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Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan ibnHarb played a major role in distorting the Islamic creed by paying writers to tailor design "traditions" to serve his interests and support his deviated views. He installed himself as ruler of Syria1 in 40 A.H./661 A.D. and ruled for twenty long years till his death at the age of seventy-eight.Mu'awiyah declared himself "caliph" in Syria when he was 59 years old and assumed authority by sheer force.

He was neither elected nor requested to take charge. He did not hide this fact; rather, he bragged about it once when he addressed theKufians saying, "O people ofKūfa ! Do you think that I fought you in order that you may establish prayers or give zakat or perform the pilgrimage?! I know that you do pray, pay zakat and perform the pilgrimage. Indeed, I fought you in order to take command over you with contempt, andAllāh ‎ has given me that against your wishes. Rest assured that whoever killed any of us will himself be killed. And the treaty between us of amnesty is under my feet."2

Shortly before his death, which took place in the month of Rajab of 60 A.H./May of 680 A.D., he managed to secure the oath of allegiance to his corrupt and immoral son, Yazid, as his successor. He did so by intimidation once and once by buying loyalty and favors, spending in the process huge sums of money that belonged to the Muslims, funds of theirbaytul -mal, state treasury. The weak-minded majority of the Muslims of his time swore allegiance to him. This proves that the majority does not necessarily have to be right.Imām ‎ al-Hussain (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him], together with a small band of devotees to the cause of truth, refused to bow their heads to the oppressive forces.

Yet the worst type of mischief whichMu'awiyah committed was his embarking on the task of fabricatinghadīth , traditions detailing what the Prophet of Islam (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] said or did.Hadīth is one of the two sources of Islam’s legislative system, theShari’a , the other being the Holy Qur’ān. SelectingImām ‎ ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] as his lifetime’s adversary,Mu'awiyah soon found out that his cause was hopeless. ‘Ali’s merits were very well recognized by every Muslim whileMu'awiyah’s family and dismal conduct were the objects of their contempt.Mu'awiyah’s past record was dark and shameful whereas that of ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] was glorious and shining, full of heroism in defense of Islam.

In order to sustain his campaign and raise the status of his likes,Mu'awiyah had to attract the remnant of some companions of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] whose characters were known to be weak and who had a genuine interest in the material things of this world, in its vanishing riches. He employed them to fabricate traditions custom-designed to his own tailoring. This trend of fabricatinghadīth constituted a grave danger to the integrity of the Islamic tenets. It was very important to ward off such a danger. To expose such a trend to the Muslims at large was very vital, pivotal, of the highest priority. It would be accomplished by exposing and disgracing those who embarked upon committing and nurturing such terrible mischief.Imām ‎ al-Hussain’s revolution broke out in order to undertake this very task.

Let us now review a few samples of fabricated traditions3 .

The main figure “credited” with fabricating “traditions” by the thousands was one AbuHurayra . Who is this man?

In the year 7 A.H./629 A.D., a young and very poor man from theDaws tribe of southern Arabia (Yemen) named AbuHurayra met the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] immediately after the battle of Khaybar and embraced Islam.

He is well known in history as “AbuHurayra ,” the fellow of the kitten, after a kitten to which he was very much attached. His name shone neither during the lifetime of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] nor of the four righteous caliphs but during the un-Islamic reign of terror of the Umayyads which lasted from 661 to 750 A.D.

It was then that the Islamic world witnessed an astronomical number of “traditions” which were attributed, through this same AbuHurayra , to the Prophet of Islam (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]. Since these traditions, known collectively ashadīth , constitute one of the two sources of the Islamic legislative system, theSharī’a , it is very important to shed light on the life and character of this man.

Abū Hurayra is supposed to have quoted the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] as saying, "Allāh ‎ has trusted three persons for His revelation: Myself, Gabriel andMu'awiyah ." We wonder whatAllāh ‎ was doing for the revelation whenMu'awiyah was in the camp of the infidels. This quotation is cited by IbnAsakir , Ibn Uday, Muhammed ibnAa’ith , Muhammed ibn Abd al-Samarqandi , Muhammed ibn Mubarak al-Suri and al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi. They all quoteAbū Hurayra as saying,

« سمعت رسول الله يقول: ان الله ائتمن على وحيه ثلاثة أنا و جبرائيل و معاوية.»

Imagine! He even puts his name before that of archangel Gabriel!Astaghfirullāh !

According to al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi,Abū Hurayra claimed,

«ناول النبي معاوية سهما فقال: خذ هذا السهم حتى تلقاني به في الجنة ! »

The Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] gaveMu'awiyah an arrow then said to him, "Take this arrow until we meet in Paradise." What a lucky arrow to enter Paradise! Let us stop here to discuss this man,Abū Hurayra , who may have had the lion’s share in distorting the Prophet’s Sunnah especially when we come to know that he was quoted by a host oftabi’īn who in turn are quoted byhundreds others who in turn are quoted by

thousands others..., and so on and so forth. This is why his name is in the forefront of narrators ofhadīth .

It is of utmost importance to expose the facts relevant to AbuHurayra so that Muslims may be cautious whenever they come across a tradition narrated by him or attributed to him which, all in all, reached the astronomical figure of 5,374 “traditions,” that is, more “traditions” than anyone else in history...

