Causes
Postponement of writing down the hadith and recording its words till after the 1st century A.H. and beginnings of the 2nd century, led to expansion of categories of riwayah, and multiplication of composition without any regulation or restriction. Consequently the number of fabricated traditions reached tens of thousands, most of which are still recorded in the books circulated among Muslims all over the world, East and West.
Beginning of Invention in Riwayah and Falsifying the Messenger’s Hadith
There is unanimity among all researchers and investigating scholars that invention in riwayah and composition of hadith with ascribing it to the Messenger of Allah (S) started during the days of the caliphate of Uthman, after the insurrection that ended with his death. Invention became more intense and increased after swearing allegiance to Ali. As soon as Muslims acknowledged him as the competent ruler, the Umayyad devil began hatching the plot after another to seize caliphate from its true owner and rendering it to an Umayyad sovereignty. And that came true, alas!
Al-Ustadh al-Imam Muhammad Abduh (may God’s mercy be upon him) in his Muqaddimat on Risalat al-Tawhid, referred to the great sedition by saying: “This sedition led to the decline of a significant cornerstone of the temple of caliphate, causing to Islam and Muslims a shock that dislodged them from the straight path they have trodden steadily, and on whose course the Qur’an remained established.” Then he wrote an accurate sincere statement declaring:
“After that the sequence of events continued with breaching the covenant by some of those who swore allegiance to the Fourth Caliph,
and eruption of several wars among the Muslims that led to the shifting of power to the Umayyads. But the structure of the company was split, and bonds of their unity were severed, with people being divided into several schools of thought regarding caliphate, and parties embarking on supporting the opinion of some school against that of its opponent, verbally and practically.”
Then originated the invention in narration and interpretation, with every sect going to the extremes, leading then to disagreement and disunity among people
...etc.
The Fabricated Hadith
The fabricated hadith is the forged invented one ascribed to the Messenger of Allah (S), falsely and slandrously, whether it be deliberately or mistakenly.
And as one of the Imams said, fabricating the hadith and ascribing it to the Messenger of Allah (S) being more dangerous to religion and of severer detriment to Muslims than bigotry of people of the east and of the west. And separation of Muslims into schisms, communities, schools of thought (madhahib) and cults is but only one of the effects and consequences of fabrication and composition in the Din.
In his book Ithar al-haqq, al-Murtada al-Yamani said: Most of the innovations of the heretics among the Muslims, originate from the following two apparently invalid factors: addition to and omission from religion (hadith). One form of addition to religion is verily falsifying and fabricating it.
Al-Nawawi in Sharh Muslim, reports from al-Qadi `Iyad as saying: Liars are of two sorts: one of them a group known of forgery and falsity in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (S), who are of several categories: some known of composing traditions that were never uttered by the Messenger of Allah (S) at all, such as the Zanadiqah and their likes who were never observing any commitment to Allah, either out of favouritism as they alleged, and religiosity like the ignorants among worshippers,
who fabricated traditions on virtues and recommendable deeds, or out of doing something strange and seeking fame like the debauchees among traditionists. Or out of bigotry and argumentation like the propagators among the heretics and fanatics to madhahib (schools of thought), or for satisfying the desires of world-seeking people to attain to their goals, and asking for success for their doing.
Among them also were those who would not fabricate text of hadith, but would bring in a correct authentic chain of transmission for the weak text. Some of them would reverse the chains (asanid) or add to them on purpose either for the sake of saying what is stranger than others or to take away ignorance from himself. Some would lie by claiming to have heard what he did not really hear, and meet whom he did not really meet, reporting correct traditions from them. Some others would take the speech of the Companions or others, and maxims of the Arabs and sages, ascribing them to the Prophet (S).
Besides the reasons mentioned by al-Nawawi for fabricating the hadith and falsifying the Messenger’s traditions, many others are there that were stated by the ulama’, the most important of which being the following:
First: Which is the most important of all. It includes the traditions fabricated and falsified by the Zanadiqah disguising cheatingly and hypocritically under the guise of Islam, with the purpose of corrupting and ruining the religion with creating conflict and disunity among Muslims.
Hammad ibn Zayd said: The Zanadiqah have fabricated four thousand traditions. This being the number he could realize through his knowledge and investigation in discovering their falsity, whereas the traditionists reported that only one zindiq had composed this number of traditions. They say that” When Ibn Ali al-Awja’ was taken to be beheaded, he said: “I fabricated for you four thousand traditions, forbidding in them the halal (lawful) and deeming lawful the haram (unlawful)”.
Second: Fabrication of hadith for the sake of backing and supporting the schools of thought in regard of principles (usul) and branches of religion. Since when Muslims were separated into schisms and madhahib, every group embarked on doing its utmost to prove the legality of its madhhab, especially after the door of debate and disputation regarding the madhahib was opened wide.
The aim of this was only dumbfounding the opponent and showing of superiority over him, to the extent they have made dispute a science compiling on it many works, though their religion was averse to nothing but to dispute and conflict. This cause seems to be one of the consequences and effects of the previous one. This cause was cited by some of the traditionists who had written about causes of fabrication, saying: Someone among the heretics repented and embarked on expressing: You should investigate the source from which you take the hadith, as we used to render to a hadith whatever we desired or loved to be attained.
Fabrication of hadith for supporting the madhahib was not restricted to the heretics and owners of schools in usul. Rather many among Ahl al-Sunnah, who having disagreement about the branches (furu’) of religion, were known of composing traditions each for supporting one of the schools of thought or glorifying any of the leaders (imams)...
I introduce here one hadith as an example: “There shall be a man in my Ummah called Muhammad ibn Idris, who will be more detrimental to my Ummah than Iblis. And there shall be among my Ummah a man called Abu Hanifah, who is verily the beacon for my Ummah.”
It is said that among the chain of transmitters there are two fabricators: Ma’mun ibn Ahmad al-Salami, and Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Khunbari. The hadith was reported by al-Khatib on the authority of Abu Hurayrah with a chain of transmitters, sufficing with the part related to Abu Hanifah, adding: It is a fabricated hadith, composed by Muhammad ibn Sa’id al-Maruzi al-Bawraqi. Then he said: He narrated it in this way in Khurasan and then in Iraq, adding to it: “There shall be among my Ummah a man called Muhammad ibn Idris, who will cause a sedition that be more detrimental to my Ummah than that of Iblis”.
It is said that no need is there to prove the baselessness of this intentional violation of truth. Nevertheless, there are some considerable jurisprudents who mention in their fiqhi books the part of the hadith labelling Abu Hanifah as the beacon of the Ummah,
without any objection. Rather they even infer it for giving superiority for their leader over other leaders (imams). Despite all this, they are considered the example for the Ummah whose sayings and judgements on religious affairs are so dependable, that the Book and the Sunnah are put under their disposal since these two – as they claim – are specifically handled by the religious high authorities (mujtahidun).
In his Sharh Sahih Muslim, Abu al-Abbas al-Qurtubi says: Some of the self-opinionated fuqaha’ permit to verbally ascribe to the Messenger of Allah the ruling that is indicated by a clear-cut analogy (qiyas), saying in this regard: “The Messenger of Allah said so and so”. Hence we find their books replete with traditions whose texts testify on themselves being fabricated since they seem to be identical with verdicts (fatawa) of the fuqaha’, and never be fit to the eloquency of the speech of the Master of Apostles, beside their being unsupported by isnad.
Abu Shamah, in his book Mukhtasar Kitab al-Mu’ammal, is reported to have said: “The practice followed by chiefs of fiqh regarding the Prophetic traditions and reported old speeches being abundant inference by weak traditions to support their beliefs and their claims, with deleting some words once and adding some others to the hadith. Many examples for these cases can be found in the works of Abu al-Ma’ali and his companion Abu Hamid.
Third: Neglecting memorization due to be busy with asceticism and devotion in worship. These ascetics and Sufis were thinking well of people considering sarcasm as a forbidden backbiting. Therefore they were deceived by the lies circulated here and there, reporting traditions without any knowledge or verification. So no trust should be put to the traditions filling the books of preaching, exorcization and maysticism without indicating their sources and degree of authenticity. This judgement is not related only to the books whose authors have precedence in knowledge, like the book Nuzhat al-Majalis, which is replete with falsities on hadith and other fields. Rather, even some books of the leaders (imams) of ulama’, such as al-Ihya’ of al-Ghazzali, can never be free from numerous fabricated traditions.
Fourth: The intention of seeking favoritism near the kings’ sovereigns and emirs, as stated by several memorizers. And as the hireling ‘ulama’ fabricated many of the Messenger’s traditions for gaining the pleasure of the monarchs and rulers, they also falsified many fiqhi rules and branches of religion for this purpose. Among the traditions composed in this regard are those containing flattery and extolling for the rulers, through which the ignorant cajole the kings presently as they used to do in the past.
Fifth: Error and inadvertence that befell some of the narrators who, despite recognizing the truth, abstained from forsaking their viewpoints, out of disdain and to evade any error be ascribed to them. Frailty in faith and dishonesty in the task of narrating the hadith could not be realized until experiencing those events that are known for all.
Sixth: Reporting the hadith by memorizing from those having reliable books, with being inaccurate in memorization, entailing consequently the loss of books and occurrence of mistakes and errors.
Seventh: Mental confusion inflicting people at the end of life, as in the case of a group of trustworthy narrators, who were excused for this reason, except those who were free from all the faults ascribed to them, with no distinction between what is reported from them in the state of maturity and sanity and that which is reported in the state of insanity and decrepitude.
Eighth: Trying to overcome the opponent in debate and controversy particularly when being in public, the condition differing from fabrication of hadith for supporting the schools of thought. Ibn al-Jawzi says: Among the causes of fabrication of hadith being the inference exercised by an impious person during debates in public meetings, to prove his claims in the way complying to his desires...for putting his argument in order, edifying his statement, gaining superiority over his opponent, desiring for achieving triumph, satisfying his lust for power and escaping scandal when being defeated by his opponent in debate.
Ninth: Pleasing people and seeking their approval with attracting them to attend their preaching congregations, and expanding the sphere of their allies and supporters. The narrators have attached this cause to the talebearer. Maybe Ibn al-Jawzi was not to compile his book on fabricated traditions until practising the job of preaching with experiencing the corruption caused to religion at the hands of the preachers. About himself he said that he used to disapprove the traditions that were usually cited during the preaching meetings held by him, the fact arousing the grudge of all talebearers against him.
Detriment of Tales and Talebearer
Al-Salafi reports on the authority of al-Fadl ibn Ziyad that he said: I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal saying: The biggest liars among people being the questioner and story-teller.
Abu Qullabah is reported to have said: Knowledge is never deadened but by the story-teller.
Al-Uqayli reported on the authority of ‘Asim as saying: Abu Abd al-Rahman used to say: Be cautious of the story-teller.
Mu’awiyah Was Fabricator of Tales
In Akhbar al-Madinah, al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar reports from Nafi’ and other men of knowledge as saying: Story-telling was neither exercised in the lifetime of the Prophet (S), nor during the caliphate of Abu Bakr, nor that of Umar, but it was only an innovation invented by Mu’awiyah when fitnah (sedition) erupted.
Ibn Abi Shaybah has reported the same khabar from Ibn Umar, and it is known that Umar (ibn al-Khattab) forbade from story-telling.
Tenth: Severity of intimidation and excess in temptation for the sake of guiding people. This kind of falsified traditions was even accelerated for their fabricators by the scholars’ stating that the weak traditions could be applied and followed regarding the virtuous deeds,
and what is related to them in meaning which be unrelevant to rules and rights, as if considering Din incomplete needing something to complete and perfect it. This while Allah the Glorified and Most High says:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
“This day have I perfected for you, your religion, and have completed My favour on you, and chosen for you Islam (to be) the religion.” (5:3)
Besides, all the heresies in religion that people call good heresies (bida’), being no more than addition to religion...would that it be excess in acts alone, but in fact it was excess in beliefs and doctrines. An example for this is to believe in intercession of some of the righteous men (dead ones) between Allah and people in order to get their demands be accomplished, either by themselves due to having supernormal invisible power, or by the Almighty God for their sake. That means, Allah’s Will shall be subordinate to their will in this regard, as this expression was widely known to be uttered by them: “There are certain bondmen for Allah, that He wills whatever they will”. Beside other similar claims.
When it is said to them that Allah has never permitted such a law, they cite examples and similitudes from which Allah is quite free and far above, like anthropomorphizing Him to the kings and emirs through whom favoritism is sought near those they were loving,
so as to do the acts that they would have never done had those ones been not present. They were unaware that the Will of Allah the Exalted never changes for the sake of anyone whomsoever, since specifying and preponderating it should be in accordance with the eternal knowledge that is never liable to change or alteration.
Eleventh: Permission to fabricating chains of transmission (asanid) for the euphonious speech
, so as to make a hadith out of it. This reason was mentioned independently, while it is to be included within the previous one.
Twelfth: Dissembling of the knowledge-claimant to be superior to his opponent in debate when controversy reaches topic of hadith, whereat the hypocrite who having feeble faith and corrupt knowledge would say: This hadith is reported by so and so and confirmed by so and so. Further he would ascribe this hadith to very scarce books (as sources) so as to delude people of his having preknowledge of things unknown or realized by others, or would invent a new chain of transmission for the hadith.
Al-Suyuti reported that Ibn al-Jawzi was among those whose traditions were fabricated, and that falsity and reversion are of several forms: some of the narrators were overcome by asceticism so they forgot about memorization. Or some whose books (of hadith) were lost so he used to narrate out of what he memorized, committing thus numerous mistakes and errors. Some others were trustworthy, but they were inflicted with mental disorder at the last days of their lives. Some who used to report the errors inadvertently, but when recognizing the truth and being certain of it, disdained from returning or repenting fearing from that blunder be attributed to them. Among them too were the Zanadiqah who used to fabricate and falsify the traditions on purpose with the aim of corrupting the Shari’ah (Islamic Law), and creating doubt and suspicion into religion making it as a plaything. Some of the Zanadiqah used to take advantage of the Shaykh’s inadvertence and to foisting something strange to his hadith.
Some used to fabricate hadith for seeking content and temptation. Some others would compose chains of transmission through flowery language, with some doing so for gaining pleasure of the ruler, and the story-tellers who used to relate feeble unauthentic traditions.
In order not to expatiate on this topic, I suffice with the examples already cited.
Concerning the hadith fabricators, they were innumerable, the most outstanding of whom being the following four: Ibn Abi Yahya in al-Madinah, al-Waqidi in Baghdad, Muqatil ibn Sulayman in Khurasan and Muhammad ibn Sa’id in the Sham.
Hereunder one example on fabrication of hadith for seeking favoritism near the kings and emirs:
Al-Rashid was so fond of pigeons and amusing himself with them. One day he received doves as a present at the presence of Abu al-Bukhtari al-Qadi
when he said: Abu Hurayrah reported from the Prophet (S) that he said: “No race is there but in the pad or hoof or wing”. The word ‘wing’ was added from his own for pleasing al-Rashid, for which he was gifted a valuable reward. When he went out, al-Rashid said: By God I got to know that he was a liar. Then he issued his orders to slaughter the pigeons, when it was said to him: What sin the pigeons perpetrated? He replied: Because of them a lie was composed against the Messenger of Allah!
