traditions in islam

8/8/2019 Traditions in Islam

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THE

'TRADITIONS IN ISLAMH ~ ; I N ( ;

An essay on the origin and valuc ofMuhammadan Tradition

J:Y TH ,.:REV. WILI.IAM GOLl>SACK

Author of The Our'"" il l IsMm, Chri. t 1Il Isld,,, ,MflJ:rlJlIJtnad ill IsM..., God il l ,. ldnl

THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY FOR INDIAMAORAS .'I.L"HAOAD CAI.CUTT/ \ kANr.OON COLOMl


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MADRAS

C O N T E N T ~

CJlAPTBRI THE ORIGIN OF TRADITION ...

PAGE

1PRIl'fTI!:O AT T I l ~ S,P .C .k . PRRSS, V&Pluty

1919I I THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF

TRADITION 211I I I THE COMPILATION AND SYSTF.MATISATION

OF THE TRADITIONS 51IV TRADITION AND THE IJIULE 63V TRAIHTION AND THIl ~ ) Il' AN 79VI THE TRADITIONS AND IlEASON 89


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PREi'ACETHE i m l i o r t a n c ~ of the tradi tions In Is);iOl can harolybe ovcr-e>;timal


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preface to his work the author describes it as written inreflllatioll of the enemies of the people of the t radi tionsalld a reconci liat io ll between the t radi tiol ls which theyacc:usc of contradiction and cliscrepancy ; an d an ans\\'erto th e d ( ) u h t ~ which they Co.'1st on ! 'Otnc of th e nhsr:urc orS t : ~ l 1 l inglr :lIn hif.; l inus t radi t i o l l ~ .

JC thlls carly 'ill thc history of [slam oppusition.to thetraditions had becOlllc'so IJrOllOllllced as to -::all forthrepl,\' of n ea rl y live -hundred pages, one i:-o less 5urpriscdto filld a modern scholar . l ike Syed Amir Ali, describingtilt' ~ t ( ) r i c s of those- same trarlitioJ1s as goluen.rlrcamsalld . bealltiful and gorgeous l e ~ e l l ( b .

Educated and thoughtful Mllslims to


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VIII I'ltEFACI;

. ,bo"k. instead of p lacing them in footnote, at the bottomof the page.Fo r the convenience of students ;:cncmlly, and 01educated :Vluslims in particular, a complcte list of theworks m:>de usc of in th e preparation of this volume ISgiven in an appendix. 'fhe "'Titer ha!", all through,. m a ~ i clarge uSt: of th e famous Mi ..hkat.. ' l - M a . ~ ( i b i " , W h l C ~ IS ,to-day perhaps, the most popular collection of tradItionsin Jndia. Gcnerally speaking, the qnotatlons from thatn.>nk "r c made from Matthew's translation.

W.G.JESSOHE, BENGAl.,

1911\

THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAMCHAPTEI< I

Ti lE OI (I I T"AIJlTlOI>.\CCOHDISG to Muryamnmoall W r l t c r ~ , there are four fouud.ations lIpon which the d()C(rlllcS (If l ~ h t m are based. Theseare the Qur'an, the t r a d i t i o n ~ , ijllu;'. or the unanimous conseutof ~ u s l i m theologians, and qiycis, or the analogical reasoningor the learned with regard to the te achi ng of the Qur'an andthe traditions. The first two foundations ar e called the roots,and the lat te r, as heing derived from and dependent uponthem, the branches. For all practical purposes, therefore,I sl am may he ""id to he fOllnded on the al leged revelar,iongiven hy God to Mul;tamlllad in the Qur 'an and the traditions.~ 1 u s l i m theolo!:ians, however, make a dIStinction h e t w e ~ n therevelation of the Qur'an and that of the traditions. By themthe former is said to be u ' a ~ " " mtltl,i, or I recited revelation',whilst the traditions are described as wai)i Jlhair matlu, or, unreci ted revelat ion '. In the first case, the Qur'an i ssaid to

,have been recited .to the prophet, generally by the angelGabriel, and by bim, in turn, repeated , word for word, to hi sfollowers. The traditions, on the other hand, are the reputed

,oral records of the sayings' and act ions of Mvl}ammad ashanded down hy his early followers, and ullimately committedto writing by later Muslims. Thus it is seen that the Qur'anis, accordin g to Mus lims, ' a pur ely objective revelation,whereas in the traditions, on the other hand, the inspiration issuhjective only. I t should he remarked here, however, that alltraditions do not deal with tbe sayings or doings of MuQammad.


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'nu:: T l { ' \ U l T l u N ~ IN iSLAMThere ar e not a few t radi tion s wh ich have for tl1eir subjectotnatter the sayings or d o i n ~ s of the I companions" or theimmediate 'successors' of MUf:\ammad. Thus a distinctionj!; made by ?vluslim theologians between a mariti' tradition, /0 " which has to dn with the prophet himself, and a '''''\Vl},;jtradition ......hich refers onJy to the sayings or doiuS> of hi!", compa.nions '. There is also it maqlu' t r a d i t i o ~ , which llues. .not go hack farther than the first generation after Mub:unmad,in other words, " hidl lteals with the sayings or c 1 o i n J : ~ 01 tilt''tdhi',iu" or 'followers of th e companions '.

The word usually e m p } o y ~ d hy Muslim writer s to d e n o t ~the traditions is !l


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4 l,e sa id, I have hea rd fr"m Abdu'rHahmim ,bn Ausajah that~ said, I have heard from Bani ibn' Azib that he said,I have heard that the prophet said, " Whoever shall give in

l charity a mi lch cow, or silver, or a lea thern bot tle of water,it shall be e(lual to the f reeing of a slave"' , ' The second is asfollows: 0 \Valid bill Muslilll s.1id thaI ,,\1 Awza; said to us from Qa liid a tha t he wrote to him to Inform him from Anas,the son of Malik, tha t he said 10 him, " I prayed behind theprophet and AbiJ Bakr and ' lJll1ar alld 'Cl!Jlllan, and theybegan (rel'eating Sura AI Falll ,la) with the words, Praise beto God the Lord of the worlds; and they did not repeal thewo rds, ' In the nalne 01 God the most merciful' either at thebeKinning of the recital or at the end of i t ." 'J

It would appear therefore, from what has been writtenabove, that MulJammad e n c o u r a ~ e d his followers to preservein t he ir memor ie s and hand down to their successors theteaching which he Ra,'c them from til11e to t ime. Bu t therewere other reasons for the practice. E \'cn among' the heathenArabs it was considered a virtue to fol low the SUIJIW orcustom of one's forefathers. J It is obvious, however, tha t theMusfims could no longer fol low the customs and usages o ftheir heathen ancestors, \Vhat could be more natural , there fore, than that they sbould adopl the -'111111" of their prophel

' . and make his divinelyg'uided life, ill all its details, theirmodel and pallern. This, as a mailer of fact, they did; andso h is every word and act became for thcm a divine rule

I of fai tb and practice. Such being the case, it is Dot difficultto understand the eagerness with which, after Mubammad'sdeath, his every word and action were recalled, Tbose whohad b ee n hi s most intimate companions were I lever t ired of

J Quoted in Hughes' Dicl ionary oj1sif im, p. (140 .2 Tuj;la/'u'n-nasar ila , , ~ , U .. l-athar. p. 339.:t E"cycloJ,,:cdia 0/ Isld",. vol. ii , p. 189,

5 11"0 l S L A ~ 1THE n,"t:l lTIONt least i nt ended t o convey the"b t the prophet a , ' h'suggests t a 'I d'ff rence bel ween 's ownh I '\ 0 essentta 1 Cidea that t er c \ \as, .; \Vhatever be the reason, .d I d ' of the Qur an, , ~ . . -words an t le wor . I t at f l r ~ l the tradilions, ' f ull a",1 clear t ,a , , , ,

the eVidence n.- . the precarious memones.1 . mission upondepended for t1e" troms I nded down orally fromd fo r 11lan',: years. laof men, an were, .one generation to t;le next. commentator of Al.llukbari, ~ l a t e sQas\alani, the amons ' . ~ , 1jJ)) ,\..,..,)I.jJ rJ'I Iy that " ' : : " - J . ) ~ ) ' l:Ir.--< l : I ~ J ' ,,'ery c car .. . , . h the campana-, ' ' ' , ' ~ ..... \ ne,t erY J . ) . > ~ J \W.> Y ' . ) ~ h J ' , mediate successors (of the( M I ad) nor t e lin , '1 I 'on s of u ~ ' U l l 1 1 1 < . . I ' tr;\Y divided by Mus lim theo og'lansA traditIon IS techlllcally , h'" J Ihe suppor t o rTh is first, 1 e IlSua I into two parts. ere, I" rests This consists of theh' h the tra, Itlon' , Iauthority on w IC . by whom the parttcu arsiol1 of rr.portersnames of the succes "1'1' ,'''ucid to be complete, 1l1u!"tI d d down 1 1 , ttradition was 1an c '.. I r50n who actually hear


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- - - be added, of . amplifying, his words .repeating, and, It must d to cheer and comfortThey loved too dwel l in ~ h e h P ~ : ; ; d : n a n d deeds of the wonder,each other with reCitals 0 t e _ _ arring t ribes of theful man who had united the Jarring, :bracing some of thed t 'nto one great nat ion, eArabian ese r I I d ed e are told that it was anfairest lands of the East. n de ,when meeting one another,f the Muhamma ans wearly custom 0 - (I d - 'h ) and for the other to relatef t sk for news ur If..!.! . Ior one 0 a . h t This custom IOcreasc(a So'l.yinR or anecdote .7f , : ~ : n P ~ O : e : e ~ a t i o n ~ r o s e which had nota s t ime went by, un tl , et f nthusiastic converts hungknown the prophet, t!lOltsan s 0 Muhammad's contem-h I, f the companions ,a s .ul,on t e l l ' s 0 11 d d drank in the s toriesf II . c'\lnc to be ea e an .porary 0 owe r s , d rod No detail was too triVial,o f how he spoke and "te an 1\ e , who looked withcommonplace for the men,no st ory too 1 h d been pri vileged to con,envy and pride upon t h O S ~ ~ s : : n t : his teaching, The desireverse with the prophet an _ d to almost idolatrous lengths,to imitate Muf:1ammad was carne he refused to do anythingso that a generation of men arose w h_ - h- h he had not. .1 to eat anYl 109 \V Iewhich he had not uone,or, f ed ThusI h h -t lawfulness was unques Ion ,_ _eaten, even a t oug I S \1 d' bin Hanbal would not eatit is related that the II\1am 'k.'ma that the prophet ate them,I s although he new _hwater me on , h th r he ate them with orO, Wit _because he could not lean; w be ke bit or cut them! Theout t he rind, or whether ) ~ ' ~ d ~ n a : v o m ~ n to spin by thesame man is said to have or I b 'aht which were.h . (Y in the streets y n1p\ ,l ight of lorc es 1 ~ ~ S S l D n h het had not mentionedft v because t e propnot her own prope . I d was not kuown to havewhether it was lawful to dOl_ s ~ a:"longing to another perronever availcd hunself or a 19 . . 1without asking that person's permiSSion.