This figure is questioned not only due to the short period during which he saw the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] but also due to the fact that AbuHurayra did not know how to read and write, and although he spent no more than three years in the company of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], that is to say, on and off, whenever such company did not involve any danger to his life.

This fact is supported by therenown compiler al-Bukhari, the most famous compiler ofhadīth , who endorses no more than 93 of them! Muslim, another compiler ofhadīth , endorses only 89 ofAbū Hurayray’s allegedahādīth . The reader can easily conclude that this figure of 5,374 “traditions” is quite unrealistic when he comes to know that Abu Bakr, friend of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] and one of the earliest converts to Islam, narrated no more than 142 traditions. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab narrated no more than 537 traditions. ‘Othman ibn ‘Affan narrated no more than 146 traditions.

And ‘Ali (ع ), the man who was raised by the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] and who was always with him, following him like his shadow for 32 years, and whose memory and integrity nobody at all can question, narrated no more than 586 traditions.

All these men, especially ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] and Abu Bakr, spent many years of their lives in the company of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] and did not hide when their lives were in jeopardy, as is the case with AbuHurayra , yet they did not narrate except a tiny fraction of the number of “traditions,” many of which cannot be accepted by logic and commonsense, narrated by or attributed to AbuHurayra .

These facts and figures are stated in the famous classic reference titledSiyar A’lām an-Nubalā ’ سير أعلام النبلاء by at-Thahbi . This is why it is so important to discuss this man and expose the factories of falsification ofhadīth established by his benefactors, the Umayyads, descendants and supporters of Abu Sufyan, then his sonMu’awiyah , then his son Yazid, all of whom were outright hypocrites and had absolutely nothing to do with Islam.

There is no agreement about whatAbū Hurayra’s name was, nor when he was born or when he died. Yet his name is said to be ‘Omayr ibn ‘Amir ibn ‘AbdThish -Shari ibnTareef , of the Yemenite tribe ofDaws ibn ‘Adnan4 .

His mother's name isUmaima daughter ofSafeeh ibn al-Harith ibnShabi ibn AbuSa’b , also of theDaws tribe. His date of birth is unknown, but he is said to have died in 57, 58, or 59 A.H., and that he had lived to be 78. This would put the date of his birth at 677, 678 or 679 A.D.

Some say that his name was Abdul-Rahmān ibnSakhr al-Azdi . He accepted Islam in 7 A.H./628-9 A.D. immediately after the Battle of Khaybar, and he was then more than thirty years old. He was one of those indigent Muslims who had no house to live in, so they were lodged at theSuffa , a row of rooms adjacent to the Prophet’s Mosque inMedīna . These residents used to receive the charity doled out to them by other Muslims. He used to see the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] mostly when it was time to eat. He missed most of the battles in defense of Islam waged after that date although he was young and healthy and capable of serving in the army.

What is the meaning of his kunya “Abū Hurayra ”, man of the kitten? IbnQutaybah al-Dainuri quotesAbū Hurayra on p. 93 of his book titled Al-Ma’arif المعارف as saying,

… و كنيت بأبي هريرة بهرة صغيرة كنت ألعب بها

“… And I was called ‘Abū Hurayra ’ because of a small kitten I used to play with.”

In hisTabaqāt book, IbnSa’d quotesAbū Hurayra as saying,

“ كنت أرعى غنما و كانت لي هرة صغيرة فكنت اذا كان الليل وضعتها في شجرة فاذا أصبحت أخذتها فلعبت بها فكنوني أبا هريرة "

“I used to tend to a herd, and I had a small kitten. When it was night time, I would place her on a tree. When it was morning, I would take her and play with her, so I was called ‘Abū Hurayra ’ [man of the small kitten].”

The Umayyads found inAbū Hurayra the right man to fabricate as many "traditions" as they needed to support their un-Islamic practices and then attribute them to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], hence the existence of such a huge number of traditions filling the books of the Sunnah. And the Umayyads rewardedAbū Hurayra very generously.

When he came from Yemen to Hijaz,Abū Hurayra had only one single piece of striped cloth to cover his private parts. WhenMu'awiyah employedAbū Hurayra to work in the factories producing custom-designed "traditions," he rewarded him by appointing him as the governor ofMedīna . He also married him off to a lady of prestige for whomAbū Hurayra used to work as a servant and built him al-Aqeeq mansion. Who was that lady?

She wasBisra daughter ofGhazwan ibnJābir ‎ ibn Wahab of BanuMazin , sister of emir (provincial governor)Utbah ibnGhazwan , an ally of Banu Abd Shams, the man who was appointed by ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab as governor of Basra.Utbah ibnGhazwan عتبه بن غزوان was a famoussahābi and a hero of Islam, and he died during the time of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab.