Political Fabrication Or For Sake Of Politics
Before concluding this chapter I have to reveal a critical aspect in regard of fabrication of hadith, that having a long-term effect on life in Islam. This effect is still in force through the putrid thoughts, retrogressive minds and bigoted souls. This aspect being the intrusion of politics in this issue (fabrication of hadith), and its having an extreme impact and influence upon it, employing it for backing the rulers and statesmen, making it the strongest pillar for reinforcing the basis of their power.
Such political situation reached its peak and exceeded all the bounds during the reign of Mu’awiyah, who supported and encouraged it by employing his influence and dedicating his money for pushing it forward. So we witnessed the continuation of this situation, with the hadith being lost and fully dedicated for the purpose of indicating Mu’awiyah’s honour and extolling him. They have exaggerated in supporting and showing strong fanaticism toward him, elevating the status of the Sham ruled by him, giving it a position that was neither attained by al-Madinah of the Messenger of Allah nor by the Sacred Town (Makkah) in which he was born, going to the extremes in this respect to the extent that certain compilations were authored specifically for this purpose.
Though this subject needs in itself a separate book, I shall commit myself – within this book – to be brief and concise, demonstrating only a few indications and evidences.
Here are some examples on this fabrication:
We can refer to the hadith fabricated by al-Bakriyyah (supporters of Abu Bakr), and reported by Ibn Asakir from Abu Hurayrah, that the angels on the Day of Badr were exchanging announcement of good tidings saying: Aren’t you witnessing al-Siddiq with the Messenger of Allah in the canopy?! Al-Khatib reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas that the Prophet (S) said: Gabriel, upon whom be God’s peace, descended upon me putting on a rug and making friends (with angels)...I asked him: O Gabriel! What is that? He replied: Allah the Exalted commanded the angels in the heavens to make friends with each other as is done by Abu Bakr on earth.
Abu Ya’la reported from Abu Hurayrah that he said: The Messenger of Allah said: I ascended (by God) to the heaven, and by each heaven I passed I found my name written on it: (Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq is my successor).
Abu Ya’la reported again from Ibn Umar that the Prophet said: Verily the angels are ashamed of Uthman as they are ashamed of Allah and His Messenger.
In another hadith, it is reported that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: The excellence of ‘A’ishah over all women is like that of the sop over all other foods. It is reported yet in another hadith that her portrait was sent to the Prophet in a piece of silky cloth with Gabriel who said to him” “This is you wife in the world and Hereafter”.
Another hadith says: Take half of your religion from this Humayra’ (i.e. A’ishah). In another narration he (S) said: Take part of your religion from this Humayra’.
This chapter is so expansive that no room is there to enumerate all its contents.
Mu’awiyah and Sham
Concerning Mu’awiyah and the Sham that he and his relatives ruled over for a very long epoch, there are many traditions that were fabricated on their merits.
Mu’awiyah, as is known, embraced Islam together with his father on the day of Makkah conquest, being thus among the freed captives (tulaqa’). He was also one of those whose hearts are to be reconciled, who were receiving some fees for their (embrace of) Islam. It was him who subverted the principle of the rightly-guided caliphate in Islam, for which no trace is left and no edifice is established till the present time. He made of Damascus as the capital of his sovereignty and rule. Hereunder a recapitulation of the traditions composed on his excellence:
Al-Tirmidhi reported that the Prophet (S) said once to Mu’awiyah: O God! Make him a guide.
In another hadith, the Prophet said: O God! Teach him knowledge of the Book and arithmetic, and protect him against torment. There is an addition made to this hadith as follows: “and let him enter paradise”.
However, despite the abundant traditions cited on the merit of Mu’awiyah that were baseless and of no authentic origin, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, the eminent leader (imam) and shaykh of al-Bukhari, is reported to have said: None of the traditions about merits of Mu’awiyah could be confirmed or approved.
Under the chapter “Merits of the Prophet’s Companions”, “bab dhikr Mu’awiyah”,
al-Bukhari, without citing traditions with chain of transmission going back to the Prophet, quoted two statements ascribed to Ibn Abbas giving an account of Mu’awiyah. In the first one he said, that he kept company with the Messenger of Allah, and in the second statement he said that Mu’awiyah was a faqih.
In regard of the Sham, they claimed that it was the land of assembly (mahshar) and resurrection, and land of substitutes (abdal)... and that the descent of Jesus Christ shall be in this land. Here you are with some of the numerous traditions cited in its regard:
Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Baghawi and al-Tabarani and others reported that the Prophet (S) said: Consider the importance of Sham, as it is Allah’s choice of the best land, toward which He selects and guides the best of His bondmen. Allah appointed Himself as the agent to take care of the Sham and its people.
In another hadith, he said: The Sham is the best choice of Allah in His land. Toward it He selects and leads the best among His bondmen. Whoever departs the Sham betaking himself to other than it, will verily deserve God’s wrath and anger... and whoever enters it coming from other than it, shall verily be included in His mercy and grace.
Al-Bayhaqi, in al-Dala’il, reports from Abu Hurayrah, through a chain of transmission, as saying: Caliphate is (confined) in al-Madinah while the sovereign power is seclusively in the Sham. Ka’b al-Ahbar is reported to have said: People of Sham are one of God’s swords, with whom He will verily revenge Himself upon whoever disobeyed Him and rebelled against His orders.
In another hadith, he (S) said: The Sham will verily be conquerred for you. When you are asked to choose abodes in it, you have to select a town that is called Dimashq (Damascus), which is the metropolis of the Umayyads. It is verily the stronghold of the Muslims during fierce battles and invasions, and its marquee is situated in a land called al-Ghawtah.
They (narrators) made of Damascus
the rabwah (height) to which the holy Qur’an referred in the verse:
وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَىٰ رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ
“...and We gave them a shelter on a lofty ground having meadows and springs.” (23:5)
. In a transmitted hadith. Abu Hurayrah made of it one of the cities of paradise in a hadith with a chain of transmission reaching to the Prophet, with the following text: Four cities are among the paradise cities, which being: Mecca, Medina, Quds and Damascus, whereas the Fire cities are: Constantinople, Tabariyyah, Antaqi and San’a.
At the time they consider Constantinople in this hadith one of Fire (Hell) cities, they cite the following hadith on its excellence after its becoming the aspiration of all sights Constantinople will verily be conquerred what an excellent emir is its emir and what an excellent army is that army! Probably this hadith was fabricated for the sake of Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah, since it was him who commanded over the army during the Constantinople Battle.
I am not intending to follow up whatever is cited on the merit of the Sham, as it needs a number of separate compilations to cover, as said by Ibn Taymiyyah in his book Iqtida’ al-Sirat al-mustaqim.
A group of people composed several works on the advantages of Quds (Bayt al-Maqdis) and other localities in the Sham, citing in them some of the transmitted traditions and statements from Ahl al-Kitab and those who took from them, upon which it is unlawful for Muslims to base and found their religion. The most outstanding man from whom these falsified traditions (Israeliyyat) were reported, being Ka’b al-Ahbar, who was the source of such traditions for the people of Sham.
Origin of Substitutes Village
The epithet with which the land of the Sham was distinguished – after imparting upon it and its people multiple traits – was calling it the land of abdal (substitutes). This belief was one of the factors that led to destruction and subversion of Islam, as the Sufis adopted it as a principle and source for their tariqah (creed; system of belief), on which they based and constructed their fancies and superstitions.
Al-Waqidi
reported that when Mu’awiyah returned from Iraq to the Sham, after swearing allegiance to (al-Imam) al-Hasan (in 41 H), he addressed people saying: “O people! The Messenger of Allah said: You will verily succeed me in assuming the post of caliphate! So choose the socred land that verily contains the substitutes.” Here I have informed you, so curse Abu Turab! (i.e. Ali ibn Abi Talib).
The next day he wrote a letter, gathering them then and reciting it for them, in which was the following: This document is written by Amir al-Mu’minin Mu’awiyah, the owner of the revelation (wahy) of Allah, who delegated Muhammad as a Prophet, who was illiterate neither knowing to read nor to write. Then He chose for him from among his family, a trustworthy vizier as a scribe. When the revelation was sent down to Muhammad, I was writing it down, without his being aware of what I was writing. No one was there as an intermediary between me and Allah from among His creatures.” The attendants there said: You said the truth!
As soon as the Sham was described as the land of substitutes by Mu’awiyah, a number of traditions about these abdal, ascribed to the Prophet emerged on the scene, among which we can refer to the following
:
1. “The abdal (substitutes) in this Ummah are thirty men, whose hearts are sympathetic with that of Ibrahim the Friend of Allah. Whenever one of them dies Allah will verily substitute him with another man (reported from Ubadah ibn al-Samit).
2. “The substitutes in my Ummah are thirty. With them the earth is established! And through their help you will be verily triumphant and will be showered with raining” (reported from Ubadah).
3. “The substitutes are among people of the Sham, through them God will verily help and provide them with means of living – (reported from Awf ibn Malik).
4. “The substitutes are in the Sham, and they are forty men. Whenever one of them deceases, Allah shall substitute him with another man. Through them rain will be watering the earth and victory will be obtained against the enemies. With them the torment will be verily turned away from people of the Sham” – (reported from Ali).
5. “The substitutes are forty men and forty women! Whenever a man dies Allah will verily substitute him with another man. And whenever a woman dies Allah will substitute her with another woman” – (from Anas ibn Malik).
6. “The substitutes are among the mawali (masters)” – (reported from ‘Ata’ ibn Abi Rabah).
A question about these traditions was raised to the traditionist jurisprudent al-Sayyid Rashid Ridha’ (upon whom be God’s mercy) in the following way by an inquirer: What is the meaning behind distinguishing people of the Sham with them? What denotation is indicated by removing of torment, aiding to triumph and providing by substitutes to people of the Sham? And are people of the Sham provided with livelihood, helped to triumph, and delivered from torment seclusively and alone from among inhabitants of the earth?
Al-Sayyid gave him a scholastic, attentive and accurate reply, the abstract of which I present hereunder:
He initiated his speech by saying: “These traditions are altogether false and invalid in respect of narration and dirayah (knowledgeability), and also regarding their sanad and text. That which made them so commonly circulated among the Ummah was the much care and concern exerted toward it by the Sufis. To all of them a reference was made by the traditionist Ibn al-Jawzi in his book al-Mawdu’at, who proved their invalidity one by one.
The substitutes traditions were commonly fabricated by the Sufis, Shi’ah,
Batinites, and narrators of the foisted traditions (Israeliyyat) like Ka’b al-Ahbar and others among circulators of superstitious traditions, other than owners of the correct traditions.
Our sage the researcher Ibn Khaldun through his discussion of the science of Sufism in the introduction to his Ta’rikh, after stating origin of Sufism and condition of Sufis in respect of knowledge and conduct, said the following in the very words:
“Then the latters among Sufis and Mutakallimun on revelation (kashf) and supersensible matters, have penetrated deeply into this subject, in a way that most of them were believing and calling to compromise solutions and agreement of opinions, filling the newspapers with this call, like al-Harawi and others, followed by Ibn al-Arabi, Ibn Sab’in and their disciple Ibn al-Afif. Their ancestors were coexisting with the Isma’ilites, the latters among the Rafidites believing too in the compromises and divinity of the Imams, a doctrine that was never held by their formers. Consequently each party was imbued with the doctrine of the other, with their speech being confused and beliefs being intermingled, and the Sufis starting to believe in the magnate, which meaning the head of gnostics.
They were claiming that no one could be equal to him in respect of his status in knowledge till God takes his life, when his position is to be inherited by another gnostic. Moreover they started to talk about the order of substitutes to follow this magnate, as held by the Shi’ah regarding the Nuqaba’ (headmen), to the extent that when intending to find origin of the piece of cloth of Sufism for making it a principle for their system of belief and seclusion (takhliyah), they ascribed it to Ali, may God be pleased with him, the fact included too in this meaning.
Otherwise, Ali was not distinguished from among the Companions with a certain way of seclusion or manner of wearing or conduct, rather Abu Bakr and Umar were the most ascetic and devoted in worship after the Messenger of Allah (S)... No one among them was singled out with any certain act reported about him in particular, but all the Sahabah were ideal in religiosity, asceticism and strife. Many of the fuqaha’ and men of verdict (mujtahidun) were commissioned with the task of refuting and dumbfounding the contemporary writers of these articles and their likes, including in their disapproval campaign whatever they faced within the system of belief”.
The scholars of hadith have expressed their views regarding the asanid (chains of transmission) of these traditions.
Al-Hafiz Ibn al-Jawzi judged that they were all fabricated. Followed him in this regard Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Sakhawi and al-Suyuti who was one of the disciples of Ibn Hajar. But the first of them was the most accurate and nearest to scrutiny. He said: Report of the substitutes has certain methods with various words that all being feeble. This saying is closer to truth than that of Ibn Hajar himself, who said: Some of them are correct and some are incorrect!”
Al-Sayyid Rashid, after disproving these traditions one by one, said: Mulla Ali al-Qari reported from Ibn al-Salah about the fabricated traditions, that he said: The strongest hadith we narrated about the substitutes being Ali’s utterance: The substitutes will be verily in the Sham. This saying agrees with what Ibn Taymiyyah said in his treatise
about Ahl al-Siffah and the Sufis with respect to the narrator. While the investigation held by Shaykh al-Islam on this issue with regard to cognizance is truly the end of extremities. Following are some excerptions of his statements in this regard:
(Section): Concerning the names that were circulated recurringly among a large number of hermits and common people, such as the succour (ghawth) that will be in Mecca, the four stakes, the seven magnates, forty substitutes and three hundred pedigrees (nujaba’), they altogether have neither existence in the Book of Allah, nor been reported from the Prophet (S), through a veracious isnad or probable weak one. Excepted from these is the term Abdal (substitutes), in whose regard a decisively confirmed Shami hadith is reported from Ali ibn Abi Talib, on the authority of the Prophet (S) as saying: “Among them – i.e. people of the Sham – are the substitutes, who are forty men...whenever anyone of them dies Allah will verily substitute him with another man.” The ancestors have never referred throughout their speeches and researches to these names in the order previously mentioned…etc.
Then he stated that the term ghawth (help) and ghiyath (helper) can never fit but to Allah the Exalted. After that, Shaykh al-Islam uttered some rational sensible words about the issues of stakes (awtad) and magnate, returning then to the substitutes when he said: “Regarding the chain (marfu’) hadith, it is more likely not among the utterance of the Prophet (S), as faith was found in Hijaz and Yemen before the conquests of the Sham, when the Sham and Iraq were lands of kufr (infidelity).
Furthermore, during the caliphate of Ali, an authentic hadith was reported from the Prophet (S) that he said: “A group of renegades will verily rebel against the best community (firqah) of Muslims, and will be killed by the cult that is more entitled to truth”. Hence Ali and his companions were more entitled to truth than those whom he fought from among people of the Sham.
Resuming his speech, al-Sayyid Rashid (may God’s mercy be upon him) said: “The reason behind what is reported from Ali, may God be pleased with him, being that some of his followers used to insult and revile people of the Sham, but he forbade them from that absoluteness saying: Among them are the Abdal. That is, Allah the Exalted will substitute from among the supporters of Mu’awiyah with others, or what gives such meaning. Then some narrators sychophant to the Umayyads, followed by the Sufis, came and added abundantly to, making of it a chain authentic hadith, composing other traditions on flattery and censure to be circulated throughout the famous metropolises.
