Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

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© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 56 (2013)

Female Mystics in Mediaeval Islam: The Quiet Legacy

Arezou Azad*

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Table of Contents

Abstract 5

Introduction 6

Surveys, Numbers, Profiles 8

Visibility, Image, and Agency of Women 10

The Argument of “misogyny” 12

The Sources on Umm ʿAlī of Balkh 13

Umm ʿAlī’s Path to Scholarship 15

Study and Credentials 15

Marriage and Home 16

Social Class and Family Relations 18

Umm ʿAlī’s Actions and Attributes 22

Social Etiquette in Religious Society 22

Living out the Sufi Experience 23

Advanced Learning and Exchange with Sufi Masters 24

Conclusion 28

Bibliography 30

Primary Sources 30

Secondary Sources 32

Appendix 36

Notes 38

Abstract

Historians and analysts of current affairs alike are interested in the role that women have played in Islam, including the extent to which women were the agents and creators of Islamic mysticism. We still know surprisingly little about premodern learned women, particularly from the eastern Iranian world. This article describes one female mystic, Umm ʿAlī, who flourished in ninth-century Balkh and has so far eluded modern scholarship. A historiographical study of her provides insight into how the representations of mystical women changed over time. From the earlier sources, we learn that Umm ʿAlī applied creative and interesting strategies that provided her access to the highest sources of learning. Umm ʿAlī’s case also allows for some tentative conclusions on the importance of pedigree, and the practice of strategic marriages that connect local power-holders with the ʿulamāʾ.

Keywords mysticism, Islam, scholarship, eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, mediaeval history, gender, women.

anān-i īn pākān chunīn būda-and, tā mashāyikh-i aʿẓām bi chi ḥadd būda bāshand!

If the wives of these pure [ones] were such, [just think] at what levels the great shuyūkh must have been!1

Introduction

The archetypal female mystic of mediaeval Islam is, no doubt, the famous Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya (d. 185/801), known simply as “Rābiʿa.” Annemarie Schimmel pointed out that Rābiʿa had many successors and that they did not all resemble Rābiʿa.2 But, despite wide current interest in the role of women in Islam, the story of public, mystical Muslim women remains largely focussed on Rābiʿa, and, in the accounts on her, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fact and myth. Fragmentary records, scattered references, and ambiguous representations also confound attempts to form a coherent view of other female mystics. The goal of this article is to bring together evidence on one nearly contemporary mystic, Umm ʿAlī of Balkh, also known as the “one of high standing” (mahd-i ʿaliyya). It will be seen that Umm ʿAlī presents a very different profile of female mystic. A close reading of the primary sources highlights the fact that the narrative of her agency and impact changed over time. The transformation occurred at the hands of her biographers, who were bound by social conventions that restricted women’s agency. From the earlier sources, we learn that Umm ʿAlī applied creative and interesting strategies that provided her access to the highest sources of learning.

The topic of female mysticism in mediaeval Islam is particularly important because religious scholarship was one area in which Muslim women assumed roles equal to those of men. This article might best be compared with the “women worthies” genre that Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker identified. The expression refers to the history of notable women “who have played a role that is visible (although often neglected in history writing) in public activities.”3 Given that we do not have much information on female scholars in pre-modern times, this approach that “adds women to history” remains valid. It raises new questions about the role of women as social and economic actors. There is not enough data on premodern female scholars for us to answer them comprehensively. Nonetheless, Umm ʿAlī’s case allows us to reach some tentative conclusions about the importance of pedigree and the practice of strategic marriages that connect local power-holders with the ʿulamāʾ.

It should be added, as a caveat, that reconstructing the life experience of learned women such as Umm ʿAlī of Balkh from fragmentary texts with difficult historiographical traditions is a daunting task. The job is more difficult because early Islamic scholarship does not, by its very nature, lend itself to generalizations. Our clearly-defined modern view of Islamic scholars ( ʿulamāʾ) and the legal schools (madhāhib) to which they may have belonged, for example, denies the plurality found in early mediaeval religious scholarship.4 Our Balkhī source on Umm ʿAlī, the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, nowhere contains the word “Sufi.”5 Some of the biographies in this work are of public religious figures who have since been canonized as the prototypes of Sufism.6 But, because our main source does not use it, we shall not call Umm ʿAlī a “Sufi” either and will use the generic term “mystic.”

Before we turn to Umm ʿAlī’s story, let us consider some of the relevant historiography and scholarship on the history of women scholars in the Islamic world. Most relevant for this article are quantitative studies; qualitative analyses of the visibility, image, and agency of female scholars; and the discussion of “misogynistic” attitudes held towards them.

Surveys, Numbers, Profiles

Since the early 1990s, modern scholars have questioned the traditional wisdom that Muslim women were “silent” and “oppressed” in pre-modern Islam. Relevant studies of the past two decades have revealed that women exercised far more power than was previously believed, including in the area of Islamic scholarship.7 Evidence for pre-modern female scholars in the Islamic world can be found in the biographical dictionaries that formed an important genre in Islamic historiography. Modern scholars have collated hundreds of women’s biographies from these sources. The surveys do not always differentiate between categories of Islamic scholars - e.g., mystics, female traditionists (i.e., collectors of ḥadīth), and legal analysts - but total numbers of recorded female scholars remain relevant to us, because they allow us to place Umm ʿAlī in the context of the history of female Islamic scholarship.8

Ruth Roded found that several dozen mediaeval biographical compilations were filled with tens, hundreds, and even thousands of women scholars.9 A more recent encyclopaedic collection of 8000 muḥaddithat is being carried out by Mohammad Akram Nadwi.10 Irene Schneider focussed specifically on the twenty women scholars of the seventh to the thirteenth centuries CE discussed by the Syrian historian Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (d. 748/1347). She found that they played an active role in the educational system of their time.11

Disaggregating the numbers, Roded, and more recently, Nadwi, have shown that the majority of women are concentrated heavily around the first century of Islam. This is no doubt related to the unique position of the ṣaḥabiyyāt - women Companions who were the contemporaries of the Prophet - as precedents and role models for Muslims in general and for Muslim women in particular.12 The numbers are lower but still significant in the eighth and ninth centuries CE but taper off dramatically thereafter.13

Umm ʿAlī flourished during the ninth century CE, when women scholars were still well represented in the biographical dictionaries.

The accounts on female scholars have survived not only in biographical dictionaries but also in local histories. There are important references in Ibn ʿAsākīr’s (d. 571/1176) Taʾrīkh Dimashq with 13,500 biographical entries, including more than 200 women (although these are mainly members of the Umayyad family rather than scholars).14 Richard Bulliet examined the entries on women in the biographical dictionaries of Baghdad, Nishapur, and Gurgan. Al-Khatị̄ b al-Baghdādī’s Taʾrīkh Baghdād (completed 463/1071) includes thirty women out of a total of 7,831 biographies.

ʿAbd al-Ghāfir al-Fārisī (d. 529/1132) wrote his al-Siyāq li-Taʾrīkh Naysābūr and included twenty-two women among his 1,699 biographies.

