are
fasting and non-fasting in traveling.
2. To specify the general concept ) تخْ صِ يصُ العَ ام (, such as the
following ḥadīth as narrated by ‘Ā’shah r.a. the Prophet
s.a.w. said:
صَلََة الْجَالِسِ عَلَى ال نصْفِ مِنْ صَلََةِ الْقَائِمِ )رواه أحمد(
The reward of praying sitting is half of the reward of
praying standing (Reprted by Ahmad)
‘Abd al-Razzāq and Ibn ‘Umar reported that while
they were entering Madinah it was very hot, and people
were tired and were praying sitting in the mosque. Then the
Prophet entered the mosque, saying: “The reward of praying
sitting is half of the reward of praying standing” as
mentioned above. This is apparently applied to people who
are sick and tired prayed whether the obligatory or
recommended prayer sitting. However, Muslim scholars give
their commentaries, among which as follows:
Muslim scholars agree that those who are unable to
stand in prayer because of sickness and others will have full
reward either in obligatory or recommended prayer. Al-
Tirmidhi and Sufyān al-Thawrī said that healthy people only
will get half of the reward if they pray sitting in performing
recommended prayers only, but not allowed in obligatory
prayer, as Allah said,
) …وَقُومُوا لِل قَانِتِينَ )البقرة: 832
“… and stand before Allah in obedience” (Q. 2:238),
and the Prophet said,
صَ ل قَائِمًا ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ قَائِمًا فَقَاعِدًا ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ
فَعَلَى جَنْ ب )رواه البخاري(
Pray standing, if you cannot stand, sit down, and if
you cannot, then on yourside (Reported by Bukhari)
111
If the imām is sitting because he is unable to stand
because of sickness or others while leading the obligatory
prayer, are the ma’mūm also to sit down praying following
the imam, or they have to stand? There are two views: (a).
They can also sit down following the imam according to
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, and practised by
Abū Hurayrah and Jābir ibn ‘Abdullah among the ṣaḥābah.
(b). The majority of scholars say that it is not allowed to pray
obligatory prayer sitting for healthy people, neither praying
alone, as imām or behind the imam, based on the Qur’ānic
verse (Q. 2:238) above. The imām can pray sitting while the
ma’mūm standing as Abū Bakr and other ṣaḥābah did while
the Prophet was sitting in prayer. This is the view of al-Shāfi‘ī,
Abū Ḥanīfah, Abū Yūsuf, Mālik, Abū Thawr, and Dā’ūd ibn
‘Alī.
3. To specify the ambiguous ( تعْ ي ينُ المُ بهَ م (, such as the following
hadith, as narrated by Anas ibn Mālik the Prophet s.a.w. said:
إِنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِ اللَِّّ مَنْ لَوْ أَقْسَمَ عَلَى اللَِّّ لأَبَرَّه )متفق عليه(
Verily, there are among Allah’s servants who
if he swears to Allah, He would verily fulfill it
(Reportedby Bukhari and Muslim)
Anas ibn Mālik said that his paternal aunt al-
Rubayyī‘ daughter of al-Naḍr broke the front tooth of a
slave-girl, but neither forgiveness nor blood-money was
accepted, so people came to the Prophet asking for
retaliation, and he accepted it. But her brother (who was
also called Anas) said to the Prophet, “O Messenger of Allah,
are you going to break her front tooth? By Allah Who sent
you with truth, do not let her front tooth to be broken.” But
the Prophet said: “O Anas, the Book of Allah has prescribed
retaliation.” Then people became content and accepted the
blood-money.
4. Elaborating the general concept ) تَفْصِيْلُ الْمُجْمَل (, such as:
عَنْ أَنَ س قَالَ : أُمِرَ بِلََ ل أَنْ يَشْفَعَ الأَذَانَ وَيُوتِرَ الإِقَامَةَ
112
إِل الإِقَامَةَ .)رَوَاه الْبُخَارِ ى و غيره(
Anas narrated: “Bilal was order to say
the adhan twice, and iqāmah once except
iqamah (i.e. qad qāmat al-ṣalāh)
(Reported by Bukhari and others)
There are about 248 ḥadīths concerning the ādhān
(calling for prayer) and iqāmah (announcing that the prayer is
about to begin), most of them are narrated by Anas ibn
Mālik. Some of them give details upon which scholars based
their views, as follows:
a. The wordings of the ādhān are read twice except la ilaha
illallah, which is said once only, based on the vision of
‘Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Rabbih and approved by the
Prophet.
b. The wordings of the iqāmah, according to:
(1) Abū Ḥanīfah, they are like the ādhān, but read
quickly
(2) Al-Shāfi‘ī, Mālik, al-Awzā‘ī and Ibn Ḥanbal, they are
read once, except qad qāmatiṣ ṣalāh is read twice
according to al- Al-Shāfi‘ī.
With regard to the ruling of ādhān and iqāmah
some say that they are collective duties ( فَرْضُ كِفَاية (, others
say that they are recommended acts ( .)سُنّةُ
5. Explaining what is not clear, such as the Prophet’s saying:
صَ لَة في هَ ذا المَ سْ جِ دِ أ فضَ لُ مِ نْ مِ ا ئةِ أ لفِ صَ لَ ة ف يمَ ا
سِ وَ ا هُ مِ نَ المَ سَ اجِ دِ )مصنف عبد الرزاق(
One prayer in this mosque is better than one
hundred thousand times better than in any
mosque. (‘Abd al-Razzāq’s Muṣannaf)
Shurayd on the day of the conquest of Makkah told the
Prophet that he had made a solemn pledge to pray in the
Prophet’s mosque in Madīnah if he (the Prophet) was
successful in conquering Makkah. The Prophet told him that
praying in the Inviolable Mosque in Makkah would be
sufficient for him. Then the Prophet mentioned the merit of
113
one prayer in it is better than one-hundred thousand
prayers in any other mosque.