Ibn Asakir reported that Ka’b al-Ahbar
said: The substitutes are thirty men. He also said: The substitutes are in the Sham, and the Nujaba’ are in the Kufah. Then he stated a good number of such sayings reported from that time people about the substitutes, pedigrees (Nujaba’), heads (Nuqaba’) and the righteous. The term ‘Abdal’ was the most widely known of these terms, while people during the 2nd and 3rd centuries were unable to perceive from this word yet what the Sufis were claiming about it. Rather, al-Imam Ahmad said: “The substitutes are men of hadith”.
In regard of what these narrations claim that Allah the Most High will succour people of the Sham and provide them with the substitutes, is verily one of the defects of their texts and signs of their fabrication. Since the Almighty Allah made certain means for victory that can be recognized from His Book and sunan (methods, ways) in His creation. The best people led by the best of apostles (peace be upon them), fell short of some of these means during Battle of Uhud, the fact led to their defeat and be overcome by the polytheists after they were victorious. When finding that strange and incredible, the following verse was revealed by Allah the Exalted to His Messenger (S) for demonstrating this fact for them: “What! When a misfortune befell you (at Uhud) while ye had already inflicted twice as much (on the disbelievers), ye said: “Whence is this?” Say (unto them, O Muhammad): “This is from your (own) selves...”
Among these social means and factors is the one manifested by God through these words: “...if ye help (in the way of) God, He will (also) help you”, and also through His saying: “...and quarrel ye not, for then ye will be weakened in heart, and will depart your power...”
And among the spiritual and moral means of victory it can be referred to the holy verse: (“O’ ye who believe!) when ye meet a party (the contingent of the infidels) then be firm, and remember God much, (that ye be successful).”
After throwing light upon the wretchedness and straitened conditions experienced by people of the Sham in 1927,
with the French troops devastating their homeland, and many of them starving to death, he (al-Sayyid Rashid) said: So where are those substitutes and where are their secrets?
Then he concluded his utterance by saying:
“These narrations have demolished the might of the Islamic Ummah, with the Sufis and followers of this system turning to be a sedition for all the Muslims, startling away those having intellectual independence and modern sciences, from Islam, deeming it as a religion of superstitions and fancies like other religions. They were also a shame to the Muslims before the advanced peoples of the world. Their ignorance and corrupt religion and morals reached an extent that they became collaborators for France in Africa from frontiers of Tunisia up to the cultivated land of Morocco.
It is high time to comprehend and perceive our religion from the Qur’an not from these abominable narrations which diverted us far from the Book of Allah and Sunnah of His Messenger (S), that are neither liable to interpretation nor can be subjected to perversion. The time has come to tread under foot all those misleading perverters with all their supporters and those interpolating (the facts) for them from among the sacristans of the worshipped tombs, due to the belief prevailed among common people that sustenance and world felicity can be acquired from those buried under earth. Because of such superstition our Ummah became downtrodden under the feet of all nations, with its common people keeping on to believe that the dead and invisible men are the source of its sustenance and keeping it safe against misfortune.
”
Concerning the story of al-Nasa'i (to which Ibn Hajar referred), who is the author of one of widely-known hadith books, it was reported by al-Dhahabi who said: When being in Damascus, al-Nasa'i was inquired about merit's of Mu'awiyah, when he said: Isn't he pleased to be compared head to head (i.e. to be likened to Ali), so as to be preferred? Al-Dhahabi says: Then people kept on pushing him till driving him out of the majlis (meeting), when he was carried toward Kufah where he died.
The Abbasid State
While many traditions were reported on merit of Mu’awiyah and the Sham, the Abbasid State had also a good share of traditions in its support after disintegration of the Umayyad State, and establishment of the Abbasid State on its debris. The following are some of them:
Al-Bazzaz reported on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah said to al-Abbas: “Prophethood and kingdom will be verily among you”. It is also reported by Abu Na’im in al-Dala’il, Ibn Adiyy in al-Kamil, and Ibn Asakir who reported it thus: “Among you shall be the Prophethood and among you shall be the kingdom.”
Al-Tirmidhi reported from Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah (S) prayed for al-Abbas with the following supplication: (O God), make caliphate perpetual in his descent.
Al-Tabarani reported that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: Successorship will be verily among my cousins and full brother of my father, till they hand it over to Christ.
Fabrication of hadith extended to include al-Saffah. Ahmad reported from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allah said: At the end of the Time and occurrence of seditions, a man from my household will verily appear, that will be called al-Saffah!!
Since course of speech is about the Abbasid State, we quote here what al-Suyuti reported, in his book Ta’rikh al-khulafa’, about al-Mutawakkil, saying:
He has showed inclination toward the Sunni creed, supported its followers, sending for the narrators to come to Samarra’, giving them abundantly, and ordering them to narrate traditions related to traits and vision. People embarked on praying to God for al-Mutawakkil, exaggerating in extolling and glorifying him, that even some would say: The (real) caliphs are only three: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq due to exterminating the apostates (Ahl al-Riddah), Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz due to his restoration of the seized trusts (mazalim), and al-Mutawakkil due to his revival of the Sunnah and mortification of frowning.
As some of the eminent historians stated, some of the consequences and traces left for us by the Abbasid State, were dispersion of word of Islam, obliteration of the name of Arabs with the State being controlled by the Daylamites and then the Turks who founded for themselves a great sovereignty, after which the world kingdoms were divided into several parts.
Censuring the Turks
On the occasion of making a reference to the Turks I intend to say: Al-Mu’tasim
brought a large number of the Turks into the country till they occupied everywhere in Baghdad, embarking on annoying and oppressing its people, who were averse to their coming, since they constituted a bad omen for them wherever they be. Then the traditionists started to narrate traditions on censuring the Turks, ascribing them to the Prophet (S), some of which are the following:
“Verily the Turks are the first to plunder of my Ummah whatever be on their way”.
Ibn Abbas also reported that the Prophet said:
“Kingdom – or caliphate – shall be verily among my sons (or descendants), till they – at the peak of might – be conquerred by the red-faced people, whose faces are like hammered pots.
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet said:
The Last Hour (Doomsday) will never come before the coming of wide-faced, small-eyed, flat-nosed people, who will tie their horses at the coast of Tigris. It was reported also by Ahmad in his Musnad from Abu Hurayrah with different wording: The Messenger of Allah said: The Doomsday will not come till you fight the Turks, who are small-eyed, red-faced and flat-nosed, and whose faces resemble harmed pots.
Besides, the Constantinople hadith was previously referred to. Anyone asking for more traditions can refer to al-Suyuti’s Ta’rikh al-khulafa’.
How Fabrication of Hadith Was Permitted
It was not for fabricators of hadith to let alone their science without supporting it with evidences permitting and justifying whatever they used to compose. Al-Tahawi, in al-Mushkil, reported a hadith from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: Whenever you are told a hadith from me, that you know and never deny (by mind), you have to believe it, whether I actually uttered it or not! Verily I utter that which can be known and not denied. And when it is reported to you a hadith from me, that you deny and never recognize, you have to disbelieve it, as I never utter that which is to be disapproved and cannot be known.
A similar hadith was reported by Ahmad, that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: When hearing any hadith ascribed to me, with which your hearts are acquainted and toward which you incline, finding it near to you, I am verily more entitled than you to it. But when you hear a hadith from me, which your hearts disapprove and from which your senses are alienated, finding it quite far from your conception, I will be verily farther than you from it. Al-Sayyid Rashid Ridha’ says that the isnad (chain of transmission) of this hadith is good and authentic.
Khalid ibn Yazid is reported to have said: I heard Muhammad ibn Sa’id al-Dimashqi saying: When the speech being fluent, I see no harm in finding an isnad for it.
In al-Hilyah, he reported from Ibn Mahdi, from Abu Luhay’ah that he heard a shaykh from among the Kharijites saying (after repenting): These traditions are verily a religion, so you should be careful from whom you take your religion. We used to invent a hadith for anything we desired much.
The traditionist Ibn Hajar says: By God these traditions are actually backbreaking to those arguing with the mursal (hadith), as the heresy of Khawarij was during the early period of Islam with the presence of so many Companions, extending then to the age of the Tabi’un and those succeeding them.
When these people admire and approve of anything, they make of it a hadith with circulating it everywhere. Then it may happen that someone would hear something, relating it then without referring to that who firstly narrated it, out of good intention. From him it will be reported by another one, after whom comes that arguing with the assertives and takes it as a means for argumentation, despite its origin to which we referred before.
The Righteous Fabricators
Fabrication of hadith against the Messenger of Allah was not confined only to enemies of Din and capricious people – as we stated before – but some of the righteous among Muslims used to do so thinking it to be a merit bringing them nearer to Allah, and yet they reckon that by this they do good work. When questioning them: Why do you lie against the Messenger of Allah? They would say: We lie for him not against him! And the one to blame for falsity is that who did it on purpose.
Muslim reported in his book from Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Qattan as saying: We have never found the righteous falsifying in anything more than that in hadith. In another narration: We have never seen the munificent people telling lies in anything more than in hadith. That is as Muslim put it: falsity comes out from their mouths incidentally or inadvertently not deliberately
. Muslim reported on the authority of Abu al-Zinad that he said: I met a hundred men in Medina, all of whom were trustworthy, and hadith was not taken from them.
Ibn Hajar writes: Some of the ignorants, after being self-conceited, embarked on fabricating traditions of temptation and intimidation saying: We haven’t told lies against him, but we did so for backing his Shari’ah.
They were unaware that ascribing to him (S) that which he never said, entails falsity against Allah, since it asserts a legal judgement or decree, whether an obligatory or recommendable one. And so also regarding their opposites: the haram (unlawful) and makruh (reprehensible). No consideration is to be given to opposers to this from among the Karamiyyah, who permitted composing of falsity in cases of temptation and intimidation, for confirming the rules cited in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, arguing that it be falsity for him not against him, which is verily an ignorance of the Arabic language.
Abd Allah al-Nahawandi says: I said to the lad of Ahmad: Wherefrom you brought these traditions which you relate through the parchments? He replied: We fabricated them for making the hearts of people mild and sympathetic. About this lad (servant), Ibn al-Jawzi said: He was an ascetic who used to forsake the worldly pleasures and lusts, living on eating the broad-beans merely... on the day of his death all the markets of Baghdad were closed (as a sign of mourning).
And Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Faqih al-Maruzi was the most opinionated and strongest defender of the Sunnah in his time, degrading whoever contradicting it. Despite all that, he was among those known of composing and perverting the hadith.
In al-Ta’rikh al-awsat, al-Bukhari reported from Umar ibn Sabih ibn Imran al-Tamimi, that he said: I was the one who composed the Prophet’s sermon.
In al-Madkhal, al-Hakim on the authority of Abu Ammar al-Maruzi, that it was said to Abu ‘Ismah: Wherefrom you got these traditions from ‘Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas on the merits of the Qur’an, surah by surah, while they can never be found with the companions of ‘Ikrimah? He said: When I found people turning away from the Qur’an, engaging themselves in the fiqh of Abu Hanifah and incursions of Ibn Ishaq, I fabricated this hadith for seeking favour.
A Witty Saying
Not satisfied with all this, they would even fabricate hadith for trivial reasons. One of the traditions that al-Hakim reported on the authority of Sayf ibn Umar al-Tamimi,
that he said: I was in the company of Sa’d ibn Tarif, when his son returned from the elementary school crying! His father inquired him: What is the matter with you? The teacher has beaten me. He said: I will verily disgrace them today.
‘Ikrimah reported from Ibn Abbas a hadith ascribed to the Prophet as saying: “The teachers of your boys are the wicked among you the least of them in pitiness toward the orphan, and the rudest toward the indigent”.
There are innumerable reports in this regard.
Fabrication through Inclusion
Sometimes the narrator may compose some addition to the hadith indeliberately, which was to the hadith indeliberately, which was considered by traditionists as inclusion (idraj). The mudraj tradition was a term used for a hadith having an addition that was not originally found in it. Scholars of hadith say that inclusion is of two kinds: Inclusion (idraj) in the isnad (chain of transmission) and inclusion in the text.
The text inclusion comes at the beginning of the hadith, like hadith of Abu Hurayrah that was reported by al-Khatib saying: The Messenger of Allah said: “Complete the ablution, woe be to those lagging behind from the Fire (hell)”. The words” complete (asbighu) the ablution” are included by Abu Hurayrah.
Idraj may occur also in the midst of the hadith like hadith of Faddalah reported by al-Nasa’i that the Prophet said: “I am a za’im (guarantor of paradise) – and za’im is hamil (undertaker) – for that who believes in me and struggles on the way of Allah, with a house in the gardens of heavens”. His saying: ‘and the za’im (guarantor) is the undertaker’ is included by him into the hadith.
In regard of the inclusion at the end of the hadith, it occurred in the eclipse hadith which was recorded in the Sahih that (the Prophet said): The sun and moon are verily two signs (marvels) among God’s signs (ayat). They never eclipse because of the death or life of anyone. When you see this, betake yourselves to remembrance of Allah and prayers (salat). Al-Ghazzali says that the reporting of this addition was not confirmed, so its utterer should be belied.
Can The Fabricated Hadith Be Recognized
The investigators have stated generalities through which recognizing which hadith being fabricated becomes feasible:
Its contradiction to the Qur’an and authentic successive Sunnah or decisive unanimity or determined rules of the Shari’ah, or to the rational proof, or to the senses and conspicuousness and all certainties. Or the hadith’s including temerities in regard of promise and threats, reward and punishment. Or its being contradictory to the rules brought by the clear Sunnah, or the hadith’s being invalid by itself, or its invalidity being established by correct evidences. Or the hadith’s being unlike the speech of prophets, or its being nearer to the speech of physicians, or its containing the chronicles of coming days, or its being awkward or a laughing-stock or other than this. Among them also are those traditions on whose baselessness several veracious evidences, or established knowledge experiments, or those ones that be poor in meaning.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqallani writes: From the word ‘poor’ the meaning is intended, and whenever it is found it indicates presence of fabrication, as this religion (Islam) comprises only good points, while poorness in wording never indicates this, due to the possibility that the hadith being reported according to meaning by the narrator who might exchange its words with non-eloquent ones.
Ibn al-Jawzi said: The disapproved hadith makes knowledge-seeker shudder, with causing his heart to have aversion to it, particularly that one using the terms of the law-maker, having experience in them, their splendour and resplendence.
He also said: When finding the hadith contrary to the reasonable or incongruous to the manqul (transmitted), or opposite to the usul (principles), only then you should know that it is fabricated.
Al-Rabi’ ibn Khaytham says: Hadith has a light identical to the daylight that is manifest for all, and a darkness like that of night that is ignored, (reported by al-Khatib).
Ibn Abi Hatam reported from Ibn Mas’ud as saying: Whenever I relate to you any hadith I verily give you an evidence confirming it from the Book of Allah.
Ibn Jubayr says: I never received any hadith with its shape, without finding its confirmation in the Book of Allah.
Al-Bayhaqi reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas that he said: Whenever I relate to you any hadith from the Messenger of Allah, the confirmation of which you can never find in the Book,
or it may seem good in the eyes of people, it will be verily false.
It is out of scope here to enumerate all the composed traditions, of which Ibn al-Jawzi and al-Suyuti and others compiled numerous volumes, to which any knowledge-seeker can refer.