Ḥamza al-Sahmī’s (d. 426/1035) Taʾrīkh Jurjān gave the biographies of twelve women among his 1,194 biographies.15 Bulliet spells out the important finding that these (relatively few) women were mentioned on account of their kinship ties to the compiler. Some were noble, others were involved in mysticism, and more were known for scholarship in ḥadīth or, rarely, in other disciplines.16

The local histories from further east - Bukhara, Samarqand, and Balkh - which are missing from Roded’s survey, have a much smaller selection of women (and men). The Faḍāʿil-i Balkh, a text that forms the basis for much of this article’s discussion, includes only the case of Umm ʿAlī and, to a far lesser degree, that of her husband’s second wife, Ḥakīma Zāhida. The excerpt with the relevant account is translated from Persian into English in the appendix to this article. The Persian Tārīkh-i Bukhāra, which is more a history than a prosopography, does not mention any Bukharan female scholar, much like the Arabic Taʾrīkh Samarqand, which follows the western Islamic prosopographical style of listings of isnāds (chains of transmitters), with limited information on the lived experiences of the scholars. The Taʾrīkh Samarqand profiles a single muḥadditha named Ṣūfiya bt. al-Shaykh al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mustamlī Ismaʿīl b. Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbdallāh b. ʿUmrān al-Balkhī.17

Visibility, Image, and Agency of Women

The image of women as passive citizens confined to carrying out domestic chores and raising families was revised amongst Orientalists and Islamic historians in the 1970s and 1980s with studies of working women. Maya Shatzmiller studied mediaeval Muslim “working women,” including rural labourers, hairdressers, peddlers, secretaries, prostitutes, and ḥadīth scholars. She concluded that “women were involved in economic life in medieval Islam to an important degree.”18 Leslie Pierce and Ruby Lal, who reinterpreted the Ottoman and Mughal harems respectively, have shown the complex and contradictory character of domestic life, which was not limited to the home but extended well into the “public” domain.19

This complementary view of women as social and economic agents still, however, requires further refinement amongst Orientalists and Islamic historians. Julia Bray, in her study of men, women, and slaves in Abbasid society, laments that:

[D]espite their [women’s] much greater prominence in the biographical sources from around the thirteenth century onwards and in documentary sources from the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, and the greater attention that both families and women of these later periods are now receiving, women - though no longer families - tend to be seen as objects rather than as agents, of social development.20

One might add the criticism that, even where women in the mediaeval Islamic world are considered, scholars have tended to focus on the western Islamic lands, providing far less evidence from the eastern Iranian world or Central Asia. Umm ʿAlī of Balkh contributes in a small way to rectifying this imbalance.

The image of the mystical woman, in particular, has dominated the discourse on learned Muslim women. And, within this discourse, the case of Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya has been adopted as the archetypal form. Rābiʿa was born into a poor home and sold into slavery. Her sanctity secured her freedom in a life of celibacy and prayer. She gathered around her many disciples, including one of Balkh’s most famous early saints, Shaqīq al-Balkhī (d. 174/790-1) and the traditionist Sūfyān al-Thawrī (d. 161/778), both of whom feature prominently in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh.21 She received several offers of marriage but refused them all, choosing celibacy over marriage.

She was famed for her teaching on mystic love (maḥabba) and fellowship with God (uns).22 As we shall see, Umm ʿAlī of Balkh has a very different background to that of Rābiʿa, which indicates that mystical women must have been diverse.

Another line of enquiry concerns the alleged taboo against Muslim women studying with men to whom they were not related or married. In his study of Mamluk learned women, Jonathan Berkey refers to the fourteenth-

century Egyptian scholar Ibn al-Ḥajj, who held that it was not generally accepted that women sit across from men and get up and show the “private parts of their body.”23 This was seen as a threat to established sexual boundaries represented by the mixing of men and women in informal lessons in mosques or homes. Often, women were taught by other women. Huda Lutfi, however, emphasizes that there are discrepancies between the prescriptions that Ibn al-Ḥajj wants to uphold and women’s agency in reality. This becomes obvious in the fact that Ibn al-Ḥajj criticizes what had become a reality in Cairene society - the free mingling of women and men, as in mosques during public festivals.24 We shall see that Umm ʿAlī also displayed a more open attitude towards her male colleagues and teachers.

The question of women’s visibility and the law has been taken up by scholars such as Christopher Melchert, who surveyed mediaeval Islamic law on the question of whether women should be kept out of the mosque. He prefaces his article by saying, “It is commonly observed that women enjoyed greater freedom of movement in earlier Islamic law than later.”25 Matthieu Tillier found this public visibility to be true also of women at the Abbasid legal courts.26 Our study of Umm ʿAlī fits within these historiographical debates that find mediaeval Islamic women to be visible and influential in society, albeit usually mediated through male connections - a husband, father, or some other male relative.

The Argument of “misogyny”

Some scholars have tried to explain the decline in female scholarship after the ninth century CE as the result of a misogynistic bias of the male biographical compilers. Roded suggests that the ninth-century “ʿAbbāsid legists” purposely removed or omitted references to women scholars.27 Richard Bulliet has a counterargument: He takes the numbers of entries at face value and concludes that women actually lost importance in the scholarly circles from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries CE.28 As we shall see, Umm ʿAlī did not provoke an overt misogyny amongst her male biographers, who would have called into question her moral character or professional skills. She appears in numerous sources over the centuries, but again, she is only one case from Balkh.

The mediaeval female scholar presents a dilemma often misunderstood by those who look at ancient models to find support for contemporary views. Some scholars of the early 1990s held that the “origins” of the repression of modern Muslim women lay in the mediaeval period. Julie Scott Meisami argues strongly against this judgement29 posited by her colleagues, Fedwa Malti-Douglas, Leila Ahmed, and Denise Spellberg.30 Scott Meisami writes:

Gender and gender roles are social constructs and subject to change over time, both in actuality and in textual representations. Arguments based on the assumption that gender is a constant in any given society, culture, or religion and that it is uniformly so treated by writers, are therefore untenable.31

Equally, Umm ʿAlī should not be taken as the prototype for any paucity of women scholars observed in today’s eastern Iran or Central Asia, even though she presents only one case: we simply do not know the percentage of women scholars. Moreover, Umm ʿAlī’s scholarly path and her actions were mediated by a literary tradition that evolved over time. It is to this literary tradition that we now turn.

The Sources on Umm ʿAlī of Balkh

There are half a dozen interesting textual references to Umm ʿAlī in several Persian and Arabic sources. We are, in general, dealing with a challenging and limited base of sources, when compared with the evidence base in other disciplines. This contrasts markedly with the wealth of sources that scholars of learned women in ancient Greece possess, for example.32 It is with this source gap in mind that I deliberately adopt an in-depth view of the historiography on Umm ʿAlī to embrace the plurality and full range of possibility of her agency.

The main source of information on Umm ʿAlī’s life is the third part of the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, which profiles seventy shuyūkh (pl. of shaykh, i.e., members of the ʿulamāʾ) who flourished in Balkh between the seventh and twelfth centuries CE. From this underused prosopographical and historical source we can extract by far the most data on Umm ʿAlī’s life. The original Arabic version of the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh was written by the Shaykh al-Islām al-Wāʿiẓ al-Balkhī (fl. 610/1214), and his account survives only in a Persian rendition made by a certain ʿAbdallāh [b. Muḥammad] b. al-Qāsim al-Ḥusaynī (fl. 676/1278). We know of the author and translator only what the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh tells us, and we have no way of determining how closely the Persian rendition follows the original Arabic. We can say with some certainty that the Arabic author was a member of the ʿulamāʾ, as was probably the Persian translator.