6. Knowing the abrogating ) النَّاسِخ ( and the abrogated ) )اْلْمَنْسُوْخ
Narrated ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd: “We used to participate in
the holy battles led by the Messenger of Allah and we had
nothing (no wives) with us. So we said, "Shall we get
ourselves castrated?" He forbade us that and then allowed
us to marry women with a temporary contract. Then
‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ūd recited to us: 'O you who believe!
Make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made
lawful for you, but commit no transgression.'” (Q. 5:87).
(Reported by Bukhari).1 The above ḥadīth stated that
temporary marriage called Nikāḥ Mut‘ah ) نِكَاح مُتْعة (, or
simply called mut‘ah was allowed in the early stage of Islam
in Madinah, but the Prophet finally prohibited it forever.
Salamah ibn al-Akwa‘ and Jābir ibn Abdullah said:
إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَِّّ ص.م.- قَدْ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَسْتَمْتِعُوا )رواه البخاري و مسلم(
“Verily, the Messenger of Allah's Messenger (peace be
upon him) has granted permission to you to practice
mut‘ah.” (Reported by Bukhārī and Muslim)
Later the above ḥadīth was abrogated by many other
hadiths, among which are as follows:
يا أَ يهَ ا ال ن اسُ إِ ني قدْ كُ نتُ أَذِ نتُ لَكُ مْ في الِ سْ تمْ تاعِ مِ نَ ال نسَ اءِ
وَ إِنَّ اللّ قدْ حَ رَّ مَ ذَ لِكَ إ لَى يوْ مِ ال ق يامَ ةِ فمَ نِ كَ انَ عِ ن د هُ مِ نهُ نَّ شَ يْ ء
ف ل يخَ ل سَ ب ي لَهُ وَ لَ تأخُ ذُ وْ ا مِ مَّ ا آ ت ي تمُ وْ هُ نَّ شَ ي ئا )رواه مسلم(
0 people, I had permitted you to contract temporary
1 Qur’ānic commentators, such as al-Tābarī, al-Qurṭubī, and Ibn Kathīr do
not say explicitly that among the good things in the above verse is the
mut‘ah, but rather any good thing in general including marriage, as
many of the companions of the Prophet gathered together in the house
of ‘Uthmān ibn Maẓ‘ūn, and agreed among themselves to fast in the day
time, pray at night, not to sleep on mats, not to eat meat and fat, not to
approach women and perfume, to wear coarse woolen fabric, to reject
the worldly life, to wander in the land and to be like monks. Then the
above verse was revealed to them, so that they would not abandon the
good things, including marriage. There is no monasticism in Islam.
114
marriage with women, but Allah has forbidden it (now)
until the Day of Resurrection. So he who has any (woman
with this type of marriage contract) he should let her off,
and do not take back anything you have given
to them (as dower). (Reported by Muslim)
Imam al-Nawawī said that mut‘ah was allowed and
prohibited twice: allowed before the campaign of Khaybar,
then was prohibited after it; it was allowed on the day of the
conquest of Makkah for three days, and then was prohibited
permanently till the Resurrection day. It is said that it was also
allowed for three days on the days of the campaign of Khaybar.
It was reported that ‘Aī ibn Abī Ṭālib said that the Prophet
on the Day of Khaybar prohibited forever the mut‘ah and
eating of the flesh of the domestic donkeys (Reported by
Bukhārī and Muslim). Imam Aḥmad and al-Bayhaqī also
reported that the Prophet prohibited the mut‘ah.
There are other benefits in knowing the asbāb al-wurūd
of the Prophet’s statements such as the restricting the
unrestricted ( ت ق ي يدُ ا لُمْ طْ لَق ), which would clarify what he meant in
his statements. (Civic, 27 November, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري )ت. 313 ه)
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 171 ه)
تفسير ابن كثير )ت. 777 ه(
د. محمد أبو النور الحديدي، عصمة الأنبياء والرد على الشبه الموجهة إليهم،
)1171\ القاهرة 1311 ¸ مطبعة الأمانة
د. بدر عبد الحميد هميسة.علم أسباب ورود الحديث الشريف
http://bayanelislam.net/Suspicion.aspx?id=01-04-006
http://www.academia.edu/3214679/Asbab_Wurud_al-Hadith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikah_mut%E2%80%98ah
http://fatwa.islamweb.net/fatwa/index.php?page=showfatwa
&Option=FatwaId&Id=485
115
20. IBN JARĪR AL-ȚABARĪ
There are many great classical commentators of the
Qur’ān which become the main sources of contemporary
scholars in further understanding the meanings of the Qur’ān.
One of them was Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad Ibn Jarīr al-Țabarī, the
native of Tabaristan (224-310/839-923). He is considered by
Muslim scholars “the father of the science of tafsīr”. He was
born in Amol, Tabaristan, modern Mazandaran, about 20 km
south of the Caspian Sea in Iran. Although he was a Persian, all
his works was written in Arabic. He wrote on many subjects,
such as poetry, grammar, ethics, mathematics, medicine history
in commentary of the Qur’ān. His best known works are Jāmi‘
al Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān (The Comprehensive Exposition of
the Interpretation of the Verses of the Qur’ān), also known as
Tafsīfr al-Țabarī, and Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk (History of
the Prophets and Kings), often referred to Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī. As
he wrote extensively history which had not been written like it
he was also called “the Father of History.”
Al-Ṭabarī started learning at his early age. At seven he
memorised the Qur’ān, at eight he started leading the prayer,
at nine he started studying the Ḥadīth (Prophetic traditions),
and at twelve he left home to pursue his study. At Rayy
(Raghes) he stayed about five years where he studies the
Hanafi school, the sīrah (biography of the Prophet) by Ibn
Isḥāq, and pre-Islamic history. Then he travelled to Baghdad
and studied under Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal for a short period as he
died later, and he found out that he did not learn much from
him as he considered him just a recorder of ḥadīth rather than
a jurist (faqīh). Then he went to Basrah, Kufah, and Wasit,
where he studied the various madhhabs (schools of
jurisprudence): Mālikī, Shāfi‘ī, and Ẓāhirī under its founder
Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī. He followed the Shāfi‘ī school for some times,
then he established his own school.