In his book Qawa’id al-tahdith, al-Qasimi has dedicated a section on the fabricated hadith, concluding it with two chapters, the titles and summary of which are the following:
Can We Recognize The Fabricated Without Looking Into Its Sanad?
Al-Imam Shams al-Din ibn al-Qayyim was asked once: Is it possible to recognize the fabricated hadith through a regulation without looking into its sanad (chain of transmission)? He replied.
This is truly a very important question. This (fabricated) hadith can only be recognized by that who is thoroughly acquainted with knowing the correct sunan, in a way they be intermingled with his flesh and blood, and he having an instinctive knowledge and good talent in recognizing the sunan and old methods. Besides knowing the sirah (biography) of the Messenger of Allah (S), with his guiding directions including to which he bids and from which he forbids, of what he apprises and to what he invites, what he loves and what he detests, and what he legislates for the Ummah, as if he enjoyed his (S) company for a long time.
Such a man can verily be acquainted with his conditions, guidance, speech, acts and sayings, and what is permissible to tell and what is impermissible, that which can never be realized by others. This is verily the state of every followed (matbu’) with his follower, as his favorite, who is serious in following up his words and deeds, out of knowledge of them, and distinguishing between what is proper to ascribe to him and what is improper to ascribe, such one differs from that who is deprived of such traits...etc.
Ibn Daqiq al-‘Id is reported to have said: “Most often charging with composition (of hadith) happens to be due to things related to what is narrated and words of the hadith. The conclusion of this is due to the fact that, because of the extensive use and transmission of the Prophet’s words and expressions, these people came to possess a psychological fashion and strong intuition through which they could recognize which of the Prophet’s words are more proper to be used and which are not”.
Whole Heart Has Full Knowledge Of The Fabricated Hadith
In another chapter, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Urwah al-Hanbali is reported to have said:
“If the heart be pure, clean and sanctified, it will be able to discern between right and falsehood, truth and lie, and guidance and misguidance, especially when being bestowed with illumination and adroitness from the Prophetic light. Only then it shall have the power to penetrate and find out the concealed facts and hidden aspects, with discerning between the veracious and the falsified. And even if correct isnad was combined to a text of composed words ascribed to the Messenger, or feeble isnad to a sahih text, it would be able to distinguish, recognize and taste this, discerning between the lean and strong, correct and false among them, as the Messenger’s words can never be hidden from a sane man who experienced them.
For this reason the Prophet (S) said: “Be cautious of the physiognomy of the believer as he sees with the light of Allah.”
This hadith was reported by al-Tirmidhi from Abu Sa’id. Some of the ancestors commented on the holy Qur’anic verse:
إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّلْمُتَوَسِّمِينَ
“ Surely in this are signs for those who examine.” (15:75)
taking the word ‘mutawassimin” to mean those who practise physiognomy (firasah).
Mu’adh ibn Jabal said: “Verily for truth there is a beacon like the road light-stand.”
Further, the sincere pure heart can sense and recognize any deviation and perversion in deeds and conduct. Whenever hearing any hadith, it can immediately recognize its real source, though no one of the memorizers and critics had any say about it. Anyone whose acts be sincerely devoted for Allah, in conformity with the Sunnah, would be able to discern between things: their falsity and truth.
Every truthful smart person is inspired by Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, the ability to discern between truth and falsity as the hadith affirms: “Truth (sidq) is peacefulness and calmness and falsity is suspicion”. He (S) said to Wasibah: “Consult your heart”. The Prophet left his Ummah with clear signs, its night be like its day. And the Messenger’s utterance has a veneration and fluency that no other person can ever possess.
Ibn Taymiyyah says: When the pious heart recommences and seeks its own opinion, this will verily be a legal preponderance. Whenever it appears and that heart comes to think that this matter or that speech being better pleasing to Allah and His Messenger, this would be preponderance with a legal proof. Mistaken are those who denied the inspiration not being absolutely a means for attaining to realities. As when man does his best and strives on the way of God’s obedience and piety, his preference for what he preponderated would be stronger than numerous feeble evidences.
So inspiration of this would be an evidence on its behalf, which is more forceful than many of the weak and fancied analogies, phenomena and istishabat that are used as means of argumentation by those concerned with schools of thought, controversy and usul al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence).
Umar said: “Truth (haqq) is apparent, and can’t be concealed from any intelligent one”. Hudhayfah ibn al-Yeman is reported to have said: “Inside the believer’s heart there is a lamp that is blooming”. And as stronger as faith becoming inside the heart, all things would be disclosed before it and it would be able to recognize and discern the real from the false ones. The opposite is true, that is whenever faith becoming faint, ability to discover realities would become weaker, in the same way as the effect of the strong and weak lamp inside a dark house.
In Sahih al-Bukhari it is reported that the Prophet said: “Among the nations that preceded you there were inspired (muhaddath) people, and if one of them is to be found among my Ummah, Umar shall be verily that one.” The muhaddath is that who is inspired and addressed in secrecy. Abu Sulayman al-Darani used to call Ahmad ibn ‘Asim al-Antaki with the epithet “Heart Spy” (Jasus al-Qulb) due to the sharpness of his physiognomy.
Thus we concluded the briefed quotation from these two chapters.
Among the criteria through which we can recognize sahih (veracious) hadith, first its being not discarded by good taste and adroitness like hadith of flies, and also its non-being contradictory to the sublime objectives of Islam that are aimed at bringing felicity to man in this world and hereafter.
Liars and Their Slanders against the Prophet
Hammad ibn Zayd is reported to have said:
The Zanadiqah (atheists) have fabricated twelve thousand traditions, ascribing them to the Messenger of Allah (S).
Al-Mahdi said: One of the Zanadiqah has confessed before me that he composed four hundred traditions, and they were being circulated and conveyed among people.
Ibn Asakir reported that a zindiq was brought once to al-Rashid who gave his orders to behead him, when he (zindiq) said: O Amir al-Mu’minin, aren’t you aware of four thousand traditions I fabricated, in which I forbid what is lawful (halal) and deem lawful what is forbidden (in the Qur’an). It is reported too that when Abd al-Karim ibn Abi al-Awja’ intended to behead him, he said: I have composed for you four thousand traditions forbidding through them what is lawful, and sanctioning what is unlawful (haram).
Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, who was the teacher of al-Bukhari, said: I commit to memory four thousand falsified traditions.
Sahl ibn al-Sirri al-Hafiz says: Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Jubyari, Muhammad ibn Ukashah al-Kirmani and Muhammad ibn Tamim al-Farabi falsified and fabricated more than ten thousand traditions against the Messenger of Allah.
Al-Bukhari writes: I commit to memory one hundred correct traditions and two hundred falsified traditions. Reports (akhbar) in this respect are countless, and whoever wants to get acquainted with more of them can refer to their sources, especially al-Suyuti’s book Tahdhir al-Khawass.
This is the last point I quote here, which I deem sufficient.
Traditions Fabricated By the Jews
When the Muhammadan Da’wah (invitation) got so much valour and prowess, becoming much strong, with smash of all the powers and forces combating it, those opposing and restraining it found no choice but to hatch plans and conspire against it through trickery and deceit, after failing in weakening it through means of force and contest.
Since the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe are the Jews, as they allege to be God’s chosen people, recognizing no favour for any other nation, admitting no scripture for any prophet after Moses, their rabbis and monks found no other means – especially after being overcome and driven forth from their homes
– but to resort to cunning and use finesse to attain to their sought desire. Hence the Jewish artifice led them to pretend and show Islam, concealing their religion inside their hearts, so as to hide their resentment, and deceive the Muslims. The influential and vehement in cunning among these priests were Ka’b al-Ahbar, Wahb ibn Munabbih and Abd Allah ibn Sallam.
When observing that their tricks have found way and prevailed among people, due to their false pretense of godliness and piety, and the Muslims having confidence in and being beguiled by them, they resolved first to direct a fatal blow to the Muslims, to the core of their religion. This was achieved by foisting into the foundations on which religion was established, the legends, superstitions, fancies and trifles in order to enfeeble and undermine these foundations and principles.
On failing to degrade the holy Qur’an due to its being preserved through tadwin (writing), memorized by thousands of Muslims, and immune against addition of one word or insertion of one letter, they resorted to fabricating and foisting so many traditions that were never uttered by the Prophet.
What helped them to do so was the fact that the Prophet’s traditions were not of determined signs, nor of preserved roots and sources, since they were never inscribed during his life-time as was the case with the Qur’an, nor committed to writing by his Companions after his demise. This fact made it possible for every capricious or evil-intentioned one to foist into them as much as he liked, and assault them with falsity.
That which even facilitated and paved the way for their deception was the fact that the Companions used to refer to them to get the solutions for the questions regarding the affairs of the past world that were unknown to them. And the Jews, due to the Scripture they possessed, and the ulama’ they had, were considered teachers for the Arabs in respect of all the issues related to ancient religions, if they be sincere and honest. The sage Ibn Khaldun,
when discussing the traditional (naqli) interpretation and stating that it included the meagre and the stout, the acceptable and disapproved, is reported to have said:
“The reason behind this is that the Arabs were not people of a scripture or knowledge, but most of them were bedouins and illiterate, who when desiring to have information about origin of the universe, beginning of creation and mysteries of existence, they would inquire people of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab) and get all the solutions from them
.
Among them were the Jews, followers of the Torah and those who followed their religion from among the Christians, like Ka’b al-Ahbar, Wahb ibn Munabbih and Abd Allah ibn Sallam and their likes. Then books of exegesis were filled with the traditions they reported, with the exegetes showing leniency toward such fabrications, the source of all of which was the Torah, or whatever they used to falsify and forge.”
In another place of his Maqaddimah
he said:
“Most often the historians and exegetes have committed so many errors in the episodes and events they used to report with the leaders of transmission, due to their dependence on mere transmission whether be poor or authentic, without subjecting them to their sources, nor comparing with their likes, nor fathoming them with the criterion of wisdom, to comprehend the temperaments of the creatures, nor investigating the veracity of the reports, going astray from path of truth and wandering in the desert of deception and error.”
Dr. Ahmad Amin also said:
“Some of the Companions used to frequent to Wahb ibn Munabbih,
Ka’b al-Ahbar and Abd Allah ibn Sallam, while the Tabi’un (Followers) used to refer to Ibn Jarih. All these men got information they used to report from the Torah and Gospel, with their expositions and margins, so the Muslims found no harm to relate them beside the Qur’anic verses, the fact leading to their becoming another source of overproduction.”
For all this, the rabbis embarked on propagating within the Islamic religion, so many falsities and trifles claiming them once to be taken from their scripture or latent knowledge, and another time to be among what they heard from the Prophet (S), while they being in fact foisted and forged by them. How could the Companions discern between truth and falsity in the rabbis’ utterances, while they were on one hand unaware of the Hebrew
language which was used in their books, and on the other they were less than them (rabbis) in sagacity and weaker in cunning.
Therefore these falsities became so current and circulated among the Companions and their followers who used to take whatever those cunning men were relating without any investigation or verification, considering it to be certainly correct (sahih).
Before embarking on demonstrating some of the Jewish falsified traditions with which books of tafsir (exegesis) and hadith and history were replete, I would like to refer briefly to the biographies of the chiefs of these rabbis: Ka’b al-Ahbar, Wahb and Abd Allah ibn Sallam.
Ka’b Al-Ahbar
Ka’b al-Ahbar
He is Ka’b ibn Mani’ al-Himyari, from Al Dhi Ra’in, and it is said that he belongs to Dhu al-Kila’. His surname was Abu Ishaq, and he was one of the eminent rabbis of the Jews, known with the title Ka’b al-Ahbar. He embraced Islam during the time of Umar, and settled at al-Madinah in the period of his caliphate, keeping his company during the conquest of Quds. Then he shifted to the Sham during the reign of Uthman, when Mu’awiyah chose and appointed him as one of his consultants, due to his abundant knowledge.
Also they were claiming that it was Mu’awiyah who ordered him to relate tales in the land of Sham,
becoming thus the first of Akhbaris in respect of the Jewish and Islamic traditions.”
Through Ka’b and Ibn Munabbih and others from among the Jews who embraced Islam afterwards, some of the Talmud tales (Isra’iliyyat) crept into the hadith, turning to be so soon part of the religious and historic reports.
About him al-Dhahabi, in Tadhkirat al-huffaz, writes: “He came from Yemen during the caliphate of Umar, when the Companions and others began to take and report from him, with some of the Followers (Tabi’un) reporting from him without referring to the chain of narrators. He died at Hams
(Syria) in 32 or 33 or 37 (Hijrah), after disseminating throughout the Sham and other Islamic and Jewish countries his narrations and tales derived from Akhbar, as done by Tamim al-Dari in the Christian reports
.
Reason behind his embracing Islam
A surprising reason was invented by this priest (Ka’b) for his adoption of Islam, in order to penetrate and occupy the Muslims’ minds and hearts! Ibn Sa’d, through a reliable sanad, reported from Sa’id ibn al-Musayyab, that he said:
Al-Abbas said to Ka’b: What kept you from embracing Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet and that of Abu Bakr? He replied: My father wrote me a letter (quoting it) from the Torah, saying: Hasten in conveying it! Then he sealed all his books, conjuring me with the right the father has upon his son not to break the seal of them. As soon as witnessing advent of Islam, I said to myself: Maybe my father has kept from me some knowledge! So I unsealed the letter seeing in it the characteristics of Muhammad and his Ummah! Only then I became Muslim.
Abd Allah ibn Umar
reported that one of the Yemenis came to Ka’b al-Ahbar and said to him: The Jewish Rabbi so and so sent me to hand you a letter. Ka’b said: Give it. The man said: He says to you: Weren’t you an honourable influential master! So what brought you out of your religion toward Ummah of Muhammad? Ka’b replied: Do you intend to return to him? He said: Yes. Ka’b said: When you go back to him, catch him from his garment skirt so as not to let him flee, and say to him:
He says to you: I beg you by That Who split the sea for Moses, and I ask you by Allah Who gave Musa ibn Imran the tablets which containing the knowledge of everything! Don’t you find in Allah’s words that the Ummah of Muhammad are three thirds: one third of them will verily enter paradise without reckoning. The second third will be subjected to slight reckoning, and enter paradise afterwards. And the other third will enter the heavens through the intercession of Ahmad, he will verily reply: Yea. Then say to him: Ka’b says to you: Make me within any of these thirds that you wish!”
In al-Isabah, Ibn Hajar says that he related from the Prophet mursal traditions, and from him (Ka’b) some of the Companions reported, like Ibn Umar, Abu Hurayrah, Ibn Abbas, Ibn al-Zubayr and Mu’awiyah beside others.
Al-Dhahabi, in Siyar A’lam al-nubala’, writes: From him hadith was reported by Abd Allah ibn Hanzalah,
Aslam mawla of Umar, Tubay’ al-Himyari and Abu Salam al-Aswad. Also from him a number of the Followers, like ‘Ata’ ibn Yasar and others, reported some mursal traditions (with no reference to chain of transmitters). Some of his narrations appeared in Sunan of Abu Dawud and of al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa’i.