The work survives in four manuscript copies only, none of which can be precisely dated.33 The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh is largely hagiographical and anecdotal, The second-oldest manuscript came to light a decade ago

which might call into question its validity as a source for history, but scholars such as Jürgen Paul have argued that storytelling is a narrative technique that keeps the audience interested while giving them a taste of universal messages that are common to works of adab (educational and entertaining prose); factuality was not so much the issue.34 We need to be careful when using the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh as a historical source, but, as the earliest surviving narrative from and on Balkh, it remains invaluable for our study.

The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, in turn, cites at least three sources for the account on Umm ʿAlī (see translated excerpt in appendix): the Risāla by Abū al-Qāsim Qushayrī; a work of ṭabaqāt, a biographical genre that classifies scholars according to “levels”;35 and “history books”. Abū al-Qāsim Qushayrī (d. 465/1072) is the source for the account of a dinner that Umm ʿAlī’s husband Aḥmad organized for a member of the futuwwa - the organizations of chivalry sometimes associated with Sufism but which, unlike the Sufi orders, tended to be more social than spiritual in orientation.36 Qushayrī is the well-known Khorasani mystic and scholar of the Shāfiʿī legal school, and his Risāla (c. 438/1045) is an important early compendium of the principles and terminologies of Sufism.37 The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh is a text that values the principles of piety and mysticism, and it is, therefore, not surprising that the author cites the Risāla. He was true to his source: the original account of the dinner in the Risāla survives today and is recognizable from the account in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh.38

Sufi sources tend, in general, to provide more information on female spiritual figures than do other Islamic texts.39 Qushayrī’s Risāla has contemporary parallels and successors that the author of the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh could have cited yet did not but which we will consider in this article.

These include Sufi hagiographical and prosopographical compilations and tadhkira works, such as Abū Nuʿaym al-Ḥ āfiz ̣ al-Isf̣ ahānī’s Ḥ ilyat al-awliyāʾ wa-tạ baqāt al-asfị yāʾ (composed 422/1031), al-Hujwīrī’s (d. 465-9/1072-7) Kashf al-maḥjūb, and Farīd al-Dīn Atṭ ạ̄ r’s (d. 617/1221 or earlier) Kitāb Tadhkirat al-awliyāʾ.40

The second source cited in the excerpt on Umm ʿAlī is a certain ʿAlī b. Faḍl on the wise sayings attributed to Umm ʿAlī (and her husband Aḥmad’s second wife, Ḥakīma Zāhida). Perhaps this is ʿAlī b. al-Faḍl b. al-Ṭāhir al-Balkhī (d. 323/934-5?) whose ṭabaqāt is mentioned elsewhere in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh as a key source.41 Women were by no means excluded from ṭabaqāt, as is demonstrated convincingly in Roded’s inventory. A very early source in the form of the Iraqī Ibn Saʿd’s (d. 230/845) ṭabaqāt, for example, included more than 4000 women (amongst them 629 independent entries, the rest being embedded in other sections).42 In the Khorasani Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfiyya by al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021), from Nishapur, we find no mention of Umm ʿAlī,43 but she appears in al-Sulamī’s minor work, the Dhikr al-niswa al-mutaʿabbidāt al-Ṣūfiyyāt.44

A third set of sources in the excerpt on Umm ʿAlī is referred to as “the history books” (kutub-i tawārīkh), which the Shaykh al-Islām al-Wāʿiẓ used to describe Umm ʿAlī’s ancestry.45 The generic reference is repeated elsewhere in the work and reflects the author’s primary focus on legal, scholarly, and Sufi works, his limited familiarity with historical texts, and a possible later redaction.46

Umm ʿAlī’s Path to Scholarship

Study and Credentials

From the excerpt on Umm ʿAlī in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, we learn that she received an Islamic education of the highest level in her time. She studied with a certain Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAbdallāh and transmitted his book of tafsīr (Qurʾanic exegesis).47 Faḍāʾil-i Balkh editor ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Ḥabībī and Richard Gramlich have identified this teacher as Ṣāliḥ ʿAbdallāh Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAbdallāh b. Dhakwān al-Bāhilī al-Tirmidhī (probably d. 239/853-4), who also taught the Qurʾan to Umm ʿAlī’s husband, Aḥmad b. Khiḍrawayh,48 to whom we shall return shortly.

Umm ʿAlī later travelled to Mecca, where she performed the ḥajj pilgrimage and remained for seven years to study, until she mastered all the branches of Islamic knowledge ( ʿilm) and was instructed in ḥadīth. None of the other sources describes the educational background that formed the basis for her scholarship. These are, of course, the credentials sought by male ʿulamāʾ as well. Travel was an important part of Islamic education until the sixth century of Islam, that is, before Muslim learning became more formalized through schools and madrasas.49

Umm ʿAlī’s studies should not strike us as unusual for women. Berkey explains that obtaining an education is well attested in the sources for mediaeval learned women. Amongst the 1075 women listed in al-Sakhawī’s al-Ḍawʾ al-lāmiʿ fī aʿyān al-qarn al-tāsiʿ on leading figures of the fifteenth century, for example, 411 obtained such an education - either by memorizing the Qurʾan, studying with a particular scholar, or receiving ijāzas (licenses to transmit). Her transmitting a book - rather than a set of ḥadīth - is likewise not uncommon.50

The standards and expectations of Umm ʿAlī as a scholar were in no way less rigorous than those to which her male counterparts were held: she still needed to travel to Mecca for the pilgrimage, to study with a master for an extended period, and to obtain the credentials to transmit her teacher’s work. The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh mentions without judgement her travels, in which she may have been unaccompanied by her husband.51

Marriage and Home

Nowhere have I found Umm ʿAlī’s birth or death dates. The lack of dates is a common feature in mediaeval accounts on Muslim learned women in general. Fortunately, the biography of her husband Aḥmad b. Khiḍrawayh in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh gives some information that allows us to home in on the second half of the ninth century. The clue is that, when Umm ʿAlī returned to Balkh from Mecca, her husband had already died. We know from the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh and other sources that Aḥmad died in 240/854-5, at the age of ninety-five. This sets the terminus post quem for Umm ʿAlī’s death at 240/854-5. If she did survive to old age, she would probably have lived well into the second half of the ninth century CE.

The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh does not mention Umm ʿAlī’s given name, but other sources do. Al-Hujwīrī tells us in his Kashf al-maḥjūb that Umm ʿAlī’s name was Fātịma.52 Umm ʿAlī married well, as one might expect for a woman of her standing (see below), but she did not marry a wealthy noble, choosing instead one of Balkh’s most beloved scholars and mystics, the qāḍī Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad b. Khiḍrawayh (d. 240/854-5), who receives ample treatment in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh53 and other hagiographical sources and is known as an example of the futuwwa (spiritual chivalry).54 Gramlich does not see him as a proponent of the malāmatiyya –the early Islamic mystical tradition that originated in Khorasan and based itself on the tenet that all outward appearance of piety or religiosity is ostentation– but, as Hamid Algar explains, the concepts of futuwwa and the malāma overlap during this period.55 As a fatā (a young male exponent of futuwwa), Aḥmad is credited with exhibiting much generosity, which left him in a constant state of debt.56 He expounded on the mystical concepts of seeking refuge in God alone, outlined a ten-step process to attain the Sufi ṭarīqa, and pondered the battle with the soul (nafs). He is said to have met and studied with major shuyūkh, such as Ibrāhīm b. Adham (d. 161/777-8), Ḥātim al-Asạ mm (d. 237/857-8), and Abū Ḥ afs ̣ b. Ḥ addād (d. c. 265/878-9) in Nishapur. Much is also written about his stay with Abū Yazīd al-Bistạ̄ mī (d. 261/874-5?).57 Aḥmad b. Khiḍrawayh had many students, including some better-known authorities.58 According to ʿAbdallāh al-Ansạ̄ rī al-Harawī (d. 481/1089), who mentions Umm ʿAlī only in passing, Aḥmad b. Khiḍrawayh also performed the ḥajj to Mecca, besides visiting the above-mentioned masters.59

While one might assume that Shaykh Aḥmad had chosen his betrothed, al-Hujwīrī’s account and those of his successors tell us that it was quite the opposite: Umm ʿAlī wooed Aḥmad. Umm ʿAlī’s decision to marry apparently came after a change of heart on the matter. We are not told what made her change her mind, but perhaps the message here is to stress the importance of marriage even for pious, mystical women. Al-Hujwīrī states that Umm ʿAlī had to ask Aḥmad more than once before he complied, and then only after she had cunningly appealed to his spiritual conscience.

