In some of these traditions effort has also been made to shatter the position of the Holy Prophet's (S.A.W.A.) fore-fathers and ancestors. For example, Muslim narrates from Anas-ibn-Malik as such:
'A person addressed the Holy Prophet as such: 'O the Messenger of Allah! Where can my father be just now? (Who had already died).
The Holy Prophet replied: 'In the fire.'
When that man turned to go away, Hazrat called him back and said:
My father and your father are both in the fire. 34
In some of these traditions which have been fabricated to shatter the position of the Holy Prophet, we see that precaution (so to speak) has been observed to a certain extent. That is to say, equality has been observed between the Holy Prophet and others as can be seen in the foregoing traditions and also in the traditions of Erbaaz-ibn-Salim.
Abu Dawoud in his 'Sunan', Ibn-Maaja, Tirmidhi and Daarami in their 'Sunan' and Ahmad in his 'Musnad' have narrated from Erbaaz-ibn-Salim who said:
«One day, the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) stood amongst us and delivered a speech. He exhorted us so eloquently that the hearts of the listeners overflew with fear and tears rolled down their eyes.» They said: 'O the Messenger of Allah, perhaps this is your last exhortation. If it is so, then make your will. He replied: Cling to piety and pay attention towards Allah. Obey your ruler even though he may be al Habashi slave. After me, you will witness severe controversies. Under such circumstances it will be your duty to follow my 'Sunnah' (ways) and the 'Sunnah' of Khulafa-e -Rashideen and Mahdiyeen. As far as possible, you should strive to safeguard these 'Sunnahs'. 35
If we wish to analyze these traditions just like the way we examined the matter of commencement of descending of revelation and the matter of 'Gharaniq', it would take a tremendous while. Nevertheless, we shall examine in brief some of the more important ones from among them.
Traditions (dealing with Omar's agreement with God) or (God's agreement with Omar) reveal that either the Caliph used to set forth some matter before the Holy Prophet and make suggestions to him or that he used to forbid the Prophet from certain acts as a result of which special verses of the Holy Quran were revealed and it commanded the Holy Prophet to follow the sayings of the Caliph. First of all, we shall refer to those very verses and see for ourselves whether they are true of these claims or not:
In Sahih Bukhari, the first mentioned case about Omar's agreements with God or vice-versa is as follows:
The Caliph told the Holy Prophet:
[Arabic text]
What is the harm if we set the standing-place of Ibrahim as the place of prayer?
Immediately after this, the Holy Prophet was addressed in the form of revelation with exactly the same words as the saying of the Caliph.
[Arabic text]
«Appoint a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim.»
This statement is a part of a verse which is connected to verses 124 to 132 in Sura Baqarah. All of these verses speak about Ibrahim and mention the story of construction of Ka'aba and God's favour towards Ismail especially so in verses 124 and 125 which say:
'And when his Lord tried Ibrahim with certain words, he fulfilled them. He said: Surely I will make you an Imam of men. Ibrahim said: And of my offspring? My covenant does not include the unjust, said He.
And when We made the House a pilgrimage for men and a (place of) security, and:
Appoint for yourselves a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim. And We enjoined Ibrahim and Ismail saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down; (and) those who prostrate themselves.
In the above verse, the sentence «and appoint for yourselves a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim» has not come by itself so that it can be true of the tradition of God's agreement with the Caliph. Rather, this sentence is a part of the verse 125 while this verse itself is a part of the verses 124 - 132 where all of these verses speak about three matters:
(i) About Ibrahim the intimate friend of the Merciful and his construction of the Ka'aba along with his son Ismail - Especially verses 124 and 125 mention that God out of His Grace, made Ibrahim as an Imam of the people as he had fulfilled the words of God.
(ii) He has made His House as the place of shelter and refuge for the people and,
(iii) In this House, people should make the standing-place of Ibrahim as the place of prayers.
From this description, it is clear that the sentence «Appoint for yourselves a place of prayer on the standing-place of Ibrahim» has not come by itself so that we can say: This sentence has been revealed as per the agreement with Omar's opinion.
Moreover, the talk in Quran about Ibrahim's standing-place is not confined to this particular instance only. Rather, in verses 95 - 97 of Sura Al-Imran too, we read as such:
'Most surely the first 'House' appointed for men to the one at Mecca, blessed and a guidance for the nations.
In it are clear signs, the standing-place of Ibrahim and whoever enters it shall be secure.' In these verses too God has, first of all, reminded us about the matter of Ibrahim's obedience. Thereafter, He has reminded us about His House and its holiness and the fact that there are clear signs from Him in this House especially the standing-place of Ibrahim.