Wahb Ibn Munabbih
It is stated by the historians that he was of a Persian origin, and that his grandfather came to Yemen among those dispatched by Chosro for aiding Yemen against Abyssinia, where they settled down and multiplied by generation. Then they were known with the term ‘the sons’, i.e. sons of the Persians, among whom we can refer to Tawus ibn Kaysan, the well-known follower.
The religion adopted by the forefathers of Wahb was that of the Persians (Magianism or Zoroastrianism). When they resided at Yemen among the Jews, they learnt from them the Jews’ customs and traditions with a bit of the Christianity. He was able to speak in the Greek language, with abundant knowledge taken from Ahl al-Kitab, but was inflicted with insolvency.
He lived contemporaneously with several Companions, and reported hadith from them. Also from him many Companions used to report, among whom being Abu Hurayrah, Abd Allah ibn Umar and Ibn Abbas, and others, who were trustworthy among the Arabs.
Al-Imam Ahmad says that his father Munabbih was a Persian man dispatched by Chosro toward Yemen, where he embraced Islam, and the son (Wahb) used to frequent after him to his homeland after its being conquerred. Following is one of his sayings: “I have read 72 of God’s scriptures!
In Tadhkirat al-huffaz al-Dhahabi said about him: He was the learned of the people of Yemen. He was born in 34 H. And died in San’a in 110 H. Or after that with one year or more. It is said that he died in 116 H.
Abd Allah Ibn Sallam
He is Abu al-Harith al-Israeli. He embraced Islam after coming of the Prophet (S) to al-Madinah. He was one of the Jewish rabbis. From him Abu Hurayrah and Anas ibn Malik and others reported hadith. About him Wahb ibn Munabbih said: Al-Israeli was the most knowledgeable among the people of his time, and Ka’b was the most learned of his time people. He died in the year 40 Hijrah.
How Did They Seize Muslims’ Minds
Unusual and strange means were followed by these rabbis through their astonishing shrewdness, in order to possess and seize minds of Muslims and gain their trust and veneration. Some of these surprising methods are as follows:
Al-Tirmidhi reported from Abd Allah ibn Sallam
– who was one of the distinguished Jews who embraced Islam – that in the first line of Torah it was written: Muhammad the Messenger of Allah is His chosen bondman. His birthplace is Mecca, and migration place is Tibah (Medina). He also reported: The attribute of the Prophet is recorded in the Torah, and that Jesus, son of Mary will be buried with him.
This being what was reported by al-Tirmidhi in regard of Ibn Sallam, which was confirmed by the sage Ka’b: About him al-Darimi reported, under the Prophet’s attribute in the Torah, saying: In the first line (of Torah) it is written: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and His chosen bondman. His birthplace is Mecca, migration is Tibah, and reign is in the Sham.
I searched for the second line of this legend till I found it in Sunan al-Darimi, that was reported also from the great sage Ka’b, from whom Dhakwan reported saying: In the first line, it is written: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and His chosen bondman. He is neither rude nor unmannerly, nor clamorous in the markets. He never requites evil with evil, but pardons and forgives. His birth was in Mecca, migration is toward Tibah, and rule being in the Sham.
In the second line: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. His followers (ummah) are the praisers, who praise Allah in ease, in adversity, and wherever they be, and be greater than every honour. They are sun observers, who perform the prayers in its due time even if be on the top of a synagogue, wearing a wrapper on their waists, cleansing their limbs, producing voices (of prayers and supplications) during night through the sky atmosphere similar to the voices of bees (bumbles).
This statement was cited by Ibn Sa’d in his Tabaqat, on the authority of Ibn Abbas in a reply he gave to Ka’b. This superstition spread till reaching one of the disciples of Ka’b, who was Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-’As.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Abd Allah ibn Yasar as saying: I met Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-’As and said to him: Tell me about the attribute of the Messenger of Allah that is stated in the Torah. He said: True, by Allah
he is described in the Torah with some of his attributes that are cited in the Qur’an:
“O Prophet! Verily We have sent thee as a Witness, and as a Bearer of Good Tidings and as a Warner,” and a fortress for the illiterate. You are verily My slave and apostle. I called you the dependent. You are neither rude nor rough, nor boisterous (sakhkhab)
through the markets...one who never requites evil with evil, but pardons and forgives. God will never take away his life before straightening through him the tortuous (deviant) creed (millah), making people to say: “There is no god but Allah”, rendering open with it blind eyes and deaf ears and enclosed hearts.
Ibn Kathir added to this: Ibn Yasar said: Then I met the rabbi Ka’b and asked him (the same question)...when he gave me the reply, there was no difference between their answers even in one letter. How would they differ while it was Ka’b who taught him (Abd Allah ibn Amr).
In al-Itqan,
al-Suyuti reported that Ka’b al-Ahbar said:
In the Torah it is stated: O Muhammad! I am sending you a new Torah, that can open blind eyes, deaf ears and enclosed hearts.
Al-Jawaliqi, in Kitab al-Maghrib,
is reported to have said:
Ibn al-A’rabi said: It is reported that Ka’b al-Ahbar said: The Prophet’s names recorded in the ancient books are: Muhammad and Ahmad and Himyat, i.e. the Sanctuary Guardian (Hami al-Haram).
Al-Qadi Iyad, in al-Shifa’,
writes that Wahb ibn Munabbih said: I read through seventy-one books, noticing in all of them that the Prophet (S) was the wisest of people and best in opinion. In another narration: In all of them I found that Allah the Exalted, from the outset of the world till its end, never bestowed upon all people of the world the intellect that can be compared to his (S), unless it can be counted as one particle of the world sand.
Ka’b And Umar
On his arrival to al-Madinah and announcing his Islam, during the reign of Umar, Ka’b embarked on employing his sagacity and cunning for attaining to the goal for which he embraced Islam: that is corrupting the religion and fabricating lies against the Prophet (S).
The fact that prompted him to narrate and fabricate hadith was that Umar ibn al-Khattab, in the beginning of his rule, used to listen and heed to him, taking into consideration his becoming a Muslim of true faith, the fact pushing him to falsify as many as he could of traditions. Ibn Kathir says
: “When Ka’b embraced Islam during government of Umar, he started to relate hadith to Umar, who used to pay attention to him, the fact that paved the way before people to listen to his narrations and convey his fabricated weak traditions.”
But so soon Umar took notice of his stratagem and discovered his evil intention, when he forbade him from narrating the hadith, threatening him with exile to the land of apes shouldn’t he leave reporting hadith from the first
.
Despite Umar’s lying in wait for this crafty man with his decisiveness and wisdom, penetrating into his wicked designs through his insight and discernment, as seen in the rock story, but the extreme cunning and artifice of this Jew (Ka’b) managed to overcome Umar’s perception and good intention. So he continued to hatch plots, secretly and openly, till they were concluded with murder of Umar. All evidences indicate clearly that this murder was a plot engineered by an underground society, among whose senior members being this cunning man, and headed by Hormuzan, King of Khozustan
, who was brought as a captive to the Medina. The execution of this plot was entrusted to the non-Arab Abu Lu’lu’ah.
Murder of Umar and Ka’b’s Hand in It
Al-Musawwar ibn Makhramah
reported that when Umar went home after being threatened by Abu Lu’lu’ah, he was visited by Ka’b al-Ahbar
who said to him: O Amir al-Mu’minin, I am certain that you will die within three nights. (According to al-Tabari’s narration: three days). He said:
How could you know this? He said: It is mentioned in the Torah. Umar said: Do you find name of Umar ibn al-Khattab in the Torah? He replied: It is not so, but I find in it your ornament and attribute, and that the end of your life is approaching. When he uttered these words Umar was never feeling any pain. The next day, Ka’b came to Umar saying: Only two days are left. After passage of another day, Ka’b came to him and said: Two days passed and only one day is left. In another narration by al-Tabari: One day and one night are left, and it (night) is yours up to its morning.
The next morning, Umar went out for (establishing) prayers, charging some men with the task of arranging the rows, when he would utter the takbirah (God is Greater). At that time Abu Lu’lu’ah entered among the rows, holding a two-headed dagger with its haft being in its centre part. He stabbed Umar six times, one of which being under his navel, which led to his death. It is known that Abu Lu’lu’ah was one of Nahavand captives.
In a narration reported by Abu Ishaq from Ibn Sa’d, it is said: Ka’b came to Umar and said to him: “Haven’t I told you that you will never die but only as a martyr while you say: “How would that happen while I be in the Arab Peninsula?”
I present here an unusual report conveyed by this priest that can eradicate any doubt you may have regarding his collaboration in this conspiracy. Al-Khatib reported on the authority of Malik, that Umar entered upon his wife Umm Kulthum one day, and saw her weeping, when he said: What is the reason of your crying? She replied: This Jew,
i.e. Ka’b al-Ahbar he says that you will stand (on Doomsday) at one of Fire gates. Umar said: Masha’Allah!
Then he went out and sent for Ka’b al-Ahbar, who came to him and said: O Amir al-Mu’minin, do not speed things up. By Him in Whose hand is my soul, (month of) Dhu al-Hijjah will never end till you enter paradise. Umar said: What is that (you say)? Once you say I will be in paradise, and another time in Fire? Ka’b said: O Amir al-Mu’minin, by Him in Whose hand is my soul, we find you in the Book of Allah
(standing) at one of the hell gates preventing people from breaking into it. When you die, they will continue breaking into it till the Day of Resurrection! After his death, Ka’b came and started weeping at the door (of Umar’s house), saying: by God, had Amir al-Mu’minin asked Allah to delay his death He would have surely done this.
His oath – may God curse him – came true, as Umar was killed on Wednesday, only four nights left of Dhu al-Hijjah, in 23 Hijrah and was buried on Sunday, 1st of Muharram 24 Hijrah.
All these evidences prove that assassination of Umar by Abu Lu’lu’ah, was only a consequence of that conspiracy engineered by Hormuzan, due to the grudge and hatred harboured in his heart toward the Arabs, after their seizure of power and throne from the Persians and ruining their State and sovereignty. The fact that can never be disputed or refuted only by the ignorant, is that Ka’b al-Ahbar was among those who participated in this plot, with playing a great role in planning and executing it.
Hadith of Istisqa’
We learn from history (books) that a very extreme dearth and barrenness occurred to the land during caliphate of Umar, in the Ramadah
Year, Ka’b didn’t miss this chance without exploiting it as a means for directing to Islam one of his fierce stabs. So he said to Umar: When the Children of Israel were afflicted with such a calamity, they would seek water (from God) through the prophets’ ismah (infallibility). Hence many narrations were reported stating that Umar said: This is the uncle of the Messenger of Allah, and full brother of his father, and doyen of Banu Hashim: al-Abbas. Then they betook themselves to him and sought water.
Anas
said that the words uttered by Umar in this istisqa’: (O God) We used to implore You with our Prophet and You give us water, and now we beseech You with the uncle of our Prophet, and You will give us water.
Undoubtedly the purpose intended by this Jew through these words was only to mislead Umar regarding the first foundation upon which Islam was established, that is the sincere monotheism, so as to make him fall into the abyss of solicitation (tawussul) which means polytheism in itself. Then on falling of Umar into this abyss and his being an example to follow, with his act turning to be a sunnah having an influential impact on all Muslims in respect of the Islamic doctrine throughout ages and generations, the fact entailing demolition of the firm basis of the Din. But Umar, who had that insight and knowledge of religion, took notice of the intrigue and did not fall in the trap set by this impostor. So he never sought water through imploring anyone even the Prophet (S), satisfying himself with istighfar (asking for forgiveness).
Abu Bakr Abu al-Dunya in his book al-Matar, and the book Mujabi al-da’wah on the authority of Khuwat ibn Jubayr, said: Umar went out for seeking water (from God). He performed two-rak’ah prayer and said (in supplication): O God, we ask You to pardon and give us water. Before departing his place it started to rain.
Al-Shi’bi said: Umar went out for istisqa’ with people, but he sufficed only with asking forgiveness till coming back. People began to inquire: O Amir al-Mu’minin, but you haven’t implored God to provide us with water? He said: I asked for rain through the sky majadih
(extreme parts, roots) from which rain is sought to come down. Then he cited the verse:
اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا
“...Seek ye the forgiveness of your Lord! Verily He is the Most-Forgiving. He will send (down) upon you the cloud raining in torrents.”(70:10-11)
Then he cited:
وَأَنِ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ
“And that Seek ye the forgiveness of your Lord, then turn ye unto Him repentant.”(11:3)
Al-Shi’bi says: He (Umar) went out for asking God to send down rainwater. Then he ascended the minbar (pulpit) and cited the following verses:
اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا
“Seek ye the forgiveness of your Lord! Verily He is the Most-Forgiving,”(11:3)
And:
وَأَنِ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ
“And that Seek ye the forgiveness of your Lord, then turn ye unto Him repentant.” (11:3)
As he descended (from minbar), he was asked: O Amir al-Mu’minin, what prevented you from seeking rainwater? He answered: I asked for rain through the sky majadih from which water drops are coming down.
Abd Allah ibn Dinar al-Aslami reported from his father as saying: When Umar decided to ask for rainwater and go out with people, he wrote letters to his deputies to go out on so and so day, and beg their Lord asking Him to deliver them from this misfortune. Then he went out on that determined day putting on the cloak of the Messenger of Allah (S), till reaching the mosque.
Thereat he addressed the people, and beseeched God, making people to insist in invocation. The point on which he insisted more in his supplication was asking for pardon and forgiveness. Then as he intended to return, he raised his hands toward the sky, converting his cloak putting the right side on the left, and vice versa. Thereat he extended his hand, persisting in supplication and invocation, weeping bitterly and shedding tears till his beard was moistened.
Further it is reported in al-Mughni and al-Sharh al-kabir, that Umar went out for seeking rainwater (from God), but his invocation was no more than seeking forgiveness, exclaiming: I have asked for rainwater from the sky majadih.
Al-Jahiz said: When Umar ascended the minbar gripping al-Abbas’s hand on the day of istisqa’, he sufficed with invocation and prayer. It was said to him: You have never sought rainwater but only asking for forgiveness. He said: I asked for rainwater through the sky majadih. Then he cited the holy verse:
اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا
“...Seek ye the forgiveness of your Lord! Verily He is the Most-Forgiving. He will send (down) upon you the cloud raining in torrents.”(70: 10-11)
If the case was truly in this way, no harm in it as long as all of them were invoking Allah. It is almost certain that Umar has never pleaded with anyone in his istisqa’ supplication, never taking any means or medium to God except invocation and seeking forgiveness.
Ka’b’s Cunning and Stratagem
In Malik’s Muwatta’ it is reported that when Ka’b became aware that Umar ibn al-Khattab intended to go out toward Iraq, he said to him: O Amir al-Mu’minin! It is better not to go there, as in it there is nine-tenth of sorcery: the debauchees of jinn and it has the irremediable malady.
Jewish Traditions Spread By Ka’b and Wahb
To be acquainted with the Jewish fabricated traditions (Israeliyyat) spread by these two priests, that constituted suspicions with which enemies of Islam used to argue against it, being beyond its followers’ power, and turning to be among the most detrimental troubles getting rid of which being so problematic. Following are some of them given as an example:
Mu’awiyah said to Ka’b: You say that Dhu al-Qarnayn used to tie his horse to the chandelier. Ka’b said: If I said so, these words are said by God: “...and We gave him the means of access to every thing.”