116
On his return to Baghdad, the vizier at that time
‘Ubaydullāh Khāqān offered him a tutoring position for ten
dinars a month. It was said that he taught so well that he was
offered a tray of dinars and dirhams, but he declined. Then in
his late twenties he went to Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. In
Beirut he studied the Syrian school’s variant readings of the
Qur’ān as well as the legal views of al-Awzā‘ī.
Like great scholars before and after him he suffered from
some kinds of allegations, and the worst of it of being a Rāfiḍī1
and a Shī‘ī2. This allegation became spread among scholars,
1The term Rāfiḍī ( رافضي ) means “the one who rejects”; Rāfiḍah ) )رَافضة
is its collective plural, and its multiple plural is Rawāfiḍ ) روافض (, both
meaning “those who reject.” The terms are referred by Snunnī Muslims
to the Shī‘īs who reject legitimacy of the succession of Abū Bakr, ‘Umar
and ‘Uthmān as Muslim leaders after Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Originally the Rafiḍah were followers of the Shī‘ah in Kufah and were
with Zayd ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Ali against the Umayyad caliph
Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik (ruling through 724-743 CE). When Zayd ibn
‘Ali refused to condemn the three earlier caliphs, namely, Abu Bakr,
‘Umar, and ‘Uthmān, arguing that they had been accepted by ‘Ali
himself, they rejected and deserted him. However, the term is also
applied to the Twelver Shī‘ah who reject (some of them even openly
condemn) the three earlier caliphs, as legitimate leaders of the Muslims.
2 The term شِيْعَة (Shī‘ah) is an abbreviation of شيْع ة عَلِي , (Shīʻatu ʻAlī),
“followers of ‘Ali” who believe that the proper succession of the Prophet
was his son-in-law and cousin ‘Ali, instead of his father-in-law Abū Bakr.
They believe that Ali have been divinely appointed as the successor of
the Prophet, as the first Imam, succeeded by certain individuals among
his descendants (ahl al-bayt, “the People of the House”) who possessed
infallibility and other divinely-ordained traits. Between 10% and 13% of
Muslims are followers of Shi’ah, most of them live in Iraq, Iran, India and
Pakistan, and 85% of them are Twever Shi’ah. The Zaydī Shī’ah, also
called al-Zaydiyyah ) الزَّيْدِيَّة ( named after Zayd ibn ‘Ali, the grand-son of
Ḥusayn ibn ‘Ali, constitute roughly 0.5% of the world's Muslim
population. Most of them live in Yemen, but they make up about 35-40%
of its Muslim population. They do not believe in the infallibility of Imāms
after Husayn and that the Imāmate must pass from father to son.
Instead, they believe that it can be held by any descendant from either
117
among them was Ibn Ḥajar who said of him: “He is reliable,
honest, and has slight bias [to the Shi‘ah] and tolerated
friendship [with them] ) ثقة صادق فيه تشيع يسير وموالاة لا تضر (". But
al-Țabarī had written a book praising Abū Bakr and ‘Umar
entitled فضَ ائ ل أَ بي بكْ ر وَ ع مَ ر (“The Virtues of Abū Bakr and
‘Umar”), whereas the Shī‘ah denounced both of them. He
wrote this book when he found out that there was a person in
his hometown Amol who cursed these two prominent
companions of the Prophet. He mentioned their merits and
repudiated the allegation against them. Because of this, the
wali (ruler) of the town summoned him, and he fled to Baghdad
where he passed away before completing the book.
The people of Iraq in general and of Baghdad in particular
where al-Ṭabarī lived were followers of the Ḥanbalī school.
When he said that Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal was a compiler of
traditions and not a proper jurist because he based his views on
traditions without using qiyās (analogy) people became angry
with him. His followers would often throw stones at his house.
When the Baghdad chief of police tried to organize a debate
between him and the Ḥanbalīs to settle their differences he
accepted it, but they did not show up. Instead, they came later
to pelt his house with stones again.
When al-Ṭabarī died in Baghdad on Sunday evening 26
Shawwāl 310/16 February 923) reaching the age of 85 years he
was buried secretly by the ‘Abbasi authority for fear of mob
violence by the Ḥanbalīs. The historian Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī (d.
626/9221) also said that because of this allegation of being a
Hasan ibn ʻAlī or Husayn ibn ʻAlī. The third main group of the Shī‘ah is
the Ismā‘īliyyah, named after Ismā‘īl son of Ja ‘far al-Ṣādiq (the sixth
Imam), also called the Bāṭiniyyah for their belief in the existence of inner
interpretation of the Qur’an. The term bāṭin means “inner, hidden,
secret” which is the opposite of ẓāhir which means “obvious, clear,
external.” Most of them live in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria.
118
Rāfiḍī when he died he was buried at night for fear of the
people. According to the Qur’ān commentator Ibn Kathīr he
was buried in his house because some Ḥanbali followers did not
want him to be buried in the day time, and they alleged him to
be a Rāfiḍī following the allegation of their teacher Muhammad
ibn Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī. Ibn Kathīr rejected the allegation saying
that al-Țabarī was one of the Muslim scholars who knew and
practised the Qur’ān and the Sunnah of the Prophet.
The most acceptable view was that of the historians al-Khaṭīb
al-Baghdādī and Ibn ‘Asākir who said: “The number of people
who gathered together at his funeral procession was
uncountable except by Allah, and people prayed funeral prayer
at his grave several months days and nights. He was buried the
next day on the early morning of Monday in his house at
Ya‘qūb Public Square in Baghdad.