:t,l LA.NE: .Mockrn U l ! . 1 ! , ' ~ $ . "01. i, p. 354. I Quoted in 'M,uir's L'f_ oj M a ~ l O m d . tetro. p. xxviii. _ZubdIJJu'I.8"kbd,I, p. Z J

Such men looked with superstitious reverence upon all whohad known the prophet; and they lis tened to s tories of him asof one endowed 0 with supernatural power and Surrounded witha halo of supernatural glory_ ' I s it possible, father 'AbdUlla;that thou hast been with Mul)ammad?' was the questionaddressed by a pious Mus lim to Hodzeifa in the mosque of 0_Cufa.__ Didst thou really see t h ~ " p ; o p h e t , and wert thou OnterlllS o( famil iar j u t c r c o u n ~ e with him?' C Son of my uncle,it is indeed as thou sayest '0 f ADd how wert thou wont tohehave towards the prophet" , ' -eri ly we used to labour hardto plO4.';e him.' 'Well, by the Lord', exclaimed the ardentIi.tener, I f I had but been a live in his time, I would not haveallowed him to put his blessed foot Upon the earth, but wouldhave borne him on my shoulde. . wl.eresocvrr he listed " J,

As the years passed by, and the founder of Isl am becamegradually farther removed from those who embraced the faith,so his portrait graduaJly came to assumc more and more ascmi-divine character, Fane)' ran riot , faith degenerated intosuperstitious credulity, and, a c t i l 1 ~ all as Shafi'i's maxim that,' In the exaltation of Mul_mmmad to exaggerate is lawful',traditions in lens of thousaod. hellan 10 be manufactured forthe glorification of the prophet. It would seem that Mul.lam-,mad himself astutely suspected the danger of such exa llge r-

t; ation, (or he is reported as warnil1l{ .his disciples in thesewords:~ 1 . ~ J l .......isl ~ 0:.1'.; .)OJI, ~ ~ 'Beware of imagina_tion, for imagination is the falscst tradition.'.The oral form in which these sO'calJed traditions Wereh.ancled down gave fuJI opportuni ty (or the l lIanufacture ofspurious traditions, and bcfure> the era o( written c ~ J l e c t i o n s

6 TilE T11' THADlTION 7


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of traditions a r r i v e ~ the his toric records of the prophet 's lifehau come to be a lmost obliterated by the mass of u tt er lyl e ~ e l l d a r y material which came i nto exi st ence , and w a repeated with ever-increasing eX


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\ h lhe.y sworn byI With their most solemn oat'\ aveS' \"n (miracle) come unto tb.em they willGod that if a ... ) the

bel,eve ,t, Say (0 Mul)ammad , SIgn, ar e m certainly h b onlyGod alone, and he teacheth yOU no t t ere y, ,1power 01 h ' r I nut hehcve .hecause when they w{'.fC wroug t } ( (l (. I 1 " " _ ..&ill " ; ; ~ i \ ~ l ' j . i ~ " ~ . i ; . I ' ; ; l ~ j!11,i \ }J ," ' ",: ;'C\ u"i -' ~ :i', .:u: 'j.)i tii ~ \ ..,..u.sn ~ ~ ' " UJ.... i'=.- r' ~ . '" , ".

- ~ . } 4d t him (rom his H U n l c s ~ a Si'-::ll be s en t own 0And, they say, '. f Cod alone and I am.. S' s are m the power 0 1 ,Lord- say, Ign , , h for them that we'k er Is It not enoug ,onl\' a plalOspo en warn ' 'd \ ' , . ThIS- h b uk to he recIte to t leOl ,ha\e sentdownW thee \ e. 0 I th t Syed Amir Ali, one. f th Qur'an IS so C ea r a ht e ~ t l 1 l l 0 n y 0 e . ' I dO, Muhammadanism as

I tt s chol ar s t ha t n 1an. , hof t le grea es , . h' L 'f" Mohall/"'''/ that, t eyed d ~ ~ l n IS " ,produc I says can _ . . 1'" Got! has not s en t meil!'-kc(l for t n i r a c 1 e ~ . Remark h'h!' rep} 't me to preach to you ..k ders He as sento' you to wor won . I f \ ' o n d e r ~ w o r k i n g , M o l ) a m ~Dic;c\aimlog e\'ery power 0 \ _ . 1 pon l,. h f h is d iv ine commiss Ion entlre 'i Umed rests lne trut 0his teachioRs: . ' 1 tc r chapter, to notice the

\ Ve shall h" ve, o c c a s ~ o n > h 1 ~ 1 : l s ~ m scholars of a bter ag ediA'ereot dasses mto \\ hi e I ' . :l class o[ tradition. . d' . Amongst t lese IS . .d "' ,d ed t he tr a .1I0ns, . ' ' l' hi s t erm is applted, h / d't l , ,lmu_taull1hr.\mown as t e .I " I_ I , be I d d down by _, d't'on wl\lch ha s en lall eto an ""Jo"bt... tra \ I 'r rather b"" chain of, . h . . of narrators, 0 .m ~ 1 \ Y dlstmct c a l n ~ ('1

l S u t a t u ' l . A n ~ ' J . " verse JOQ.i Suratu'}.Ankari'ut, vcrses"9 alld 50.

\1 I . ( ifr of ,UOIU1I1HIU!a, p. 4'),:I SYEO At. -UR , . " .

unanimous generations, anti which has , the re fo re , always.been accepted as genuine and authentic, Th e numher ofsuch t radi tions is acknowledged hy Mus lim scholars to heexceedingly small. Now it i a most sig1l1frc..1.ot fact thatuot a s ingle tradi tion re la ti uR to an a ll eged mirac le ofMul)ammad is found in this class,'

I f traditions were inven ted in order to glorify the prophetMul)atllmad. no less surely wer e t hey in ven te d in order toapologi,.e for th e many blemishes in his cha ract er , Judgedby normal standards, there ar e many thinlP in the life andcharacter of the founder of Islam which will not bear investi-gation, This is especially true of his dealings with women;and his later apologists hal'e nOI been slow 10 s et u p a specialstaooard in order to meel this olll'ious difficulty. Theseattempted excuses, a ft er t he e\'cllt, bear upon them t he markof barefaced forgery, and thenl'eh'es constitute the strongestindictment of the prophet 's character, Thus a late biographyof the prophet, the S { r a f u l J f ( ~ ( Q b ; Y J ' a , has a whole sectiondel'oted t o wha t i t ter ll ls the . special privileges of the prophetof God ', Wha t t he se a re like '"ay he Ilathered frolll tbefollowiug illustration:.u w\S i ~ oj ~ loil r J .illl ",I\ '>fr- ) , ..,l, ~ , o , ; r " ; ~ ' \ L '..sj bi l ; o,;r" J.;...lo! .:)1

"---.. _. -~ -.,...Jlj o.,? r J 411 j..D J r:i, L....s

.. ~ , j i . il;.. l . . j ~ ; \';1 ~ J \I>\..;; o,;r", ,,)..Qj W .d.J1-r ,. Alli u k .u .yJk, ",,\ l . , j ' - ' ~ ' !, When the prophet of God looged for any unattached.woman,

it was h i privilege logo in to her without the word II m a r r i a g ~ ".... __ . --,,_.- _. . ,.

I ". TilE T1tALJITIONS IN I ~ L A M11


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12

J MUIR', Ute 0/ M U ~ / o " , " ' , Intra. p. xxi.

borrowed from Chr js ti an s and o ther c "nquered races soonmade their influence felt. Social customs, religiouS' move,ments, and political relationships with other peoples all calledfo r ICf{islati\'e action; and lIew and unforeseen circumstanccswere constantly arisi Jl '" for which th e Qur'an made noprOV'SIOn. Th e Arabs, a simple and unsophisticated race,found in t he Coran ample provision for the re!lulation of the ira f l a j r ~ , rcJigiou!'o, social, alJd polilic.:al. H il l th e aspect ofIshtJt1 soon underwent a l Ili gh ty chanRe. Scarcely was theprophet bur ie d, when his fol lowe rs i ssu ed fo rt h fr om theirharren peninsuJa resoJveu to impose the faith of Islam UpOIlall the nat ions of the earth. \Vithin a century they had, asa first step, conquered e\ 'cry lund tha t intervenes 'frol11 t h hanks of t he Oxus to the farthesl shores of Northern Africa,and enrol led the I{real majority of t he ir peoples under thestandard of the Coran. This vast empire differed Widely fromthe Arabia o f Mahomef s t ll ne ; and that which suffoced forthe pa tr ia rc hal s impl ic it y of t he early Ar abs was foundaltogether inadequate for the mult ip ly ing wants of Iheir descendants. Crowded cities, hke Cufa, Cairo, and Damascus,r equi red e labo ra te l aws for the guidance of Iheir courts ofjuslice; widening political relations demanded a system ofinternational equily; the specu la tions of a people before

\.whol1l literature was t b r o w i n ~ 0Pf'!O her Hrena, and the contra\'ersies of eager factions 011 n ic e point s of doctrine, wereimpatient of th e narrow limits which confined them; all called

~ I o u d l y for the enlargement of the' scanty and naked dogmasof t he revelation, and for the development of its rudimentalcode of elhics.' '. Such was the problem. It was solved byrecourse to the tradition.! '. \Vhere these did not exist, theywere created, and henceforth all recitals regarding t he li fe of

IN ISLAMTill ' : TRADITIONSt or witnesses, asIllaniagea.gen. ",ft" or without any., b bint Jahsh, a s has beenor 10 e of , ...a.ma . fhappened 10 hi'" in the cas t .\"d if he l onge d or any

'd before and without her consen . bent upon her husband~ a I 1 became ll1CUlnmarried woman, then) . 1to


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15

.J " ;

TI lE T R A \ ) 1 n U N ~ IN ISLAMthe prophet acquired a new and unlooked;for value . Hencefor th h is say inRs and pract ice were to supplement the \Jur'an,and provi de a magic key to open every lock. Thus was n'etthe uellland for a fuUer leg-at code and a more c 0 1 l 1 p r e h e l l ~ i \ ' c ~ ,social legislation. Judgments proCessing to proceeu fromi\1ul.1ammad, or to be founded on principles enunciated byhim, were ..:r'Ldually framed and promulgated , 'mt il h is '"reputed utterances became invested with the force of 1.\\,.' C\!'welt as the authori ty of inspira tion . Thus by the aid ofanalog)' and fictitious trauitions an exhaustive treasury ofprecedents was established for every possihle contingency.

