It is necessary to mention here, two points:
Firstly, the tradition which had been attributed to Ibn-Abbass wherein the expression139 [Arabic text] could be seen to be a part of the Quranic verse unfolds a place of big skepticism because it gives hint of distortion of Quran in it. I presume that this tradition is the outcome of fabrication of the beginning of the second century after 'Hijrat' because in analysing the Islamic history, I have come to this conclusion that the main endeavours of the dualists in tearing down the Islamic thought and beliefs had occured in the beginning of this century. Whether they attribute the tradition to Sa'eed- ibn-Jubair followed by Ibn-Abbass or to others makes no difference since all have treaded the same path i.e. their campaign against Islam.
Secondly, what I infer from these forged traditions is as such: Except for the above tradition, all the existing traditions have been forged during Muawiya's era. For example, Abu Uthman Nahdi who would narrate tradition from two persons, was existing at the time when Muawiya was issuing commands for the fabrication of traditions.140 All the traditions too would finally get to those persons who were living during that period - whether they were reckoned to be companions or disciples of companions. However, intentionally or unintentionally they have been ascribed to be the companions.
11 - In interpretation of this verse, Suyuti narrates a big and corneous lie from Tabarani and Ibn-Murdowiya who narrate from Abu-Imamah Baheli who said: 'When this verse was revealed, the Holy Prophet gathered his relatives and family-members. First of all he turned towards Bani-Hashim and said: Save your lives from the fire.... I will not be able to do anything for you before Allah. Thereafter, he turned towards his family-members and said: 'O Ayesha, the daughter of Abu Bakr 'O Hafseh, the daughter of Omar, 'O Umm-Salma and 'O Fatemah ... buy-back your lives from Allah and strive until you deliver yourselves from the fire, I will not be able to do anything for you.... Ayesha wept and said: 'Will such a day come... 141
We remember that the verse had been revealed in the third year of the Holy Prophet's appointment and Abu-Imamah who is famous as As'ad-ibn- Zararah was from the Ansars of Medina. He was from the initial group of the people of Medina who accepted Islam. Therefore, he had no presence at the time of revelation of the afore-said verse.
Much worse, Ayesha and Hafseh had got married to the Holy Prophet years after 'Hijrat' and at the time of revelation of the verse, not only was Ayesha unmarried to the Holy Prophet (as it is made to appear in the tradition) but had not even been born in the third year of the Holy Prophet's appointment.
Still worse than this is the fact that Abu-Imamah As'ad-ibn-Zararah died in the month of Shawwal in the first year after 'Hijrat'. Therefore, at the time when Ayesha and Hafseh had become the wives and family-members of the Holy Prophet, he did not even exist so that he could be a witness to this incident. 142
As such, we can say with confidence that Abu-Imamah, Ibn-Abbass and numerous other narrators have not narrated these traditions themselves and have come into existence in the year 50 A.H. following Muawiya's command for the fabrication of traditions. On the basis of this official command, the real fabricators forged these traditions for the purpose of invalidating the traditions and the virtues of Ahl-e-bayt and attributed them to reliable or unreliable narrators.
However, the Holy Prophet's climb on the mountain of Safa or on a heap of stones and his cry of warning to the Quraishites may be true but that such an event has occured after the revelation of the verse: [Arabic text] is false and cannot be correct under any circumstances. The best proof too lies in the text of the afore-said verse because this verse explicitly commissions the Holy Prophet to warn his very near ones and not his clan or tribe. Although the Quraishites were related to the Holy Prophet, yet they were very far in relation and were partners to him only in name (Quraish) and were perhaps one in very far ancestral ties.
It was pointed out before that the Holy Prophet's invitation in the initial stages was limited to his own household. Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) who was accompanying him in the cave of 'Hera' gained acquaintance in the very initial stages of his appointment under the heavenly protection and revelation. After the Holy Prophet's return to his house, Hazrat Khadija too joined him. Up to this time, the total number of Muslims amounted to three persons. Authentic sources reveal that those accepting Islam did not exceed these three personalities for a long period.143 Later on, Zaid-ibn-Harith and Jafar-ibn-Abi Talib joined this group. However, we do not know exactly the time of their accepting Islam. After three years of concealed invitation, the Holy Prophet was commissioned in the third year of his appointment to invite his very near ones towards Islam. Verse 124 of Sura Shuara Comprised this command. The story of the manner of this invitation was already mentioned from the words of Imam Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.). It was due to this divine command that the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) invited his very near ones for a feast and then propagated to them and warned them. After this incident, invitation to Islam gained universality and gradually people from different quarters pursued Islam and the Muslim population gained strength.