Ibn Kathir, in his Tafsir,
writes: What Mu’awiyah disapproved against Ka’b being the correct, and Mu’awiyah has the right in this denial, as he used to say in regard of Ka’b: We used to put falsity to test through him.
Al-Qurtubi, in his interpretation of Surat Ghafir, reported from Khalid ibn Mi’dan, from Ka’b that he said: When God created the Throne, it said: God has never created anything greater than me, and it moved out of pride. So God encircled it with a snake having seventy thousand wings, each wing having seventy thousand feathers, each one having seventy thousand faces, in each one there are seventy thousand tongues. Everyday these mouths produce hymns (of praise) that equal in number the rain drops, leaves of trees, stones and soil, all days of life, and all angels. Thereat the snake twisted around the Throne, which reached half the snake while it was twisted around it. Only then it (Throne) behaved humbly!
In the Tafsir
books, it is reported that Abd Allah ibn Qullabah went out looking after his camel, till reaching the garden of Shaddad where he collected from there whatever he could. When this news reached Mu’awiyah, he sent for him, when he came and told him about the event. Then Mu’awiyah sent for Ka’b and asked him (about the region). He said: It is the many-columned Iram...and it will be visited by a Muslim man during your time, who will be red-faced, blond, short (of stature), with a mole on his eye-brow and another mole on his neck, going out in request of his camels.
Then he turned his face, and on seeing Ibn Qullabah, he said: By God, this is the man meant (in the hadith),
and no man will ever enter al-Madinah after him till the Day of Resurrection.
When Ka’b finished his speech, Mu’awiyah said to him
: O Abu Ishaq, Tell me about the chair of Sulayman ibn Dawud, and what was on it, and from what it was made. In his reply he embarked on citing what he had of superstitions and legends that are out of scope here, and can be found in Tafsir books.
Abu al-Shaykh in his book al-’Adamah, reported from Ka’b as saying: The seven earths rest upon a rock, and the rock is in an angel’s hand, and the angel is on a wing of a whale. The whale is in the water, and the water is on the wind, and the wind is over the air. It is a barren wind that never pollinates (the plants), and its horns are hanging from the Throne.
Wahb ibn Munabbih is reported to have said: Four angels hold the Throne on their shoulders, each one of them (angels) has four faces: an ox face, a lion’s face, an eagle’s face, and a human being’s face. Every angel has four wings, two on his face so as to keep him from looking to the Throne, when he would stun and float in the air. Thereat he can say nothing but the words: Quddus (the All Holy), the Mighty King... Whose Greatness has filled the heavens and the earth.
Ibn al-Faqih, in his Ta’rikh, reports:
The Prophet (may God’s peace and benediction upon him and his Progeny) was asked once about the earth, can it be seven? He replied: Yes and the heavens are seven. Then he cited the verse:
اللَّـهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ
“God is He Who created the seven heavens and of the earth, the like unto them...” (65:12)
One of those present there said: So are we (living) on the first face of the earth? He said: Yea...and on the second one there are creatures, who obey God and never disobey Him. On the third one creatures are there. On the fourth one there is a smooth rock. On the fifth face there is a shallow of water. On the sixth one there is baked clay upon which rests throne of Iblis. And on the seventh one there is an ox, which is over a fish, and the fish is on the water, and the water is on the air. The air is on the soil, and the soil (thara) is separated, containing the knowledge of the scholars.
Mu’awiyah once read the verse: “Until when he reached the place where settest the sun (the Western most land)”, till reaching the words: “a black muddy pool,” Ibn Abbas said: It is a black muddy pool. Then they decided to make Ka’b as an arbitrator between them, so they sent for him and questioned him about meaning of these words. He said: Regarding the sun, it sets in tha’t, which means mud. Again he said: It sets in a black mud.
It is also reported that Ibn Abbas and Amr ibn al-’As differed regarding the way of reading these words: “...in a black muddy pool”, raising the issue for arbitration
to Ka’b al-Ahbar, to settle the dispute.
Ibn Khaythamah reported on the authority of Qatadah as saying: It came to Hudhayfah’s knowledge that Ka’b was saying: The sky revolves round an axis like a quern (handmill), when he said: Ka’b has lied...Allah says: “Verily God holdeth the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught.
Ibn Hajar said that Ka’b al-Ahbar narrated that the heaven door which is called “the angels lift” (mas’ad al-mala’ikah) is opposite to Bayt al-Maqdis
(Quds). From it some ulama’ learnt that the philosophy behind isra’ (circulating) to Bayt al-Maqdis before ‘uruj (ascension), was that to make the ascension occur smoothly and in a straight way, without any crookedness.
In this way the Jewish falsified traditions passed into our beliefs and tenets. After citing this superstition, Ibn Hajar said: There should be some consideration in this hadith due to stating that in every heaven there is a populated house, and the house which is in the lowest heaven is located opposite to the Ka’bah. It was more proper for the Prophet to ascend from Mecca so as to reach the inhabited house (al-bayt al-ma’mur) without any crookedness! Since he ascended from one heaven to another till reaching al-bayt al-ma’mur.
Ka’b reports that in the Paradise there is an angel, whom I can name if I will. He coins for paradise inhabitants the ornaments, from the day he was created till the Day of Resurrection. If one bracelet of them was to be brought out, it would drive back the sun ray as the sun repels the moon’s ray.
The evidence confirming that the Companions used to refer to him (Ka’b) even in respect of questions of which they were aware, especially when he said: “Nothing is there but recorded in the Torah”, can be found when Abu Abd al-Rahman reported that Umar said to Ka’b – after referring to poetry: O Ka’b, is there any mention of poetry in the Torah? Ka’b said: I find in the Torah people from among the offspring of Isma’il, having their gospels kept in their hearts, pronouncing only wisdom and coining the proverbs. We know them to be none but the Arabs.
Yazid ibn Habib reported that Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan asked Ka’b al-Ahbar: Do you find in the Book of Allah any reference to this (River of) Nile? He said: Yea, by Him Who split the sea for Moses (peace be upon him) I find in the Book of Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, that: God reveals to it twice a year, and reveals to it when it flows that: Allah orders you to flow. Then it flows in the way ordained by God. After that God reveals to it: Return commendably
.
Al-Bayhaqi, in al-Asma’ wa al-sifat, through a reliable sanad, reports from Ibn Abbas, saying: In regard of the Almighty’s saying: “God is He Who created the seven heavens and of the earth, the like unto them” he (Ka’b) said: They are seven earths, in each one there is a prophet like yours, Adam like yours, Noah like yours, Abraham like yours and Jesus like Jesus Christ. But he never referred to any equal to Moses! In his book al-Shu’ab, al-Bayhaqi said: He is extremely eccentric.
Al-Suyuti says: This utterance of al-Bayhaqi is quite handsome, as he doesn’t necessitate veracity of text as a condition for veracity of the isnad, due to possibility of the isnad’s being correct with the text having eccentricity or a defect that deprives it of veracity.
After ascribing this hadith to Ibn Jarir with the wording: “Every earth is similar in respect of creation to this earth, its Adam is like your Adam and Ibrahim is like Ibrahim you have”, Ibn Kathir says: It is probably thought – if be correctly reported from Ibn Abbas – that he (Ibn Jarir) has taken from Jewish falsified traditions (Israeliyyat).
Makhul reported that Ka’b said: Four of the prophets are alive so as to be safety for the inhabitants of the earth, two of whom are on the earth: al-Khidr and Ilyas, and two are in the heaven: Idris and Jesus.
In Tafsir al-Tabari it is reported that Ibn Abbas inquired Ka’b about Sidrat al-Muntaha (the Lote-tree of the all-Comprehensive Terminus). He said: It is over the heads of the Throne-bearers, and towards it ends the knowledge of all creatures, beyond which no one has any knowledge, the reason for which it was called Sidrat al-Muntaha, due to the end (intiha’) of knowledge at it. This being what he said to his second disciple. Whereas his first disciple Abu Hurayrah, has answered his question by a hadith saying in it: It is a tree from whose root come out rivers of unpolluted water, rivers of milk, rivers of wine, and rivers of honey. It is a tree under the shade of which the passenger moves forward without being able to cover it as a whole. Every leaf of this tree can cover and include the Ummah altogether – O God protect us!
In the ascension hadith, it is stated that when Allah prescribed fifty prayers upon His bondmen during day and night, none of the apostles, except Moses, could comprehend the impossibility of performing them by mankind. And he alone took notice of this fact, urging Muhammad (S) to refer to his Lord ten times, according to a narration, and five times in another narration, and a few times in a third narration.
All these narrations state that whenever any number of prayers was revealed from God upon the Prophet, Moses would tell him to refer to his Lord to decrease them till reaching them to five (salats), as if when Allah Subhanahu prescribed the prayers upon the Muslims, He was unaware – Higher be He than this so highly – of the extent of endurance of His slaves to perform them. And also Muhammad, whom He chose for conveying the universal message to all mankind as God knows best where to put His Message – does not know whether those to whom he was delegated tolerate the burden of this worship or be unable to perform it, until when he was enlightened by Moses.
In this manner, the Jewish falsified traditions penetrate into our religion and prevail among our beliefs, having their corruptive effects, with no one found, but very rarely, to reveal their falsehood and refute them. But, alas, we find them believed by some from among the Hashwiyyah (interpolators) of the end of Time, who trade with religion never caring for ascribing ignorance to the Seal of Apostles (S), keeping on referring to Ka’b al-Ahbar with mastery titles.
I suffice with these examples believing them to be enough to get content.
Is It Permissible To Narrate Israeliyyat?
The Islamic Shari’ah came and abrogated all the precedent statutes (laws), though reserving the foundations of the doctrines and whatever be non-contradictory with the rules with which Allah sent all the messengers to His creatures. The holy Qur’an declared clearly that People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) have inscribed books from their own for parting with them for a trifling price.
Because of this, the Messenger of Allah forbade Muslims from learning or taking from Ahl al-Kitab any thing that contradicts the principles, rules and norms of the Din of Allah, flying into a rage when observing any of the Muslims reporting anything from them. Ahmad reported from Jabir ibn Abd Allah that Umar ibn al-Khattab brought the Prophet a book he got from someone of Ahl al-Kitab and read it for him. Thereat the Prophet became angry exclaiming: Are you believing in them, O Ibn al-Khattab? By Him in Whose hand is my soul, had Moses been alive, it would have not been within his power but to follow my guide.
In another narration: He became furious and said: I have brought to you a pure pristine law (shari’ah). Never inquire Ahl al-Kitab about any matter, as they either tell you the truth and you belie it, or tell you falsehood and you believe it.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Abu Hurayrah as saying: Never believe Ahl al-Kitab and never belie them (all the time), but you should say: we believe in Allah and in that which was revealed to us and that was revealed to you, and our God and yours is One, and unto Him we have surrendered.
Al-Bukhari also reported the hadith of al-Zuhri on the authority of Ibn Abbas that he said: How do you inquire Ahl al-Kitab about anything, while your Book, which Allah revealed to His Messenger, being the last of books (scriptures), so pure and devoid of any blemish, for you to read. It revealed to you that Ahl al-Kitab have made many changes and alterations in the Book of Allah, writing by their hands a book claiming it to be from God so as to part with it for a trifling price! Doesn’t the knowledge revealed to you forbid you from questioning them? No by God, we never saw a man asking you about that which was revealed to you.
Ibn Jarir reported that Abd Allah ibn Mas’ud said: Never inquire about anything from Ahl al-Kitab, as verily they never guide you (to truth) while they are misguided. You either deny the truth, or believe in falsehood.
These being the correct narrations that agree with religion and reason (‘aql), and were known among the researchers.
The above-mentioned were some of the traditions reported from the Prophet (S) in respect of forbidding from taking knowledge from Ahl al-Kitab. But so soon the matter was reversed after Muslims be beguiled by some of the Jewish rabbis who embraced Islam for misleading others. That was with the emergence of some traditions ascribed to the Prophet (S) that permit learning from Ahl al-Kitab and abrogate the ones in which he forbade this.
Abu Hurayrah and Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-’As and others reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “There is no bjection to relate from Banu Israel.
It is known that Abu Hurayrah and Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr were among disciples of Ka’b al-Ahbar. The reports indicate that the second one – i.e. Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-’As – got during the Battle of Yarmuk two scholarships of the sciences of Ahl al-Kitab, and used to relate from them. Ibn Hajar added to this: “For this reason many of the Imams of the Followers avoided reporting from him.”
Some Companions Relating From Jewish Rabbis
The Companions’ trust in the Ahl al-Kitab’s embrace of Islam and being beguiled by them made them (Sahabah) to believe their utterances and relate from them their fabricated traditions. Men of hadith state in their books that the three ‘Abds
, Abu Hurayrah
, Mu’awiyah and Anas beside others, have reported from Ka’b al-Ahbar and his brothers (Jewish rabbis). It is known that Abu Hurayrah was much more than all the Companions in having trust in and relating from him and following him, as can be seen clearly from his biography which I published in a separate book under the title Shaykh al-mudirah to which everyone can refer.
This Jew (Ka’b al-Ahbar) managed, through his devilish methods and plans, to foist so many superstitions, fancies and falsities into religion, that filled books of tafsir, hadith and history, in a way that distorted them and created doubt among people in their regard, and still causing us detriments and troubles that only God knows. I have previously referred to some of these superstitions as covering all of them requires independent full compilations.
Companions Disproving Ka’b
As is known, the Companions used to trust Ka’b in the beginnings, but some of them did not wait to take notice of his truth after disclosure of his falsities and revelation of his reality, whereat they stripped him of this trust and started to suspect his reports, or even belied him. Whereas some of them, among whom be Abu Hurayrah and three Abds and others, kept on believing and taking from him till his last hour.
Umar has forbidden Ka’b from relating the hadith, threatening to exile him to his homeland in case of continuing this practice, saying to him: You should give up narration of hadith or otherwise I shall make you join the land of apes.
Ali used to say in his regard: He is verily a liar.
Al-Bukhari reported from al-Zuhri that Hamid ibn Abd al-Rahman heard Mu’awiyah addressing a group of the Qurayshis, when he referred to Ka’b saying: He was the most truthful
of all the narrators from among Ahl al-Kitab though we used to put falsity to test through him.
Ibn Abi Khaythamah, through a good sanad (chain of narrators), reported from Qatadah as saying: Hudhayfah was informed that Ka’b used to say: The sky revolves round a pivot like a handmill. Thereat he said: Ka’b told a lie, as Allah says: “Verily God holdeth the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught.”
Ibn Abbas said to a man coming from the Sham: Whom did you meet? He replied: I met Ka’b. He asked him: What did you hear him saying? He said: I heard him say: The heavens revolve round a shoulder of an angel. Ibn Abbas said: Ka’b uttered falsehood...hasn’t he abandoned his jewishness yet? Then he recited: “Verily God holdeth the heavens and the earth lest they come to naught.”
There are numerous reports in this regard, but I suffice with the examples cited above.
Story of the Rock between Umar And Ka’b
After conquest of Ilya and its land during the reign of Umar in Rabi’ al-Thani 16 H., and when Umar entered Bayt al-Maqdis, he summoned Ka’b al-Ahbar and said to him: Where do you think better to build the oratory (musalla)? Ka’b said: Beside the rock.
Umar said: O Ka’b, by God you have resembled the Jewish creed.
