8. ABU HURAYRAH (2)
Abū Hurayrah’s company with the Prophet
lasted about three years. He came to Madinah when the Prophet was at Khaybar
campaign at the 7th year of
Hijrah. It was in the month of Ṣafar, and he passed away in Rabī ‘ al-Awwal, 11th
year of Hijrah, so that they spent over four years. But Abū Hurayrah said that
he had accompanied the Prophet for over three years. He did not count the time when
the Prophet was away from Madinah when he did not accompany him, but was left
behind in Madinah.
It is said that there are 5374 ḥadīths
narrated by Abū Hurayrah in the books of ḥadīths in these three
years of accompanying the Prophet. These three years equal to over 1050 days.
If Abū Hurayrah narrated averagely five ḥadīths
a day, the total would be over 5255 ḥadīths.
A ḥadīth technically, is not only what the Prophet said, but also what
he did, what he approved, either a statement, an act done in front of him, or
heard by him. It also includes a statement concerning the behaviour and
character of the Prophet, such as how the Prophet went out to pray, etc. In
this case, it would not be difficult for Abū Hurayrah to narrate the
approximate five ḥadīths a day.
It is not an exaggeration that Abū Hurayrah
narrated over 5000
ḥadīths if we consider the following
case:
a. A ḥadīth
could be sound (ṣaḥīḥ), weak (ḍa‘īf), and even invented,
fabricated (mawḍū‘), for example, a ḥadīth claimed to have been
narrated by Abū Hurayrah, but he did not narrate it. We still call it a ḥadīth,
an invented one, to record it in history, so that we know that it is not
genuine.
b. A ḥadīth
consists of matn (text) and sanad (chains of transmitters),
in order to know who said so from whom, whether the persons are reliable, have
strong memory, or unreliable, liars, etc. One matn could have more than
one sanad, but the matn remains the same. If there are ten sanads,
scholars of ḥadīths do not count
it one ḥadīth based on its matn, but ten ḥadīths based on
its sanad, some of them could be sound or weak based on the quality of
its transmitters.
c. Some of
the ḥadīths narrated by Abū Hurayrah were
not directly from the Prophet, but he took them from the ṣaḥābah who
were earlier than him, as he started to accompany the Prophet only on the 7th
year of the Hijrah. Before that he took the ḥadīths from them.
d. Abū Hurayrah was with the Prophet in Madinah
in four years because he did not count the time when the Prophet was outside
Madinah. It does not mean that he did not see the Prophet in one year. He might
have narrated some ḥadīths in that period.
Shaykh Muhammad Rashīd Riḍā
says that there are many factors leading to narrating many ḥadīths by
Abū Hurayrah, as follows:
1. He
intended to preserve the sayings of the Prophet and his actual condition, so
that people would get benefit from them. Therefore, he kept accompanying him
and asked him question, whereas some companions did not venture to ask him,
except in case of necessity. Ubayy ibn Ka‘b said that Abū Hurayrah was
courageous in asking the Prophet questions which other than him would not ask
him. One example was reported by Bukhārī, as follows:
قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَنْ أَسْعَدُ
النَّاسِ بِشَفَاعَتِكَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَقَالَ لَقَدْ ظَنَنْتُ
يَا أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ أَنْ لَا يَسْأَلَنِي
عَنْ هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَحَدٌ أَوَّلُ مِنْكَ لِمَا رَأَيْتُ مِنْ
حِرْصِكَ عَلَى الْحَدِيثِ أَسْعَدُ النَّاسِ
بِشَفَاعَتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مَنْ قَالَ لَا
إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ خَالِصًا مِنْ قِبَلِ
نَفْسِهِ (رواه البخاري و أحمد)
I
(Abū Hurayrah) said: “O Messenger of Allah, who will be the luckiest people
with your intercession in the Resurrection Day?”
He
said: “I thought O Abū Hurayrah that nobody would ask me about this matter
before you because I see your eagerness
about
it; the luckiest people with my intercession in the
Resurrection
Day is the one who say sincerely
from
himself, that there is no god but Allah.”
(Reported by Bukhārī and Aḥmad)
2.
Abū Hurayrah was constantly
with the Prophet’s company, following him even when he visited his wives and
companions, even in the middle of the street, in order to get learn from it.
