Abu Talib (a.s)

Al-mo'min (the Faithful)

torment just to take Abu Talib out of the lowest bottom of Hell to a shallow place! Was the Prophet (s) so stingy to a degree that he wouldn't intercede for the man, who had brought him up, protected him, supported him and defended him? Would he reward him for all that just by lightening some of his torment?

And what lightening of torment it was if his brain would melt and flow over his feet!! If Abu Talib had declared shahada and the Prophet (s) didn't think that he had deserve intercession except after announcing shahada, then this tradition, which limited intercession just to lightening the torment, would contradict many other traditions mentioned in the books of Hadith (Sihah). (1) The traditions said that whoever declared shahada would be in Paradise and not in Hell: "He, who died and knew that there was no god but Allah, would enter into Paradise." (2) And: "No one saying that there is no god but Allah will enter into Hell." (3) Besides that the tradition of ad-Dhihdhah itself in talking about the immediate intercession contradicted other traditions concerning the subject of intercessions:

Here are some of these traditions:

"It was said to me: Ask for anything because every Prophet had asked for something! I delayed my request until the Day of Resurrection to be for anyone of you witnessing that there is no god but Allah." (4) The tradition showed that the Prophet (s) wouldn't

____________ 1 Sihah is the plural form of Sahih. Sahih is the book, in which the prophetic traditions are collected. 2 Muslims Sahih, vol.1 p.41, al-Ghadeer, vol.9 p.64-65, vol.10 p.19-120. 3 Siyer A'lam an-Nubala' vol.2 p.295. 4 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.24 from al-Hafidh al-Munthiri in his book al-Targheeb wet-Terheeb vol.4 p.150-158.

intercede for any one, who hadn't declared shahad. So did the following traditions. "I am granted intercession for my umma. It will never be for any polytheist." (1) "My intercession will include every Muslim." (2) "Allah revealed to Gabriel (s): Go to Muhammad and say to him: Raise your head and ask for anything. You will be granted it. Intercede for anyone. Your intercession will be accepted ... until his saying: Let anyone of your umma, who witnesses sincerely that there is no god but Allah even for one day and then dies, enter into Paradise." (3)

According to these traditions no one would get intercession except who declared shahada. Although these traditions didn't define intercession, they made us understand that the one, who would be interceded for, wouldn't be in Hell.

Also we understood that the Prophet's intercession was delayed until the Day of Resurrection where he didn't ask for the request, which Allah had ordered him to ask for and delayed it until that day. He "will be the first intercessor and his intercession will be the first to be accepted." (4) Then how did the Prophet (s) intercede for his unbeliever uncle whereas he had been ordered to intercede just for those, who declared shahada and became sincere Muslims?

And how did they determine the intercession for Abu Talib while it was delayed until the Day of Resurrection?

So this tradition not only contradicted the tradition of the dying of Abu Talib but also it contradicted many

____________ 1 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.24. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Muslim's Sahih vol.7 p.59.

other traditions.

This contradiction was sufficient evidence to refute the two false traditions even if their dishonest narrators were regarded as reliable. So how about it when the narrators were actually regarded as liars and fabricators? There were some traditions of another kind. It would be better to quote some of them:

a. "Seventy thousand persons of my umma will enter into Paradise without being inquired." (1) In some of them it was mentioned "seventy thousand or seven hundred thousand" that Abu Hazim didn't know which of them. (2) It was this Abu Hazim, who was one of the narrators of the tradition of the dying of Abu talib!

b. "Seventy thousand persons will be resurrected from this cemetery (al-Baqee') (3) and they will enter into Paradise without being inquired." (4)

c. "Seventy thousand persons of my umma will enter into Paradise without inquiry or torment. With every thousand of them will be seventy thousands." (5)

d. "I found my God glorious and generous; He granted me with every one of the seventy thousand ones, who would enter into Paradise without being inquired,

____________ 1 Muslim's Sahih vol.1 p.36, al-Bukhari's Sahih vol.4 p.84, al-Ghadeer, vol.5 p.283. 2 Muslim's Sahih vol. p.137, al-Bukhari's Sahih vol.4 p.84. 3 It was the great cemetery of the Muslims in Medina. 4 Al-Ghadeer, vol.5 p.283 from at-Tabarani in his al-Kabeer vol.4 p.13. There are many other traditions mentioned in al-Ghadeer, talking about such numbers that will enter into Paradise without being inquired from other towns; from between the wall of Hims and az-Zaytoon there will be seventy thousands, from Kuffa the same number and from Hims ninety thousands!