However, as long as the Holy Prophet was in Mecca such universal address to the Quraish was not possible since the Quraishites (with the exception of a few) had not brought faith in him let alone the possibility of warning them of the fire of Hell and speaking to them about his intercession or non-intercession. Such type of talks could be accepted to be correct only if the Quraishites, even seemingly, had accepted his Prophethood and submitted to the Islamic beliefs.
In a society where the Holy Prophet was permanently engaged in dealing with the arrogant and powerful Quraishites, their plots and their followers who used to derride him by throwing the camel's paunch over his head or spill ash over his head or hurl stones at him, any talk about his powerlessness in performing intercession or his saying that, «I cannot do anything for you and you should save yourselves from the fire of Hell through your own deeds», is far from logic or reason.144 If there existed such a common warning, it should have been at a time when the entire people had apparently become Muslims and accepted him as the Prophet. If there was to exist such a common warning it should be under such circumstances when the entire people have apparently become Muslims and have accepted him to be the Prophet. The existing traditions in the Ahl-e- bayt school of thought have come down in this form:
Firstly, all the traditions which comprises the verse of warning speak without any exception to all; About the warning to the near ones in the Prophet's household as well as others. 145
Secondly, the Holy Prophet's climb over the mountain of 'Safa' and his speech can be related to the period after the victory of Mecca.
We can find the real story among the existing traditions in the Ahl-e-bayt school of thought. Imam Sadeq (AS.) says:
'When the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) gained victory over Mecca he stood on top of the mountain of 'Safa' and said" 'O Bani-Hashim and 'O the sons of Abdul-Muttalib!
I am considerate and very concerned about you. Do not say that Muhammad is from us. I swear by Allah that those related to me from you and other than you are not but pious and good-doers. It should not happen that you appear on the Day of Judgement with the burden of this world on your neck while others appear with the Hereafter accompanying them. Know that I have not left behind any plea between us and between Allah and you. To me are my deeds and to you are your deeds. 146"
In this very timely speech, the Holy Prophet wanted to clarify that now that he has gained victory over Mecca and in reality become the ruler of the Arabian Peninsula, his near ones should not turn their face towards this world. They should know that nearness and relationship to the Holy Prophet is based on piety only and none else. Moreover such a proximity is inconsistent with mammonism or plunder of the public wealth. Unlike all other worldly governments, they should not think wishfully that now that one of their near ones has gained control of the leadership and the reins of government are in his hands, they could thus attain wealth, power and comfort and have domination and supremacy in this world and the Hereafter.
In the end, we once more remind you that this tradition may have been attributed to some of the narrators but he himself may be unaware of this attribution - For example, the tradition which Abu Uthman Nahdi has narrated from Zubair-ibn-Amro and Qaleisa-ibn-Mukhareq. About him the traditionists have said: «Only he has narrated this tradition from these two persons. In other words, nobody else had heard this tradition from these two persons.» Similarly the tradition which had been narrated from Ibn- Abbass, Abu-Imamah, Burah-ibn-Aazeb and others like them. It is possible that these people had not spoken such words and we can also be almost certain that they had not said so. However, if we consider that the official directive of Muawiya was issued and the entire power and strength of the ruling Umayyids got employed in forging such traditions, we will clearly understand that Urwah-ibn-Zubair, the narrator from Ayesha or Muhammad-ibn-Shahab Zuhri, the narrator from Abu-Huraira147 were the main forgers of traditions and they were the ones who have attributed these traditions to people such as Ayesha, Abu-Huraira and Ibn-Abbass. Considering the means available at that time, the faraway places and cities did not provide the opportunity of research to those desirous of traditions. Moreover, if a tradition was attributed to anyone, there was little chance for a person to have access to him and inquire from him about its authenticity. Therefore, the traditions even though forged, would remain on people's lips and later on would get transferred to reliable and unreliable books and would form a part of the ruling Caliphate's (so called) Islamic 'Ma'aref' (gnosis) and commandments.