Al-Țabarī was said that he wrote forty pages every day for
forty years. Many of his works were lost, but his Jāmi‘, better
known as Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī, has survived. He was “a man of
encyclopaedic learning who absorbed the whole mass of
tradition in his time”. His Tafsīr consists of thirty volumes
containing collections of ḥadīths with their full isnād (chains of
transmitters) dealing with the commentary on the Qur’ān. He
deals with whole chapters, although not whole verses, of the
Qur’ān. He used to give his view after mentioning many
different views, and said “the right view for me in this matter is
والصواب من القول في ذلك عندي أن يقال…) ”.… ). Later commentators,
such as al Zamakhsharī (d. 538/9943), Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah (d. 542/1147
or 546/9959), Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/9373) and al Suyūṭī (d.
991/1505) followed al-Ṭabarī in examining and explaining the
whole Qur’ān in their tafsīr works.
Al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr was highly recommended by Ibn
Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328) who stated that it was one of the
best, and the worthiest of its kind. Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb al-
Baghdādī called it “a book which has never been written like it,”
whereas the jurist Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad al-Isfarāyīnī said, “If a
119
man travels to China to get it would not be much.” Scholars in
his time praised him so much that he was said to be a reliable
scholar, one of the great leaders of the Sunnīs whose view was
accepted, whom people referred to for his deep knowledge
and sound method. The writing of his Tafsīr was completed
within seven years starting from 283 AH till 290 AH in Baghdad.
Al-Ṭabarī in his Tafsīr included many Jewish legends
إسْرَائِلِيَّات( ( taken from Jewish converts, such as Ka ‘b al-Aḥbār,
Wahb ibn Munabbih, ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sallām, ‘Abd al-Malik ibn
Jurayj, and others so that it reached almost 2,500 legends, but
he mentioned their isnād (chains of transmitters), and he rarely
mentioned the sound and the weak. He never took from
suspected people like Muqātīl and al-Kalbī.
Al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr was printed in 30 volumes by al-
Amīriyyah Printing Press at Būlāq, Cairo in 9329/9103, then it
was printed and copied many times until it was verified by
Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir, and about half of it was published
in 96 volumes at Dār al-Ma‘ārif in Egypt in 9374/9155. In
1420/200 it was verified by Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir again,
and was printed again, and was published for the first time by
Mu’assah al-Risālah in 24 volumes. Nowadays, with the
advance of technology in this 21th Century, we are able to read
this book through the internet. If you open al-Maktabah al-
Shāmilah ) المكتبة الشاملة (, literally means “the Comprehensive
Library”, by using WinRAR you will find thousands of classical
books in various topics in Arabic. One of my main sources in
this library is this Tafsīr of al-Ṭabarī.
Al-Ṭabarī was an ascetic person. When the vizier al-‘Abbās
ibn al-Ḥasan asked him to write a book on Islamic law for him,
he wrote the summary of his book Laṭīf al-Qawl and presented
it to him. The vizier was so happy, that he sent him one
thousand dinars as present, but he rejected it. When he was
told that he should take it and give it away as charity to whom
he liked, he said that they knew more those who deserved it.
120
Like other scholars before and after him, al-Țabarī also
wrote poetry. Among his poetry is as follows:
إِذَا أَعْسَرْ ت لَمْ يَعْلَمْ رَفِيْقِي * وَأَسْتَغْنِي فَيَسْتَغْنِي صَدِيْقِي
حَيَائِي حَافِ ظ لِي مَاءَ وَجْهِي * وَرِفْقِي فِي مطَالَبَتِي رَفِيْقِي
وَلَوْ أَنِّي سَمَحْ ت بِمَاءِ وَجْهِي * ل كنْ ت إِلَى ال علَى سَهْلَ الطَّرِيْقِ
)البحر الوافر: مفاعلتن مفاعلتن فعولن(
When I am in trouble my companion does not know it,
and [when] I am in no need [of help], then my friend is
also in no need [of help].
My shamefulness protects my self-respect,
and my tenderness [protects me] from asking
[favour from] my companion.
And if I let myself sacrifice my honour,
I would have easily attained glory.
This poem indicates al-Ṭabarī’s honesty, his humbleness,
his self-confidence, his trust in Allah, his contentment, his
shamefulness, and his self-respect which are among good
qualities of pious Muslims like him. May Allah reward him for
his dedication to Islam, āmīn! (CIVIC, 4 December, 2015)
:المصادر
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري )ت. 390 ه)
http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/
http://www.alukah.net/web/alshibl/0/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaidiyyah
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ إسماعيلية
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Jarir_al-Tabari
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafida
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/muhammad-ibn-jarir-altabari
http://sst5.com/AuthorInf.aspx?Author_id=30
http://dofni.iugaza.edu.ps/Ossol_Conf/ الإسرائيليات في تفسير ابن
.جرير الطبري
121
21. AL-QURȚUBĪ
Another classical Muslim scholar worthy to mention here
in the field of tafsīr (commentary of the Qur’ān) is Abū
‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Aḥmad whose title was “al-Qurṭubī”
الْقُرْطُبِي( ( meaning “the native Cordova” in Andalusia (Muslim
Spain) where he was born in 610/1214. During his youth he
supported his family by carrying clay for use in potteries. He
followed the Mālikī school of jurisprudence, the dominant
madhhab in Andalusia at that time.
Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in general and Cordova in
particular was well-known as the centre of learning, the land of
scholars and men-of-letters from which admirable writings
were produced. It was in Cordova where most books were kept
in entire Andalusia, and its public libraries were taken with
utmost care. It was the best market place for merchandise, that
it had ben said: “If a man died in Seville and had books to sell,
they were brought do be sold in Cordova.”