ThenMu’awiyah marriedAbū Hurayra off toUtbah’s sister,Bisra , a number of years after the death of her famous brother. He used to work forBisra as a servant. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani mentionsBisra in the firstsetion of his famous work Al-Isaba fiAkhbar al-Sahāba الاصابة في أخبار الصحابة and says the following aboutBisra ,

“ و كانت قد استأجرته في العهد النبوي ثم تزوجها بعد ذلك لما كان مروان يستخلفه في امرة المدينة على عهد معاوية

“She used to let him work for her during the time of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], then he married her after that when Marwan [ibn al-Hakam] used to let him be in charge ofMedīna during the time ofMu’awiyah .” In hisTabaqāt , IbnSa’d quotesAbū Hurayra as saying the following about his wife,Bisra ,

أكريت نفسي من ابنة غزوان على طعام بطني و عقبة رجلي... فكانت تكلفني أن أركب قائما، و أورد حافيا، فلما كان بعد ذلك زوجنيها الله فكلفتها أن تركب قائمة و أن تورد حافية !!

“I placed myself at the service of the daughter ofGhazwan in exchange for food for my stomach and for something to wear on my feet… She used to order me to ride while serving her and to approach her barefoot to serve her. After that,Allāh ‎ made her my wife, so I ordered her to ride as she served me and to approach me barefoot!!” Thus,Abū Hurayra “got even” with the unfortunate lady!

Abū Hurayra found himself during the Umayyads’ reign of terror and oppression a man of wealth and influence, owning slaves and having servants. Prior to that, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab appointed him as governor of Bahrain for about two years during whichAbū Hurayra amassed a huge wealth, so much so that people complained about him to ‘Umar who called him to account for it. Finding his excuse too petty to accept, ‘Umar deposed him.

‘Umar also questioned him about the unrealistically abundant traditions which he was attributing to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], hitting him with his cane, reprimanding him for forging traditions and even threatening to expel him from the Muslim lands.

All these details and more can be reviewed in famous references such as:Ar -Riyad an-Nadira الرياض النضرة by at-Tabari, in Vol. 4 of the original Arabic text of al-Bukhari’sSahīh , where the author quotesAbū Hurayra talking about himself, inAbū Hurayra book by the Egyptian scholar MahmoudAbū Rayyah , in سير أعلام النبلاءSiyar A’lam an-Nubala ’ by al-Thahbi , in شرح نهج البلاغةSharh Nahjul-Balāgha ‎ by Ibn Abul-Hadeed , in

البداية و النهاية Al-Bidaya walNihaya by IbnKatheer , in طبقات الفقهاءTabaqāt al-Fuqaha by IbnSa'd (also famous asTabaqāt IbnSa'd ), in تأريخ الأمم و الملوك Tarikh al-Umam walMuluk by at-Tabari, in تاريخ الخلفاء Tarikh al-Khulafa by as-Sayyuti , in فتح الباريFath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , in المستدرك Al-Mustadrak by al-Hakim, and in numerous other references.

Yet some Muslims labelAbū Hurayra as "Islam’s narrator," propagating for his fabrications without first studying them in the light of the Qur’ān‎ and going as far as invoking the Almighty to be pleased with him....

Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar (ibn al-Khattab) claimed that the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] said, "You will see greed after me and things with which you will disagree." People, he went on, asked, "O Messenger ofAllāh ‎ ! What do you order us to do then?" The Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household],Abdullāh continued, said, "Give the governor what is his and plead toAllāh ‎ for yours." Islam, true Islam, never condones toleration of unjust rulers.

Another fabricated tradition is also narrated byAbdullāh ibn ‘Umar who quotes the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] supposedly saying, "Put up with whatever conduct you do not like of your rulers because if you abandon the جماعةJama’a (group) even the distance of one foot then die, you will die as unbelievers."

Surely many despots ruling the Muslim world nowadays can appreciate such "traditions" and will not hesitate to publicize for them and be generous to those who promote them; they would give them generous salaries and build them mansions... Such fabricated "traditions" are not only in total contrast with the Qur’ān‎ and the Sunnah as well as with other verified traditions, they invite the Muslims to be the slaves of their rulers.

This is exactly whatMu'awiyah wanted, and this is exactly what so-called “Muslim” rulers like him want in our day and time... Unfortunately for the Muslims and fortunately for their enemies, there are many “Muslim ” rulers like thisMu'awiyah . This is why there is poverty, ignorance, dictatorship, injustice, oppression and subjugation to the enemies of Islam throughout the Muslim world nowadays.

When AbuHurayra came to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], he was young and healthy and, hence, capable of enlisting in the Prophet's army. But he preferred to be lodged together with the Muslim destitute at theSuffa referred to above. Most of the time which AbuHurayra spent with the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] was during the lunches or dinners the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] hosted for those destitute.

AbuHurayra himself admitted more than once that he remained close to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] so that he could get a meal to eat. Another person who used to shower thedestitutes of theSuffa with his generosity was Ja’far ibn Abu Talib (588 - 629 A.D.), the Prophet's cousin and a brother of ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him]. He was, for this reason, called “AbulMasakeen ”, father of thedestitutes .

This is why AbuHurayra used to regard Ja’far as the most generous person next only to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]. When the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] mandated military service for all able men in theMu'ta expedition, Ja’far ibn Abu Talib did not hesitate to respond to the Prophet's call, but AbuHurayra , who considered Ja’far as his patron, preferred not to participate, thus violating the order of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]. History records the names of those who did likewise.