The conclusion which we can derive from the entire discussion is as follows:
In all the traditions under discussion, one set of traditions which had connected chain of transmission terminated in such people who had not been present at the time of the event such as the traditions narrated from Ayesha, Ibn-Abbass and Abu-Huraira and another set where its initial narrator could have been present at the time of the event lacked connection of chain of transmission of the author of book (i.e. the initial narrator) like the tradition narrated from Zubair-ibn-Awam. Thus in this collection, none of the traditions came out successfully in their test and analysis and as per the scales of traditionists none of them was correct and therefore can not be 'supported'.
Amongst them, only one tradition enjoyed a sound chain of transmission and it was a tradition where the authorities of the Caliphate school and the authorities of the Ahl-e-bayt school have unanimously narrated it. We have already expounded this tradition for you with the chain of transmission going back to Imam Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) The soundness of the chain of this tradition can be judged from the fact that its chain of transmissions ending in Imam (A.S.) was correct and connected as admitted by the traditionists belonging to the Caliphate school148. Moreover, the initial narrator i.e. Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) had been present at the time of the event and was then approximately fifteen years of age. 149
With so many traditions narrated with unbroken transmission in the books of 'Sihah', 'Musnads' and 'tafseers' of the caliphate school from the companions (of the Holy Prophet) belonging to the 'Muhajirs' (emigrants) like Ayesha, Zubair, Ibn-Abbass and Abu-Huraira; from the companions belonging to the Ansars (helpers) like Anas-ibn-Malik, Bureh-ibn-Aazeb and Abu-Imamah; from those who have out of place been counted to be amongst the companions like Qabisa and Zubair and from the disciples of companions like Zuhri and Qatada, there remains no place for doubt or skepticism in this regard. But with a quick review, we saw that the concerned verse was revealed in the third year of the Holy Prophet's appointment and at the time of this incident none of the narrators were present in Mecca in order to see and give information of the event, Some of them had not even been born at the time and some amongst them were not living in Mecca at all. It was only Zubair-ibn-Awam who could have been present at that time and was living in Mecca. However, Suyuti's tradition in the 10th century is severed for him and Suyuti does not mention with what chain of transmitters he narrates this tradition from him. In this way, all these kinds of traditions are devoid of credibility.
In the tradition of Ayesha and Abu Huraira address had been made to Fatemah (A.S.) while in fact she was not even born or was an infant at that time and hence could not have been the object of this address. Rather it was much appropriate if this address had been made to the other daughters of the Holy Prophet who were elder than Fatemah (A.S.).
In the tradition of Ibn-Abbass, the sentence: [Arabic text] was added to the holy verse of Quran which itself is the biggest proof of fabrication of the tradition.
Contrary to the previous traditions, the tradition of Abu-Imamah indicates that the incident had occurred in Medina and the addressees were the Holy Prophet's wives i.e. Hafesa and Ayesha, while in fact Abu-Imamah had died long before these two who were not the Prophet's wives at the time.
Aside from all these evidences, the text of the afore-said traditions reveal that the Holy Prophet had addressed his very close relatives i.e. Bani- Hashim, his more distant relatives i.e. Bani-Abd Munaf and all the Quraishite tribes and warned them from relying upon kinship with the Holy Prophet and abandoning the virtuous deeds while in fact such a talk does not have any relation with the third year of the Prophet's appointment as at that time all the Quraishite clans, Bani-Hashim and non Bani-Hashim were scorning the Holy Prophet for inviting them towards monotheism. Similarly it is also incommensurate with the occurence of the event in Medina because the Quraishite clan were not living in Medina so as to be addressed.
Those who have forged these traditions have in fact tampered with the following two notifications and have made a hell of a story out of it:
(A) the announcement related to the revelation of the verse:
[Arabic text]
(B) the Holy Prophet's announcement after the victory of Mecca wherein no special names were mentioned but the Quraish were the object of address and they were told not to rely on the kinship with the Holy Prophet.
By combining these two notifications (where each one held good in its own place) the forgers fabricated some traditions as a result of which the real tradition which comprised the virtues of Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) was consigned to oblivion.