In the 10th century the Islamic civilization reached its
peak, and in the beginning of the 12th century the number of
Muslims reached to 5.6 million in Andalusia. In Cordoba alone,
there were between 113,000 and 200,000 houses, between
600 and 700 mosques, between 300 and 900 public baths,
about 10,000 lamps, 50 hospitals, lighted and paved streets.
Public baths were introduced for making ablution (wuḍū’)
before performing the five-daily obligatory prayers. While the
rest of Europe was still in illiteracy more than seventy libraries,
bookshops and research institutions had flourished in Muslim
Spain. Among great scholars at this golden time of Andalusia
were: Ibn al-Bayṭār (d. 646/1248) who described more than
1,400 medical drugs, philosophers who were also physicians,
like Ibn Sina (d. 427/1037), Ibn Ṭufayl (d. 581/1185), Ibn Rushd
(d. 595/1198), and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Ibn
Maymūn, d. 600/1204). Abū ’l-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī, (Albucasis
Alzahravius d. 404/1013), entitled “father of surgery” whose
122
work was translated into Hebrew, Latin and Castilian. In
comparative religions Ibn Ḥazm ’s work al-Faṣl fi al-Milal wa al-
Nihal was well-known till today. Encyclopedias on Arab scholars
produced encyclopedias on various branches of knowledge:
medicine, astronomy, biology, zoology, botany, chemistry,
physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, etc.
The well-known scholar Abū Bakr Ibn al-‘Arabī said about
the education of children in Andalusia at that time. He said that
it was the duty of the ruler to instruct Muslim children when
they had enough intelligence about faith, to teach them writing
and arithmetic, to memorize classical Arabic poetry, to learn
and understand Arabic grammar, and when they became
matured as teen-agers to teach them the Qur’ān and the
Ḥadīth of the Prophet. He advised the ruler not to mix in
teaching two subjects at the same time, unless the children had
good understanding, strong energy, and receptivity to it.
It was in this condition of the city of Cordova where al-
Qurṭubī was born. He learned as much as this city could provide
for his education. His father Aḥmad died during the Spanish
attack in 1230, and six years later King Fernando 1st captured
Cordova in 1236, and many Muslims left the city, and al-
Qurṭubī left for Egypt. Although many people moved to Seville
to study, he preferred Egypt where many scholars lived. He
settled in Alexandria, and after studying Ḥadīth and Tafsīr there
he moved to Cairo, and then settled in Munyah ibn Khuṣayb
north of the town Asyūṭ until he died in 671/1273.
Al-Qurṭubī wrote many books, and the most important
one among them was al-Jāmi‘ li-Aḥkām al-Qur’ān )الْجَامِعُ لأَحْكَام
الْقُرْآن( translated as “The Compendium of Legal Rulings of the
Qur’ān”, which has been very popular even today. The title of
the book itself indicates that its main objective was to deduce
juristic injunctions and rulings from the Qur’an. However, his
commentary was not limited to verses dealing with legal issues,
but was a general interpretation of the whole of Quran with a
123
Maliki point of view, the dominant madhdhab in Andalusia
(Muslim Spain) in his time.
Al-Qurṭubī was not fanatic with Mālikī school, but he
followed what he thought the right one. For example,
commenting the verse "It is made lawful for you to have sexual
relations with your wives on the nights of the fasts… (Q. 2:187)
he said in the 12th out of 36 issues on the verse, after
mentioning the disagreement of scholars about eating on the
day of Ramadan out of forgetting, and the view of Imam Mālik
that it invalidates the fasting and has to be made up,
“according the opinion of other than Mālik, it does not
invalidate the fasting by eating out of forgetting, I say: this is
the right one, and it is the opinion of the majority of scholars.”
Another example of al-Qurṭubī’s open-mind is his
commentary on this verse:
) وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلََةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ )البقرة: 34
And perform the prayers and give zakat
(obligatory charity), and bow down along with
those who bow down (Q. 2:43)
Commenting this verse al-Qurṭubī put it in forty-three
issues. In the 16th issue he mentioned the opinion of those
accept the possibility of a boy leading the prayer, such as al-
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, and those who do not
accept it, such as Imām Mālik and al-Thawrī, and others among
aṣḥāb al-ra’y (upholders of personal opinion), but he did not
follow this view, as he found an evident of its possibility. He
said: “It is possible for a boy to lead the prayer if he is qārī’ (a
reciter of the Qur’an, namely, he is able to recite the Qur’an
properly)”. He based his view on the story of a boy of six or
seven whose name was ‘Amr ibn Salamah who led the prayer
because he was the only person among them who could recite
the Qur’an. Moreover, the Prophet said, يَؤُ م الْقَوْمَ أَقْرَؤُهُم لِكِتَابِ اللََِّّ
(“the best reciter of the Qur’an who should lead the prayer”)
without excepting ‘Amr ibn Salamah.
124
On the 43rd and last issue he mentioned three versions of
greeting Allah at the beginning of the tashahhud cited while
one is sitting in the prayer, all of them had been taught by the
Prophet, as follows:
a. ‘Umar’s version chosen by Mālik and followers of Mālikī
school (North Africa), namely,
التَّحِيَّاتُ لِل الزَّكِيَّاتُ لِل الطَّيِّبَاتُ الصَّلَوَاتُ لِِلَِّ ...
Salutations to Allah, pure actions to
Allah, good words and prayers [are] to Allah…
b. Ibn ‘Abbās’s version chosen by al-Shāfi‘ī, al-Layth ibn Sa‘d,
and followers of Shāfi‘ī school (Indonesia, Malaysia, and to
some extent, Egypt where al-Shāfi‘ī passed away), namely,
التَّحِيَّاتُ المُ بارَ كَ اتُ الصَّلَوَاتُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ لِِلَِّ ...