This analysis obviously proves that especially the matter of his standing-place and the reverence of the House of God have appeared in succession in two sets of verses and in two places of the holy Quran uniformly and the standing-place of Ibrahim has not come once or separately by itself in one sentence so that we can say:
In this case, God has followed the words of the Caliph.'
Again, in the same tradition, the Caliph says:
Out of envy, the Holy Prophet's wives formed an alliance against him. I told them: 'If the Prophet divorces you, may be Allah in return will provide him with better wives than you'. Then a verse similar to this utterance was revealed.
This sentence too has not come all by itself so that we can say: The Caliph said this sentence and the verse was revealed in conformity with his assent. Rather, this sentence is a part of the fifth verse of Sura 'Tahrim' and all the verses of the said Sura; especially the first six verses have been revealed in connection with Ayesha and Hafsah, the two wives of the Prophet. It is obvious that the entire verses have come with regards to one matter (only) just as the same can be seen from the following:
'O Prophet! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which Allah has made lawful for you; you seek to please your wives; and Allah is forgiving, Merciful.
Allah indeed has sanctioned for you the expiation of your oaths and Allah is your Protector, and He is the Knowing, the Wise.
And when the Prophet secretly communicated a piece of information to one of his wives (i.e. Hafsah) but when she informed (Ayesha) of it, and Allah made him to know it he made known part of it and did not recount the other part; so when he informed her of it, she said: Who informed you of this? He said:
«The Knowing, the One Aware, informed me.»
If you both turn to Allah, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this); and if you back up each other against him, then surely Allah it is Who is his Guardian and Jibra'eel and the virtuous one amongst the believers (as per the common and specific traditions the virtuous one amongst the believers is said to be Ali (A.S.) and the Angels after that are the aides.
Maybe, his Lord, if he divorces you, will give him in your place wives better than you - submissive, faithful, obedient, penitent, adorers, fasters, widows and virgins'.
It is self-evident that the afore said sentence (Maybe that Allah will provide ...) is only a part of this incident and one cannot say that this sentence has been solely revealed in conformity with the sayings of Omar.
Tayalesi in his 'Musnad' narrates from the Caliph as such: 'When the verse ... [Arabic text] came to an end and it described the creation of men, I said: [Arabic text]
After this, another revelation came as a result of which Omar's sentence was added to the first verse.
The sentence: [Arabic text] too is a part of 1 verse No. 14 of Sura Muminun and this verse itself alongwith the previous and the following verses mention this matter as follows:
'And certainly We created man of an extract of clay,
Then We made him a small seed in a firm resting-place,
Then We made the seed a clot, then We made the clot a
lump of flesh, then We made (in) the lump of flesh bones,
then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We caused it
to grow into another creation, so blessed be Allah, the
best of the creators.
Then after that you will most surely die. Then surely on the day of resurrection you shall be raised.
It is very clear that the afore-mentioned verses are speaking about the stages of man's creation until the time when man reaches perfection and then dies and once again becomes alive on the day of resurrection. It is also clear that this verse like the other afore-said verses speaks about one topic and one matter. All these sets of verses have been revealed to the Holy Prophet at one time while the tradition of agreement says: Allah first revealed these sets of verses to the Holy Prophet without the sentence [Arabic text] 37 and the Prophet too read out these verses to the Muslims devoid of this sentence.
By hearing these verses, Omar uttered the sentence [Arabic text]. God becoming pleased of this sentence added it to His Book after taking it from Omar!
Astonighing indeed! We really don't know what to say in this regard!!
Whatever verses about Omar's agreement with God have been analysed are adequate and we may say that all the (other) agreements of the Caliph too are the same as these ones. Traditions concerning agreements of Omar say: First, the Caliph would utter a sentence and then God liking that sentence would include it in His Quran.
However, in our review, we saw that the related sentences are not sentences which have come all alone so that we can say that the traditions about Omar's agreements are in conformity with them. Rather all those sentences are only a part related to some affair which has been described by a number of verses.
Over here, we shall review a few instances of Omar's agreement with God or vice-versa from the view-point of traditions.
Tradition about this particular agreement has come down in Sahih Bukhari and the verse regarding the same has come in Sura Ahzab as such: 'O Prophet! Say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments; this will be more proper that they may be known and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 38
If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease and the agitators in the city do not desist, We shall most certainly set you over them, then they shall not be your neighbours in it but for a little while;
Cursed: Wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering.