5 Al-Ghadeer, vol.10 p.120 from Majma' az-Zawa'id vol.10 p.405.

seventy thousand ones." (1) There was a long series of such traditions with great numbers but we didn't want to busy the reader's mind with them that the reader might multiply seventy thousand by seventy thousand to see what the result would be! But did he, who fabricated the tradition of ad-Dhihdhah, check this seventy thousands multiplied by seventy thousands and didn't find Abu Talib among them and then he entered into Hell to find Abu Talib there and his brain flowing over his feet?

We would like to say that we didn't trust in many of the traditions we mentioned above and we didn't want to discuss them because they were away from our subject but we just wanted to argue by them with the fabricators of the tradition of ad-Dihdhah no more no less because all of these traditions were mentioned in the Sihah and they drew from the same source and met at the same purpose!

We quoted here a saying of someone of the Ansar, who was the last one of the public speakers, whom Mo'awiya had appointed to curse and abuse Imam Ali (s) on the minbars. This man was called Onayss. He praised Allah and then said: "You have cursed and abused the man (Ali) too much today. I swear by Allah that I have heard the Prophet (s) saying: "I will intercede for people in the Day of Resurrection as much as the clay and the trees on the earth." I swear by Allah that no one was kinder to his relatives than him (the Prophet). Do you think that he will intercede for you and he will be unable to intercede for his family...?" (2)

____________ 1 Al-Ghadeer, vol.5 p.283. 2 Ibid, vol.10 p.261 from Ossdul Ghaba vol.1 p.134. It was mentioned in al-Issaba vol.1 p.89 but the author didn't mention that it was Mo'awiya, who had held that dark day! Refer to al-Istee'ab vol.1 p.37 about the tradition narrated by Onayss.

What a wonderful word it was that didn't need any comment! 4.We saw that the tradition of ad-Dhihdhah talked about the intercession of the Prophet (s) for his uncle. This intercession occurred either after Abu Talib had declared the shahada and then it would save him from Hell according to the traditions of intercession we mentioned above or before declaring shahada and then the intercession would be invalid according to the clear Quranic versed in this concern.

If we noticed Abu Talib's doings and sayings, the witnesses of the Prophet (s) and his progeny about him and if we noticed the defects of the narrators, we would find that this tradition was invalid and untrue besides that it contradicted the Quranic verses. If a tradition contradicted the holy Quran, it would be brushed aside even if the narrators were trusty and reliable.

  1. The tradition was ascribed to al-Abbas, who was free from it, and it was contradicted by the tradition of the dying of Abu Talib that was ascribed to al-Abbas, who said -or it was pretended that he had said- that he had heard Abu Talib at the last moment of his life saying the shahada, which the Prophet (s) had asked him for so that he could intercede for him with Allah. It was mentioned in the tradition that al-Abbas had said to the Prophet (s): "He said the word you asked him for."

We said when commenting on the tradition that he, who thought that the tradition was true, had to take into consideration all the tradition until the end or he had to brush it all aside and not to take what satisfied his fancy and to leave what objected his purpose. He, who thought that the two traditions; the tradition of the dying and the tradition of ad-Dhihdhah, were true, would be involved in contradiction as we discussed before and he, who denied one of them, had to deny the other because the narrators of the two traditions were the same. He, who denied a tradition narrated by a liar, must not accept another one narrated by the same narrator.

  1. How would the Prophet (s), with his intercession, be unable to take his uncle out of the shallowness of Fire into Paradise after he had been able to take him out of the lowest bottom of Fire to a shallow place (dhihdhah) as they pretended and so the Prophet (s) would complete his favor without any shortage?

Couldn't the Prophet (s) do that whereas we found a tradition talking about the virtues of Othman saying: "Seventy thousand persons, who deserve to be in Hell, will enter into Paradise without being inquired by the intercession of Othman?" (1) You noticed this number; seventy thousand that marked all the traditions, which tried to insert this fixed number into Paradise without inquiring although they deserved to be in Hell!