Blessed salutations, prayers, good deeds [are] to Allah…
c. Ibn Mas‘ūd’s version, chosen by al-Thawrī, the people of
Kufah (in al-Qurṭubī’s time), Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (Ḥanbalī
school), Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh (teacher of al-Bukhārī, Muslim,
Abū Dā’ūd, al-Nasā’ī), Dā’ūd (founder of Ẓāhirī school), Abū
Mūsā al-Ash‘arī, as well as the Ḥanafī school.
التَّحِيَّاتُ لِل وَالصَّلَوَاتُ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ ...
Salutations [are] to Allah and prayers
and good deed [to Him]…
As the four madhdhabs (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfi‘ī, and
Ḥanbalī schools) are taught at al-Azhar high schools,
special books for fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) are used for
students following their respective madhhabs.
Al-Qurṭubī’s methodology in his Tafsīr is as follows:
a. He mentioned the asbāb al-nuzūl, variant readings, i‘rāb
(desinential inflection), nāsikh (abrogating) and mansūkh
(abrogated) verses, and explained difficult words.
b. He frequently appealed to language expression for a legal
decision, and frequently cited Arabic poetry.
c. He refuted the Mu‘tazilah, the Qadariyyah, the Rawāfiḍ
(Dissenters), philosophers, and extremist sufis.
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d. He avoided many legendary stories, but occasionally he
brought some strange Jewish legends.
e. He frequently reported from people of early generation
based on their authority in the explanation of the Qur’ān
and in legal judgments referring every view to its viewers.
Al-Qurṭubī in his Tafsīr was highly influenced by many
earlier scholars, and reported their commentaries, especially in
legal judgments, as his sources, among them are as follows:
a. al-Țabarī’s Jāmi ‘ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, especially the
interpretation of the verses of the Qur’an based on the
ḥadīths and reports from the companions of the Prophet .
b. al-Māwardī’s al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyyah ( )الأَحَكَ ام ال سلْطَانِيَّة
translated as The Ordinances of Government. Abū ‘l-Ḥasan
al-Māwardī’s (792-1058) was a Shāfi‘ī jurist whose book was
considered the most significant classical theoretical
explanation of public law in relation to political theory.
c. al-Naḥḥās’s I‘rāb al-Qur’ān ) إِعْرَابُ الْقُرْآن ( translated as The
Expression of the Qur’ān and Ma‘ānī al-Qur’ān ) ,)مَعَانِي الْقُرْآن
translated as The Meanings of the Qur’ān. Abū Ja‘far Aḥmad
al-Naḥḥās (d. 448/950) was an Egyptian grammarian, a
writer, and a commentator of the Qur’an.
d. Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah’s al-Muḥarrir al-Wajīz fi ‘l-Tafsīr )الْمُحَرِّرُ الْوَجِيْزُ فِي
تَفْسِيرالْكِتَابِ الْعَزِيْز( translated as The Brief Editor in the
Commentary of the Noble Book, or simply Tafsīr Ibn
‘Aṭiyyah. ‘Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah (d. 542/1147 or 546/1151) was a
native of Granada who studied from scholars of Andalusia
commentary of the Qur’ān and its variant readings, Arabic
linguistic and grammar, rhetoric, and Islamic law from
which al-Qurṭubī got benefit in his Tafsīr.
e. Ibn al-‘Arabī’s Aḥkām al-Qur’ān ) أَحْ كَامُ الْقُرْآن , The Principles of
the Qur’ān). Abū Bakr ibn al-‘Arabī (d. 543/1148) was born
in Seville in 468/1075 where he was educated and studied
variant readings on the Qur’ān. Then in 485/1092 he and his
father moved to Syria when he continued his study, then he
continued his study in Baghdad, and Egypt.
126
Al-Qurṭubī’s Tafsīr greatly influenced many later Qur’ān
commentators, among them are as follows:
a. Ibn Kathīr’s Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm ) ,)تَفْسِيْرُ الْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيم
translated as The Commentary of the Glorious Qur’ān, or
simply called Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr. Abū ‘l-Fīdā‘īl ibn Kathīr was a
student of Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Dhahabī. He died in
Damascus in 774/1373 in Damascus and was buried next to
that of his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah. His Tafsīr contained many
ḥadīths of the Prophet and the sayings of the ṣaḥābah cited
usually in explaining the verses of the Qur’an.
b. Abū Ḥayyān’s al-Baḥru ’l-Muḥīṭ ) الْبَحْرُ الْمُحِيْط (, translated as
the Comprehensive Sea (i.e. the Qur’an). Abū Ḥayyān al-
Gharnaṭī (the native of Granada) was born in 654/1256. He
was a commentator of the Qur’an, an Arabic grammarian
and a linguist. He travelled extensively in pursue of
knowledge: to Tunisia and Egypt (Alexandria, Cairo,
Damietta, and Minya). He was said to have memorised the
book of Sībawayh on Arabic grammar. He taught the science
of Qur'anic exegesis at the college named after Mamluk
Sultan al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn in Alexandria and in the Mosque
of Ibn Țūlūn in Cairo where he died in 745 /1344.
This is a glimpse of al-Qurṭubī’s life and works.
(CIVIC, 11 December, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسيرالقرطبى )ت. 176 ه )
https://ar.wikipedia.org/ شمس_الدين_القرطبي
http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/76537/#ixzz3tmZOh94Y
http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/76537/
http://www.hasbunallah.com.au/tafseer-e-qurtubi-arabic-aljame-
al-ahkam-al-quran/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qurtubi
http://www.hispanicmuslims.com/andalusia/andalusia.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.
shtml
127
22. IMAM BUKHĀRĪ
Imam Bukhārī was a famous and respected scholar of
Ḥadīth. His name was Abū ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismā’īl
known as “al- Bukhārī” “the native of Bukhārā” in Uzbekistan
where he was born on Friday 13th Shawwal 194/21st July 810,
and died on 30 Ramadan 256/21st August 870 in Khartank, a
village near Samarqand. His father Ismā‘īl was also a scholar of
Ḥadīth who was the student of Imam Mālik ibn Anas (d.