1n any estimate of the cause' leading up to the origin ofthe t ra di tion s the po li ti cal f actor mus t be g iven a p rominentplace, For twentyfive years a fter the death of Mul:JalllmadIslam remained, under the KhaHfas Abu Hakr, Umar, and'Ulhman, an undivided empire. \Vi th the assassination ofthe l at te r, however , t he political Unity of Islam was ren tin sunde r, and civil war deluged the kingdom in Muslimblood. With the dea th o f 'Al i four and a half yearSlaler,lheUlllayyad d)'nasty was lirmly established at Damascus, andthenceforth, until the 'Abbasides came IOtO power in I T:l'l ahundred years later, history records a succession of rehellions,murders, and civi l wars in which the rival partiesfreelyanathematised each other, and just as f reely based their'mutual denunciations upon the alleged authority of theprophet. It is scarcely surprising, under such cond,tions, tofind tradition being called' in to the help of the various parties.,A striking illustration of this is mentioned by Gairdner in his. ' \ I o ~ J ( l t n m e d a n Traditioll (wei G o ~ J > c l Record. He writes asfollows: 'Arabia beinf( very anti,Ulllayyad, while Jerusalemwas a chief centre of their power, the Umayyad Sultan.sought to encourage the idea that a pilgrimage to Jerusalel1lwas as meritorious, or even more meritorious, than one to the

Ti lE U)()t;IN UF 1 !(AlJITJON!)arareain (i.e. Mecca and 111 d'duced in which Mecca M d' e Ina!. And a !zad.it1l was pro-b ' e Ina and J I 'as t e tbree places of pilK' ' e rusa em were mentioned appendix' .. A d Image, WIth tbe fol low;n" s ta rt )

. n one prayer in J a Ins:,"thousand pm)'e ' ' erusalem is vetter thU rs 10 other plAces" \ . an amayyad Sultans led the Frid . I gain, when the prOlld"whereby the leader cieliverc I ay prayers, the old CustOll lthe pr be ( lhe address stand'ayer, came d i ~ t a s t e f u l f lng, and afterMoslem historian!" (reely 'I' or obvIOUS reasons. Theb d ,\( nUt lhat th Uan tbe alteration of the c mayyads took in-a ('atUtlJ-was to I "custom. Tbeunfailing remeel l '. . . JalJu. and thi . .PiOUS official tl1cofunian /' ".' b' H lime It was another' t h n " a l a In a hIn 0 t e service' and a I d 'l Jwa, w 0 was i m p r e s ~ dtbat 'Ullimilll h ~ I J' ,,1 ItlJ was produced wbicb stated( (e IVCret the ~ .1 faddresses) s ilting.' I . conu 0 . t1e two kIm/has

On the other hand, we lind 'A ,.- ...:.-. Co "tb . prophet , p roducin .. t d" Yesha, the favouri te Wife ofch a fa Ilions In ord t blaraeter of the Uma y d er 0 ac ken th eTh h y a s a s a r a c e o f p r / l 'us s e is reported to hOlgate usurpers!words: . ave addressed Merwan in these~ J . ..1 ,._. ' } ' l ! ; - J .dJ! ..;., .dJ\ Jr- ~ - . . . -oII,J..J1 i JI f I 'j\ 'r.-,..r do vot..JI ,.s,iJi ,.s I ~ . . )

, - I:J j . r < J l ~I heard the apost le of God ' -. fatbe r, i.e. to 'AI. 'As0." II 'a y to thy father a.nd ~ r a n d .( um maYya th t ht ree mentioned) in tl, Q ., '. a t ey were the accursede ur an.' 4 h . .same nature runs as (allows; . not er tradi tion of ther J AllI J... .dJ1 J,..,) US ' '

I GAl . ' ,.-h.. l:ft ,.;&ON EK : Jlolra",m,dan Trad; .I As S;,-a,u'l.f{aiably I ' 'lOIS and Gospt.l Record p 10. 'YO, vo . 'I , p. 346. ...",:..


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THE T K A D I T I O ~ S IN ISLAM TH E ORtGIN OF TRADITION 17

' I t is related from Jabir(bin)Mat'am that we were with the.apost le of God when f.Iak(;;, bin A I - ' A ~ passetl by. Thent he apostle of God said. \Voe to my followers who are in theJoins of this (man).' I Still another t radi tion, obvious ly the

C ) l l ~ p r i l l g or polilicO\1 factioll, r U I 1 ~ a ~ f o l l o w ~ :u Lc illl J,-..) -=-"" . Ju " , ~ I .14- d ",,1r- d

- -=..o'r -=..oi; k ..l ~ J>.; J i r J ~ I illl [t IS related frolll l .farnrull hin J.ihir al.Ja'fi that be sa,d,heard the apost le of God say three times, .. Woe to the Balli

LJmayya" 't 'In the same way, tradit ions were put into tbe mouth of

Mul.\ammad which tended to almost deify 'Ali, the prophet 'sson in-Jaw, and to secure for his descendants the exclusiver ight to the Kbalifate.The manufacture of spurious traditions, however, was by

110 means confined to' political parties. The great theologicaltlebates, which, after t he death of the prophet, shook I sl amto i ts fOl lndations, were prolitic in the production of false.traditions. Each party sUPllOrted its own particular dogmahy pretended utterances of the prophet, and Mu'tazilahs,Shiahs, Kl!lirijites and a host of other sects freely used-dienani"e"- of the prophet to gain acceptance for their variousshibboleths. Thus, for example, we are told in the introdl lction to the celebrated M j s " k ( i l u ' I M " . ~ c i b i i . that the Kharajiteswere not to be t rusted in their use and quotation of tradition;

- ~ . b . . . : , ) l . i . ! ~ 1'>1(legal) opinion, we make it into a

Tradihon

we put it into circul::lti.on as a

and the reader is warned against accepting'such traditions asthey bring forward, for, the writer continues:

I If we want anything,tratlition.'

Another version is :

.. u ~ " " JjJl ~ . c; 4 ~ . l o ....JI ~


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18 THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAMAn inslructive illustration 01 this is to be found in theMishkat where the re is a wel l- at tes ted t rad it ion from Wailbin H ujr to the effect that:~ \.i\ r ~ .ill\ .jA .illl Jr-; , , ; ; . . ~ l J

- I . ~ ) ~ . l . ! ~ . , . , . ; ~ \.i\ , ~ . l . ! I.i=;, 1 saw the prophet when he bowed down, he placed his"

two knee s helore hi s hands (i.e. he kne lt first before p lac ingbis two hands to the ground). And when he rose up fromprostration he raised his hands be fo re hi s knees .' On theother hand, there is another tradition, equally wellattested,thatl,)\ rl-, .ill!.jA .ill1 J,.....; Jli (il-I' f.' ) JU- 10M; c . w . ~ . l . ! ~ , r ' ..:JftW ..:Jft L ~ o b - \ ~

, Abu Hurairah said, the apos tl e of God said, When anyone of you prostrates h imse ll , t ben le t him not s it down as acamel sits down, but let him place his hands belore hisk lees (i.e. he should place hi s hands on the ground in IrOlitof him). ' I The result 01 these contradic tory tradi tions isthaI Abu l;Ianifa, Shafi 'i and Al,mad bin l;Ianbal follow thetradition of Wail, and kneel belore touching the ground wilhtheir hands, whereas Malik and Awz'u adherp. to the traditio\!of Abu Hurairah and put their hands on the ground beloretheir knees.

It is interesting to note here that the author of thl(.H j,ltIyal., a work in l our \"olumes, written in reply to theIZlurrl"I-Haq: has g iven a list o f over ninety contradictorytraditions relating to various religious duties 01 Islam.'

ThE OklGI N OF TUAI:ITJON 19Another set of traditions. withat. . .obVIously the products of I heolog,ca! bias, which are. a ater age ar th . .sects, wJuch came jot lease In winch- ..... 0 eXistence after the d Imad, are represented as be' . eat, of Mubam-lIlg mentIoned b h'example, there is a tradition f' d y ',:,. Thus, foreffect that he said Olste on to' Ibn Abhas to lhe,..

. -i...l l i i .,-... -rJl < . : , . - ~ j L ) \ . j l...,..J

, The apost le of God


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20 TilE TRADITIONS 11\ ISLAM THE OI'li r el at es a slory, with, of c ourse , its long chain oJnarrators,. as to certain MusJims who were sitting wi thMul)ammad, when one of them, Jabir bin 'Abdallaq by name,asked a question as to wbat ",vas th e first t hi ng God created.In reply Mul;lammad is represented as saying that .' The firstthing God created was my light'; and, then fol lows , anextraordinary story of how this l ight wandered for a thousand'years , ' one day of which equal led a thousand years on earth :,engaged in the praises of God ! I

The subject of Mul: tammadan attempts to eclipse, theGospel records by similar or greater stories concerningM u ~ a m m a d has been absolutely exhausted by S. W. Koelle

,i n the second part of his Mo!la",,,,ad atld Moilammad


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22 THE TRAUITIOI>S IN ISI,AM THE ORIGIN OF TRADITIONMuhammad's fingers or, a t his bidding, w ~ l I s up from parchedfountains. Trees and stones salute him by the .way, orco-operate to shade him from the- midday sun . A woodenpillar weep' hecaus e he desis ts from leaning agains t i t maniac!' are cured at his word; the hunger of crowd!' of menis So.'\tished u ~ i:\ single cake; and the record of Christ'stransfiguration and converse with messengers from the other,world is eclipsed by the s tory of Mul.1ammad's journey i nperson to the very s.anctuary of heaven, where he holdsfall1iliar intercourse with th e D e i ty h i ms e lf !

One more palpable reason for the widespread manufactureof t rad it ions mus t be refer red to before we pass on to discussthe I'alue and authenticity of tradition generally. We alludeto the need, which early arose, for tbe elucidation of o ~ c u r etexts of the Qur'an, and for added l ight on cer ta in detai ls ofthe p rophet 's life which are only hrief ly al luded to in thatbook. Ever>' r eade r 01 the Qur'an, for example, will ha"enoticed that not a few specia.l revelat ions are said to havebeen sen t down' in connexion with the personal affairs ofMuhammad. Many of these 'revelations', however, ar ebrie'f and enigmatical, and leave the reader sadly puzzled asto the real meaning of the text. To elucidate such passages*a s the work of the commentators, who free ly filled up theblanks aDd straightened out the tangles by recourse to t radi- ..lions. When these were not forthcoming, they were promptlysupplied. This is freely admitted by liberal Muslims. ThusSyed Amir Ali writing o f t he Mf!:3j, the famous night journey.of Muballuuad to heaven, says': I This' period is also remark-able for that notaule vision of the aseension, which hasfurnished w o r l d ~ of golden dreams for the i m a g i n ~ t i Y egenius of poets and traditionists. They have woven beautifuland gorgeous legends round the simple words of the Qur'lIn: r

I 5VEO A"IIK A L I ; Life 0 / M O ~ 1 ( 7 f t 1 m ~ d . p. jB.

It is, indeed, to t he commen tator s that we are indebted formany of the fabulous details of tbe prophet's life; and theseare found in such prnfusion within the commentaries of theQUr'aD tha t one of the greatest of Western students of lsi,,";has expressed the opiuion that it would be easier to compile alife of Mul)ammad without the standard biographies thanwithout the commentaries. . 1

It may not be out of place to ~ u o t e here, by way of illustration, one or two passages of the Qur'an, and to note thehuge superstructure which tradition has erected thereon. Thef a m o U ! ~ passage said to refer to Mul)ammad's miraculousjourney to heaven is fOUDd at the beginning of the seventeenthcbapter of the Qur'an. It ru ns thus, G lory be to Him w h carried his servant by nil(ht from the sacred temple to t h temple that is more remote, whose preciDcts we bave blessed.that we miffht show him of our signs '. All c o m m e n t ~ t o r s ofthe Qur'an agree that the sacred temple' refers to thetemple of Mecca, and that the temple which is I more remote;indicates a supposedly existent temple at Jerusalem. S}'edAmir Ali and o ther intel ligent Muslims regard this e ,'en l'as no more than a vision of the n ight vouchsafed to M U b a m ~mad; bu t in no subject have the commentators given a w i d e ~rein to an exuberant fancy than in their expositions of t h i ~passage. According to them, Mul)ammad was not onlyt ranspo rt ed bodily from Mecca to Jerusal em in one nigh t onthe back of a mythical steed b etween a mule and an a " ';but to the very sanctuary of heaven i tself , where, aftef'eceiving the regular Muslim greeting, said", lllaikum, fromhe angels, he found himself in the awful presence of his\faker. In the commentaries and books of tradition thevhole story is dressed up in most fan ta st ic det ai l, ando1ubammad is represented as conversing, not only with GodIfmself, but with \' ar ious p rophet s who had preceded him.


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24 TH E TRAUITlONS 1N ISLAM THE OHIGIN OF TllADITION 25The nature of these conversations may be judged from thefollowiog quotation from the M ishkcit :-

1.S"'r' 1';'" J\i I.S"''''' l.)u , : ...l .. WiWi ~ ~ ~ t)4 ~ ) - 4 JL; r' "j ,Ik 0.::. c\~ . . Sui . iL; ,S " L. .tl t..4i c....,. ",-,')',,6-l:Y' v 0- - u-- : , .