(Such has been) the course of Allah with respect to those who have gone before; and you shall not find any change in the course of Allah,
In the first verse of this set of verses the Holy Prophet's wives and other believing women have been commanded to cover themselves so that they are not recognized and hence remain free from any trouble and mischief.
The next verse talks about those who wish to create mischief against the believing women and declares that if they do not desist from this act, they would be either killed or banished from the city.
Thus, the verse about veil has been revealed on the occasion of an incident. for perceiving this, one should refer to those traditions which clarifies this matter.
Now, we shall set forth some of them.
In this regard, traditions have come down from Ibn-Abbas, Anas-ibn- Malik, Muhammad-ibn-Ka'ab Qurzi and others where all have come down in one manner. For the sake of brevity, we shall mention here a few traditions without mentioning the repetitive sentences.
Their sayings are as follow:
Since the Holy Prophet did not possess a house of his own in Medina (after migration) he resided in the house of some of its local citizens. Those houses were small and narrow. The Holy Prophet's wives and the other Muslim women used to leave the house at night and go to the surrounding areas for easing nature. Some of the lewd youths of Medina who would stroll the street at night used to disturb and haress the women with exception of those ladies wearing a veil as they thought them to be noble. Those women who were veilless were considered by them to be slave-girls and hence they would approach them.
In another tradition it has come down as such:
A person amongst the hypocrites used to trouble and haress the believing women and when he was asked to refrain from this act he would say: 'I thought she was a slave-girl.' For this reason, God commanded the women to avoid dressing themselves like the slave-girls and instead to cover themselves with the veil (except for one eye) so that they would be recognized as the noble-women.
IBNE-ABBASS NARRATES:
God commanded the believing-women to cover themselves with the veil and make an opening only for one eye whenever they wanted to leave the house for the purpose of easing nature. 39
UMM-SALMA NARRATES:
After the revelation of this verse whenever the Ansar women used to depart from their houses, their heads would look black like a raven. This was because of the black veils which they had put on their heads.
They used to make their covering double-purpose and put over their heads and then attend the congregation prayers led by the Holy Prophet. At t hat moment, their heads were resembling the raven because of the black veils.
The relation of these traditions with the afore-said verses are clear and as per the above discussion, the command for wearing veil is not meant for the Prophet's wives only, so that we can say: God while agreeing with Omar, commanded the Prophet's wives to cover themselves. Rather, the verses on veil were revealed because of the harassment brought about by immoral and sickly youths of Medina against the believing-women of that time. This trouble and harassment caused by the immoral men is present even today and will continue till the end of time. At that time too, the corrupt people used to bring such excuses and other excuses too one after the other!
In our examination of the verses of Quran with regards to this agreement, we saw that the verses clearly stipulate that two of the Prophet's wives joined hands against him. The verses of Sura Tahrim where the sentence [Arabic text] is a part of it had been revealed in this very regard. If we refer to the traditions, we will find thirty more traditions which stipulate that these two women were none other than Ayesha and Hafesah.40 Here, we will restrain ourselves by bringing only one tradition:
In Sahih of Bukhari, Sahih of Muslim, Sunan of Tirmidhi and other books, this tradition has been narrated from Ibn-Abbass who said:
«I was very eager to question the Caliph about the identity of those two women with regards to whom the holy Quran says: 'If you both turn to Allah then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this).'» This question remained until the Caliph left for the pilgrimage of Hajj and I too accompanied him. On the way towards Mecca, he stepped on the roadside for the purpose of easing nature. I too followed him. Moments later he came back and began to take ablution. I was pouring water on his hands and while doing so, I said: 'O Amir-ul-Mumineen! Who are these two wives of the Holy Prophet about whom the Quran says: 'If you both turn towards Allah, then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this).' He replied: 'Astonishing indeed 'O son of Abbass! Those two women were Ayesha and Hafesah... 41
This tradition and tens of other traditions are unanimous that the said verses have been revealed with regards to only two of the Prophet's wives i.e. Ayesha and Hafesah. As such there is not any reason to believe that all the Prophet's wives conspired against him and the Caliph uttered the afore-said sentence and then God in agreement with him revealed the same against the Prophet's wives.
The examination of this agreement requires more than all the other agreements and a reference to the traditions in order to know the 'occasion of revelation'. Here, we shall mention a few of those traditions:
It has been narrated from Omar who said:- When the commandment of reverence and prohibition of wine was revealed, I said: 'O Lord! with regards to wine, send down for us a clear exposition.