In 21 A.H./642 A.D., during the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, AbuHurayra was made governor of Bahrain. After two years, he was deposed because of a scandal. The details of that scandal are recorded in the books of Ibn ‘AbdRabbih , theMu’tazilite writer, and in Ibn al-Atheer's famous classic book Al-’Iqd al-Fareed. A summary of that incident runs as follows:

When AbuHurayra was brought to him, ‘Umar said to him: “I have come to know that when I made you governor of Bahrain, you did not even have shoes to wear, but I am now told that you have purchased horses for one thousand and six hundred dinars.” AbuHurayra said, “I had horses which have multiplied, and I received some as gifts.” ‘Umar then said, “I would give you only your salary. This (amount) is a lot more than that (more than your salary for both years). Pay the balance back tobaytul-māl (the Muslim state treasury)!”

AbuHurayra said, “This money is not yours.” ‘Umar said, “ByAllāh ! I would bruise your back!” Saying this, ‘Umar whipped AbuHurayra till the latter bled. Then ‘Umar thundered: “Now bring the money back!” AbuHurayra replied: “I am to account for it beforeAllāh .” ‘Umar said, “This could be so only if you had taken it rightfully and had paid it back obediently. I shall throw you back to your mother as though you were dung so that she would use you to graze donkeys.” Some sources say that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was able to extract ten thousand gold dinar pieces from AbuHurayra which were deposited atbaytul-māl .

Even before becoming caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was fully aware of what type of person AbuHurayra was, and he knew that the man did not enjoy any respect among the Prophet’ssahāba . In hisMusnad ,Musaddad narrates through Khalid ibn Yahya who quotes his father quoting AbuHurayra himself saying that ‘Umar once reprimanded him on hearing that he

was narrating incredibly too many traditions and attributing them to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]. He rebuked him once and said,

“ لتتركن الحديث عن رسول الله أو لألحقنك بأرض دوس أو بأرض القردة

“You shall leave alone quoting the Messenger ofAllāh or I shall send you back to theDaws land or to the land of apes.”

This same quotation is cited by IbnAsakir and ishadīth No. 4885, p. 239, Vol. 5 ofKanzul-Ummal . The reader ought to remember than even before becoming caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab was a man of power and prestige, let alone being the Prophet’s father-in-law; so, his word carried weight even then.

‘Umar had little or no toleration for people who abuse the Prophet’shadīth , so much so that on p. 34, Vol. 1, of hisSahīh book, Muslim tells us that ‘Umar once hit AbuHurayra during the lifetime of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] so hard, causing the man to fall on his rear end. Here are Muslim’s exact words as they exist in his famousSahīh book which is one of the main 6 books of traditions:

انه (عمر) ضربه على عهد النبي ضربة خر بها لأسته

As for ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him], he came to know that AbuHurayra used to say, “My friend (meaning the Messenger ofAllāh ) talked to me,” or “I saw my friend,” so he said to him,

متى كان النبي خليلك يا أبا هريرة؟

When did the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] ever be your friend, O AbuHurayra ?!” as we read on p. 52 of IbnQutaybah’s work تأويل مختلف الأحاديثTa’weel mukhtalaf al-ahādīth .

According to the sequence employed by IbnSa’d in hisTabaqāt , AbuHurayra ranks in the ninth or tenth class of narrators ofhadīth . He came to the Messenger ofAllāh near the end of the seventh Hijri year. Hence, historians say that he accompanied the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] no more than three years5 according to the best estimates, while other historians say it was no more than two years if we take into consideration the fact that the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] sent him to accompany Ibn al-Hadrami to Bahrain, then the Messenger ofAllāh died while he was still in Bahrain.6

AbuHurayra was not known for his jihad orvalour , nor was he among those who were regarded as brilliant thinkers, nor among the jurists who knew the Qur’ān by heart, nor did he even know how to read and write... Yet the man of the kitten became famous for the abundance ofahādīth which he used to narrate about the Messenger ofAllāh .

This fact attracted the attention of verifiers ofhadīth especially since he had not remained in the company of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi Wa

Alihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] for any length of time and to the fact that he narrated traditions regarding battles which he had never attended.

Some verifiers ofhadīth gathered all what was narrated by the righteous caliphs as well as by the ten men given the glad tidings of going to Paradise in addition to what the mothers of the faithful and the purified Ahl al-Bayt, and they did not total one tenth of what AbuHurayra had narrated all alone.

Then fingers were pointed at AbuHurayra charging him with telling lies and with fabricating and forginghadīth . Some went as far as labelling him as the first narrator in the history of Islam thus charged. Yet he is called by some Muslim narrators and is surrounded with a great deal of respect. They totally rely on him, even go as far as saying “Radiya Allhu ‘anhu ”,Allāh pleased with him, whenever they mention his name.

Some of them may even regard him as being more knowledgeable than ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] due to one particular tradition which he narrates about himself and in which he says, “I said, ‘O Messenger ofAllāh ! I hear a great deal of yourhadīth which I have been forgetting!' The Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] said, ‘Stretch your mantle! I had created the heavens, the earth, and all creation in seven days.’”