- . j - I I:f" 4l>.I.! "'.......; S 1 I " '" ~ J J>..I.! '-i Theo he opened ( the doo r of the s ix th heaven) , aod wheo I entered, behold Moses! (Gabriel) said, This is Moses, there

fore salut e h im , so 1 salut ed him, and he returned the salut e,and said, Welcome good brother and good prophet. And asI passed hy, he wepl. And il was said to him, What makesyou weep? He replied, I weep because a boy (i.e. Mul)ammad) has been sen t arter ine of whose fol lowers more willenter heaven than of Illine.' 1The account of the so-called splitting of the moon, aszelated in the Qur'an, furnishes another f ru it fu l topic for thecommentators. Here, again , the origina l passage is far fromclear. It r un s t hus , The hour hath a pp roac he d, and t hemoon hath heen cleft'. The saner exege te s of the Qur'anrefer this spl it ting of the moon to a date still in the future,viz. to the day of resurrection. of which it i s said to be oneof the signs. Such moderation, however, failed to satisfy thecraving for the fabulous; and an ignorant and unscrupulousbody of commentators soon arose who have related in circumstantial detail, aod wilh incredible extravagance, a s to ry ofMul)ammad answering the Arab demand for a miracle byspliUinK the moon in twain, so that. one. half was seen on.one side of the mountain, and the o ther hal f on t he o th er

1 M i $ h A d t u ' I - M a ~ d 6 ' ' ' , Bdbu'l-Mi',.dj.

side '.J The l i l 1 1 i t ~ however, is surely reached in the followingfrom the Si,"atu'".Nab,.",lyyu : . -. ~ ~ r ' .Ill1 .,,:W1 ' - , - - , , ~ .j ~ ~ ",1_LC..S I:f"

Verily the mooo entered the prophet 's pocke t, and camea' out at his sleeve t! ' An-Nawawi, the famous commentator of

MusHrn, mentions a tradition in which this s tory is told wi th-he following variations: Two men were a rgui ng about t hesplitting of the moon,Lc..S .j L..J..l.> I .,;..1>" .,r.:uj I L..J..l.>I Jlii

- ;-)\ "' " ~ j ' - ,And one of them as ser le d that it s plit into two portions,

ooe of wh ich entered by one of his Ithe apostle's) sleeves, andcame out by the other sleeve.' Liltle wonder that iotelligentMuslims feel bound, for very shame, 10 repudiate suchtravesties of inspiration.

Amongst the many passages of the Qur'an which haveRiven trouble to honest commentators is the following:-

' 1 ' ( , (, I .. C ., ~ , _ . ~ . c . , ( . # _ _ .. # III~ I O J I ~ .J:"!. o " S ~ ' ". -- ),..ul ..,JI

, He iL i s who prays for you, and his angel s too, to bringyou forth out of darkness into the light.'J Some comment"'torses


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26 THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM THE Oll IC IN OF TRADITION 27that construction; but other M u ~ a O l m a d a n s , i,!'pressed bythe fact that the ordinary word for ' pray' is here used , havecOllsidered it necessary to find;:l tradition to prove that Goddoes indeed pray. This is found in the Siralu'I'l:falabiyyain the account of the Mi'r;ij or miraculous night-journey toheaven. Mul.lammad i there represented as relating hise x p c r i e n c e ~ in hea\'en ami ~ \ y i n g ....j,; ..,J Jw;" '"'" :tal ..,s,)\.it 4,)\1.. - . .. w

- cl!)


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CHAPTER I ITIlE AUTHENTICITY A ~ INTEGRITY OF T R A D l T l O ~

]N the previous chapter we have noted the r ise of tradition,and have rererred to some of the principal causes wbichoperated to give the alleged . ay in gs o f Mubammad anauthority and prestige practiOllly equal to that enjoyed by theQur'an itself. \Ve have also shown that Mublmmad, whilstapparently disapproving of the pract ice of committing hiswords to writing, did undoubtedly encourage their oraltrallsmission. I f the traditions we have already quoted areto be accepted as genuine, be also fostered the belief that hiswords were t o be accepted as having something more tban tMmere weight of his own personal authority. But it would bemanifes tly unwise to attach too much weight to those state-ments. Mul.lammad himself unquestionably conceded therelati"e inferiority o f t he ~ a d i t " in these words:

- ..,...is C .elJl j is, o


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!;Jarvest ; and when his perplexed and disconcerted followersinformed him of the resull. he is reported to have said,

1 Mishlttitu'l-Ma;"dllin, f(ittibu\.. ~ ~ " ' d t .t Diction",., o/lsMu" p. 640. .:.-:---

THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF TRADITDN 31 Verily 1 am only a man like you. 1 forget as you do.Therefore when I forget, do ye remind me.' I

Even if it could he shown tha t Mul)ammad did intend that. ' his foJ/owers should make his life, in all its details theirexampJe and precept, yet t h evidence (or the a u t h e n t j ~ i t y ofthe multi tude of t radi tions which have come down to us is so

, weak that we cannot know with certainty that anyone of themtruly represents what the prophet said or did. We referredon page J0 to the class of (ltIdit..h known as mutawert;"i.e. an u ~ d o u b t e d t radi tion which has been handed down bymany distinct chains of reporters, and which , as a resul t, hasalways been accepted as authentic. The fact that Muslimtheologians only regard five, out of all the thousands oftraditions, as belonging to this cl ass , ' is in i tsel f sufficientevidence of the doubts attaching to the remainder.

There is o n f amous d ictum of the p rophet , hinted at inthe previous chapter , which automatical ly gives the lie to avery large proportion of the traditions now current. Werefer to his cha llenge that elery alleged tradition be broughtto the tribunal of t he Qur'iln. Wh"t agrees therewith, hetells us, is true; whilst all that disagrees with it, is false: bythe Qur'an must the t radi tions stand or fall. Hi s words areas follows,

~ . I ~ . . , ~ o l o : > - \ : I" r=u l \....; ~ . ) ~ l ~ olil";;Iy. r '., iiJJ Lit; .uJ1 y\: iS ~ I l I,f.ic', .illI y\: iS

- .dil r1i .illl y\: iS Verily traditions will be circulated concerninlf me ; thereforewhateyer of my traditions comes to you, read th e word ofGod (the Qur'an) and consider it carefully. Fo r whatever

THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM0

I I am only a man. When, therefore, I command youanything concerning your rel ig ion, then accept it ; but when.1 command you a n y t h i l 1 ~ as a matter of my own opinionthen, verily, I am only a man,' 1

The quest ion before us, then, is twofold. First, to whatextent did Mul.mml11ad intend his words and actions to bebinding upon his followers, as of Divine authority, and as astandard for the ir imi tat ion, and, secondly, how far can thepresent mass of tradition, as found in the standard collections,be regarded as faithful records of what the prophet said anddid. V.ie think the two t r a d i t i o n ~ quoted ahove wilt serve toindicate to some ~ x t e n t the trend of the prophet's intentions.He certainly never intended to pose as one whose every actwas performed under Divine guidance. The following story.handed down hy I hn Mas\id, conclusively shows that theprophet regarded himself simply as a man, subject t o all t hefrailties of human nature. It is as follows: On a cer tai noccasion Mul)ammad performed the midday prayer in fiveraq'cits (or ser ie s o f prost ra tions ). There fore it was saidto him, Have the prost ra tions been increased (from four tofive)? He said, What do yoo mean? They replied. Youmade ( lve ser ies of prostrations. Then, after the sahi.m, hemade two prostrations, and said,


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32 THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM THE AUTHI!Wf/CIT\' AND INTEGRITY 01 ' TRADITION 33agrees with the word of God, I have said it ; and whatdoes not agree with the word of God, I have nol said it.' I

In another tradition. mentioned in the same place.Mu/:Iammad is reported as saying,' Compare my tradition withthe word of God: if it a,::rees therewith it i s from me. andI ha"e said it. '. Ibn Majah p re serve sa cu rious u lt erance o f the prophet.to the effecL that he said,

_ ,U),j lil; ",_> J,; 1 ; ) ' J,!-i \.., li I } ~ Read Ihe Qur' an . Wha te ve r good sayinl: ha s been said,I have said it', t which his commentator, AI Hadi, explainsto mean,_ l.!.i.s ",,' ~ ~ J , . . " J I I.i..l. J ,I I . .. ..;" j . . ; . . Ijlj T}I

I Read Ihe Qur'an ill order that you may know by it the t ru thof this tradition from its falsehood.'

I t would almost seem that f alse t radi ti ons began to beci rculat ed even in the prophet's l ifetime. At any rate, heis repea tedly reported to have warned his fol lowers againstlaler fabricators of t radi tion . Many such warnings have beenhanded down. Muslim ha!'o preserved several, from which wecull one or Iwo by way of i llustrat ion.Jli il r-' ..-k .JJI ..r .JJI J,-.; d i,r-;- ~ d~ l,.oQ ...j. ,.Jl.. ~ , ; ~ ~ Vow I .;...' jo-I .J " " ) c . . . . , ~ . _,...4.1, r-S4.'.i r-S,4n) 0 I t is related from Abu Hurairah from the apost le of God

that he 'said, There will be amongsl my laler followers men1 Mantakhab.Kall&..'/ 'A,, .dl (on margin of Ma$ncul), vo l. i. p. 101.t Iba Mijah, vol. i. p. 7.

who wil l relate to you what neither you nor your fathors haveheard. Therefore beware of Ihem.' J Another saying ofthe prophet is to the effect that,

. ~ . ) \ . ~ I ..r rG,,1J.. ""y.I.iS "",Jl.,...) ""L.)IJ'-I . j " " - ~ y i i . ! ~ ' I " ' ( ; , 4 ~ 4 . " r/'-!.\; ~ , T~ " ; ' ; I ' ~ rl, There will be in later times decei"ers and li ars , who willbring you tradi tions which nei ther you nor your fathers havehe.'\rd. Therefore beware of them, tha t they do not lead youastray nor seduce you:In the Al Jami'' ' ' '$.$a/lhir it is h int ed thaI the number ofsuch false t radi tions will not be small. Thus we read that

the prophet said,- . . . , ~ ~ ~ jJ6, I"'SLtl

Beware of many traditions (related as) from me." I t .waseven' felt nece ssary by Mu/:Iammad to condemn those whowould knowingly repea t false traditions; and so he isreported as saying, I Whoever, seeing a tradition concerningme to befalse, yet r el at es it, he is one of the liars.'.'The prophet's fears were well.founded; for there is incon:

trovertible proof that he was scarcely in his grave beforespurious traditions in their thousands began to be circulated.'I n other words, the manufac ture of fa lse t radi tions was notconfined to men of later generations. On the contrary, thevery I companions' of Mul}ammad himself are proven to have1>een utter ly unscrupulous in the ir behaviour in this respect .Even men who were esteemed I piolls . by their generation,on the principle, apparently, that the end justified the means,

1 ~ 4 ~ l i ~ Muslim, yol. i, p. 6.'AIJd" ' i .. - I - ~ a t 1 J l r . vol. i. p. 101.31bn Mtjah, yol. i; p. 10.