Immediately after this utterance, a verse which is in Sura Baqarah was revealed:
[Arabic text] 42
«They ask you about Intoxicants and games of chance. Say: In both of them there is a great sin....
Omar was called for and this verse was recited before him. However not finding himself convinced, he once again said:
'O Lord! with regards to wine, give us a clear exposition.
Then, a verse from Sura Nisa was revealed:
[Arabic text] 43
«O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated.»
Thereafter, a proclaimer on the Holy Prophet's side would cry out in public gathering for prayers as such:
«Be aware! nobody who is in the state of intoxication should attempt to perform prayers.»
Once again, Omar was called and this verse was recited for him. However, he once more said:
'O Lord! send us a clear and manifest exposition concerning the subject of drinking wine!
As such, this verse was revealed:
[Arabic text] 44
«The Satan only wishes to cause enmity and hatred to be sprung among you by means of intoxicants and games of chance, and to keep you off from the remembrance of Allah and from prayers. Will you then desist? (or not? Quit it so that you will not fall prey to the conspiracy of Satan)! At this juncture, Omar said:
«We have quited! We have quited!45»
Tabari has brought a detailed account of this incident in his Exegesis as follows:
Abul-Qamus Zaid-ibn-Ali says: On three occasions God sent revelation concerning wine drinking. The first verse was as follows:
[Arabic text]
«They ask you about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: In both of them there is a great sin and means of profit for men and their sin is greater than their profit.»
After the revelation of this verse some of the Muslims were yet drinking wine so much so that two amongst them joined the congregation prayer in the state of intoxication and while praying they began using obscene words. For this reason God revealed the following verse:
[Arabic text] 46
However, there were still some people who used to drink wine but definitely not at the time of prayers. This continued until according to the narration of Abul-Qamus, a person who was in the state of intoxication unknowingly began to recite an elegy in the battle of Badr for the dead ones amongst the polytheists. This news reached the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.). In a state of anger and with his cloak being dragged over the ground he approached that man. The man thinking that the Prophet wanted to punish him with that which he had in hand said: I seek refuge in Allah from His wrath and the wrath of His Messenger. I swear by Allah that I will no more drink wine. After this, God revealed an explicit order with regards to wine as follows:
[Arabic text] 47
«O you who believe! intoxicants and games of chance and (scarifying in the name of) stones set up and (dividing by) arrows are only an uncleanliness, the Satan's work; shun it.... Will you then desist?
Over here, Omar-ibn-Khattab said:
[Arabic text] - We have desisted, we have desisted! 48
Tabari says: A person drank wine and then recited an elegy for the dead polytheists of the battle of Badr. Tabari does not mention his name but 'Abshiyc', the author of «Al-Mustatraf» has mentioned so and in his narration he says as follows:-
...so some of the Muslims continued to drink wine while some desisted from doing so until Omar who was in the state of intoxication held a piece of a camel's jaw-bone in his hand and struck it on Abdul Rahman's head. Thereafter he sat down and while reciting the poem of Aswad-ibn-Yafor began elegizing the dead polytheists of the battle of Badr....
This news reached the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) who left the house in the state of anger. His rage was so severe that his cloak was being dragged on the ground and he started to beat him with what he had in hand. Omar said. I seek refuge ill Allah from His wrath and from the wrath of His Messenger.
At that moment, God revealed the following verse:
[Arabic text]
Then Omar said: 'We have stoppedd, we have desisted!' 49
Qurtabi has brought another piece of this incident in his exegesis (of Quran) and has narrated from Sa'eed-ibn-Jubair as follows:-
The people continued their ignorant customs and practices until God continued issuing commands for the prohibition of the same. In the early days of Islam, the Muslims were drinking wine until the verse
[Arabic text] was revealed.
The people said: We drink wine because of the advantages that it has and not because of its harmful effects. This state continued until a ma n drank wine and lead the people in prayers. While reciting a verse from the holy Quran he said:
[Arabic text]
'O unbelievers! I worship that which you worship.
Thereafter this following verse was revealed:
[Arabic text]
Here, a group of Muslims said: 'We shall drink wine but not in the state of prayers.... 50
A section of this incident can also he seen in a tradition narrated by Hakim Naishaboouri from Imam Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.)
Imam says: 'Before the revelation of the commandment on prohibition of wine, a man from Ansar had invited us to his guests. We accepted his invitation. We stayed in his house until the time for mid-night prayers approached. Later a person stood forward and led the congregation prayers. While reciting the sura 'Kafirun' he made an error in recitation. For this reason the verse, [Arabic text] was revealed.