179/795), Ḥammād ibn Zayd (179/795), and Ibn al-Mubārak (d.
181/797. His father died while he was still quite young.
Bukhārī had lost his eyes while he was still a child. His
mother prayed earnestly to Allah to restore his eyesight. One
night she had a dream where Prophet Abraham a.s. told her
that Allah had answered her prayer. In the morning she found
out that her son had his eyesight restored.
The young and orphan Bukhārī began learning Ḥadīth at
early age, before reaching his ten years old. One day a scholar
read the narrators of a ḥadīth to people, saying, “Sufyān from
Abū Zubayr from Ibrāhīm.” Bukhārī corrected him, saying,
“Actually, Abū al-Zubayr did not report from Ibrāhīm.” The man
reproved him, so he said to him: “Go back to the original one if
you have it.” The man did, and said: “What is then the correct
one, boy?” So, he said: “It is al-Zubayr ibn ‘Adī from Ibrāhīm.”
The man made the correction and said to him, “You are right.”
When he was asked how old he was at that time, he said that
he was eleven years old.
At the age of sixteen he was discredited and criticized,
and this led him to memorize many books of early scholars,
such as of Ibn al-Mubārak and Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāḥ (d. 197/812).
Besides memorizing the ḥadīths and books of early scholars, he
also learned the biography of all narrators who took parts in
the transmission of any ḥadīth, including their date of birth,
and date and place of death.
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Then Bukhārī went to pilgrimage with his mother and
elder brother Aḥmad, and after performing the pilgrimage his
brother returned to Bukhara where he died, whereas he stayed
for two years to pursue his study. He was then eighteen years
old when he moved to Madinah, where people also discredited,
criticized and defamed him. So he wrote books and spent his
nights next to the Prophet’s grave compiling the books, Qaḍāya
’l-Ṣaḥābah wa ’l-Tābi‘īn (The Issues Concerning the Prophet’s
Companions and the People of the Following Generation)
which is now non-existent, and al-Tārīkhu ’l-Kabīr ("the Large
Compendium) using the moonlight as lighting.
After staying in Hijaz for six years Bukhārī journeyed to
Iraq (Baghdad Kufah, and Basrah), Nishapur, Balkh, Rayy, Merv,
Khorasan, Ascalon, Egypt and Syria, and learned from over
1000 men, and collected over 6,000 ḥadīths (traditions). Among
his teachers were: Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh (d. 238/853), Ahmad ibn
Hanbal (d. 241/855), Ibnu ’l-Madīnī (d. 234/849), and Yaḥyā Ibn
Ma‘īn (d. 233/848).
In Baghdad scholars gathered to examine his strong
memory. They appointed ten men, each with ten ḥadīths to
read, but with changed isnād (chain of transmitters) and put in
different matns (texts). When all of these one hundred
invented ḥadīths were read to him, he admitted that he did not
recognize any of them, as if he had bad memory. At the end of
the question, he explained to them which isnād belong to
which matn of ḥadīth.
Bukhārī was extremely careful in choosing the shaykh
from whom he could listen and receive a ḥadīth. There is story
that he wanted to receive ḥadīths from somebody, but he
changed his mind when he found that the person was cheating
an animal (probably a horse) with an empty bucket to catch it.
When Bukhārī saw a few published books on ḥadīths in
which he found some weak ḥadīths in them, an idea came to
him to compile strong ḥadīths only, namely those with sound
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isnads. His teacher Ibn Rāhawayh encouraged him to do so. He
also saw in his dream that he had a fan in his hand to get rid of
flies from resting upon the Prophet. He asked several dream
interpreters. They said that in future he would cleanse the
Prophet from lies spoken by people through narrating
misunderstood ḥadīths.
Bukhārī started the compilation of ḥadīths in 217/832,
when he was merely 23 years old. It took him a period of 16
years to finish it after editing it three times. He showed the
manuscript to his teachers for their approval, Ahmad ibn
Hanbal, Ibn Madīnī and Ibn Ma‘īn. He called itُ الْجَامِ عُ اُلْ مسْنَ دُ اُلصَّحِيْ حُ
الْ مختَصَ ر مُِنْ أَُُ موْرُِ رَُ سوْلِ هُ اللّ وَُ سنَنِهِ وَُ أَُيَّامِهُُِ which means “The abridged
collection of sound reports with chains of narration going back
all the way to the Prophet regarding matters pertaining to the
Prophet, his practices and his times” or simply called صَحِيْ ح
الْ بخَارِي Ṣaḥīḥ al-Būkhārī, or Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ. It is said that he
made its framework while he was in the Masjid al-Ḥarām (the
Inviolable Mosque) in Makkah, continually worked on it and
made the final draft in the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah.
Before selecting a ḥadīth to be put in his Ṣaḥīḥ he used to take
a bath and pray two rak‘ahs recommended prayer, and then
made an stikhārah supplication, asking Allah for proper
guidance in selecting the ḥadīth. After being satisfied he put it
in his book. Before he started writing again after a period of
time he wrote Bismillah (“in the name of Allah”), probably
following the ḥadīth “Every important matter not started with
In the name of Allah will have little or no blessing in it.”
The number of ḥadīths in Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ is 7658 (some
say 9,082), but without repetition the number is 2,602. This
number does not include the mawqūf (discontinued) ḥadiths,
namely, the sayings of the Prophet’s companions and the
successors, not his sayings, which are about 160 in number.
Bukhārī laid down the strictest conditions for acceptance
of ḥadīths for his Ṣaḥīḥ. The narrator must have high standard
130
in personal character, memory, literacy and academy. There
must be positive information about the narrators, that each of
them met one another as students and teachers of ḥadīths.