3


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TilE TRAl>lTIONS IN ISL}.Mwere as ready to falsify as those of less upr ight cba racter .Thus Muslim has preserved a tradition to the effect that,~ d .,),-" ";;.J.- Ju yu.: ..1-1d- ",l:.J.-

..j ~ l . a l l ; r Jli I..ti1 .,)c .,)\hAJ1 d- ~ " . . J- - _ ~ ~ J 1 . . j y.i.S1

Muhammad bin Abi lAtah informed me that cAffan informedme from Mul.lammad bin Yal)ya bin Sa'idu'!.Qa\\an fromhis father, that he said, I have not seen the pious g iven tofalsification in anything more than in the traditions. ' 1 Someof these' pious' fabricators are mentioned by Muslim. Onewas named' Ab:id bin Kathl r. I t wa s said of him that, whenhe repeated the traditions, he brought forward weightymatters; hut, the narrator continues,. j \ , ; ; . . ~ I .It,.c 4,/.J .f=>.j ~ . . j c..::....AS 1'>1

- .tic ',.i.>u ) J,i', ~ . , \Vhen I was in the assembly, 'Abbad was mentioned therein.Then I praised him concerning his religion, but I said, Donot accept ( traditions) from him.' 'Another 'pious t fabricato r of t radi tions wa s one Zayad

bin 'Abdullah. Tbe tradition concerning him runs thus,- " : A ~ ~ l ..j y ..r .ilil J , ; ) ~ j

, Zayad bin'Abdullah, in spite of his honourable reputation,lies in traditions.' J

1 $ 4 ~ d ~ l MU6lim. vol. i, p. 8.t Ibid.3 At Tirmidhf. \'01. i, p. 203. (Quo ted in Gairdou's MohammedanTrtulilio.. atUl.Go.pel Record. p. 12.)

THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGI{lTY OF TRADITION 3SI bn 'Abbas was a 'companion' of the prophet. The

foHowing t radi tion shows , how, even in his lifetime, thepractice of forging traditions had spread. I t is quoted byMuslim, and runs thus: ' It is r elated from Mujahid t ha t hesaid, Bashlr Al 'Ad; came to Ibn 'Abbas and began. relatingt' ; him a tradition, and said, . . The apostle of God said . . : ' .But Ibn 'Abbas neither listened to the tradition nor lookedtowards him (the speaker). Therefore he said, 0 Ibn 'Abbas ,what have I done that I do not see you listenin!: to mytradition which I am relat ing f rom the apost le of God 1 Ibn'Abbas replied, We, once upon a time, when we heard anyman say , .. The apost le of God said" so and so, used to lookupon him wi th our eyes and list en to h im with our ears, butnow, when men are no longer distinguishing truth from falsehood, we accept from men nothing which we do not know(to be true): I Muslim quotes other traditions to the sameeffect; and Ibn Maiah (vol. i, p. 8) a lso records the samewith slight..variations. .

Abu Bakr, the successor of Mul)ammad in tbe Kha li fa te ,and one of his most t rusted companions, also bears .... u n ' : ' ~ .equivocal testimony to the prevalence of false and contradictory traditions. Tbus we read in a tradition from MurasHbin Abi Malikat that, .

' . , ) ; ~ r=u l JLu iI.;, v W1 J!.l.4l1.,)1VOW, 4ci . , ) ~ ~ . l 6 . 1 r ' .ilil All Jr; ..,;:f='JL .ili\ J,...; d I , ; ~ 1; l;J:b.1 .>.:.1 , . . = ~_ . & . . ~ 1,..;'"' , .Jb. l ~ \ ' ; .ilil yUS ~ UJ.H 1,J"u.' Veril), A Siddiq (i.e. Abu Bakr) gathe red the people together after the death of their prophet, and said, Ver ily you

I ~ a ~ i ' ; Muslim, ~ o l . i, p . 7.


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r) l!,ok .dJl ..,.,I.e .dJI JrW) d ~ ..:.J. .........I .,II""SJ, oIi};1 ,.i l...l . J .,/1; , .,/1; ~ L..s

- }.ill . , r ' 1 iA:ol,j ~ ...,.,.i.s .,;'" J,.


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38 TH E TRADITIONS IN ISLAM THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF TRADITION 39to know 70,000 t ra dit io ns! Little wonder that we read ofhim that

- u-Ul1 6 i , ~ . l . : > - . j U -Ul1 & ~ , The people suspected his lradilions, and some of the peopleleft him. ' 1 Many other fabricators of tradition are named byMuslim, but l imits of space prevent a ful ler treatment hereOne noted forger, however , must be mentioned. He wasIbn Abi Awja. This man was executed in A.H. 155, afterhavi ng confessed t hat he himself had put int o circulationno less than 4,000 false traditions! 2The almost incredible extent to which the for gery oftraditions was carried on can best be understood by the

statement already onade, that BuklJari col lected 600,000traditions, but only retained as t rustworthy 7,275. Similar lyMuslim is said to have retained. after delet ing repetit ions.only some 4,000 out of the 300,000 which he had col lected.'\Vhilst AzZaraqani, the learned comonentator of the Muwallaof Ibn Mal ik , says that,ir U,rl' l , ~ . l . : > - . . . .ll m.. o.,$'J ciA.. .,)1;\;)4 l . l . ~ , i i -J l ; y\ i .Sl l ~ ~ - " ' " Jy. r ,...;)T

- i ll .- .o> un ' - = - ~ j ...;- ;40--)1 ,Verily Malik related 100,000 traditions, from' which he coonpiled the Muwalla: containing 10,000. These he continuedto compare with the Book and the Su""a, and to test them'by t radi tions and his tories unt il they were reduced to 500.'

I $ , , ~ , / ~ . M,lSliUl. p. 10.t MACDQ:"ALl> : Muslim Theology, p. 80.3 AL N A W A W I , . ~ h a r . a ~ { ) a ~ l i ~ 1 Maulim. 'Vol. i. p. l8 . Az Zaraqani on margin of t b MuwaHa. yol. i. ,po 8:

Some Muslims evid ent ly tried to steer a middle cour sebetween tbose who abs ta ined a ltogethe r from the rec it al oftraditions from fear of inadvertent falsification and those who. freely forged to sui t the ir own purposes. Thus it is relatedthat certain men said,

, , . ~ I , J ~ oj r ~ i l l ..}c .illl In d ~ ' 1.> Ii l l J,,-j d ~ ' 1'>1, L.-)I ..j \ ; . > ~ j ! .SI , J - l l ,- .J.,!.il..)I ..j LU",W J\....d I JJU; oj r ~ .dJl ..r

I f we had related to us as coming from the apost le of Godtraditions dealing with things allowable or prohibited, or theplactice or decisions (of the prophet) then we would be strictabout the iSlldds; but if we had related to.us as coming fromtho prophet of God traditions dealing with virtuous actions,th'en we woula be lax about the isncids!' 1 These goodpeople apparenty felt some compunction about altering canonlaw, whilst b av ing no sc rup les with r eg ard to such triflingmatters as virtuous actions' ! !The most notorious fabricator of tradition, who;e l1a1l1e has

come down to us, wa.c; a I companion' of the prophet, Kenerallyknown by hi s nickname Abu Hurairah. It is rel at ed of h imthat,

~ r-' ilil uk 'ilil J,.--j -.,...."" .. ;;/-:/' 4\ .,)1- iL.. ."..,"',; 1.l.A! , Lie ~ ' J J 1 } S ' , ..:"J.j ."..'Verily Abu Hurairah companied the prophet ror about three

Iyears. And he multipl ied traditions concerning him; andlived after him for a period or about fifty years." \Ve Riveth e " text of th is traditio n, b ec au se of its gr eat imporlance.1 Q u o ~ ~ ! O Gairdoer.'a Muhammecilln Tradition and Gospel R c c o r ~ ~p.20.

I Tawil MullbJalilu'I-J:laait1J, p."1i


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40 THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF TRADITION 4 1I t states very clearly tbat tbis man only lived with Mul}ammadfor a period of tbree years. In otber words Abu Hurairab,as we know from other sources , was only cODverted to Ishirntbree years before tbe propbet's deatb. Vet tbe most extra ordinary stories have come clown to us of th is man, whichshow conclusively tbat be was, witbout doubt , the mostunscrupulous forger of traditions wbicb Islam has ever pro- ,duced. And yet, despite tbis fact, t be g re at collections oft raditions extant to-day conta in more tradit ions (rom AbuHurairab t ban from any other' relator '. No t only Was he aforger of tradi tions, but his ~ c n e r a l character was far frombeingahove reproacb. Tbis is sbown by tbe following incident.I t is related tbat wben 'umar assumed tbe Khalifate, beappointed Abu H urairah to the RO\'ernorsbip olBabrein.But t he l at ter abused b is tru,t, and was eventually recalledand disgraced for misappropriating monies belonging to tbestate, being made, we are told, to disgorge 12,000 (anotberreport says 10,000) dirbams. Tb e story, whicb is told byAl Ba14 ~ L. "I,} l:JA ",,;\ Wi~ ~ i ,!S I,Jlj, ' , ;SI, . ~ cr.J.,)1 ~ W l ,

- cl..... u..... If , . : . J ~ ..., l.i.J,'When be brougbt a t radi tion tbe l ike of wbicb tbose of tbeprinc ipal people wbo companied bim (Mul)ammad) and wbopreceded Abu Hurairab bad not brougbt, tbey s u ~ p e c t e d bim,and repudiated it, and said, How is it tbat you alone beardtbis? Wbo el se beard it wi th you? Bukhari a lso relates a t radi tion to tbe effect tbat,

- ij ..;"' y.1 }SI l : J J J ~ V-W1l:JlI The cunous will find tbe subject dealt with at considerable length inGairdoeT'sMoham",cdau Tradition anel Gos/Jd Record, pp. 13-J.5.

t Tawil MulIh/all!u'/ '/ fadl/h, p, 4S.


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42 TilE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF TRADITION 43 Veri ly Ihe peopl e say . Abu Hurairah relates too much.' IThe excus e g i\ 'e n by Abu Hurairah was that many of thepri nc ipal companions of the prophet were busy,with theirworldly business, whilst he used t o r emai n with the apostle.and so had fuller opportunity of hearing his teaching. Thisexcuse, however, evident ly failed to still the anKry murmursof t he people, and so the resourceful Abu Hurairah broughtforward the following story in order to account for his wonder.ful memory,Jli 5\-;\ ~ ~ . l o > I..:-ll.. ~ ...;\ ill1 JJ"') 4. l..::-J..i\...; Li..o......;; ......, Ju ,; ~ J . , H ;0 Ju l ib !; ~ I . b..-il

_ ~ J . a J tL..:. ,eo . , i. - -, I said, 0 Apostle of God , I hear maul ' traditions f rom you ,which I forget. He (Mul!ammad) said, Stretch out yourmantle. Therefore I stretched it out. He said, Then he tookit in h is two hands; after which he s . ~ i d , Gather it up. So I!(athered it up; and I never forgot anythlllg after that! ! ' . .No wonder that AI NawC\wi, the commentator or Muslim,could tell us that Abu Hurairah knew 5,374 traditions f 'And yet Bukbari is said t o have only retained in his collectionH6 of all th e trad itions related by Abu Hurairah. ' Manyillustrations ar e given ill ~ t u s l i m hooks o f thi s man's fabricationof t r a d i t i o n ~ . One not ,'ery edi fy ing t radi ti on regardingpurification makes ' Ayesha and I : f a f ~ a , two oftbe prophet'swive s, to contradict a tradition of Abu Hurairah on the sub.ject. When the latter was brought to book, he said,r",,1 , ~ \; U- '-:uoJl d j..;i!1 -.;J.u! "";;.l.> l.,j1

I ~ a ~ I I { u l ' I B " k 1 J d , . i , yol. i, p. 23. ' Ihid .. p.24.J An NawIJtlli, Yol. i, p. 120. Tujiyalru'l-"cua,. ila u ~ / ; / u ' l - a ' h a , . , p. 11.

rl- ' .illl J-o .illl J,...; ~ , . . ~ ~ I . P " ' .til U-tln- ~ r ' , Verily, Fac;lal bin AI'Abbas related it to me . But (continued

the narrator) , the fact is, he called to witness a dead man,and p re te nded to t he people t ha t he had heard the tradition

from the prophet. But he had not heard it. . I In the bookfrom which we have j us t quo ted, a book wri tt en less thant hr ee hundred yea rs after Mul,mmmad, other stories ar e I{ivenof 'Vmar, 'Vthmlm and 'Ali cont radic ting the utt r. rancesof t hi s champion t radi ti on is t. He himself, in later days,practically acknowledged his fault, and there is a traditionfrom AbU 5a1ma that,~ , Jli I ~ . r " c)L.j .J . . : . . : ~ ) , .. iSi. l l ,).>1, I said to him (Abu Hurairah), And used you to rel at e thusin the time of 'Vmar? He replied, I f I had related in thetime of 'Vmar as 1 relate to you, he would 11.;\\,e beaten mewith his arrow. ' 'There is an instructive story preserved in the K.itdbu'l-

/ f a ~ u ' a " o f t he d ay s of the Kbalifa H arun ar Rashid to theeffect that certain doc tors of Islamic law were tlisputing in a

to HaRhdad mosque, when th e Unnif ite doc tor protested againstt he c it at ion of Abu Hurairah as an authori ty , on the expressground t ha t 'Abu H urairah is suspected of falsehood in whathe has written' .' And yet , p ract ical ly t he who le Muslim wor ld to-day accepts this man as an authority: second tonone; for the life and teachings of the prophet M u ~ a m m a d ! !