In another narration: O son of the Jewish woman, the Jewishness is mingled with you (with your blood). I shall build it at the forefront of the mosque, as to us belong the forefronts of the mosques, and I saw you and the way you took off your shoes! He said: I liked to conduct it with my foot! When he started to clean Bayt al-Maqdis from the sweeping which the Romans buried into it,
he heard the takbir (God is Greater) from behind him, while he was averse to evil of dissimulation
in everything. He said: What is this? They replied: Ka’b said God is Greater and people repeated after him. He (Umar) said: Bring him here. Ka’b said: O Amir al-Mu’minin, a prophet foretold of what you did today five hundred years ago. He asked: How is that? He replied: The Romans attacked Banu Israel and buried it (Bayt al-Maqdis), till you were appointed a ruler, when Allah delegated a prophet over the sweepings who said: O Jerusalem, I have good tidings for you, al-Faruq has come to cleanse you of that which inside you.
In another narration: Al-Faruq came to you with obedient soldiers, who will retaliate and take vengeance of your people upon the Romans... etc. Beside other similar superstitions that were fabricated by this impostor and liar.
The rock remained uncovered during caliphate of Umar and Uthman when ruling over the Sham, and also caliphate of Ali though he didn’t rule over it (Sham), continuing till the government of Mu’awiyah, his son and the son of his son. When Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan came to power, with that known sedition that occurred between him and Ibn al-Zubayr, it was him who built the dome over the rock,
extolling the position of the rock through what he built and the garment he covered it in winter and summer. All this was aimed at encouraging larger number of people to make pilgrimage to Bayt al-Maqdis (Quds), and abandon their visit to Ibn al-Zubayr, since people usually follow religion of the kings. In this way, people started from that time to venerate and sublimate this rock to an extent unanticipated by Muslims, with some embarking on reporting Jewish fabricated traditions in its praise and high status. To cite an example for this, some have reported from Ka’b al-Ahbar near Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, with the presence of Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, that he said: “Allah said to the rock: You are My lowermost Throne”.
Some others have even made compilations on the merits of Bayt al-Maqdis and other regions of the Sham, transmitting many reports from Ahl al-Kitab and those who followed them, upon which the Muslims are unallowed to establish their religion. Ka’b al-Ahbar was the most vivid example from whom those Jewish traditions were reported, as in the case of the people of Sham.
In his Mir’at al-zaman, al-Sibt ibn al-Jawzi writes: People hesitated in regard of the traditions reported by Ka’b al-Ahbar from the Messenger of Allah (S), since he embraced Islam under the hands of al-Faruq (Umar), who used to hit him with the pearl saying to him: Let us be far from your Jewishness.
Jewish Traditions on Excellence of Bayt Al-Maqdis
Ka’b said: Allah looked at the earth and said: I am treading a portion of you. Thereat the mountains contended in a race toward Him, and the rock became dilapidated, when He appreciated that conduct on its part and placed His foot on it.
He also said: Presentation and reckoning (on Doomsday) will be verily done in Bayt al-Maqdis, and anyone buried in this place no torment will ever befall him.
He further said: It (Quds) is only eighteen miles nearer to the heaven, and it is the land of mahshar (gathering) and manshar (resurrection).
He again said: The Hour (Doomsday) will never come till when Bayt al-Haram (Ka’bah) visits Bayt al-Maqdis, and both of them including their inhabitants will be led toward the paradise.
In another place he said: In the Torah it is written that Allah said to the Rock of Bayt al-Maqdis: You are My lowermost Throne, and from you I ascended to the heaven. From underneath you I stretched out the earth, and whatever flowing down from the tops of mountains passes too from under you. When one dies on you it is as if he has died in the heaven etc.
Also Abu Hurayrah – the disciple of Ka’b al-Ahbar – reported that the Prophet (S) said: All the rivers, clouds, seas and winds are altogether under the Rock of Bayt al-Maqdis.
Ka’b again said: Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, said to Bayt al-Maqdis: You are my Garden, Holiness, and choice from among my land. Whoever inhabits you, it verily be out of My mercy, and that who departs you, it is only through a wrath on My part against him.
Ka’b said too: In Bayt al-Maqdis the day is like a thousand days, the month is like a thousand months, and the year is like a thousand years. Whoever dies in it, it is as if he has died in the heaven, and when anyone dies around it, it is as if he has died inside it.
Wahb ibn Munabbih is reported to have said: People of Bayt al-Maqdis are neighbours of Allah, and Allah’s right is not to torment His neighbours. Whoever is buried in Bayt al-Maqdis will be verily delivered from the trial and distress of the grave.
In a hadith, it is said that the party from among his Ummah, standing by the truth, who are never harmed or affected by their opponents till God’s command is revealed to them, are living in Bayt al-Maqdis and its vicinities.
Al-Allamah al-Ustadh Ni’mat Allah al-Saljuqi, the head of Fakhr al-Madaris (Herat) in Afghanistan, in his review of my book Adwa’ ‘ala al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyyah, in a valuable book he sent to me, says:
“Concerning the traditions reported on the merit of Sham, we admit that most of them were only foisted by the Jews. Of them some are recorded in books stating that whoever begins the new moon for hajj from al-Masjid al-Aqsa, Allah shall verily forgive all his past and latter sins. This narration – though indicating the excellence of al-Masjid al-Aqsa – leads to atheism and negligence in regard of perpetrating guilts, paving the way for debauchery.
Among the superstitions that were foisted by the Jews and recorded in the biography and some exegesis books are the following: Some of the heavens are of silver and some are of olivine; the planets are transfixed in the heavens according to the order stated in the Greek books; the moon is transfixed in the lower heaven, and the planet Mercury is in the second heaven, and so forth till the seventh heaven. And so on the heavens are placed on a vertex of a mountain surrounding the earth called Qaf, and the earth is put on a horn of an ox standing on a whale swimming in water.
All that was due to the scholars’ unawareness and negligence of the untoward consequences of the traditions fabricated and foisted by enemies of religion among the Muslims.”
Traditions on Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa
The reliable traditions were in the beginning concerned with the merit of al-Masjid al-Haram (Ka’bah) and Masjid al-Rasul (Mosque of the Messenger of Allah), but after building the Rock Dome (Qubbat al-Sakhrah) several traditions began to be reported on the excellence of al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
Abu Hurayrah reported (that the Prophet said): “No pilgrimage should be made but only to three mosques: My mosque, and al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Masjid al-Aqsa.” In another narration, he (S) said: Travel should be made only to three mosques: the Ka’bah, my mosque and Mosque of Ilya (al-Aqsa).
Malik reported in al-Muwatta’, and Muslim in his book (Sahih) reported from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: One prayer (salat) in my mosque is verily better than a thousand prayers in other mosques other than al-Masjid al-Haram. In another narration: is like a thousand prayers in any other mosque except al-Masjid al-Haram.
Abu Umar reported that the Prophet said: A prayer in my mosque is better than a thousand prayers in any other mosque except al-Masjid al-Haram.
Ibn Abbas reported: A woman made a complaint saying: If Allah recovers me I commit myself to perform prayers in Bayt al-Maqdis. On regaining her health she got ready to go out, when Maymunah, the Prophet’s wife, came to greet her, the time in which she told her about her vow. Maymunah said to her: Sit down and eat what I prepared for you, and pray in the Mosque of the Messenger of Allah, as I heard him saying: One prayer performed in it (Masjid al-Rasul) is preferred to a thousand prayers in any other mosque except the Ka’bah Mosque. Had these traditions were truly reported on the excellence of al-Masjid al-Aqsa, Maymunah would have never prevented that woman from carrying out her vow.
Jewish Role in Preferring the Sham
We stated before that the extolling made by the Jewish rabbis that the Prophet’s rule would be in the Sham was only for a purpose harboured inside their hearts. It is to be stated here that the Sham would have never deserved that extol and flattery, but only because of the establishment of the Umayyad State in it. That State which reversed the rule from a just and fair caliphate to a mordacious deviant government, under whose wing and during whose days the Islamic sects were established, the fact that led to disintegration and decline of the Islamic State, beside prevalence and abundance of hadith fabrication.
This phenomenon was exploited by the Jewish priests who embarked on blowing the fire of sedition, providing it with more and more lies and deceit. Among these falsities we can refer to their exaggeration in extolling the Sham and its people, claiming that all good being in it and all evil being in other than it.
However, as previously manifested, the climax of the claims of these priests was that the Prophet’s reign would be verily in the Sham, and that Mu’awiyah alleged as the Messenger said that he was to succeed him as a caliph and asked him to choose the sacred land where the substitutes were living. Through this it is exposed for us another aspect of the Jewish stratagem against Muslims and their religion and rule. That is the claims uttered by the Jews in the Sham, to some of which we referred before, could never quench their grudge but they added to them the claim that the right-supporting sect would be in the Sham too, and in it would be the descension of Jesus, about whom they said he would be in his land.
In the two Sahihs it is reported (that the Prophet said): A group of my Ummah is still backing the truth, and never be harmed by those who disappointed or opposed them, till God’s decree coming to them on this state. In another narration: …. While they be in the Sham.
In Sahih Muslim, Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet said: People of the west keep on supporting the truth till the Doomsday. Ahmad and others said: They (meant by the hadith) are verily the people of the Sham.
When Andalusian land was conquered, they (Jews) considered it the west that is intended in the hadith, making this hadith as if said in regard of their homeland. In al-Mu’jib fi talkhis akhbar al-Maghrib, it is reported from Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: People of the Maghrib continue to stand by the truth (haqq), unaffected or harmed by whoever disappointed them, till when the (destined) Hour comes.
In Kashf al-khafa’, it is reported that Ka’b al-Ahbar said: People of the Sham are one of God’s swords with whom Allah revenges upon the rebels. Maybe the term rebels or insurgents here is used for those refusing to submit and be under the command of Mu`awiyah, following other than him, the term used for Ali, may God be pleased with him!
Urwah ibn Ruwaym said: Some man met Ka’b al-Ahbar, saluted him and prayed to God for him. Ka’b asked him: From where are you? He replied: I am from people of the Sham. He (Ka’b) said: You may be one of the host among whom seventy thousand will enter paradise without being called for reckoning, or tormented? He said: who are they? He replied: People of Damascus! He said: I am not among them. Ka'b again asked. You may be from among the host to whom Allah looks twice a day? He said: Who are they? He replied: People of Palestine. He said: I am of them.
In another narration. You might be from the troops whose martyr intercedes for seventy persons? He said: Who are they? He replied: People of Hams.
Ka'b said: The first wall built on the surface of the earth after the inundating flood, was the wall of Harran, then of Damascus, then of Babylon.
Nafi reported from Ibn Umar, that Ka'b said: A fire will verily appear that takes off people. When you hear news about it you have to go out toward the Sham.
It is known that Ibn Umar was a disciple of Ka'b.
Following are some traditions recorded in al-Jami‘ al-saghir of al-Suyuti, that were confirmed by Ka'b:
Sham is God's choice from among the lands (He created). For it He selects the best of His bondmen. Whoever departs the Sham toward another place, he will face wrath (of God), and whoever enters it shall be deserving God's mercy.
Blessed be the Sham, the Beneficent is extending His mercy upon them.
From a town in the Sham called Hams, Allah will verily forward seventy thousand persons on the Day of Resurrection. They will neither be subject to reckoning nor to torment. He shall despatch them in it between the olive and the wall... etc.
This town of Hams must be in this high status - even in the Hereafter - to the extent that no other town, even the Medina, can ever be compared to it. That is due to the fact that the Jewish priest, who is considered as a great follower by a large number of shaykhs (leaders) of Muslims, has taken it a place of residence, beside its being his burial ground after death. I do not intend to prolong the discussion by citing all the available reports of the kind, sufficing with what I have already stated.
Investigators' Opinion about Israeliyyat and Their Narrators
Before ending discussion about Jewish fabricated traditions from which Islam suffered a lot, I present here a number of statements uttered by leaders (Imams) of Muslims about these priests, who pretended to be Muslims, and about their fabricated foisted narration.
About the Jewish traditions cited in honour of Bayt al-Maqdis and other regions of the Sham, Ibn Taymiyyah said the following.
Some have compiled several works on the merits of Bayt al-Maqdis and other places in the Sham, stating in them the reports transmitted from Ahl al-Kitab and from those who followed them, of the kind that no Muslim can take them as a source for religious rules. Ka'b al-Ahbar was the most famous one from whom these Jewish fabricated traditions were reported, particularly by people of the Sham.
In this regard Mu'awiyah said: We haven't seen among these traditionists of Ahl al-Kitab anyone more exemplary than Ka'b, though we sometimes would put falsity to test through him. In Sahih al-Bukhari it is reported from the Prophet (upon whom be God's peace and benediction) as saying: "When People of Scripture relate to you any hadith, you should neither believe or belie them. Since they either tell you lies which you may believe, or tell you the truth which you may belie.
It is surprising that this preserved
and guarded Shari'ah, with this protected Ummah that never comes together on misguidance - when any hadith be related from the Prophet(s) by some of eminent Followers, like `Ata' ibn Abi Rabah, al-Hasan al-Basri and Abu al-Aliyah and others, who were the most notable scholars and religious authorities- can suspend men of knowledge at their marasil. Then some of them would repulse the marasil (traditions transmitted with no asanid), and some others would conditionally accept them. Till he said. And between any of these people and the Prophet (s), as a chain of transmission, none was there but only one or two or three men, for instance.
In regard of those traditions recorded in the present books of Muslims, that are reported in a mursal way, their veracity can never be confirmed as unanimously agreed by the ulama’. So what about those which were reported by Ka'b al-Ahbar and his likes from the prophets while about a thousand years were separating between him and the prophet from whom he used to report. Besides, he did not support these traditions with a chain of trustworthy men, but his intention was only to convey hadith from some books that were compiled by chiefs of the Jews.
When Allah informs about their alteration and perversion, so how would it be permissible for any Muslim to believe anything of that through this kind of transmission. Rather he should neither believe nor belie it, but only through evidence proving its falsity. Truly in this way we have been ordered by the Prophet (S). Only God knows how much falsity against the prophets and what is rejected in our Shari'ah, contained in these Israeliyyat (Jewish falsified traditions).
Ibn Kathir, in his interpretation of Surat al-Naml, after stating the Israeliyyat that went on in the episode of the Queen of Saba’ with Sulayman, said the following:
“What is nearer to mind being that these contexts have been taken from Ahl al Kitab, through what their books contained, such as narration of Ka'b and Wahb may God pardon them both for what they reported to this Ummah including the reports of Banu Israel, oddities, and strange things about what occurred and that which never occurred, and what was perverted, altered and abrogated. Allah has substituted us with that which is more veracious, beneficial, obvious and eloquent, praise and grace are God's.
Ibn Khaldun, in many places of his Muqaddimah, referred to Ka'b and Wahb and whatever was reported from them, to which can refer whoever desiring more details. I haven't come across, in the present age or even throughout the recent ages, anyone taking notice of the cunning and stratagem of Ka'b and Wahb, like the Faqih traditionist al-Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Ridha’ (may God's mercy be upon him). Herewith I quote a portion of what he said in regard of Ka'b in particular, and about him and his friend Wahb in general.