Majority of these traditions were forged during Muawiya's era for the purpose of gaining proximity to the Ummayid Caliphate with the exception of the tradition of Ibn-Abbass where for two reasons, the period of its fabrication seems to be befitting the early stages of the Caliphate of Bani-Abbass:
(A) In the tradition ascribed to Ibn-Abbass, one sentence has been added to the Quranic verse which is commensurate with the fabricated works of the dualists in the early stages of the Abbasside's Caliphate just as we have discussed the same in the first section of the book [Arabic text]
(B) Fabrication of the tradition and its attribution to Ibn-Abbass is commensurate with the early parts of the Abbasside's Caliphate because, the forgers first of all wanted to propagate their own tradition by utilizing the name of the ancestors of the Abbassid Caliphs and secondly, through this they wanted to gain access to them. Majority of the tradition which have been forged in the name of Ibn-Abbass is befitting this period.
After examination of this repeatedly stated but forged tradition, we shall evaluate two other forged traditions. Like the previous traditions, these two traditions too contracted fabrication during Muawiya's era and the virtues which have come down in them from Amir-ul-Mumineen (A.S.) have been reversed.
The first tradition is a well-known tradition about the virtues of Imam Amir- ul-Mumineen: In this tradition, the Holy Prophet says:-
[Arabic text] 150
«I am the city of Knowledge and Ali is its gate. So, anyone who wishes to enter this city must (first) pass through its gate.»
This famous tradition has also been narrated in other ways:
[Arabic text] 151
[Arabic text] 152
[Arabic text] 153
They have replaced this reliable and famous tradition with a false tradition which has come down as follows:-
[Arabic text] 154
«I am the city of knowledge and Abu Bakr its foundation, Omar its walls, Uthman its ceiling and Ali its gate.
With regards to the text of this tradition, suffice it to say that a city can possess walls and gate but for it to have a ceiling is something irrational if not stupid.
Another tradition which fell victim to the forgers during Muawiya's era who fabricated something opposite to it is the famous and reliable tradition from the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) about the virtue of Imam Hassan and Hussein (A.S.)
[Arabic text] 155
«Hassan and Hussein are the masters of the youths of Paradise.»
In order to shatter the creditibility of this tradition, the forgers during Muawiya's era have narrated from Amir-ul-Mumineen the following:
[Arabic text] 156
«Abu-Bakr and Omar are the masters of the old men of Paradise - right from first to the last with the exception of the Prophets and Messengers.»
In proving the prevarication and fabrication of this tradition, suffice it to say that Caliph Abu Bakr and Caliph Omar have been reckoned to be the masters of the old men in Paradise whereas basically, there does not exist any concept as old age and senility in Paradise.
In this discussion, we witnessed the following:
Firstly: For earning the satisfaction of the Caliph and pleasing him, they have added the sentence: [Arabic text] to the Holy Prophet's tradition with regards to priority and arrow-throwing and have tampered the tradition about Hazrat Mahdi's advent.
Secondly: Concerning the Caliph's command they forged another tradition vis-a-vis the tradition of «Yaum-ul-Anzaar».
Moreover, in the tradition: [Arabic text] they have added the sentences: [Arabic text] and against the tradition [Arabic text] they fabricated the sentence [Arabic text]
With the help of these alterations and fabrications they initialed numerous differences and contradictions in the traditions of the Holy Prophet so much so that they made difficult the recognition of the true Islam for one and all.
These few examples are sufficient enough to make one recognize the disastrous calamities which have befallen the traditions of the Holy Prophet during the Ummayid era.
During this period, they distorted the traditions (which is considered to be the second pillar of Islam and the explanation and elucidation of Quran) so much that the entire status of Islamic faith and ethic contracted alteration and appeared to be metamorphosed. God-willing, you shall see this matter in detail in the following discussions.
With regards to our previous discussions, the third factor in the alteration and distortion of Islam is the matter of fabrication of traditions. We also saw that fabrication of traditions has taken place because of one of the following two reasons:
(i) For the purpose of gaining proximity to the central power in an Islamic society i.e. the ruling Caliphate and exploiting the vanities of the world.
(ii) Enmity with Islam.
Of course on some occasions both of the above factors motivated them in fabricating traditions.
The third cause of distortion which itself was a factor of distortion as well as the very basis of distortion was the matter of fabrication of traditions. Forgery of traditions started mostly after the Holy Prophet's departure from this world157 but an official and universal command was not issued in this regard. During Muawiya's era, the matter of alteration and fabrication of traditions took an official turn and a governmental declaration in this regard was issued from the lofty position of the Caliphate. Things went still further as the ruling Caliphate announced and paid heavy rewards for this act. Thus, the official Islam in reality took shape during the Ummayid era especially during Muawiya's time.