I T a w l l l t 1 u k 1 J ' a l " / " ' I ~ f c l d ; t . l J , p. 2X.Tujiyahu'nonaza,. ita u ~ , j t , , ' l all,o,., p. 13.

:\ Q ~ o t e d . i n G a i r d ~ e t " s Mollallll l lctfau Tr-adit;olt,o",l GosPel Record.~ 1 3 . .


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+1 THE TllADITIONS IN ISLAM THE AUTIIENTICITY AND INTEGRITY 01 ' TRADITION HAnother reporler. whose name appears very frequently in

the istlaJs, is 'Abdulla!" bin 'Abbas. generally known as Ibn'Abbas,. . In the "''Isund no les s t han 160 pages ar e devoted.to traditIOns purportmg 10 have been re la ted by him. Ibn''Abbas is s ecood on ly to Abl' Hurairah as a Iraditionist. andstood first amongst the Muslims of his day as a commentatorof the Qur';ln, He is, indeed, Ihe father of Qur '{mic exegesis,.and hundreds of r epul ed t radi ti ons c la iming to th row ligh tupon Ihe obscure tex ts of Ihe Quian are attributed to him.And yet this person was only a boy of fourteen years whenlI1u\lammad died, and only spent some three or four ofthose yMrs in the companionship of the prophet! Theymust be credulous indeed who can believe that tbis boy Offourleen yearsfMlly preserved from Mu\lammad Ihe hundredsof traditions d e a l i n ~ with intricate expositions of difficultQuranic lexls. together 'with the lel(al decisions based thereon. It is infin .tely \lIore probable either that Ibn 'Abbasforged these traditions himself in later years, in order tosecure for hil",elf t he honour and pres til;e attaching to ar epor te r. or else, wh ich is slill Illore p roba lil e. otbers of al al er age f ab ri ca ted them, and then. to give them the needfulauthori i y, forged the necessary i.1 r ' .ill' wL.> .illl Jr; >


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46 TilE TRADITIOliS IN ISLAM TH E AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF TRADITION 47of God, when be used to enter the masjid, used to pray forblessings on him. . lf and say, 0 Lord, forgive me my sins,and open 10 me the doors of thy me rcy.' I Now this is"cid isdemonstrably fabe, for, as At Ti rmidlJ' point s out , F il limah, the daughter of I:"Jusain ne\ter saw her grandmother, Fatimah,the mother of I ~ u s a i n . As a matter of fact Falimah the elderdied when /:Iusainwas still a boy of eight years. Yet it isdistinctly stated here that Falimah, the daugbter of / : I u s a i ~ ,heard the tradilion frOIll her f.;:randmothcr Fatimah I

There is one other point to be mentioned before we close.this chapter. I t is this: assuming for the moment tbat thegreat mass of the traditions is authentic, in other words, thatthe I1reat ma jo ri ty do really repre sen t the utterances ofMuhammad himsel f, the ' lues tion a ri ses, how far are theycredible? Can their integri ty as true and reliable reports ofwhat Muhammad said be implicit ly relied upon? Th ewhole ' l u ~ s t i o n has been raised in an acute form by themanifest contradictions which exist in the vacious reports ofthe prophet's words. These often involve contradictions inmatters of fac t, and show clear ly the dangers arising froman oral transmission carried over a number of years-and theyshow inciden tal ly wha t would have happened to the Qur'anhad not the Kba li fa 'Uthman eliminated all danger of havinlld iffe rent , varying versions of that book by t ranscribing one "copy, and then burning all the rest I The traditions underwent no such drastic recension, and so stand to-day with.theirmany internal contradictions manifest to all. These are so evident , and are so at var iance with any theory of accurateverbal transmission, that soon a doc tr ine was evolved from areputed say ing of Mu!)ammad, no doubt 'manufactured fOrthe occas ion, that it was sufficient in repeatiog.tradition ifthe general meaning were retained, without any reference to

JJd",';w'I.TirmidlJi. p. 102.

verbal exactness. Thus it is related t ha t a cert ain disciplecame to MuJ.lammad and said,. ~ ~ ) 1 ,) ~ I ~ . l . > . J I -.:.ll.o ....l .".;1 AllI Jr) 4-

L 1 _ 7 . . J 1 I J L i U \ j ~ .-. l \ j ~ ~ " " , - - l t . . . . s: r - - - ~ I o.l ) v-"-'!. ) or .U!- 1..1"4 1; ';-'-Jl ~ , )1... I ) r) L.';>, 0 Apostle of God, 1 heM traditions from you, but I am notable to pass them 011 a< I hea r them from you, for they in

crea se in words and decrease in words . He (the p r o p h e ~said, I f you do not make the forbidden lawful or the lawfulforbidden, but retain the meaning, then it does not matter. ' 1Hence we are told that AsShaH';, Abu ~ I a n i f a , Malik, A!)madand /:Iasanu' lBasri all recognized the rillht of Muslims, undercertain conditions, to merely give the general sense of a tradition as dis tinct f rom an exact repe ti tion of the prophet'swords.That such verbal alterations were made is unquestionable.Thus it is related that,- 5 ,11J6 AllI Jr j Ju Jli ~ . l . . > 1.>1 o.l ) " - cr.1 cJl6'Wben Ibn Mas'ud r elated a t rad it ion , he used to say, Theapostle of God spoke thus, or someth ing like it." Again weread,o:JJ" ..,:"'-.:.11) ~ ) ! I ) l:I"""JI cJls=o Jti ,tjl.,))'- c)il d '

- .jLa..JI.}& ~ ~ I t is. related from Ibn 'Aun that he sa id , AJ /:Iasan, Ibnihlmand Ash Sha'bi uSed to relate the traditions according to theI T " j i Y Q h u ' n . " a ~ ( 1 " iln u$1i1u'l-athar, p. 299. Ib id .. p , 304.


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50 THE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM(2) Preachers, wilb a view of collecting large cODgregattOnbaround them, and of amusing their hearers , invented manytraditioDs; such traditions beiDg only those which describe thes ta te and condition of paradise and of hell. as well as thes ta te a nd condition of the soul after death, etc., in order toawaken the feal of God's wrath and the hope of salvation,(3) Those persons who made alterations in the religion ofthe prophet, and who, url':ecl by their prejudices, carried thesame to extremes, and who, ror the purpose of successfl;lllyconfrontinl( their controversial antagonists, forged such trad it ions in order to favour their own interested views. (4)Unbelievers who maliciously coined and circulated spuriousbad;s. ' J

Despite these assertions of the learned Syed, it,numerabletraditions of the c1asse'named by him sti ll exist in the greatcollections of Bukhari and Muslim, and confirm wbat hasbeen said above with re!lard to the absolute unreliability ofthose collections.

Th e fact is, as we have seen, nei ther the authenticity ~ o the integrity of Muslim tradilion cau be established. On thecontrary, there is every reason 10 doubt both. And le t it notbe forgo tt en that it is uI,on the traditions, far more thaDupon the Qur 'an, tha t the great sys tems of Muslim jurispru.dence are based. The I sl am cur rent throughout the greater.part o f t he world to-day is the Islam, not of tbe Qur'au, butof the traditions; and the-Mul)ammad who is revereDced asa prophet of God by 200,000,000 oC the buman race is Dot.the weak and err ing man described iD the QUr'aD, but thesemi-divine creat ion of Semitic imagination depicted in thetraditions. No intelligent and honest M u s l i n i " ~ h o ~ l d anylonger tolerate such an anomaly. -

I 5YED AHI.IAIl K H A N : Euay Off Moltllm".,d4Ift Trllditiofl" Quotedin the DicliOtUJry of /sldm, pp. 641. 642.

CHAPTER 111TIIF. COMPILATION AND SYSTEMATISATION Or

THE TRADITIONSWE have seeD, in th e prect::dillJ.;: chapters, that MUQam-madan tradition was at first transmitted orally; and we havefurther noticed how that fact gave unlimited opportunitiesfor tlte falsificatioD of old, and the fabricatioD of new, traditions. Irwas not until nearly a hundred years l at er t ba t a nysystematic attempt wa s made to gather the then existiDgtraditions iDto a regular written collection. Then the obviousfalsification that was ta king pla ce roused the UmayyadKhalifa, 'Umar II , who occupied the KhaJifate at Damascusduring t he year s 99-101 A.H., to t ryand preveDt furtber lossby preserving in wri tten form the traditions then current.His reason for so doiDg is stated very clearly to be the fact, thatwith t be dea th of the first companions and the scattering oftheir successors.,

_ ~ ' .,)1 Jlo4Jl JlS , ......J'"Jl ~ . . ) l , ~ J.i Exactness (in transmission) grew less, untrustwortbiness

increased, and the false began to be mixed with the true., Bukllarf tells us tbat,JL.J i ' l rJ> 1:J!?..;.1 ~ 1 j ! r J l ~ J . r " ~ i .