Thereafter Hakim Naishaboouri says:- Concerning the conditions of authenticity from the view-point of Bukhari and Muslim this tradition is an authentic one.
However, they have not narrated it. Thereafter, he adds: In this tradition, there exists a great interest and it is this that the Khawarij have attributed this intoxication and wrong recitation of prayers to Amir-ul-Mumineen - Ali-ibn-Abi Talib and not anyone else!! But, Almighty God has proved his innocence and purity through this very tradition and just as mentioned before Imam himself has narrated the incident with reference to someone else. 51
* * *
Verily, such was the incident of Omar's agreement with his Lord. We have brought these examples in brief and have described them as examples which can lead us recognize the reality of all other consents so that the readers realize that the reality of these consents are not something outside the scope of these examples.
The second incident in which we were able to do some sort of a research is the matter of passing urine in a standing position God forbid - attributed to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) But, if we examine the books and other sources, we will witness some facts fully contradictory to this matter.
Ayesha says:
'Reject the saying of the one who narrates for you that the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.A.) urinates in a standing position. He has never performed this act but in a religiously recommended manner, i.e. in a sitting position.52
Mughaira-ibn-Shuaba narrates:
'Whenever the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) used to go to ease nature, he would keep himself completely far away from the people.' 53
Abdur-Rahman-ibn- Abi Qarrad says:
'I went with the Holy Prophet to a far off spot for easing nature and in fact, whenever Hazrat wanted to do this act, he would completely keep himself away from all others. 54
Abu Musa narrates from the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.A.) who said:
'Whenever anyone amongst you wishes to ease nature he should search for a suitable place for this act. 55
Omar says: 'When the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) saw me urinating in a standing position, he said: 'O Omar, do not urinate while standing. Thereafter, I never urinated in a standing position. 56
Jabir-ibn-Abdullah Ansari has said: 'The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) has prohibited us from urinating in a standing position.' 57
In spite of such numerous sayings and commands why is there so much fuss over making an issue of the Holy Prophet (God forbid) performing such an act in the manner claimed? In this regard, we shall not say anything and the clear-sighted readers can perhaps find the answer to this question from the following points:
In 'Sunan' of Ibn-Maaja we find the following matter:
'It was the habit of some of the Arabs too urinate in a standing position.' 58
Malik in his 'Muta' narrates from Amro-ibn -Maimun who said:
'I had witnessed Abdullah-ibn-Omar urinating while standing.' 59
The second Caliph, Omar-ibn-Khattab said:
'Urinating in a standing position is a better form of easing natural need.' 60
The third tradition which we would like to briefly ponder over is the matter of eating meat sacrificed for the idols and the blasphemy and polytheism of the Holy Prophet's forefathers - God forbid - !
In order to know the Holy Prophet's condition during the period of ignorance, it would be most worthy to refer to his best companion and his most intimate disciple i.e. Amir-ul-Mumineen Ali (A.S.) so that we realize what he has to say about Hazrat's behaviour and conduct:
[Arabic text] 61
'From the time of his (i.e. Holy Prophet's) weaning, Allah had put a great angel with him to take him along the path of high character and good behaviour throughout the day and night.'
Imam Baqir (A.S.) too has specified the same fact in this manner:
[Arabic text] 62
'The Almighty Allah commissioned an angel for all His Prophets and right from the time of Hazrat Muhammad's weaning, He sent His greatest angel for him in order to protect and guide him on the path of goodness and high character and dissuade him from evil nature.
With regards to the Holy Prophet's forefathers too we shall now refer to the Ahl-e-bayt school in order to see what they have said about them.
Imam Sadeq Jafar-ibn-Muhammad has narrated from his father who has narrated from his grand-father who has narrated from Hazrat Amir-ul- Mumineen (A.S.) that the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) said:
[Arabic text] 63
'O Ali! Abdul-Muttalib (my grandfather) never used to worship and gamble with arrows called as «Azlam» which were objects of idol-worshipping and gambling.
He never used to worship before the idols and never would he eat meat of animals slaughtered on the fixture for the idols.
Asbagh-ibn-Nabatah says: I heard Imam Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) say:
'I swear by Allah that neither my
father (Abu
Talib) nor my grand-father Abdul-Muttalib nor (his
father) Hashim and nor (his father) Abd-Munaf ever
worshipped any idol.
He was asked: Then what did they
worship?
He replied: They used to recite 'Namaz' (prayers) on
the path of the upright religion of Ibrahim and they
held on to his ways and customs.
These were some of the sayings of
Ahl-e-bayt about
the Holy Prophet's forefathers.