When ‘Umar heard about it, he called him in and asked him to repeat thathadīth . Having heard him repeating it, ‘Umar struck him and said to him, “How so whenAllāh Himself says it was created in six days, while you yourself now say it was done in seven?!” AbuHurayra said, “Maybe I heard it fromKa’b al-Ahbar ...” ‘Umar said, “Since you cannot distinguish between the Prophet'sahādīth and whatKa’b al-Ahbar says, you must not narrate anything at all.”7

We have to stop here to discuss who thisKa’b al-Ahbar كعب الأحبار was.

He is “AbuIshaq ”Ka‘ b ibn Matti (Matthew) al-Himyari al-Ahbār , a prominent rabbi from Yemen. He belonged to the clan of ThuRa'in or Thu al-Kila’ from the ArabHimyari tribe to whichBalqees , the Queen of Saba’ (Sheba), wife of Prophet Solomon, belonged.Ka’b was Arab by birth, Jewish by faith.

Before quoting what others have said aboutKa’b al-Ahbar , the author of this book wrote this footnote for p. 102 of Dr. Muhammed al-Tijani al-Samawi’s book Shi’as are the Ahl al-Sunnah:

His full name is “AbuIshaq ”Ka’b ibn Mati’ (Matti, Matthew) (d. 32 A.H./652 A.D.). He was a Jew from Yemen who pretended to have embraced Islam then went to Medina during the reign of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. Then he went to Syria to be one ofMu’awiyah’s advisors. He died in Homs, Syria. He is believed to have succeeded in injecting a great deal ofJudaicas into the Islamic beliefs.

Muslims are divided in their judgment of this man and his influence on the Islamic creed and on its followers:

1. Some Sunnis say that the man accepted Islam during the time of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, so they count him among thetabi’in , quoting many of hisIsra’iliyyat (Judaicas ). Some other Sunni scholars say that he remained Jewish till his death in Homs, Syria, during the time of Othman ibn Affan after serving for a number of years as advisor toMu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, having lived more than a hundred years, which is more accurate.

Ka’b accompanied ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab during his trip to Jerusalem (al-Quds). He helped locate the foundations of the ancient Jewish temple where ‘Umar built the Aqsa Mosque. He also later helped find the place of the Rock. ‘Umar cleaned it from rubble and fenced it, and an Umayyad ruler later built the Dome of the Rock over it as an integral part of the Aqsa Mosque.

As regarding the “traditions” which he succeeded to infiltrate into Islamic literature, al-Bukhari does not quote any of them at all. There is one narration in Muslim transmitted fromKa’b al-Ahbar through the authority of none other than this AbuHurayra who reported it relying on the authority of al-A’mash who cited Abu Salih. Muslim, AbuDāwūd and al-Tirmithi have recorded his “hadīth ”. Some of his “hadīth ” is included in al-Qurtubi’s Tafsīr on ChapterGhāfir (Ch. 40 of the Holy Qur’ān).

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , a 14th century SunniShafi'i Islamic scholar, regardsKa’b al-Ahbar as being trustworthy (calling himthiqah ), ranking him in the secondtabaqa (class of reporters ofhadīth ).

2. As regarding what Shi'ite Muslims think of this Jewish rabbi, all their scholars without any exception reject him, discard his stories, which he narrated from the Torah, and warn against accepting his narratives. According to Shi’ites, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab and a number of prominent companions had a very positive attitude towardsKa’b .

However, the most knowledgeable and the most farsighted among them, namelyImām ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him], discreditedKa’b who did not dare to come close toImām ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] despite the fact that theImām (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] was in Medina for the duration ofKa’b's stay. It is reported thatImām ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] said aboutKa’b : “Certainly he is a professional liar!”

One of the contemporary Shi’ite scholars who have expressed their opinion aboutKa’b al-Ahbar is Dr. Muhammad al-Tijani al-Samawi , a convert to Shi’ite Islam from the Tijani Sufitarīqa . Al-Tijani’s ancestors had originally come fromSamawa , Iraq, but he was born in Tunisia on February 2, 1943 and earned two Ph.D. degrees one of which was from the Sorbonne (University of Paris).

He is famous for his first book titled Then I was guided in which he narrates his experience with converting from Sunni to Shi’ite Islam. The author of this book translated al-Tijani’s book titled Shi’as are the Ahl al-Sunnah to which reference is made in this Volume and in other books which he has written. Al-Tijani discreditsKa’b and makes a reference to him on these pages of his work referred to above: 74, 102, 208, 209 and 215. Here is what al-Tijani says aboutKa’b al-Ahbar on p. 215:

Judaica and Jewish doctrines have filled the books ofhadīth .Ka’b al-Ahbar , a Jew, may have succeeded in getting such doctrines and beliefs included into the books ofhadīth , hence we find traditions likening or

personifyingAllāh , as well as the theory of incarnation, in addition to many abominable statements about the prophets and messengers ofAllāh : All of these are cited through AbuHurayra .

Imām Muhammad JawadChirri (who was born in Lebanon on October 1, 1905 and died in Dearborn, Michigan, on November 10, 1994), a 21st century Shi'a Islamic scholar, is credited for getting theAzhar University of Islam to issue on July 1, 1959 a statement recognizing the Shi’iteJa’fari School of Islamic Thought. He is more famous for two books which he wrote: The Brother of the Prophet Muhammad, TheImām ‘Ali and Inquiries about Islam. Having quoted onehadīth ,Chirri wrote saying,

This dialogue should alert us to the deceptive and successful attempt on the part ofKa'b to influence future events by satanic suggestions. It contains a great deal of deception which produced many harmful results to Islam and the Muslims.