Al-Hujwīrī says:

Chūn way-rā irādat-i tawba padīdār āmad, bi Aḥmad kas firistād, ki: “Ma-rā az pidar bikhwāh.” Way ijābat nakard. Kas firistād, ki: “Yā Aḥmad, man tū-rā mard-i ān napindāshtam ki rāh-i ḥaqq nazanī. Rāh-bar bāsh na rāh-bur.” Aḥmad kas firistād, wa way-rā as pidar bikhwāst.60

When she changed her mind, she sent someone [with a message] to Aḥmad: “Ask my father for my hand.” He did not respond. She sent someone [again with a message]: “Oh Aḥmad, I did not think you a man who would not follow the path of truth. Be a guide of the road; do not put obstacles on it.” Aḥmad sent someone [with a message] to ask her father for her hand.

In Atṭ ạ̄ r’s Tadhkirat al-awliyāʾ, Shaykh Aḥmad’s biographical entry contains a discussion of his wife Fātịma as a miracle-working mystic and “an accomplished master of the Sufi path” (andar ṭarīqat, āyat-ī būd).61 From here on, Atṭ ạ̄ r’s account closely resembles that of al-Hujwīrī. The latter recounts her wooing of Aḥmad thus:

Tawbat kard wa bar Aḥmad kas firistād, ki: “Ma-rā az pidar bikhwāh.” Aḥmad ijābat nakard. Dīgar bār kas firistād, ki: “Ay Aḥmad, man tu-rā mardāna-tar az īn dānistam. Rāh-bar bāsh, na rāh-bur.” Aḥmad kas firistād wa az pidar bikhwāst.62

She changed her mind, and sent someone to Aḥmad [with the message:] “Ask my father for my hand.” Aḥmad did not respond. Once more, she sent someone [with the message:] “Oh Aḥmad, I thought you were more manly than this. Be a guide of the road; do not put obstacles on it.” Aḥmad sent [a messenger] and asked her father for her hand.

Al-Hujwīrī, too, identified Umm ʿAlī as the daughter of a high official, although he calls her “daughter of the amīr of Balkh.”63 The imprecision about Fātịma’s lineage - she was the granddaughter of Balkh’s governor, as will be seen shortly - is repeated in later sources of the same genre. It contrasts with the persistence of the image of Umm ʿAlī as astute and “manly.”

After all, convention would have it that the man proposes to his prospective wife, and not vice versa.64

Social Class and Family Relations

The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh is a rich source for details on Umm ʿAlī’s family background and social class, the like of which I have not found elsewhere. By tracing the family links between Umm ʿAlī and other shuyūkh of the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, we can glean that Umm ʿAlī had considerable financial means and was descended from an important local family. Umm ʿAlī’s maternal grandfather was one of the early Abbasid governors of Balkh, al-Ḥasan b. Ḥumrān (fl. 142/759-60). The name of this early wālī (governor) of Balkh is attested also in fals coins.65 We are given her mother’s name (Muʾmina) and burial place, which emphasizes the importance of Umm ʿAlī’s semi matrilineal lineage, that is, one in which the mother is mentioned, with her patrilineal genealogy.66

The picture of Umm ʿAlī’s family comes into sharper focus when we trace the family links mentioned in at least five more biographies in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, all of which lead back to her grandfather, al-Ḥasan b. Ḥumrān. In fact, a genealogy emerges that is situated in the highest echelons of Balkhī society, both scholarly and secular. Thus, in addition to her maternal grandfather al-Ḥasan b. Ḥumrān, we learn about the latter’s brother (Umm ʿAlī’s great-uncle), Mutawakkil b. Ḥumrān (d. 142/759-60). He was a successor (ṭābiʿ) to a Companion of the Prophet. Mutawakkil was also Balkh’s first qāḍī and is profiled as the ninth shaykh in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh’s seventy biographies.67 We are told that he was a staunch supporter of Umayyad rule, until its bitter end, and distinguished himself as a proponent of irjāʾ.68 Men like Mutawakkil were the reason that one of Balkh’s epithets was “Murjiʾābād.”69

We also read that the governor had a second brother (i.e., a second great-uncle of Umm ʿAlī’s), called ʿAbdallāh. His line accounts for four more of Balkh’s seventy saints: Balkh’s thirty-sixth shaykh, Muḥammad al-Fuḍayl (d. 261/874-5), is his great-grandson, while Balkh’s fourteenth shaykh, the qāḍī Abū Mutị̄ ʿ al-Balkhī (d. 204/819-20), married his greatgrandaughter (and aunt of the said Muḥammad al-Fuḍayl ). The son of Abū Mutị̄ ʿ al-Balkhī is Balkh’s thirty-first shaykh, called Muḥammad b. Abī Mutīʿ (d. 244/858-9). Moreover, the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh’s twentieth shaykh, Qāsim al-Zurayq (d. 201/820-1), married into the family through one of Abū Mutị̄ ʿ’s daughters.70 We can now construct a family tree, which I call, for convenience, the “House of Ḥumrān.”

Mapping the genealogy of the “House of Ḥumrān” makes a convincing case that scholarship and political power often went hand in hand within the same extended family. This house alone produced six of Balkh’s seventy scholars profiled in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh, in addition to Umm ʿAlī. Thus, family ties and elite connections in the formation of the mediaeval scholarly community seem to have been equally important for men and women. I have argued elsewhere that a significant number - but not all - of Balkh’s shuyūkh were independently wealthy and connected to social and political circles of power.71 The same seems to have been true of women scholars. As we have seen, Umm ʿAlī had major family connections through maternal blood relations. Richard Bulliet also found that al-Fārisī’s women scholars were mentioned in his eleventh-century history of Nishapur, on account of their family and marriage ties.72

The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh emphasizes not only Umm ʿAlī’s family pedigree but also her wealth. She spent a considerable amount of her own money to finance her pilgrimage to Mecca.73 The ḥajj was an expensive undertaking for an eastern Khorasani: the distance between faraway Balkh and Mecca was 3150 kilometres, as the crow flies. Expenses included transport, food, and lodging costs for the outbound and inbound journeys, which took months. It appears she also financed her seven-year sojourn in Mecca herself. She obtained seventy-nine thousand dirhams from the sale of her estates and other possessions, and this would easily have covered all her costs.

It seems reasonable to assume that her wealth came from her grandfather’s days as the governor of Balkh, for he would probably have been a major landowner.