In regard of Ka'b in refuting those who described him as being a receptacle of knowledge, he said the following:
“Establishment of abundant knowledge does not necessitate denial of falsity. Most of his (Ka'bs) knowledge in their view was confined in whatever he used to relate and quote from the Torah, or some other books of his people with ascribing everything to it (Torah) so as to get approval among people. Undoubtedly Ka'b was the most sagacious among the Jewish `ulama’ before embracing Islam, and most competent in cheating the Muslims through his narration after adopting Islam.
He also said that he was among the atheists (Zanadiqah) of the Jews, who used to display Islam and devotion so as to delude people to accept his sayings in regard of religious affairs. His intrigue became so rife that even some of the Companions were beguiled by him and embarked on reporting from him, and communicating his utterances without ascribing them to him (in the chain of transmission). Some of the followers and their followers have even thought them (his traditions) to be among what they heard from the Prophet, with some authors counting them among the mawqufat that having the degree of marfu' traditions (whose sanad goes back to the Prophet), as stated by Ibn Kathir in several places of his Tafsir.
About him he also said: He was a volcano of superstitions, I decisively determine his being a liar, and rather I never trust his faith.
In regard of both Ka'b and Wahb, he said:
“The worst of the narrators of these Israeliyyat or the most of them in deceiving and cheating the Muslims were these two men. They were the source of every superstition foisted into books of exegesis and Islamic history, concerning the issues of creation, existence, prophets and their folks, seditions, the Hour and Hereafter, as in every place there is a trace of Tha`labah.
Seeing some of the Companions and Followers beguiled by reports that were spread by these two men (Ka'b and Wahb) and their likes, can never be deemed distressing by anyone, as every one may believe the liar, even the infallible apostles. That is due to the fact that infallibility pertains only to propagation of the Message and acting according to it, since the apostles are impeccable against telling lies, committing error in propagation, and acting in contrary to the Shari'ah they brought to people, as this contradicts their being an example and disturbs the establishments of proof.
But if the Messenger believes the liar in a matter related to him and his conduct, or convenience of the Ummah, Allah the exalted will verily manifest this for him, an example for which can be seen in the behaviour of one of his wives, about which the first verses of Surat al-Tahrim, were revealed, and he realized through God's words in her regard:
قَالَتْ مَنْ أَنبَأَكَ هَـٰذَا
"...she said: "Who informed thee of this?" (66:3)
قَالَ نَبَّأَنِيَ الْعَلِيمُ الْخَبِيرُ
He said: "Informed me the All-Knowing, the All-Aware."( 66:3)
That is he couldn't discover the artifice through the faculty of infallibility (‘ismah), but through God's revelation after its occurrence. Of this also God's words regarding the hypocrites who lied to him and asked him to excuse them from rising out with him(S) to Tabuk: "God forgive thee (O Our Apostle!) Why didst thou give them leave (to stay behind) until it was manifest unto thee those who spoke the truth, and thou hadst known the liars.”
What al-Zarqani quoted of his opinion that whatever is reported from the Companion which can't be counted among the entailed (mawquf) traditions, has the position of a marfu' tradition (though having the option of being taken from Ahl al-Kitab as a sign of thinking well of it, is a false and rejected opinion, that can never be taken as a rule and principle in our religion. And what he gave as a reason for it is totally false as no room be here neither for good intention nor for the opposite way.
It is usually known in the tempers of human beings to believe every report for whose utterer no evidence is there to charge (as a liar) nor to prove its falsehood by itself. If some of the Companions believe some of the fabrications which Ka'b al-Ahbar used to delude them as learning from the Torah or other scriptures of Banu Israel, as he being one of their rabbis, or in other than this, it will never entail having evil intention regarding them.
Had these Israeli superstitions been among restrainers of Islam and of which people used to speak ill, though being reported from those whose sayings and opinions were neither regarded as religious texts nor legal proofs, despite their being among `ulama’ of ancestors - as is actually true - so what would be our standpoint in regard of those defaming Islam, among the atheists and callers to religions who harbour enmity against Islam and Muslims, and also the Zanadiqah of Muslims beside Muslims among Zanadiqah of Muslims too, when holding that these Israeli superstitions and trifles were narrated by Companions in part, and counted among the traditions whose chain of transmission goes back to the Prophet (S) in which should all believe?
But this being a vast bab on defamation and restraining of Islam, had it been opened by other than al-Zarqani from among the imitators of darksome medieval ages, we would have closed it to his face saying to him the scholars of usul have unanimously concurred that occurrence of potentiality in the marfu’ (hadith reported from the Prophet) in regard of existing states, will clothe them with garment of generality whereat inference would lose its validity.
This probability is more proper than that one, in preventing from considering the mawquf as marfu’, and taking it as a legal evidence.
He further said:
We, after experiencing a third of a century in tackling and solving the ambiguities and debating the atheists and their likes from among the opponents of Islam, and refuting them orally and in writing, it was already proved for us that the narration of Ka'b and Wahb, recorded in books of exegesis, history and tales, constituted numerous suspicions not only for the atheists and apostates, but also for the believers. The free-thinking people reject their saying that; whoever believed to be reliable by men of sarcasm and modification (jarh wa ta’dil) is verily reliable, though known for their successors to be having means of sarcasm that were unknown for them.
He also said: Through their
narration I found a lot whose falsity is definitely certain for us, due to its contradiction to what they used to ascribe to the Torah and other scriptures of the prophets. So we were sure of their being liars, the fact that was undiscovered by the predecessors since they were never acquainted with the books of Ahl al-Kitab. Besides, refuting their narrations would drive so many suspicions away from the books of Islam, particularly Tafsir Kitab Allah, which is replete with superstitions.
About their narrations he said: Most of them are Israeli superstitions that spoiled books of tafsir and others, and constituted doubts into Islam with which its enemies from among the atheists used to argue, charging Islam to be a religion of superstitions and fancies. While suspicion in any other religion might be bigger than this, like what Ka'b stated about attribute of the Prophet in the Torah.
But though the investigating imams have confuted the narration of these two priests, still there are - regrettably - some who trust them and believe in their narrations as a whole, refusing any criticism against them.
Political Stratagem
To complete our discussion in demonstrating the extent of Jewish stratagem against Islam and Muslims - though it being a protraction that may divert me from my intended purpose - I disclose another aspect of the conduct of the Jewish sages, that is the political aspect. The Jews' deception in fighting Islam aimed at attacking Islam on two aspects: one is religious and the other one being political. Their vilification in the religious aspect, it was exposed to you before. Herewith a few examples of their political stratagem.
Abd Allah Ibn Saba
Rafiq al-Adum about the most renowned men of Islam said:
“The seeds of sedition have been planted all over the Islamic Kingdom and its grand capitals, like Egypt, Basrah, and Kufah, through a secret da’wah (propagation) launched by Abd Allah ibn Saba’, who was known with the nickname of Ibn al-Sawda'. He was a Jew from the tribe of Himyar. He embraced Islam during the caliphate of Uthman instigated by a secret assembly seeking through this to achieve one of these two goals: Sowing discord among Muslims either in respect of religion or in respect of politics.
On embracing Islam, he stopped at Basrah, staying near Hakim ibn Jibillah al-`Abdi, where a number of people gathered. Thereat he embarked on seducing them toward the da’wah he launched, which was accepted by them. This news reached Ibn ‘Amir, who exiled him from Basrah, after which he went to Kufah, from which he was exiled too.
Then he betook himself toward Egypt, where he settled down and a number of the Egyptians gathered round him, among whom being Kinanah ibn Bishr, Sawdan ibn Humran and Khalid ibn Muljam and their likes, whom he addressed saying. It is to wonder at whoever believing that Jesus will come back (from the heaven), and denying that Muhammad will come back (on Doomsday). So he laid down for them the principle of Raj`ah (return), which was accepted by them.
Among the statements uttered by Ibn Saba’: For every prophet there is an executor (wasi) and Ali is the wasi of Muhammad, and the Raj`ah after Muhammad shall be for Ali - which is one of the beliefs held by the Shi`ah - and that `Uthman seized the right of Ali.
In his book Fajr al-Islam,
Dr. Ahmad Amin says: It was him (Abd Allah ibn Saba’) who enticed Abu Dharr al-Ghifari to propagate for socialism,
and instigated the towns against Uthman, making of `Ali as a deity. From his biography it is learnt that it was him who laid down teachings for demolishing Islam, founding an underground society for spreading his teachings, taking Islam as a shield to cover up his intentions. The most notable of his teachings were the wisayah (executorship) and Raj`ah, initiating his utterance by saying that Muhammad will return (to the earth). His statement was thus: "It is to wonder at whoever believing Jesus will come back (from the heaven) and denying that Muhammad will come back (on Doomsday)." Then he turned to say that Ali will come back (to the earth).
Ibn Hazm said: When Ali was killed, he (Ibn Saba’) said: "If you bring us his brain a thousand times, I will never believe his being dead. He will never die till he fills the earth with justice as was filled will oppression."
This idea of Raj`ah Ibn Saba' learnt from the Jewish Madhhab as it believes that the Prophet Khidr al-Yas has ascended to the heaven and will verily come back when he will restore the religion and law. The idea was also held by the Christian Madhhab during its early ages.
The abstract of speech in regard of these Jews - as said by some researchers - being that their weapon was slander, falsity, cunning, foisting perversion of speech, raising skepticism and suspicions and creating malevolence among Muslims.
It became clear that murder of Umar was engineered by an underground society, that was joined by the Jew Ka'b al-Ahbar, while assassination of Uthman was partially executed through intrigues of the Jew Abd Allah ibn Saba'. Besides, all the political seditions and fabrications of narration in the first era of Islam belong to the society of Saba'ites and associations of the Persians.
I recorded this in the first edition of my book relying on what was written by eminent historians and their successors quoting it from Ibn Saba'. A valuable book under the title Abd Allah ibn Saba’. authored by the great Iraqi scholar al-Ustadh Murtada al-Askari was published, in which he proved through convincing strong evidences that such name had no existence in truth. That is due to the fact that the first source upon which depended all the historians beginning with Tabari till the present time to prove his existence, was Sayf ibn Umar al-Tamimi (died in 170H.). And his narrations were refuted by all the Sunnah Imams, with al-Hakim saying in his regard: He was accused with atheism (zandaqah), and he was corrupt in narration.
We, to be fair toward knowledge and truth, say: Dr. Taha Husayn was doubtful, before, regarding the existence of this Abd Allah ibn Saba'.
Following is some excerption of what he stated in his precious book al-Fitnah al-kubra, the 2nd volume, under the chapter "Ali wa banuh" (Ali and his sons), when discussing the Battle of Siffin.
The least thing indicated by the historians' shunning the Saba'ites and Ibn al-Sawda' in the Battle of Siffin, being that their affair was only superficially imposed and lean, with being lately innovated when controversy heated between the Shi`ah and other Islamic sects. That was when the Shi'ah opponents intended to foist a Jewish element into this (Shi'i) madhhab, vigorously in teasing and defaming them. Had the claim of Ibn al Sawda' been based on even one foundation of truth and reliable history it would have been natural to see its impact when Ali's companions differed regarding the issue of government, and also in particular in forming this new party, which was averse to reconciliation, charging with impiety anyone inclining to it or taking part in it.
But no reference was made to Ibn al-Sawda' when mentioning the Khawarij. How can this negligence be explained? Or what reason we can give for ignorance of Ibn Saba' to the Battle of Siffin and establishment of the Court Party? On my part, I explain both the cases with one reason, being that Ibn al-Sawda' was nothing but an imaginary character... and had he actually existed, he was not of that danger portrayed by the historians, who illustrated his activities too during the reign of Uthman and first year of Ali's caliphate! In fact he was a person reserved by the Shi’ah alone not for the Khawarij... etc.
Following is a sample of this craft in regard of a critical matter through which the Islamic history changed its course:
Ka'b and Mu'awiyah
I have stated before
that Umar ibn al-Khattab forbade Ka'b al-Ahbar from narrating hadith, threatening him with exile should he relate any of his Jewish traditions (Israeliyyat), or what he used to claim as being reported from the Prophet (S) after taking notice of his deceit and evil intention. As a consequence to this threat, no alternative was left before Ka'b but to surrender unwillingly and angrily. Then he started to work stealthily for attaining the purposes for which he embraced Islam, finding no access to this but through getting rid of this violent rock impeding his way, and preventing him from reaching his goal. So soon it was opportune that chance of the plot hatched by an underground society to murder Umar, in which he collaborated, fanning its fire!
With murder of Umar, he felt free and safe, giving the reins to himself to disseminate whatever the Jewish deception would let him, of the superstitions and Jewish fabricated traditions that spoiled and defamed religion, aided in this task by his senior disciples like: Abd Allah ibn `Amr, Abd Allah ibn Umar and Abu Hurayrah.
He was not sufficed with that, nor content with seeing no opponent to his plans, or to find through Muslims' negligence and aid of rulers someone to listen to or appreciate his fabricated traditions. Rather, he kept on his cunning seizing every opportunity to direct to Islam one of his malicious stabs.
We suffice here with citing only one example for this case: When fires of riot erupted during the last days of Uthman's reign, and heated up till causing murder of Uthman inside his house, this crafty priest never missed this chance, rushing to fan its flames and contributing with his Jewish stratagem as much as he could. Among the deceit he added to this sedition, was his claim that caliphate after Uthman would go to Mu`awiyah.
Wukay' reported from al-A‘mash, from Abu Salih,
that a singer was chanting in regard of Uthman saying:
The emir after him shall be Ali,
And al-Zubayr has a pleasant morality.
Threat Ka'b al-Ahbar said: Never, but he (the emir) will be verily the owner of the gray she-mule! (meaning Mu'awiyah), as he used to see him riding a she-mule. On hearing this, Mu'awiyah came to him saying: O Abu Ishaq, what for do you utter this! while Ali and al-Zubayr and Companions of Muhammad (S) are present here! He (Ka'b) said: You are verily its (real) owner. He might have added by saying: I found this (recorded) in the first book.
In recognition of this favour, Mu'awiyah started to overwhelm Ka'b with his kindness. From history of this priest, it is learnt that during the era of Uthman he moved to the Sham, living under care of Mu'awiyah, who brought him nearer, making him among his favourites, for narrating as many falsities and Jewish traditions as he could in support of him (Mu`awiyah) and reinforcing pillars of his rule. In al-Isabah Ibn Hajar al-Asqallani reported that it was Mu'awiyah who ordered Ka'b to relate tales in the Sham.
Sufficient be the aforementioned traditions, and the narrations he falsified in respect of preferring the Sham and its people.
Our wonder is raised when knowing that these Israeliyyat are still nowadays believed and rather sanctified by some people. When enlightening and asking those people to give them less importance, some of contemporary knowledge claimants, particularly the grandsons and flatterers of the Umayyads, would rise and object us, giving reins to themselves in slandering and abusing us, out of bigotry and idiocy.
This was only one example we cited, of Ka'b’s standpoints with Mu`awiyah in particular, and the misfortunes that befell Islam due to his stratagem and cunning in general. All this was due to the fact that Ali was the cousin of the Prophet (S) for whom these priests prepared and amassed all their might and forces to combat and fight his Shari'ah. Had I intended to cover all the stratagem and evil intended by this priest against Islam and Muslims, this would have required me to dedicate a separate full book, as I did in regard of his most eminent disciple Abu Hurayrah.
We should never forget that Ali used to say about Ka'b that he was verily a liar.
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Author: Shaykh Mahmud Abu Rayyah