Now it is up to the reader to make up his mind whether we, Muslims, should pay attention to what this Jewish rabbi had said or not.

It is also narrated that ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] has said, “Among all the living, the person who has told the most lies about the Messenger ofAllāh is AbuHurayra al-Dawsi ,” as we read on p. 28, Vol. 4, of Ibn Abul-Hadeed’s Sharh Nahjul-Balāgha . Mother of the faithful ‘Ā’isha , too, testified to his being a liar several times in reference to manyahādīth which he used to attribute to the Messenger ofAllāh . For example, she resented something which he had once said so she asked him,

ما هذه الأحاديث التي تبلغنا أنك تحدث بها عن النبي؟ هل سمعت الا ما سمعنا و رأيت الا ما رأينا؟

“What are all theseahādīth which reach us and which you tell people that the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] said them? Have you heard anything which we did not hear, or have you seen anything which we did not see?”

In a rude and impolite way, AbuHurayra answered the Mother of the Faithful with these words:

يا أماه! انه كان يشغلك عن رسول الله المرآة و المكحلة

“Mother! The mirror and the kohl diverted you from thehadīth of the Messenger ofAllāh .”

This text exists on p. 509, Vol. 3 of al-Hakim’sSahīh al-Mustadrak , and al-Thahbi testified to its authenticity, adding that ‘Ā’isha did not accept AbuHurayra’s excuse by the token she boycotted him till she died. Marwan ibn al-Hakam, her cousin, interfered and took upon himself to verify onehadīth the authenticity of which ‘Ā’isha questioned.

It was then that AbuHurayra admitted, “I did not hear it from the Messenger ofAllāh ; rather, I heard it from al-Fadl ibn al-’Abbas,” as we are told on p. 232, Vol. 2 of al-Bukhari’sSahīh in a chapter dealing with a fasting person who wakes up finding himself in the state ofjanaba , and also on p. 272, Vol. 1, of Malik’sMawta '. It is because of this particular

narration that IbnQutaybah charged him with lying saying, “AbuHurayra claimed that al-Fadl ibn al-’Abbas, who had by then died, testified to the authenticity of that tradition which he attributed to him in order to mislead people into thinking that he had heard it from him.”8

In his book titledTa'weel al-Ahādīth , IbnQutaybah says, “AbuHurayra used to say: ‘The Messenger ofAllāh said such-and-such, but I heard it from someone else.” In his bookSiyar A’lam al-Nubala , al-Thahbi says that Yazid ibn Ibrahim once citedShu’bah ibn al-Hajjaj saying that AbuHurayra used to commit forgery.

In his book Al-Bidaya walNihaya , IbnKatheer states that Yazid ibn Haroun heardShu’bah ibn al-Hajjaj accusing AbuHurayra of the same, that is, that he forgeshadīth , and that he used to narrate what he used to hear fromKa’b al-Ahbar as well as from the Messenger ofAllāh without distinguishing one from the other.

Ja’far al-Iskafi has said, “AbuHurayra is doubted by our mentors; his narrations are not acceptable.”9

During his lifetime, AbuHurayra was famous among thesahāba of lying and forgery and of narrating too many fabricatedahādīth to the extent that some of thesahāba used to deride him and ask him to fabricateahādīth agreeable with their own taste.

For example, a man from Quraysh put on once a newjubba (a long outer garment) and started showing off. He passed by AbuHurayra and sarcastically said to him, “O AbuHurayra ! You narrate quite few traditions about the Messenger ofAllāh ; so, did you hear him say anything about myjubba ?!” AbuHurayra said, “I have heard the father of al-Qasim saying, ‘A man before your time was showing off his outfit whenAllāh caused the earth to cave in over him;so he has been rattling in it and will continue to do so till the Hour.' ByAllāh ! I do not know whether he was one of your people or not.”10

How can people help doubting AbuHurayra's traditions since they are so self-contradictory? He narrates onehādīth then he narrates its opposite, and if he is opposed or his previously narrated traditions are used against him, he becomes angry or starts babbling in the Ethiopian language.11

How could they help accusing him of telling lies and of forgery after he himself had admitted that he got traditions out of his own pouch then attributed them to the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]?

Al-Bukhari, in hisSahīh , states the following:

AbuHurayra said once, “The Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] said, ‘The best charity is willingly given; the higher hand is better than the lower one, and start with your own dependents. A woman says: ‘Either feed me or divorce me.' A slave says, ‘Feed me and use me.' A son says, ‘Feed me for the woman who will forsake me.'” He was asked, “O AbuHurayra ! Did you really hear the Messenger ofAllāh say so?” He said, ‘No, this one is from AbuHurayra's pouch!”12

Notice how he starts this “tradition” by saying, “The Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and

His Household] said,” then when they refuse to believe what he tells them, he admits by saying, “... this one is from AbuHurayra's pouch!”So congratulations to AbuHurayra for possessing this pouch which is full of lies and myths, and for whichMu’awiyah and BanuUmayyah provided a great deal of publicity, and because of which he acquired position, authority, wealth, and mansions.Mu’awiyah made him the governor of Medina and built him theAqeeq mansion then married him off to a woman of honorable descent for whom he used to work as a servant...