We do not know whether, during her sojourn in Mecca, Umm ʿAlī disbursed some of her great wealth to charity, a practice ascribed to other ninth-century women during their pilgrimages.74 Charity is a common trope in later accounts of Sufis and other mystical religious figures and scholars. Jāmī, in his account of Umm ʿAlī, says, “She was of noble descent and had many possessions. She donated everything to the poor” (Way az awlād-i akābir būd wa māl-i bisyār dāsht. Hama-rā bar fuqarā nafaqa kard).75

The channels through which female scholarship was acquired thus have a pragmatic element. The hosting and training of scholars and the patronage of shrines dedicated to them was expensive. In the ninth century CE it was the noble families, such as the House of Ḥumrān that had the financial resources, the know-how, and the important link with the early Abbasid past. The House of Ḥumrān is the only important family we can reconstruct from the biographies of the shuyūkh of the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh. The Faḍāʾil-i Balkh ends its own historical account of Balkh in Part One, which precedes the biographies - Part Two is a brief geographical overview - with that of the Samanids. Their ascent in Bukhara and that of the Banījūrids in Balkh seem to coincide with the end of the prominence of this family.76

Umm ʿAlī’s Actions and Attributes

Social Etiquette in Religious Society

One anecdote related in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh excerpt concerning Umm ʿAlī (see appendix) emphasizes Umm ʿAlī’s awareness of social etiquette when advising her husband on how to organize a dinner for a member of the futuwwa. The author portrays Umm ʿAlī as the one with the “insider knowledge” on how to host such fatā men. Her husband, on the other hand, is depicted as lacking such knowledge (thus, we read in FB’s excerpt: “Oh Aḥmad! Can’t you do that, and don’t you know how one ought to invite these people of humanity and [fol. 135b]77 chivalry (murūwat wafutuwwat)?”). We are thus left with the sense that Umm ʿAlī was worldly and “in the know,” while Aḥmad appears to have lacked confidence and sociability.

The anecdote on the dinner is recounted in several Sufi hagiographical works, with some variations. Al-Hujwīrī identified the chivalrous guest as the mystic Yaḥyā b. Muʿādh al-Rāẓī (d. 258/872).78 He explains that Shaykh Aḥmad consulted his wife on the dinner party in this way:

“Daʿwat-i Yaḥyā-rā chi bāyad?” Guft: “Chandīn sar gāw wa gūsfand wa hawāyij wa tawābil wa chandīn shamʿ wa ʿatṛ Wa bā īn hama nīz bīst sar khar bibāyad kusht.” Aḥmad guft: “Kushtan-i kharān chi maʿnī dārad?” Guft: “Chūn karīmī bi khāna-yi karīmī mihmān bāshad, nabāyad ki sagān-i maḥallat-rā az ān khayr bāshad?79

“How do I make the invitation to Yahya?” She said: “Some cows and sheep, carrots and seasoning, and some candles and perfume. And on top of all this, twenty asses must be killed.” Aḥmad said: “What is the meaning of the killing of asses?” She said: “When a great man comes to the house of another great man, should the dogs of the quarter not benefit from it?

The implication in Faḍāʾil-i Balkh that Umm ʿAlī was questioning Aḥmad’s competence is absent from the Kashf al-maḥjūb. It appears that al-Hujwīrī’s account is less concerned with the possibly unbalanced relationship between Aḥmad and Umm ʿAlī but keen on passing on her experiences of hosting proper dinners and the importance and act of generosity in general.

It could be that the killing of the asses is a secondary element in the story. It certainly sounds like a component added to the main story, which concerns the treatment of the futuwwa. The secondary element is inserted to show that Umm ʿAlī was so sensitive to the needs of God’s creatures that she considered the needs even of the unclean dogs. The charity may, however, have gone too far: why slaughter useful asses to feed ravening dogs?

Living out the Sufi Experience

The second anecdote in the Faḍāʾil-i Balkh’s excerpt on Umm ʿAlī recounts her receiving the news that her husband had died and, shortly thereafter, learning that Aḥmad had merely fainted and was actually in good health. Umm ʿAlī is depicted as the apotheosis of composure and patience, which are important virtues for Sufis. Her unruffled stance throughout this series of events is contrasted with the agitated reactions of the co-wife, Ḥakīma Zāhida. The author concludes that it is clear from this account that everyone reaches his or her particular “station” (maqām) and “moment” (waqt) in life. The implication appears to be that Umm ʿAlī had reached higher levels in both maqām and waqt.

The concepts of maqām and waqt are important in Sufism. The Sufi maqām is the dimension of spiritual experience generally characterized as having a certain duration and resulting, to some extent, from individual striving. The Sufi waqt is a dimension of mystical experience considered a timeless instant in which one is aware most acutely of one’s spiritual state.80

Umm ʿAlī, who is also called the one who is “of a high standing” (mahd-i ʿaliyya), had reached these spiritual heights. Umm ʿAlī is, for Shaykh al-Islām al-Wāʾiẓ, an exemplary mystic.

Al-Hujwīrī also emphasizes Umm ʿAlī’s spiritual qualities, stating explicitly that she was “on the ṭarīqa”, the Sufi path upon which all mystics embarked: “Fātịma, his [Aḥmad b. Khiḍrawayh’s] wife, had a noble standing in the Sufi path” (Wa Fāṭima, ki ʿiyāl-i way būd, andar ṭarīqat shaʾnī ʿaẓīm dāsht).81

Why is it compulsory to follow Ahlul Bayt (Hadith al-Thaqalayn)?

The prophet (saw) has left us two important things. If we adhere to them, we will never go astray. Several authentic narrations comfirm that the two weighty things left to us by the prophet are the Quran and His progeny (ahlul bayt). However, the majority of the muslims believe that the 2 weighty things are the Quran and the Sunnah of the prophet.

It is a proven fact that hadiths were written at the time of the prophet. After His demise, the political regimes that followed on gathered most (and not all) of the written sources of hadiths to burn them. Moreover, the writing of hadiths was prohibitted. The only source of preservation was through memory.

As time rolled on, this method of preservation proved to be ineffective because it became difficult to keep track of all the hadiths since most of companions who lived and heard the prophet passed away. Moreover, not everyone remembered the exact wording of the hadiths and when they were said. To make things worse, the corrupted political regimes (Banu Umayya and Banu Abbas) paid citizen muslims to fabricate hadiths that will support their doctrine and promote their Islamic school of thought.

It became difficult for most muslims to tell apart a false hadith from a true one. Therefore, the tradition that says the two weighty things are the Quran and the Sunnah of the prophet falls apart because of these fabrications.

The only individuals who were able to authenticate any hadith were the Ahlul Bayt. They were the true protectors and the most knowledgeable, in particular Ali ibn Abu Talib who had in his possession a written document of all the authentic hadiths of the prophet, called Sahifah al-Jamiaa'. But the corrupted political regimes were abled to isolate these highly virtuous and knowledgeable individuals from the society, who were the only source of guidance after the prophet.

History has witnessed Ahlul Bayt undergoing extreme sufferings from these political regimes because they (ahlul bayt) totally rejected their unislamic doctrine and they were a threat to all the unjust leaders. All muslims agree that Ahlul Bayt are as truthful as the Quran is and they can never be separated from the Quran in this life. Unfortunately, we dont see that in practice. The hadiths of the prophet are the key to the interpretation of the Quran.

A unique interpretation of the Quran is necessary to make a united Ummah. Not every transmitter of a hadith is a credible one. Using fabricated hadiths to interprete the Quran will lead to false interpretations. To avoid any deception, the prophet has ordered us to follow both, the Quran and ahlul bayt.