.... ..II,; ~ I , ; r ' 41I.}-o 411 J,...) ~ \:T"- .Wall yl l . . i , ~ 1 ..n)J


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52 TilE TI(ADITIONS IN ISLAM TilE COMPILATION OF T H ~ 2 TRADITIONS 53, Umar wrote to Abu' Bakr bin Hazam (and said), Look outwhat you can lind of the t radi tionsof the prophet of God, andwrite them down; for ( fea r the des tr uc tion ofknowledf(eand the passins away of the learned. . I This man, Abu Uakr,we are told, was the deputy of ' Umar at Medina, and diedin the year t20 of the Muslim era. The collection made byhim, unfortunately, no longer exists. \;Ve only know that itwas'made, and that it was quickly followed by others; out nuauthentic collection of traditions of an ear lier date limn themiddle of the second century now exists.The idea of cullecting the t radit ions having ollce been

m oo te d, e nt hu si as m for t he t as k s pr ea d in every direction, andsoon the most extraordinary zeal was developed for thesearch after alleged s a y i n ~ s and anecdotes o f the prophet. Aclass of men arose, Cr.'llled I collectors " who devoted their Jivesto the business of collect inll t radi tions, and who scoured thewhole Muslim world in search of what was represented to themas authentic report s of what Mul)ammad had said or done.Li tt le o r no c ri tic al s el ec ti on a pp ea rs t o have b ee n m ad e,and the col lectors accep ted without demur any th ing ande"erythin!,: which purported to come from the prophet.p rovided only the silsilal., or chain of reporters, , ;atisliedtheir requirements. So far as can be ascert ained , it wasBukIJilt i who Iirs t adopted rules of cri tical selection. The 'c anons, h oweve r. which gui ded him, were sc ar ce ly worththe name, and lef t ample room for the inclusion of false tradi.t ions in his collect ion. Thus, speaking of Al BukIJar; and C'the collectors whn preceded him, the author of a workfrequenty Quoted in these paRes says,:,- ' r - ~ ~ ~ 6.,r'" ,-:-i.SJI , : ~ ' i l S ,

In the books which preceded him (BukIJari), sound traditionsw er e m ix ed up w it h n on .s ou nd.. 1

It will b e well: before we proceed to nole briefly some of, the principal collections of traditions which came into existenceduring the nex t 1wo hundred years, to look once again at thefacts as they h,!ve been brought before us. Here we'have agreat mass of tradition, prO


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S4 THE TR ...ntTIONS IN ISLAM THE COMPILATION OF THE TJ< ... l>ITIONS 3SThe earliest collections of traditions, still extant, were works

on Muslim jurisprudence. These were founded largely uponthe traditions of Mul.lammad. Thus each Kreat theologicalschool came to have i ts own col lec tion, upon which the lawsof i ts own par ti cu la r sys tem were founded. The earliest ofthese was the M"W;I,vho died in l7Q A .K ,' I I

He said to me, You shall keep lies from him.' Thus enconraged .. Al Bukhari se t out upon his sea rch for t radi tions, andfor sixteen years is said to have wandered over Irak, Arabia,Syria and Egypt. He collected during that period the enormous number of 600,000 traditions, but, as we have alreadyindicated, rejected all but 7,275. It is also related of him thatof 40,000 men who professed to r el at e to him t rad iti ons ofthe prophet, only 2,000 of them were acknowledged by him ast rustwor thy I l lukhar i' s great collection, known as the.$a!Ii!",'/-B ..!d1d:ri is, perhaps, th e most popular of all extantcollections of traditions. Yet there is DO guarantee whatever that this man was more successful than others inseparating tbe true from tbe falSe. .I f it be remembered tbatBukiJar i d ied in the middle of the third century of the Hijm,or Muslim era, the reader will be able to arrive at a justappreciation of tbe difficulties of his task. How could he, weask, or any other man, after such a lapse of time, decideamongst the multitude of traditions as to which were true andwhich false? Moreover, the very canons of criticism adoptedby 13uk!Jari differed tram those of Muslim, his cel eb rate ddisciple. Hence some tradi tions which would be considered...< genuine according to the canons of the one would herejected as spurious if judged by the standards set up by theother. Thus we read with regard to a certain tradition,~ " ' - J J ! ,-,-;!oJ, r-.:. lor- (!""" ~ ! J o - I";"" 1,Jli

~ ~ ....... r-- s) ,.. I:Jp ~ ) ~ \ lor-- ~ ) l ; . - : J l . ) J ; r' i ~ 1=,;.Jl They said with regard to it : This i a sound tradition according to the canons la'id down by Mu.slim, but it is not sound

Rccording to the canons of DukiJari, by reason of the factth"t these (re la tors ) are , in the e'timation of Muslim , o f the


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56 TH E TRADITIONS IN ISLAM' "nil:: COMPILATION OF THE TNADITIUNS 57number In whom all th e important conditions required byMuslim are lultillecl. But it is not atlested (as sound) in tbeopinion of l3ukhari. ' I This fact is important; for if the twogreatest of allihe traditiouist. , Buklllu) and Muslim, disagreeas to the canons of crit icism to be emp loyed in ascertainingthe authenticity and credibility of lhe t rad it ions , then wha tvalue can be attached to their respective collections 1An excel lent i l lustration or the way t radi tions were inYented

10 Sivc authority dod precedence to c.:ertain coJlections is Ij:ivenby Al Qas\alani. The story is as follows: Abu Zaid AlMaruzi s. '\id, I was sleeping between the pil lar and the place(of prayer) when I .aw the prophet of God in my dream.He .ai d to me, a Abu Zaid , 'how long will you con ti nue t ostudy the hook of ,\ s Shafi ' ; and not st udy my book 1 So I. s aid, 0 Aposlle of God, aud what is thy book 1 He saicl,The collection of ~ u l ! a n l l n a d Isma',l (i.e. AI Bukharil."Of practically equal authority with the collection of

Bukhari is thaI of Muslim bin Hajja/l',. \\(ho was born atNishaplJr in Khurasan in 204 A.B., and died ill 260 A.H.Out of, 300,000 traditio"s collected by this man, onlysome 4,000, after d e ) e t i n ~ r epet it ions , wer e r et ai ned byhim as genuine. E.ven th es e, up on h is own admission, ar eopen to grave ~ n s p i c i o l l . Thus h i cOllllllentator, An Nawawi,reports him a frankly admittinK.1 : T ' " ~ . r = u ~ . . , . j lill.i-.. ii.r-1-=


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1 CLEMENT' Hl'ART : AroMe I ~ ; t c r ( l t " r l ' ' ' p. 223., Ibid . ,pp. 223. 224,

Tbe learned Sir William Mui r h as pointed out ,t hat th esesix collections all came intoexislence during the 'AbbasideKhalifate, and at a t ime when' every word in favour of MuaV'ia. 'the t hen deceased Umayyad Kba li fa i rende red Ihe s; leakerliable to death, and when all were declared outlaws whowould not acknowled/tc 'Ali 10 be lhe most d istin guished ofmankind.' It is not difficult to see, how, under such circumstauces, an imparlial and unbiassed col lect ion was quiteimpossible. As a mattcr of fact, there were not wantin,::critics of the very Sa!u'!latU, the two ~ " l " ' b s of 13uklJari andMuslim. Thus Abu'I!:Iasan 'Ali bin 'Umar al Daraqutni, inhis work entitled AI I.IM"iJ",1 w(o'I-lal"bb", proves lheuncertainty of two hundred of the t rad iti ons ac cept ed in th etwo $a(.i/,s of Bukhari and Muslim I This author was alearned jurisconsult, and learn.ed the tradilions at an early ageat the feet of Abu Bakr bin Mujahid. 1Another s cbolar who cr it ic ised the works of Buktar! andMuslim ""as AI.Bayyi, Qadi of Nishapur. He wrote theKiltibu'/Mustadrakas a criticism of lhe two $a(li(ls in order toprove that several traditions overlooked in these two ,\'orkswere perfectly authentic and had been wrongly passed over . '

I t only remains to besaid thaI the Shiahs reject in 1010 the, six correct books' mentioned above , and use in the ir placeQle following fi, 'e collections, upon which they base their civiland religious laws :-(I) Tbe K(iJi of Abu la'far Mul)ammad bin Ya'Qub whodied in 329 A.H.; (2) the Mallhi- Y".ta(,zirahu/FaqilcM Shaikh 'Ali who died ill 3l!1 A.H.; (3) the Tahzib ofSbaikh Abu la'far Mul)ammad ibn 'Al i ibn / :fusain who diedin 466 A.H.; (4) the I . l i b ~ c i r by the same author; and(5) the Nahj,,'/Baltii!JJah by SyedurH'7.1 who died in

-:1

TH E TRADITIONS It , ISLAMIb n Majah, another of the sreat col leclors, whose work the

f('J/!a"s,S"""n is one of the six standard collections oft radi tions, was born in 209 A.If. and died ill 273 A.H. 'H eretained only 4,000 traditions in his collection, which, likethose of AbuDa'ud, An-Nasa'; and Tirmilllii, deals almostexclllsl\'ely wllh leKal tradllions. The collections of Bukhariand Muslim, on the other hand, cover a much wider field, and.contain traditions on' almost every c o n c e i v a b l ~ subject, fromthe manner in which the prophet c1c..'U1Ct! his teeth to thenature of the heaven ly b lis s res erved for the fai th fu l.Ano ther renowned t radi tion is l was Abu 'I"" Muhammad

Tirmidbi. He was born at Tirmidb, as his name i n d i ~ a t e s , in20'1 A:H. and died in 2 ~ A.If. His book , the J,imi', is stilllargely IIsed, and is specially useful a< pointing out thedifference between different schools of Muhammadan law.He was the first to issue a sel ecti on of f o r ~ y traditions, apractice which has been imilated by very many of hissuccessors.

The SiXlh, and las t, of the great col leclors was Abu ' .- \bdu 'rHal)man an ' Nasa'L T h i ~ scholar was born at Nasa inKhu"'san in the year 214 A.H. and died in 303 A.H. Hewas, therefore, the late!>l of the six great collectors. We havealready mentioned the tragic c ircumstances conuected withhis death. His collection, as it exists to-day, is a rev is ed andabbreviated ed ition of a IOuch lar /t er work , and is cal led theS""4uu'n-Nastf'i, or Al Mujl"b", the selecled. It deals parti.cularly with small details of ritual.The six great coHections mentioned ahove exist to-day"

under the name of the AI /{ltlubu's.sitltl, or I sil( ( c o r r e c t ~books'. They are not all re/tarded as of equal authorilY,however; for the fust t w o ~ those of Bukhciri and Muslim,are called ~ a i o i ( " sound Or authcnlic, whils t the remainder ar esimply known as the SIIUUU, ' u s a g e ~ .

TH E COMPILATION OF THE TRADITIONS 59


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TilE Tlt, \VITlONS IN bLAM TH E C O M P I L A T ( O ~ OF THE T R A U I T I O N ~ 61406 A.H. It will be noticed that the Shiah collections were.all compiled later th'm the s ix col lect ions of the Sunnis, and,Ilenerally speaking, they are regarded as of less authori ty andvalue by non-Musl im scholars-the only unes likely to exercise an independent judgment in the matter.