Since AbuHurayra was the close vizier ofMu’awiyah , it is not due to his own merits, honor, or knowledge; rather, it is because AbuHurayra used to provide him with whatever traditions he needed to circulate. If somesahāba used to hesitate in cursing “AbuTurab ,” namely Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him], the man who was raised by the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], who married the Prophet’s sinless daughter Fatima and founded the first Infallible Family in Islam, who fought for Islam like a lion, a man for whose knowledgeNahjul-Balāgha book testifies, the man whose true worth is known only byAllāh and the Messenger ofAllāh …, finding such cursing to be embarrassing, AbuHurayra cursed ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] in his own house and as his Shi’as heard:

Ibn Abul-Hadeed narrates the following:

When AbuHurayra came to Iraq in the company ofMu’awiyah in the Year of theJama’a , he came toKufa's Mosque. Having seen the huge number of those who welcomed him, he knelt down then beat his bald head and said, “O people of Iraq! Do you claim that I tell lies about the Messenger ofAllāh and thus burn myself in the fire?!

ByAllāh ! I heard the Messenger ofAllāh saying, ‘Each prophet has a sanctuary, and my sanctuary is in Medina fromEer to [the mountain of]Thawr ; so, anyone who makes it unclean will be cursed byAllāh , the angels, and all people, and I bear witness that ‘Ali had done so.” WhenMu’awiyah came to hear this statement, he gave him a present, showered him with his generosity and made him governor of Medina (then capital of the Islamic world).13

Suffices us to point out to the fact that he was created governor of Medina by none other thanMu’awiyah . There is no doubt that verifiers and researchers who are free from prejudice will doubt anyone who befriended the enemy ofAllāh and His Messenger and who was antagonistic towards the friends ofAllāh and of His Messenger...

There is no doubt that AbuHurayra did not reach that lofty position of authority, namely being the governor of Medina, the then capital of the Islamic domains, except by virtue of the services which he had rendered toMu’awiyah and other authoritative Umayyads. Praise to the One Who changes the conditions!

AbuHurayra had come to Medina with nothing to cover his private parts other than a tiny striped piece of cloth, begging passers-by to feed him. Then he suddenly became ruler of the sacred precincts of Medina, residing in theAqeeq mansion, enjoying wealth, servants and slaves, and nobody

could say a word without his permission. All of this was from the blessings of his pouch!

Do not forget, nor should you be amazed, when nowadays we see the same plays being repeatedly enacted, and history certainly repeats itself. How many ignorant indigent persons sought nearness to a ruler and joined his party till they became feared masters who do and undo, issuing orders as they please, having a direct access to wealth without being accounted for it, riding in automobiles without being watched, eating foods not sold on the market...?

One such person may not even know how to speak his own language, nor does he know a meaning for life except satisfying his stomach and sexual appetite. The whole matter is simply his having a pouch like the one AbuHurayra used to have with some exception, of course, yet the aim is one and the same: pleasing the ruler and publicizing for him in order to strengthen his authority, firm his throne, and finish his foes.

AbuHurayra loved the Umayyads and they loved him since the days of ‘Othman ibn ‘Affan, their leader. His view with regard to ‘Othman was contrary to that of all thesahāba who belonged to theMuhājirūn and theAnsār ‎ ; he regarded all thesahāba who participated in or encouraged the killing of ‘Othman as apostates.

Undoubtedly, AbuHurayra used to accuse ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] of killing ‘Othman. We can derive this conclusion from the statement he made atKufa's mosque and his saying that ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] made Medina unclean and that he, therefore, was cursed by the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household], the angels, and everyone else. For this reason, IbnSa’d indicates in hisTabaqāt that when AbuHurayra died in 59 A.H./679 A.D., ‘Othman's descendants carried his coffin and brought it to theBaqee ’ to bury it as an expression of their appreciation of his having had high regards for ‘Othman.14

SurelyAllāh has his own wisdom in faring with His creation. ‘Othman ibn ‘Affan, the master of Quraysh and their greatest, was killed although he was the Muslims' caliph bearing the title of “Thul-Noorayn ” and of whom, according to their claim, the angels feel shy.

Yet his corpse did not receive the ceremonial burial bath nor was it shrouded; moreover, it was not buried for full three days after which it was buried at Medina's then Jewish cemetery. AbuHurayra died after having enjoyed pomp and power. He was an indigent man whose lineage and tribal origins were not known to anybody. He had no kinship to Quraysh.

Despite all of this, the caliph's sons, who were in charge of running the affairs duringMu’awiyah's reign, took to bearing his corpse and to burying it at theBaqee ’ where the Messenger ofAllāh was buried...! But let us go back to AbuHurayra to examine his attitude towards the Prophet's Sunna.