The people the most fit to transmit the Sunnah of the prophet are His progeny because of their exceptional virtues. They have been purified by Allah a perfect purification, which means they don't make mistakes, they don't alter the narrations, they don't lie. Moreover, they have inherited the knowledge of the prophet. Is not the prophet the city of knowledge and Ali its gate? Others however, may transmit narrations with unintentional alterations or errors because they can make mistakes and they forget. It is just logical to take narrations that are transmitted from reliable sources that are endowed with special virtues and have a special place with regards to Allah.

Bottom line is that hadith al-thaqalayn proves that it is compulsory for us to follow ahlul bayt alongside with the Quran in order not to go astray. The Banu Umayyah and Banu Abbas have spent centuries fighting and demeaning ahlul bayt, in order to deprive the masses of muslims from their guidance. By isolating ahlul bayt from the society, the oppressors were capable of exercising their tyranny over the muslims. They were able to fabricate hadiths and twist the meanings of the Quran to fit their doctrine.

That is exactly why the Islamic world is submerged with tragedies and disasters. That is exactly why we have several sects that have considerable differences. Today's islamic leadership is an exact copy of the Banu Umayyah and Banu Abbas leadership. A leadership that fully contradicts the teachings of the Quran.

Content:

Hadith al-Thaqalayn Hadiths conflicting hadith al-Thaqalayn Is it the Quran and my progeny or the Quran and my Sunnah? External Links:

More on hadith al-Thaqalayn Hadith al-Thaqalayn

Yazid b. Hayyan reported, I went along with Husain b. Sabra and 'Umar b. Muslim to Zaid b. Arqam and, as we sat by his side, Husain said to him: Zaid. you have been able to acquire a great virtue that you saw Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) listened to his talk, fought by his side in (different) battles, offered prayer behind me. Zaid, you have in fact earned a great virtue.

Zaid, narrate to us what you heard from Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him). He said: I have grown old and have almost spent my age and I have forgotten some of the things which I remembered in connection with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him), so accept whatever I narrate to you, and which I do not narrate do not compel me to do that. He then said: One day Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being.

I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family. He (Husain) said to Zaid: Who are the members of his household? Aren't his wives the members of his family? Thereupon he said: His wives are the members of his family (but here) the members of his family are those for whom acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. And he said: Who are they? Thereupon he said: 'Ali and the offspring of 'Ali, 'Aqil and the offspring of 'Aqil and the offspring of Ja'far and the offspring of 'Abbas. Husain said: These are those for whom the acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. Zaid said: Yes.

Yazid b. Hayyan reported: We went to him (Zaid b. Arqam) and said to him. You have found goodness (for you had the honour) to live in the company of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and offered prayer behind him, and the rest of the hadith is the same but with this variation of wording that he said: Behold, for I am leaving amongst you two weighty things, one of which is the Book of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, and that is the rope of Allah.

He who holds it fast would be on right guidance and he who abandons it would be in error, and in this (hadith) these words are also found: We said: Who are amongst the members of the household? Aren't the wives (of the Holy Prophet) included amongst the members of his house hold? Thereupon he said: No, by Allah, a woman lives with a man (as his wife) for a certain period; he then divorces her and she goes back to her parents and to her people; the members of his household include his ownself and his kith and kin (who are related to him by blood) and for him the acceptance of Zakat is prohibited.

Reference:

*- Sahih Muslim, Book 031, Number 5920, 5923 - Kitab Al-Fada'il Al-Sahabah; Page 941, Number 2408-36 (Arabic version)

*- Musnad ibn Hanbal, v4,p366 [Entire book:(p1409,#19479)] - It is narrated that the prophet repeated the sentence “I remind you in the name of Allah about my Ahlul-Bayt” three times.

The messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) said: “I am leaving for you two precious and weighty Symbols that if you adhere to BOTH of them you shall not go astray after me. They are, the Book of Allah, and my progeny, that is my Ahlul-Bayt. The Merciful has informed me that These two shall not separate from each other till they come to me by the Pool (of Paradise).”

حَدَّثَنَا أَسوَدُ بنُ عَامِرٍ أَخبَرَنَا أَبُو إِسرَائِيلَ يَعنِي إِسمَاعِيلَ بنَ أَبِي إِسحَاقَ المُلَائِيَّ عَن عَطِيَّةَ عَن أَبِي سَعِيدٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنِّي تَارِكٌ فِيكُم الثَّقَلَينِ أَحَدُهُمَا أَكبَرُ مِن الآخَرِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ حَبلٌ مَمدُودٌ مِن السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الأَرضِ وَعِترَتِي أَهلُ بَيتِي وَإِنَّهُمَا لَن يَفتَرِقَا حَتَّى يَرِدَا عَلَيَّ الحَوضَ

Reference:

*- Musnad ibn Hanbal, v3,p14 [Entire book:(p785,#11120)]; v3,p17 [Entire book:(p787,#11148)]; v3,p27 [Entire book:(p794,#11229)]; v3,p59 [Entire book:(p817,#11582)]; v5,p181 [Entire book:(p1591,#21911)]; v5,p189 [Entire book:(p1597,#21993)];

*- Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v5, pp 662-663,328, report of 30+ companions, with reference to several chains of transmitters.

*- al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, Chapter of “Understanding the virtues of Companions, v3, pp 109,110,148,533 who wrote this tradition is authentic (Sahih) based on the criteria of the two Shaikhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim).

*- Sunan, by Daarami, v2, p432

*- Fadha'il al-Sahaba, by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v2, p585, Tradition #990

*- al-Khasa'is, by al-Nisa'i, pp 21,30

*- al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p230

*- al-Kabir, by al-Tabarani, v3, pp 62-63,137

*- History of Ibn Asakir, v5, p436

*- al-Durr al-Manthoor, al-Hafidh al-Suyuti, v2, p60

*- Tafsir Ibn Kathir (complete version), v4, p113, under commentary of verse 42:23 of Quran (four traditions)

*- Usdul Ghabah fi Ma'rifat al-Sahaba, Ibn al-Athir, v2, p12

إني تارك فيكم ما إن تمسكتم به لن تضلوا بعدي أحدهما أعظم من الآخر كتاب الله حبل ممدود من السماء إلى الأرض وعترتي أهل بيتي ولن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض فانظروا كيف تخلفوني فيهما. (ت عن زيد بن أرقم)

Reference:

*- Kanz al-U'ummal, by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi: v1,#873,#946,#950,#952,#953 (المجلد الأول << الباب الثاني في الاعتصام بالكتاب والسنة );

*- al-Jaami'i al-Sagheer, by Jalaludin al-Suyuti: v3,#2631 (المجلد الثالث << [تتمة باب حرف الألف ]);

*- Ziyadat al-Jaami'i al-Sagheer, by Jalaludin al-Suyuti: #1773 (كتاب “زيادة الجامع الصغير”، للسيوطي << حرف الهمزة );