Then we asked: Was the caliph Othman more honorable near Allah than Prophet Muhammad?

Didn't the Prophet (s) have a value near Allah that equaled to one in comparison with the seventy thousand values the third caliph had?

What made Allah not accept the Prophet's intercession for his uncle, who deserved to be in Hell as they fabricated, to take him to Paradise whereas the Prophet (s) had done every Muslim great favors and at the same time Allah accepted the intercession of Othman for seventy thousand ones, who all deserved to be in Hell but the mercy of Allah took them to Paradise?

____________ 1 As-Sawa'iqul Muhriqa p.65, al-Ghadeer, vol.9 p.248 and in p.303 there is another tradition of the same kind.

Why would this great mercy of Allah turn away from Abu Talib, who had brought up the Prophet (s), protected, assisted and defended him and his religion? Would Allah be satisfied with lightening Abu Talib's torment only by talking him out of the lowest bottom of Hell and putting him in a shallow place of Hell and not letting him be in Paradise?

Yes! Abu Talib was not in need of any intercession! The justice of Allah the Almighty would lead him to Paradise as a reward for his great deeds! If Paradise wouldn't be for Abu Talib and his likes, for whom would it be then?

But as for intercession, it would be for those, who didn't deserve to be in Paradise according to their deeds but by virtue of the forgiveness of Allah the Merciful they would be forgiven. Allah wouldn't forgive any polytheist; thus His justice had determine, while He would forgive whomsoever He pleased other than polytheists; and thus his pardon and forgiveness had determined.

Such a tradition against Abu Talib was but a result of hatred and grudge towards good people, high values and benevolence! O Allah! We seek your protection. We pray You not to let us deviate from the straight way or stay in the slips of dangers or the abysses of darkness!

Eeman is the infinitive form of the verb (aamana) and it means believing or trusting. Later on the word eeman takes a religious sense to mean faithfulness and it has its special definition. Al-mo'min is the opposite of al-kafir (the unfaithful). Eeman according to the religious definition is: faith in the heart (mind) and certification by the tongue of what has been revealed by Allah to the Prophet (s).

So al-mo'min (the faithful) is he, who has these two conditions with their requirements of performing the religious obligations. As for the faith of the heart, it can't be known by people (1) except by Allah the Creator, Who is the only aware of the hidden thinking and what is in the conscience of man.

As long as people are unable to know the hidden beliefs of each other, so they decide according to the outward of each other. Whenever they see the signs of faithfulness in someone, then no one has the right to criticize that someone and whoever dares to do that will be a slanderer and has to be punished.

Allah says: (... and do not say to any who offers you peach: You are not a believer) 4:94. Allah forbids from saying to anyone, who offers salaam, that he is not a faithful so how about that, who confesses faithfulness every moment and does his best to take care of the first seed of the mission! If someone wants to know about the faithfulness of someone else, it will be not so easy unless that one shows

____________ 1 It means that one cannot know all what there is inside the others.

one's faithfulness through one's sayings then it is decided that that one is faithful and it is decided that one will be among the people of Paradise if one's sayings and inner beliefs were identical.

Also it is decided that someone is faithful if the Prophet (s) or any other infallible one witnesses that that one is a faithful because the Prophet (s) (doesn't speak out of desire. It is naught but revelation that is revealed Quran 53:3-4) as Allah says about him. The infallible one informs of what he has heard from the Prophet (s), who receives revelation from his God, so there is no distortion, fabrication, guessing or estimation coming out of emotion or fancy.

Therefore we can decide the faithfulness of Abu Talib according to the two sides; All the sayings of Abu Talib confirmed his faithfulness besides his great deeds, his jihad for the sake of the mission and the witnesses of the Prophet (s) and the infallible imams of his progeny.

