Abu Hurayra and the Falsification of Traditions (hadith)
Endnotes 1- Actually, it was not Syria but Sham, a word which is not quite common in English. Sham used at the time to include Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan.
2- Ibn Abul-Hadid,Sharh Nahjul-Balāgha شرح نهج البلاغة, Vol. 16, p. 15.
3- For more information about this man, Abū Hurayra, refer to Shī’as are the Ahl as-Sunnah, a book written in Arabic by Dr. Muhammed at-Tijani as-Samawi and translated into English by myself. It is available for sale from Vantage Press, Inc., 516 West 34th Street, New York, N.Y. 10001, or you may order it through the Internet’s worldwide web: www.amazon.com. Its title in the said web is “Shī’as are the Ahl as-Sunnah.”
4- 1According toAl-Munjid fil lugha wal a`lam المنجد في اللغة و الأعلام, however, Abu Hurayra's name is recorded as `Abd al-Rahmān ibn Sakhr al-Azdi, and that he died in 59 A.H./678 A.D. The same reference indicates that this man spent “a long time” in the company of the Prophet, which is not true at all; he accompanied the Prophet from time to time for less than three years.
The Publisher of this Munjid, namely Dar al-Mashriq of Beirut, Lebanon, is sponsored by the Catholic Press of Beirut. Undoubtedly, the information about Abu Hurayra in this Arabic-Arabic dictionary must have been furnished by Sunnis who try their best to elevate the status of Abu Hurayra even at the risk of sacrificing historical facts.
5- Al-Bukhari, Sahīh, Vol. 4, p. 175, where the author quotes Abu Hurayra talking about himself in a chapter dealing with the characteristics of Prophethood.
6- I have excerpted some paragraphs for this text from my own translation of Muhammed al-Tijani al-Samawi's book Shi`as are the Ahl al-Sunna (New York: Vantage Press, 1996), pp. 207-215.
7- Refer to the book titled Abu Hurayra by the Egyptian author Mahmoud Abu Rayyah.
8- This is stated in al-Thahbi's bookSiyar A`lām al-Nubalā’ .
9- Ibn Abul-Hadeed,Sharh Nahjul-Balāgha , Vol. 4, p. 68.
10- Ibn Katheer,Al-Bidaya wal Nihaya , Vol. 8, p. 108.
11- Al-Bukhari,Sahīh , Vol. 7, p. 31.
12- Al-Bukhari,Sahīh , Vol. 6, p. 190, in a chapter dealing with spending on the wife and children.
13- Ibn Abul-Hadeed, Sharh Nahjul-Balāgha, Vol. 4, p. 67.
14- Ibn Sa`d, Tabaqāt, Vol. 2, p. 63.
15- Abu Hurayra was bilingual. He spoke Arabic (his mother tongue) and Amharic. Historically speaking, during Abu Hurayra's time, Amheric was the language of “aristocrats” due to the fact that the Ethiopians had for many years colonized Yemen till they were kicked out of it at the hands of Sayf ibn Thi Yazun (or Yazin), Himyar's king who died in 574 A.D.