Imām Muslim in this case is more lenient, namely, as long as
the two narrators lived in the same place where there was
possibility of meeting and learning from each other, then their
ḥadīths were accepted for him, as long as they did not practice
fraudulence. Bukhārī insisted that there have to be positive
information that they had met, and learned ḥadīths from each
other.
People highly respected Bukhārī as a scholar. When he
came to Nishapur four thousand horsemen welcomed him,
beside those who were on donkeys and on foot. Imam Muslim
said to him; “I bear witness that there is no body like you in this
world,” and kissed his forehead. He said further to him: “Let me
kiss your legs, O teacher of teachers, and master of scholars of
ḥadīths, and O the physician of unsound ḥadīths!”
Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ was highly appreciated by the Prophet
through a dream. Abū Zayd al-Marwazī (d. 371/981) reported
that he was once asleep between the Black Stone and the
Maqām Ibrāhīm in Masjid al-Ḥarām when the Prophet s.a.w.
appeared in his dream, he said to him: “O Abū Zayd! For how
long shall you teach Imam Shāfi‘ī’s book? When shall you start
teaching my book?” Abū Zayd asked him: “O Mesengger of
Allah, which book is yours?” He replied: “Muḥammad ibn
Ismā‘īl’s al-Jāmi‘u ’l-Ṣaḥīḥ”.
Imam al-Nawawī said that all scholars in Islam had agreed
that Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī of being the most authentic after the Holy
Qur’ān. This does not mean that its authenticity is equal to that
of the Qur’ān. The verses of the Qur’ān were recorded the
moment they were revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. by
his scribes who dictated to them. Their number is between 13
and 48, among whom were Zayd ibn Thābit and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b.
Besides, the verses of the Qur’ān were also memorized and
studied after being revealed. They were also cited in the
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prayers. In addition, Allah protects it from corruption and being
lost (Q. 15:9). Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ was recorded by human who is
not free from committing error. Yet, Bukhārī was the most
careful in collecting ḥadīths.
The scholar Abū Bakr Muḥammad al-Ḥāzimī (d. 584/1188)
divided the Ḥadīth into five categories:
1. Those who possessed the high quality of accuracy (excellent
memory) and a lengthy companionship with their teachers.
Bukhārī’s ḥadīths mostly belong to this category.
2. Those who also possessed the high quality of accuracy, but
did not spend sufficient time with their teachers. Some of
Bukhārī’s ḥadīths belong to this category.
3. Those who spent enough time with their teachers, but have
been criticized by scholars. Bukhārī’s ḥadīths do not belong
to this category, but Muslim’s does.
4. Those did not spend enough time with their teachers, and
have been criticized by scholars, so they were considered
weak.
5. Those who were considered weak narrators or unknown to
early scholars. They were rejected narrators.
Bukhārī divided his Ṣaḥīḥ into 98 Books, and each book is
divided into chapters. Book One is the Book of Revelation
containing 6 chapters and every chapter contains one ḥadīth.
Chapter One: How the Divine Inspiration started to be revealed
to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. mentioning the well-known
ḥadīth on the authority of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, as follows:
إِنَّمَا اُلأَعْمَا لُ بُِالنِّيَّات ،ُ وُإَنمَا لُكل اُمْرِ ئُ مَُا نَُوَى...
The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions
and every person will get the reward
according to what he has intended…
This is probably to remind himself and us that his intention in
writing his Ṣaḥīḥ is solely for the sake of Allah.
The last Book, Book 98, the Book of Tawḥīd (Islamic
Monotheism) contains 58 chapter. The last chapter, Chapter 58
132
contains one ḥadīth, no. 7658 which is the last one, on the
authority of Abu Hurayrah, namely,
كَلِمَتَانُِ حَُبِيبَتَانُِ إُِلَى اُلرَّحْمَنِ، خَُفِيفَتَانُِ عَُلَى اُللِّسَانِ، ثَُقِيلَتَانُِ
فُِي اُلْمِيزَانُِ سبْحَانَُ اُللَُِّّ وَُبِحَمْدِهِ، سبْحَانَُ اُللَُِّّ اُلْعَظِيمُِ .ُُُ
(There are) two words (or expressions or sayings)
which are dear to the Most Beneficent (Allah) and very
easy for the tongue to say, “Subḥānallāhi wa biḥamdihi,
Subḥānallāhil ‘Aẓīm” (Glorified be Allah, and praised
be He, Glorified by Allah, the Most Great).
The Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī has been translated into many
languages, completely or partially. There are also hundreds of
commentaries of it, and some exceeding 25 volumes, among
the best ones are: Fatḥul-Bārī by Ibn Ḥajar (852/1449) and
‘Umdatul-Qāri’ by Abū Muḥammad Maḥmūd al-‘Aynī (d.
855/1451). These commentaries are very important in order to
understand the ḥadīths properly. When a man found that the
Nile and the Euphrates were in Paradise, he threw the Ṣaḥīḥ
away, thinking that it was a grave mistake to have them in
Paradise rather than on the earth. Had he consulted any
commentary of it, he would find that the names of the two
rivers are also in Paradise is to indicate that people in the areas
of these rivers on the earth (Egypt and Iraq) would be blessed
with Islam. (Civic, 18 December, 2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة اُلشاملة
ا.د. مُحمد عُمارة، إُفْتِرَاءَاتٌ شُِيْعِيَّةٌ عَُلَى اُلْ بخَارِي وَُ مسْلِم. دُارالسلام، دُ.ت.ُ
Azami, Muhammad M., M.A. Ph.D. Studies in Hadīth
Methodology and Literature. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book
Trust, 1977.
http://www.al-eman.com/ُ الجامع «ُ الكتب/صحيح اُلبخاري اُلمسمى بُ
المسند اُلصحيح اُلمختصر مُن أُمور رُسول اُللّ صُلى اُللّ عُليه وُسلم وُسننهُ
وأيامه
http://www.inter-islam.org/Biographies/imam.htm
http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-en/