The collections mentioned above, however, do not exhaustthe list. Indeed, it is stated in the Dictionary of Islam that,.accordinl l to the Itll


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62 THE TIIAUITIONS IN ISLAMintroduction to the M i s " k c l l , , ' I . l r f a ~ c l b i i . and in otber works.It is too long for quot ati on here. \Vi th r ef er en ce to t he lirstclass, however, it may he s ta ted tha t t radi tions are roughlydivided into three classes . The first is the ~ " a i o i i o tradition;that is, one which has been handed down by a succession oftrustworthy witnesses, and is, therefore, accepted as genuine.The second is the ! I U ~ ' ' ' ' ' the good tradition. The transrnitter..-in this class a re n ot c on si de re d o f s uc h good authority as thef ir st , b ut , for a ll p ra ct ic al p ur po se s, t he (zn:jan traditions areaccepted by Muslims as authoritative. The thir d class isthat known as :f'il,j or weak. The narrators of this class. areconside red of doubt fu l cha racter , or of bad memory; conse-quently the' weak' tr adi tion has l ittle value in t be eyes ofscholars.There are many other subdivisions of traditions. Thusa tradition gener all y ac cept ed by many dist inc t ch ai ns of

narrators is cal led mlllaw.rlir. That which has, at least,I \hree s uc h c ha in s is ma.'ihiir. well-known. T h dar(b.\poor,)"-. t radi tion is that having onlyone l ine of narra tors , and so is ofdoubtful authori ty , whilst the muu


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(01 THE TH:AOITI()NS IN ISLAM TRADITION AND THE B IB LE 65::jcriptures with which thc)' hau hcen familiar froUl childhoo


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66 TilE TRADITIONS IN ISLAM TRADITION AND THE, BI1!LE 67In the col lect ion of tradi tions ent it led Al J a m i ' u ' ~ - ~ a l l h i r ,

il is related that Mul)ammad said,' Be merciful to him whois upon the carth, tben He who is in heaven will be mercifulto you.' I I f this be compared with the words of Christ.'Blessed are the merci fu l, f or ' t hey shall obt ai n mercy'," For if ye forgive men their trespasses. your heavenly Fatherwill also forgive you' ' it will be seen 10 be an obvious echoof- this part of t he sennon on th e mount. . ~

Another repute, l saying of Mul:tammad is as fol lows : ' ByHim in whose hands is my life, Hone of you win believe unlil1 become mure bel oved to him than hi fa ther or his son.' 3This, again, is an imi ta ti on o f t he words o f Chr is t conce rn ingdiscipleship, that ' He tha t loveth falher or mother more thanme is not worthy nf me, and he that love th son or daughtermore t ha n me is not worth y of me.' , It is 'impossible, again, not to see in tbe tradition quotedbelow a manifes t adaptat ion of tbe words of Cbrist addressedto doubting Thomas. It is related in the Gospel tbat afterthe resurrect ion of Chris t from the dead, one of His disciples,na;lIed Thomas, refused to bel ieve, on the sole test imony ofhis co-disciples, that Christ was indeed alive. He is s ta ted tobave said that unless be saw his Mas te r wi th h is own eyes,he would not believe. Later, when brougbt face 10 face withChrist, the latter addressed him thus,' Thomas, because thouhas t seen me, Ihou hast believed; blessed are they who havenot seen, and yet have believed.'\ Such a powerful incitement to faith was just what was needed for the multi tudes~ h o , after the death of Mul )ammad and the conques t o f lcountries contiguous to Arabia, began to press into the fold ofJslam; and so the following imi ta tion of Christ's words was

I AI Jl l" . i ... ' . ~ ~ a t b i r , vol. i, p, 33.3 AI Ruthtirl, vol. i, p. 7.

S John u . 29.t Matt. v. 7 and vi . 14.t Matt. x. 37.

dev is ed in the form of a tradition, and then ascribed IQMul.latJ1mad, ' He is onceblessed who sees me and believes. inroe, but he who has not seen me and yet believes in me isseven t imes blessed. ' 1

Another- reminiscence of the sermon on!the mount is foundin the following words put into the mouth of Muham;"ad,:. None.of you wiJI beHeve until.he loves (or his brother what, h loves for himself.' " The Bible record of Christ's words,from which this ~ a r b l e d version was made reads thus:, Therefore al1 l h i n ~ s whatsoever ye would th at men shouldd to you, do ye even so t o t hem. '. l Such t each ing, however ,was so foreign to the whole spi ri t of I slam tha t th e famouscommentator An Nawawi felt compelled t o mod ify i ts onerousdemands. This he dill' I!y declarinR thaI the tradition iD' lues tion merely meant , J.l< rL)\ . j ~ .;-~ ~ "Until he 10"es for his brother i l l l .MIII like what he loves fo;h imse lf ! '

There is a curious story pre5ervec.l hy Rukhari, and purport ..ing t o be r el at ed by Ibn 'u mar which is, unquestionably, alater Muslim attempt to comment, for cODtroversial purpOses,on one of the parables of Christ. The -Parable is as follows,

_" For the kingdom of hea,en is l ike \Into a man that is anhouseholder, which wen t o ut eady in t he morni ng to 'hirelabourers into his vineyard. ,\nd when he had agreed with thelahourers for a penny a d ay , h e sent thein into his vineyard.

-, . \l \d he went out ahout the third hour, and saw others ; tandlDgidle in the marketplace, and said t1Oto them, Go ye also IOtO

I A I J t ~ " . i ' u ' ~ ~ l . ) a t b l r ..vol. ii, p. 17i MatafJu'l-arba'lnu'l1oNawawiyyah, i'Jo. ~ 3 Matt. vii. 12. An Nawawi in S / l a r a ~ , ~ t l ~ i ~ Afu5lim, ')01. i, p. 439.


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68 TH E TRADITIONS IN ISLAM TIlADITION ANn TH E BIBLE 69the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I' ,,,-ill give you . And th eywent their way. Again he weiltoutabout the sixth and theillnth hour, and did l ikewise. And about the eleventh hour hew ~ n t out. and found others standing idle, and saith unto them,.Why stand ye here all Ihe day idle? They s ay unto him,l < e c a \ l ~ C 110 man hath hired us. H ~ sai th unto them, Go ycalso IOtO the vineyard, and whatsoe, er is right, that shall y e receh-e. So \"hen even w a COllie, the lord of the vineyard~ a i l h unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them theirhlfe. beginning from the last unto the first. And when theycame that were hired about the e leventh hour, they receivedevery man a penny . [lut when the hrst came, they supp,,,edthat ther ~ h O l l l d h ~ l \ ' e I ' e c e i ~ e c l m o r e ; and they l ikewisereceived every l l lal l a penny. And -,i.-hen they had reccivf

The Mllshm parody of thi s beautiful pa rabl e runs t hus,Tlte people of the Taun" were given the Taunit, and theyl ahoured unti l. when midday appeared, they grew weak, andt h ~ v were each given one carat . Then the people of the[,",il were lli"ell the [nj;I, and they laboured until theafternoon prayer, when they "rew weak, and they were eachg ~ v e n one carat . A r te r t h at we were g iven the Qur'an, and\ Y worked until t he s et ti ng of th e SUI), and we were each~ I v e n two carats. Therefore tbe people of the two hook!(i.e. Jews and Christians) said, 0, our Lord,thou hast given

1 Matt. u . 1-15.

tbese two carats each,. but hastonly given us one carat each,and yet we have laboured .. more. than they. God most bigh~ i d , Have I dealt unjus tl y w ith you in any way in the matterof your reward' They said, '10. He said, This is my J:m"e.I ~ i v e to whom I Will.' I

Another reminiscence of the words of Chr is t, uttered as a,warning against a mere nominal faith, is preserved by Bukhari .The original words, which fOfm a part of the sermon on themount , are as foHows, I Not everyone that sai th unto me,Lord , Lo rd, shall ellter intu the kingdom of heaven, but hethat doe th the will o f my Father which is ill heaven." .Thissolemn warning of the. Mes5iah is exp,anded in the t r a d i t i o n ~into the folhwinfi{ ludicrous story. ';\ man will be brouR'hton the day of resurrection iUHJ cast into the lire; and hisintestines will fall i nto the f i r ~ and wander round like an as swalks round a mill. Theil the inhabitants of the hte willgather themselves to!:ether unto him, and will say, 0 so andso, what has haPl"'ned to you' Were you not in the habitof commanding what is r ight and of forbidding what is wrong?He will say, [ used to commane whal is r ight , but did not doit myself; and [used to forbid what was wrong, but did itmyself.' J

One of the nios t remarkablr. attempts to reproduce thewords of Jesus , as i( they were the words of Mul;tammad, isthat in which the prayer taught hy Jesus to His disciples,and used by Christians throughont the world up to the presentday, is, in a hideollsly garbleu (orm, attributed to Mul)ammad,..'The prayer taught by Christ IS th, s, ' Our Father which ar t 10heaven, hallowe:,;.'.1 Zubddtu'/./lukbdri, pp\ : 3 5 ~ J6. . "l Man. vii. 21.

3 Z"hdallf'/.H"ll.bliri, p. 157.


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70 T t ~ : ! : TRADITIONS IN ISLAM TRAUITION ANUTHE 11111[.1>Another Biblical phrase which appealed to the imagillation

of later Muslims, and led them to attribute similar words tot,{ul,1ammad, is the following de,cription of the saints of aidedtime a s men who' Confessed that t l ~ e y were s tr angers andpilgrims on the earth, ' r This was ,hortened into the followingmax im, and then put into the mouth of Mu!) ammad , ' Be i1IIthe earth as if you were a stranger or a pilgrim. tVet another obvious atlempt to r ep roduce olle of-the liellt!#of the sermon on the mount is connected with Christ's teaching regarding almsKiving. H i words are, I But when lhou'doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand'doeth '. 3 Thus in a t radi tion, purport ing to come f fO" , 'Mubammad, the man whon7 God loves i described as ' t\i"e:man who gives alms with his r j ~ h t hand, hiding it fr011l hisllef t ' , ' Another "ersioD of this t radi tion given in the 11')'11's ti ll more clo,ely approximates to the words of Christ. It'there reads, I The man who g i v e ~ alm s and hides it;so thar'hi s lef t hand knows not what his r ight haud give, " :,Another plaKiari sm from the sermon on the mount has:

referenca to salt as a preservative from corruption.' Th-e'well,known words of Christ on the s ub je ct a re a s follows,'I Ye are the salt of (he earth; but if the s al t have lost i t ~ 1,",vour, wherewith shall i t be salted? It is thenceforth ~ o o d ;for nothing, but to be cast out, and t o be t rodden under foot'of men." I f Christians were the salt of the earth, arRued the'fervent traditionists, how much more were Muslims! So a'_tradition was promptly manufactured, and put into the 1\100Ith'of Mu!)ammad, who is then represented as a d d r e ~ s i n ~ his

and l ead us not i nt o t empt at io ll , but deliver us from evil; forthine is the kin!ldom, and the power, and the glory, for e"er.Amen.' I This heaut iful p rayer as it is put into the mouthof Mul )ammad by later traditionists runs as follow., ' Our 'Lord God, which ar t in heaven, hal lowed be thy name, Thykingdom is in heaven and 011' eartil. As thy mercy is inhea.ven, so show thy mer cy on ear th. For give us our deb ts ...,and our sins, Thou ar t t he Lord of the gOod, Send downulocey from thy nw(


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72 TH E TRA\)11"IONS 1" ISLAM TRAuJTI0N AND THE UIBLE 73disciples In these words, I My companions are in my com:",unity l ik e sal t in food; for without the sal t the food is notfit to eat.' I: II is written of God in Ihe New Teslament t ha t, In Himwe live, and move, an'd have our being.' I This, too, wasm...de into a tradition, and now appears in the following (orm,God has servants who eat in Goo, drink in Him, and walk tin Him t J

In the fol lowing tradition we have a man ifes t at tempt toquote the words of J esus, ' And whereuuto s ba ll I l iken thi sgenerat ion. I t is l ik e unto chi ld ren sitting in the markets andcalling unto their fellows, and s a y i n ~ , \Ve have piped unto you,and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and yehave not lamented." In \ he tradition the following words aresaid to have been' sent dowu' upon Jesus, 'W e fIlled you withlonging desire,but ye did not desire; .mu we mourned untoyou, but ye did not weep.' 'One of the aphorisms of the Messiah contains a striking:l igure of speech about a camel paSS1D1l through the eye of a

needle. It is as follows. ' I t is easier for a camel to RC)through the e ye o f a needle, than for a rich man to: enter intothe Kingdom of God." Mul)ammad appears 10 have hean] thisfrom the lips of some Christian. At any r ate he produce dthe following as a revelation, C Ver ily they who have charge{iour signs with falsehood, and have turned away from the,"in the ir p ride , heaven's gates shall not be opened to them,nor sha ll they enler paradi,e, until the camel passeth through

I Quoted in Goldziher's ~ { a d i t 1 J and New Tcst"mcnf. p. 30.'J Acts xvii. 2M.:I Al Pasha,,;, p. ~ 2 Quoted in the ~ - I t l d ; t h , and N("w T c ~ t f J I U C " / ,

p. JJ . Mal t. xi .. 16,17. Al Aqad"'l-l"a,.,,t. yoL i, p. 297.

'\ Mark x. 25

traditions in islam

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