إني لا أجد لنبي إلا نصف عمر الذي كان قبله وإني أوشك أن أدعى فأجيب فما أنتم قائلون قالوا نصحت قال أليس تشهدون أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدا عبده ورسوله وأن الجنة حق وأن النار حق وأن البعث بعد الموت حق قالوا نشهد قال وأنا أشهد معكم ألا هل تسمعون فإني فرطكم على الحوض وأنتم واردون الحوض وإن عرضه أبعد ما بين صنعاء وبصرى فيه أقداح عدد النجوم من فضة فانظروا كيف تخلفوني في الثقلين قالوا وما الثقلان يا رسول الله قال كتاب الله طرفه بيد الله وطرفه بأيديكم فاستمسكوا به ولا تضلوا والآخر عترتي وأن اللطيف الخبير نبأني أنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض فسألت ذلك لهما ربي فلا تقدموهما فتهلكوا ولا تقصروا عنهما. فتهلكوا ولا تعلوهم فإنهم أعلم منكم من كنت أولى به من نفسه فعلي وليه اللهم وال من والاه وعاد من عاداه. (طب عن أبي الطفيل عن زيد بن أرقم)

Reference:

*- Kanz al-U'ummal, by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi: v1,#957 (المجلد الأول << الباب الثاني في الاعتصام بالكتاب والسنة );

يا أيها الناس إني قد نبأني اللطيف الخبير إنه لن يعمر نبي إلا نصف عمر الذي يليه من قبله وإني قد يوشك أن أدعى فأجيب وإني مسؤول وإنكم مسؤولون فما أنتم قائلون قالوا نشهد أنك قد بلغت ورسوله وأن جنته حق وناره حق وأن الموت حق وأن البعث حق بعد الموت وأن الساعة آتية لا ريب فيها وأن الله يبعث من في القبور يا أيها الناس إن الله مولاي وأنا مولى المؤمنين أولى بهم من أنفسهم فمن كنت مولاه فهذا مولاه يعني عليا اللهم وال من والاه وعاد من عاداه يا أيها الناس إني فرطكم وإنكم واردون علي الحوض أعرض ما بين بصرى إلى صنعاء فيه عدد النجوم قدحان من فضة وإني سائلكم حين تردون علي عن الثقلين فانظروا كيف تخلفوني فيهما الثقل الأكبر كتاب الله عز وجل سبب طرفه بيد الله وطرفه بأيديكم فاستمسكوا به لا تضلوا ولا تبدلوا وعترتي أهل بيتي فإنه قد نبأني اللطيف الخبير أنهما لن ينقضيا حتى يردا علي الحوض. (الحكيم طب عن أبي الطفيل عن حذيفة بن أسيد)

Reference:

*- Kanz al-U'ummal, by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi: v1,#958 (المجلد الأول << الباب الثاني في الاعتصام بالكتاب والسنة ); Note the last sentence “These two shall not separate from each other till they come to me by the Pool (of Paradise)”. This shows the great importance of ahlul bayt with regards to guidance and truth. They should never be separated from the Quran.

حدثنا أبو الحسين محمد بن أحمد بن تميم الحنظلي ببغداد، حدثنا أبو قلابة عبد الملك بن محمد الرقاشي، حدثنا يحيى بن حماد، وحدثني أبو بكر محمد بن بالويه وأبو بكر أحمد بن جعفر البزار قالا: حدثنا عبد الله بن أحمد بن حنبل، حدثني أبي، حدثنا يحيى بن حماد

وثنا أبو نصر أحمد بن سهل الفقيه ببخارى، حدثنا صالح بن محمد الحافظ البغدادي، حدثنا خلف بن سالم المخرمي، حدثنا يحيى بن حماد، حدثنا أبو عوانة، عن سليمان الأعمش قال: حدثنا حبيب بن أبي ثابت، عن أبي الطفيل، عن زيد بن أرقم -رضي الله تعالى عنه- قال :

لما رجع رسول الله -صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم- من حجة الوداع، ونزل غدير خم، أمر بدوحات، فقمن، فقال: (كأني قد دعيت فأجبت، إني قد تركت فيكم الثقلين، أحدهما أكبر من الآخر، كتاب الله تعالى، وعترتي، فانظروا كيف تخلفوني فيهما، فإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض

ثم قال: (إن الله -عز وجل- مولاي، وأنا مولى كل مؤمن). ثم أخذ بيد علي -رضي الله تعالى عنه- فقال: (من كنت مولاه، فهذا وليه، اللهم وال من والاه، وعاد من عاداه). وذكر الحديث بطوله. هذا حديث صحيح على شرط الشيخين، ولم يخرجاه بطوله. شاهده حديث سلمة بن كهيل، عن أبي الطفيل، أيضا صحيح على شرطهما. (ج/ص: 2/ 132)

References:

*- Mustadrak, al Hakim, vol 3, #174/4576 (المجلد الثالث << -31- كتاب معرفة الصحابة رضي الله تعالى عنهم >> ومن مناقب أمير المؤمنين: علي بن أبي طالب -رضي الله تعالى عنه- مما لم يخرجاه )

حدثنا أبو بكر محمد بن الحسين بن مصلح الفقيه بالري، حدثنا محمد بن أيوب، حدثنا يحيى بن المغيرة السعدي، حدثنا جرير بن عبد الحميد، عن الحسن بن عبد الله النخعي، عن مسلم بن صبيح، عن زيد بن أرقم -رضي الله تعالى عنه- قال: قال رسول الله -صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم-: (إني تارك فيكم الثقلين كتاب الله وأهل بيتي، وإنهما لن يتفرقا حتى يردا علي الحوض)

هذا حديث صحيح الإسناد على شرط الشيخين، ولم يخرجاه. (ج/ص: 3/161 )

References:

*- Mustadrak, al Hakim, vol 3, #309/4711 (المجلد الثالث << -31- كتاب معرفة الصحابة رضي الله تعالى عنهم >> ومن مناقب أهل رسول الله -صلَّى الله عليه وسلم -)

Consider the tradition that says the 2 weighty things are the Quran and the Sunnah. Which version of the sunnah do we follow? The Hanbalis? The Hanafis? The Shafiis? Or the Malikis? Or the Twelvers? Aren't these 5 different islamic school of thoughts? One of each being the fundamentals of religion education of a specific muslim country? The emergence of these 5 schools of thoughts have resulted in the divergence of the interpretation of the Quran among them.

Don't you think the prophet knew this would have happened? That some corrupted people would fabricate new haddiths and alter existing ones for political and other reasons. Don't you think he knew that future generations will rely on fabricated hadiths to explain the Quran. The more the school of thoughts are in desagreement with each others, the more confused we become, and the further away from the truth we are. This is just common sense. The sole fact that there are many schools of thoughts is an indication that all 5 differ in their jurisprudence. Otherwise, what is the point of their existence?

So which Sunnah do we follow? The answer is in Sahih Muslim and many other reliable shia and sunni references: The sunnah of the Prophet as carried and transmitted by Ahlul Bayt. The prophet did not order us to follow Ahmad ibn Hanbal, or Hanafi or Malik ibn Anas or Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafii. He simply ordered us to adhere to the members of Ahlul Bayt because they are the protectors of the hadiths and the correct interpreters of the Quran and the authentic transmitters of the teachings of the prophet. If muslims had followed hadith al-thaqalayn, then there would have been only one school of thought: that of the prophet and the Islamic nation would have been united under one jurisprudence.

If each school of thought says they are right about everything, then why are they different? How do you learn about the Sunnah of the prophet when you have several versions and interpretations? How do you learn about islam? The Quran by itself is not enough, we need a genuine sunnah to interprete its content. We need reliable sources. Think it through. Use common sense.

Hadiths conflicting hadith al-Thaqalayn There are several hadiths that appear to be contradicting hadith al-Thaqalayn. Could the prophet contradict himself? Certainly not! All of these conflicting hadiths share one thing in common: They are not found in the reliable hadiths sources of the Twelvers Shiah. In fact, the Twelvers Shiah do not consider them as authentic. They are only found in the Sunnis books.

Adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly-guided successors after me. Hold on to it and cling on to it stubbornly.

Hadith al-thaqalayn is known to have been narrated by more than 30 companions of the prophet and is proven to be authentic by the Sunnis and Shiah school of thoughts. This means that any conflicting narration to hadith al-thaqalayn is likely to be a fabrication. According to the Sunnis, the rightly guided caliphs are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, which is not the case for the Twelvers Shiah.

It has already been proven that the first three caliphs have introduced innovations to Islam during their leaderships. How could the prophet tell us to follow his progeny and at the same time follow the “rightly guided” caliphs, three of which have not only alter the rulings of Islam, but have also fought Ahlul Bayt. Besides, what purpose does the Sunnah of the prophet serve if we have to follow the Sunnah of the “rightly guided” caliphs?!? Wasn't the purpose of the prophet to fight those who contradict the teachings of Allah?

The only Sunnah to follow is that of the prophet and no one else! Accepting this hadith is insulting to the purpose and special virtues of the prophet. He was sent to guide all of us. We therefore follow his teachings and guidance.

Take part of your religion from this Humayra' (i.e. A'ishah).

The above narration is another contradiction to the hadith of al-thaqalayn. How can you take part of Islam from Aisha who was disrespectful to the prophet in many instances. She conspired with the other wives against Him. She fought Ali, the beloved brother of the prophet, causing the death of thousands of Muslims. She disobeyed Allah by leaving her house to wage a war against Ali. She became violent because of her excessive jealousy. She spread her legs in front of the prophet while he was praying. She mistrusted Him. She confirms that the prayer of the traveler is 2 rakaa's, yet prays 4 rakaa's so as to please Uthaman ibn Affan.

She spoke ill and with disrespect (in front of the prophet) of our beloved mother, Khadija (the first wife of the prophet) who the angel Gabriel gave glad tidings and whom Allah has built a castlle for in paradise. She hated Ali, the beloved cousin and brother of the prophet, about whom He said: “O 'Ali! none but a true believer loves you, and none but a hypocrite hates you”. How can you take part of Islam from her? Is such an examplar for women to follow? Is it possible for the prophet to tell us to learn Islam her? Read more about Aisha, the second wife of the prophet Muhammad, and you will soon realize whether you can really learn about half of Islam from her! Many reliable Sunnis scholars have rejected this hadith and treated it as a fabrication. Among them, there are:

Reference:

(taken from al-shia.com)

*- alMizzi and alDhahabi as mentioned in alTaqrir wa al-tahbir fi sharh alTahrir, iii 99

*- Ibn Qayyim alJawziyyah, who has considered all traditions with the words “ya Humayra” and “al-Humayrah” as fabrications

*- Ibn Kathir as quoted in alDurar almuntashirah fi al-'ahadith almushtahirah, 79

*- Ibn Hajar alAsqalani as quoted in al-Taqrir wa altahbir, iii, 99

*- Ibn alMulaqqin, alSubki, Ibn Amir al-Hajj, alSakhawi, alSuyuti, alShaybani, alShaykh Ali alQari, al-Zarqani, Abd alAli alShawkani and others Follow those who will come after me, Abu Bakr and Umar.

Ibrahim ibn Ismail, Ismail ibn Yahya, Yahya ibn Salamah ibn Kuhayl and Abu alZara' are the transmittters of this hadith. They have been considered as unreliable transmitters by Abu Zurah, Abu Hatim, Ibn Numayr, alDarqutni, alBukhari, alNasa'i, Ibn Muin, Ibn Hibban, al-Tirmidhi and others. Read the comments made after the next hadith to understand why the above hadith cannot have been narrated by the prophet. Verily, my Companions are like the stars (nujum) in the sky; whichever of them you follow, you shall be guided rightly. The disagreement of my Companions is a blessing for you.

The prophet spent his life establishing the rulings of Islam as well as fighting those who were hostile to them. Allah does not allow an unjust person to rule His nation, Allah does not allow an individual to introduce innovations to His religion. Abu Bakr and Umar, as well as the third caliph, Uthman, have done a lot of things that are unacceptable to the religion that the prophet dedicated His life to. Today, all muslims are affected by these changes which have created tensions among the different sects of Islam for holding on to different beliefs.

Haven't many of the companions turned their backs to religion? Haven't they become infidels after cutting the throats of one another in the battles of Siffin and the Camel? Haven't they fought each others for the pleasures of this world? Haven't they introduced innovations to the religion? Then how can we be guided by anyone of them after all their unislamic deeds? Is not their behavior a sign of misguidance? The companions desagreed among themselves on religious rulings (Umar was ignorant of the concept of Tayammum, others rejected the concept of temporary marriage (hadith of sahih Muslim #3261) as well as political positions. How many of them joined Muawiyah or the mother of the believers, Aisha to fight Ali ibn Abi Talib? I dont see how the desagreement among them is a blessing for us! In fact, this desagreement is what has mutilated Islam and its followers. If they were to follow the hadith of al-thaqalayn (starting with Umar who said the Quran was sufficient for us - see the calamity of thursday), we would have been in a better condition!

The last hadith has 2 problems. First, not all companions were righteous. If we were indeed asked to follow them, only the righteous ones ought to be followed. Fortunately, the fabricators of this hadith were not smart enough to distinguish between the good and the bad companions. Second, the companions are not to be followed. Their duties were to help spread Islam, teach and implement its rules and set themselves as examples to the community. They themselves needed guidance! We ought to follow those to whom guidance was given to, that is the prophet Muhammad and His pure progeny, who should never be separated from the Quran.

Moreover, a long list of Ulamas have declared this hadith as a mere fabrication to bring a strong support the companions and isolate the progeny of Ahlul bayt from the society.

Is it the Quran and my progeny or the Quran and my Sunnah? The muslim Ulamas have proven the strong authenticity of the hadith of al-thaqalayn that orders us to follow the Quran and the progeny of the prophet. Knowing the virtuous of the members of Ahlul Bayt, there is no doubt that Allah has endowed them with the knowledge to explain the Quran and guide the muslims. The tradition has been accepted as authentic by Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as well as the Twelvers Shiaa scholars.

As far as the second version that states “the Quran and my Sunnah”, the chain of narrators have been proven to be a weak source by many reliable Sunnis scholars. Two members of the chain of narrators are Ismael bin Owais from Abi Owais and are both considered unreliable narrators. Another chain of transmission is: Al-Zabee from Saleh bin Musa Al- talhe from Abdul-Aziz bin Rafia from Abi Saleh from Abu Huraira. Saleh bin Musa is also considered a weak source of hadith by many scholars.

A third chain of transmission is:Abdul-Rahman bin yahya from Ahmad bin Saeed from Muhammed bin Ebrahim Al-Dbaili from Ali bin Zaid Al-fraedi from Al-hurairi from Katheer bin Abdulla bin Omar bin Auf from his father and from his grandfather. Imam Shafii and Abu Dawood (the author of Sunan of Abu Dawood, d.276 A.H.) consider Katheer bin Abdulla a liar. Moreover, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said about Katheer bin Abdulla: “His traditions are rejected and he is not reliable”.

Moreover, “the Quran and my Sunnah” version of the hadith is not mentioned in Sahih Muslim or Sunan al-Tirmidhi.