In hisSahīh , al-Bukhari quotes AbuHurayra as saying,

حفظت عن رسول الله وعاءين فأما أحدهما فبثثته، و أما الآخر فلو بثثته قطع هذا البلعوم

I learned the fill of two pouches (receptacles) [ofahādīth ] from the Messenger ofAllāh : I have disseminated only one of them; as for the other, if I disseminate it, this throat will be slit,” as we are told on p. 38, Vol. 1, of al-Bukhari’sSahīh .

Here is AbuHurayra revealing what erstwhile is hidden, admitting that the only traditions he quoted were the ones that pleased the ruling authorities. Building upon this premise, AbuHurayra used to have two pouches, or two receptacles, as he called them. He used to disseminate the contents of one of them, the one which we have discussed here that contains whatever the rulers desired.

As for the other, which AbuHurayra kept to himself and whoseahādīth he did not narrate for fear his throat would be slit, it is the one containing the authentic traditions of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]. Had AbuHurayra been a reliable authority, he would never have hidden trueahādīth while disseminating illusions and lies only to support the oppressor, knowing thatAllāh curses whoever hides the clear evidence.

On p. 37, Vol. 1, of the same reference, we find al-Bukhari quoting him saying once, “People say that AbuHurayra narrates too manyahādīth . Had it not been for two [particular] verses in the Book ofAllāh , I would not have narrated a singlehadīth :

‘Those who conceal what We have revealed of clear proofs and the guidance, after Our having clarified [everything] for people in the Book, these it is whomAllāh shall curse, and those who curse shall curse them, too' (Qur’ān, 2:159).

Our brethren from theMuhājirūn used to be busy consigning transactions at the market-place, while our brethren from theAnsār used to be busy doing business with their own money, while AbuHurayra kept in the shadow of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] in order to satisfy his hunger, attending what they did not attend, learning what they did not learn.”

How can AbuHurayra say that had it not been for a couple of verses in the Book ofAllāh , he would not have narrated a singlehadīth , then he says, “I learned two receptacles [ofahādīth ] from the Messenger ofAllāh : I have disseminated one of them; as for the other, if I disseminate it, this throat will be slit”?! Is this not his admission of having concealed the truth despite both verses in the Book ofAllāh ?!

Had the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] not said to his companions, “Go back to your people and teach them”? as we read on p. 30, Vol. 1, of al-Bukhari’sSahīh .

Had he not also said, “One who conveys is more aware than one who hears”? Al-Bukhari states that the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] urged the deputation of ‘AbdQays to learn belief and scholarship “... Then convey what you learn to those whom you have left behind,” as you can read on the same page of the previous reference.

Can we help wondering: Why should the throat of asahābi be slit if he quotes the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]?! There must be a secret here which the caliphs do not wish others to know. Here, we would like to briefly say that “the people of the remembrance أهل الذكر ” was [a phrase in] aQur’ānic verse revealed to refer to ‘Ali's succession of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household]. Actually, this phrase “أهل الذكر ” carries a greater meaning than “the people of the remembrance.”

The word الذكر referred to in thisQur’ānic phrase means the Holy Qur’ān. So, the more accurate meaning of it should be: “the people who have with them the knowledge of the Qur’ān.” Is there anyone else in Islamic history besides the Prophet of Islam (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] who knew the Holy Qur’ān better than ‘Ali (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him]?

AbuHurayra is not to blame; he knew his own worth and testified against his own soul thatAllāh cursed him, and so did those who curse, for having hidden the Prophet'shadīth . But the blame is on those who call AbuHurayra the “narrator of the Sunna” while he himself testifies that he hid it then testifies that he fabricated it and told lies in its regard, then he further goes on to testify that it became confused for him, so he could not tell which one was the statement of the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] and which one was made by others. All of theseahādīth and correct admissions are recorded in al-Bukhari'sSahīh and in other authentic books ofhadīth .

How can anyone feel comfortable about a man whose justice was doubted by the Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib (Alaiha al-Salam) [Peace Be Upon Him] who charged him with lying, saying that among the living, nobody told more lies about the Prophet (Salla -a-AllahuAlaihi WaAlihi WaSallam ) [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Household] than AbuHurayra ?!

‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, too, charged him of the same; he beat him and threatened to expel him. ‘Āyisha doubted his integrity and many times called him a liar, and many othersahāba cast doubts about his credibility and rejected his contradictoryahādīth , so he would once admit his error and would sometimes prattle in Ethiopian language (Amharic).15

A large number of Muslim scholars refuted his traditions and charged him with lying, fabricating, and throwing himself atMu’awiyah's dinner tables, at his coffers of gold and silver.

Is it right, then, for AbuHurayra to become “Islam's narrator” from whom the religion's injunctions are learned?

Finally, there are more “traditions” narrated by AbuHurayra which apparently came fromKa’b al-Ahbar and are cited in Volume One of this book. They depict the Almighty as having a material form, so He walks, talks, laughs, puts His leg in Hell in order to fill it…, up to the end of a long

list of such nonsense in which unfortunately many Muslims of the world still believe and “credit” for which goes to AbuHurayra …

Our conclusion is that we do not mean in this essay that Muslims should discard all traditions transmitted by AbuHurayra ; rather, they must be careful when coming across such traditions and must not accept them blindly. This rule should not be applied only to AbuHurayra’s hādīth but to allhādīth .