Therefore, this short period of accompanying the Prophet is equal to many years
the ṣaḥābah spent in accompanying the Prophet. Many of them did not see
him except in the time of prayer, or meeting with him, or visiting him for
important matters. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said that Abū Hurayrah was better than
him and knew more about what happened. He also said to him: “You have
accompanied the Messenger of Allah the most , and you know the most about his ḥadīths.
Ṭalḥah ibn ‘Ubaydillah said, ‘There is no doubt that Abū Hurayrah heard
what we do not hear.”
3. Abū
Hurayrah had strong memory which was the characteristic of many people living
in the desert in the time of Bedouin life where they relied on their memory.
They said that if people relied on their writing their memory would become
weak, and they were proud of their strong memory. Imām al-Shāfi‘ī and al-Bukārī
both admitted that Abū Hurayrah was the reporter of ḥadīths who
memorized the most in his time. ‘Umar also admitted it and told Abū Hurayrah:
“You are the one who accompanied the Messenger of Allah the most, and who
preserved his ḥadīth the most.
4. The good
news from the Prophet that would have strong memory. Abū Hurayrah complained to the
Prophet for his short memory, that he heard many narrations from him, but he
forgot them. The Prophet told him to spread his garment. He did, and the
Prophet moved his hands as if filling them with something, then emptied them in
Abū Hurayrah’s garment, and said: “Take and wrap this sheet over your
body." He did it, and after that he
never forgot anything he heard from the Prophet (Reported by Bukhari). He said
that nobody memorized the sayings of the Prophet more than himself except ‘Abd
Allāh ibn ‘Amr, because he was literate and was allowed by the Prophet to write
what he heard from him.
5.
The Prophet’s prayer for Abū Hurayrah. A man
came to Zayd ibn Thābit asking about something. He said, ”You must go to Abū
Hurayrah, for while I , he and So-and-so
were in the mosque doing our du ‘a’ (supplication), the Prophet came,
sat down and said, “Go back to where you are.” So, I and my companion made our du’a,
and the Prophet said, “āmīn”. Then Abū Hurayrah made his du’a and said:
“O Allah, I ask You like what they have asked You, and I ask You knowledge
which would not be forgotten,” and the Prophet said, “āmīn!” So, we said, “We
ask Allah knowledge which would not be forgotten,” and the Prophet said, “The
Dawsi man (meaning Abū Hurayrah) has overtaken you.” (Reported by al-Ḥākim). Abū Hurayrah occupied himself in narrating ḥadīths
intentionally, because he memorized them in order to spread them, whereas the
majority of the ṣaḥābah mentioned the ḥadīths out of necessity
only dealing with a legal judgment, fatwa or in giving evidence. A person who
occupies himself with something would remember it the most, whether with an
occasion or without it, as his objective was teaching itself.
6. Abū
Hurayrah narrated what he heard and what was narrated by others among the ṣaḥābah,
and eager to know the narration of earlier ṣaḥābah, such as Abū Bakr,
‘Umar, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, Usāmah ibn Zayd and ‘Ā’ishah. He mentioned them by name,
but sometimes, it was not mentioned.
The contemporary scholar in
his essay In Defence of Abu Hurayrah says that the main sources of these
allegations against Abū Hurayrah are the Shī‘īs and the students of
Orientalists. For the former, many examples are found in the work of the
Lebanese Shī‘ī ‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Sharaf al-Dīn al-Amalī entitled Abū Hurayrah.
These examples were refuted by Dr. Muhammad Ajāj al-Khaṭīb (Professor at the University
of Damascus, Colleges of Sharī‘ah and Education) in his Master’s thesis
entitled السُّنَّةُ قَبْلَ
التَّدْوِيْن (the Sunnah before Its Compilation) (Cairo, 1963), and his work
Abū Hurayrah Rāwiy al-Islām (Abū Hurayrah the Reporter of Islam) (Cairo,
1962). With regard to the latter, most of the arguments of the Orientalists
were summarized by the Egyptian Maḥmūd Abū Rayyah in his work أَضْوَاءٌ عَلَى
السُّنَّةِ المُحَمَّدِيَّة (Enlightenment on the Muhammadan Sunnah)
(Cairo, 1958) where he attempted to show that the whole Sunnah, namely ḥadīths
attributed to the Prophet were nothing but fabrication and lies, and
therefore, Abū Hurayrah’s genuineness was questionable. He was known later as
one of the exponents and champions of the Inkār al-Sunnah (Rejection of
Sunnah), followed by the self-claimed prophet Dr. Rashad Khalifa, and
presently, Dr. Ahmad Sobhi Mansour the founder of Ahl al-Qur’ān (the
Qur’ānist), now living in the USA.
Abū Rayyah’s arguments were
challenged by many scholars, such as Dr. Muṣṭafā al-Sibā‘ī, the founder of
Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, in his thesis entitled السُنَّةُ وَ مَكَانَتُهاَ فِى التَّشْرِيْعِ
الإسْلاَمِي (the Sunnah and Its Position in the Islamic Legislation)
(Cairo, 1961), Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzāq Ḥamzah, the Head of Dār al-Ḥadīth
in Makkah, and the Imām of Masjid al-Ḥarām, in his book entitled ظُلُمَاتُ أَبِيْ رَيَّة أَمَامَ السًّنّةِ
النَّبَوِيَة (the
Darkness of Abū Rayyah before the Prophetic Sunnah) (Cairo, n.d.), and Shaykh
‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyā, the librarian of Masjid al- al-Ḥarām, his book is
entitled الْأَنْوَارُ الْكَاشِفَة لِمَا فِي كِتَابِ أَضْوَاءٌ
عَلَى السُّنَّةِ مِنَ الزَّلَلِ وَ التَّضْلِيْل وَ المُجَازَفَة (القاهرة, 1378 هـ) . A comprehensive work defending
most of the objections against Abū Hurayrah is that of an Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood scholar, ‘Abd
al-Mun‘im Ṣāliḥ al-‘Alī al-‘Izzī, entitled دِفَاعٌ عَنْ أَبِيْ هُرَيْرَة
(بغداد, 1393\1973)
The allegation that ‘Umar beat Abū Hurayrah with a
shield for relating too many ḥadīths and accused him lying is not found
in the Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, but by the Shī‘ī Mu‘tazilī Ibn Abī ’l-Ḥadīd in his
commentary of Nahj al-Balāghah quoting another Shī ‘ī Mu‘tazilī Abū Ja‘far
al-Iskāfī without sanad (chains of transmitters, therefore cannot be
verified. ‘Umar never beat Abū Hurayrah.
Bishr al-Marīsī’s claim that ‘Umar said that Abū
Hurayrah was the greatest liar among the narrators of ḥadīths was
responded by al-Dārimī in his book, رَدُّ الإمَام الدَّارمِي عُثْمَان بْنِ سَعِيْد
عَلَى بِشْرِ الْمَرِيْسِي الْعَنِيْد in which he said that it would
be unlikely that ‘Umar accused him of being a big liar, but at the same time he
appointed him in charge of important posts. Moreover,
‘Umar’s grand-sons, among whom were Sālim ibn ‘Abd Allāh, and Ḥafṣ ibn ‘Āṣim
related ḥadīths from Abū Hurayrah from the Prophet. If Abū Hurayrah were
a liar, ‘Umar would have warned his grand-sons from taking ḥadīths from
him.
Although ‘Ā’ishah corrected Abū Hurayrah‘s mistakes in
the ḥadīths, she did not accuse him of being a liar. For example, he
said that a person who was still in the state of janābah (major ritual
impurity) till morning in Ramaḍān was not allowed to fast, based on a ḥadīth
he heard from Faḍl ibn ‘Abbās and not the Prophet. This was also the view of
some tābi‘ī such as ‘Ā’ishah’s nephew ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr. This was
also the view of Țāwūs, ‘Aṭā’, Sālim ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī,
and Ibrāhīm al-Nakhā‘ī. ‘Ā’ishah said that it was allowed to fast for people
who were in a state of full ritual impurity. Imān al-Zarkashī said the legal judgment
of the ḥadīth had been abrogated, but Abū Hurayrah did it not know.
These are some examples of
allegations against Abū Hurayrah and had been replied by our Muslim scholars.
(CIVIC,
3 September, 2015)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
الشيخ عطية محمد سالم. شرح الأربعين النووية: المكتبة الإلكترونية
http://islamqa.info/ar/126377
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hurairah
http://www.islamicweb.com/beliefs/cults/defend_abuhurayrah.htm
http://sunnahonline.com/library/history-of-islam/306-abu-hurayrah
www.nabulsi.com/blue/ar/art.php?art=2566
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_view_of_Abu_Huraira
http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/index/topicDetail/id/58
http://articles.islamweb.net/media/index.php%3Fpage%3Darticle%26lang%3
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