We already mentioned in the previous chapters of this book many of Abu Talib's sayings showing his true faith, bright pages of his glorious jihad and many witnesses that had come out of the holy mouth of the great Prophet and his pure progeny (s). We thought that it would be better to quote here some of Abu Talib's sayings concerning the subject. He recited:

The Lord of people Who has no partner The Liberal Giver, the Initiator,, the Resurrector. Whoever is under the Heaven and whoever is above the Heaven are rightfully His servants. (1)

These verses were clear evidence showing that the sayer was a monotheist believing sincerely in the One and

____________ 1 Eeman Abu Talib p.20, Divan Abu Talib p.11, Al-Hujja p.80, Sheikhul Abtah p.85.

Only God without any bit of polytheism or apostasy. When he talked about Allah he used the phrase "the Lord of people (or the King of people)" which was an Islamic expression mentioned in the Quran (The King (Lord) of people. Quran 114:2) and he denied polytheism when he said: "Who has no partner". Then he talked about some of the attributes of Allah the Almighty. He described Him as the liberal Giver, the Initiator, Who had initiated the creation from nothing and the Resurrector, Who would resurrected His creatures after death. It was a clear confession of the great day; the Day of Resurrection when the scales of justice would be put to weigh the deeds where there would be no injustice or wrong.

Then he said in the other verses that all the creatures were servants of Allah; whether those, who were under the Heaven or those, who were above the Heaven.

Would monotheism be something other than this? Did Abu Talib, after this saying, let an outlet for any doubter or suspector? Was our saying "There is no god but Allah" in its monotheistic meaning clearer than these verses of Abu Talib? Abu Talib recited too:

O you the witness of Allah Witness that I am on the religion of Prophet Ahmed. (1) Let whoever deviates from the religion know that I am guided. (2)

____________ 1 Ahmed was another name of Prophet Muhammad (s). 2 Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.315, Al-Hujja p.81, Sheikhul Abtah p.80. Al-Mubarrid mentioned these verses in his al-Kamil vol.3 p.919 thinking that they were Imam Ali's poetry because Imam Ali used to recite them. His ascribing these verses to Imam Ali was without evidence. It was just because that Imam Ali often recited them. It was something natural of Imam Ali; firstly to show the faithfulness of his father through reciting his poetry and secondly to refresh the memory of his kind father.

Here Abu Talib confessed that he was on the religion of his nephew and then he said that whoever didn't follow this religion would be deviant whereas he himself followed this religion and became guided.

By your God! Wasn't this saying greater in meaning than to say: I am a Muslim?

If someone said to you that he was a Muslim, wouldn't he be treated like the other Muslims concerning the rights and the obligations? Wouldn't his blood, property and honor be protected and no one had any right to violate any thing of that?

So what about this man; Abu Talib, who announced his faithfulness so loudly and who asked the witness of Allah to witness that he was guided by the religion of his nephew, that people denied his being a Muslim?

It was but deviation that covered the eyes thickly and prevented them from seeing the brightness of the truth! Here is something else of Abu Talib's poetry:

Allah had honored Prophet Muhammad, who became the most honored among all the peoples of Him, Allah had derived a name for him from His own name to glorify him; the Lord was Mahmood (1) and His apostle was Muhammmad, (2)

These verses had many things of monotheism and confession of the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (s). As for what concerned his confession of the prophecy of his nephew, there were much many things, some of which was mentioned in the previous chapters of this book.

____________ 1 Mahmood means praiseworthy. 2 Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.315, Al-Hujja p.75, Mo'jamul Qoboor, vol.1 p.197, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.335, Divan Abu Talib p.12, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.39 p.147.

Here we quoted some individual verses chosen from Abu Talib's poems. Some of them might be mentioned in the previous chapters: You are the Prophet; the Prophet of Allah that we know well, to you the books of the Almighty have been revealed.

***

Don't you know that we have found Muhammad a prophet like Moses, this is true in the Books!

***

You are the son of Aamina, you are the Prophet Muhammad ... A prophet, to whom the revelation of his Lord has come ... You are the Prophet Muhammad ... Ahmed has come to them with truthfulness, he hasn't come to them with falseness.

***

or they believe in a wonderful Book revealed to a prophet like Moses or Jonah.

***

They have already known that our son is believed by us, and we never care for the sayings of the falsifiers. Among the obsurdities was the saying of al-Qarafi when commenting on this verse. He said to uncover the ill-will of him: "... declaring by the tongue and believing in the heart but he didn't submit." (1)

Did this biased one have another definition of faithfulness or his inner feelings led him to deviate from the straight way? This was some of Abu Talib's poetry and there was much more full of his clear confession of the mission of Muhammad and full of advocation showing his submission to his nephew. That was the clearest evidence proving his believing in the mission of his nephew, otherwise what would lead him to submit to his nephew;; the orphan, who had been brought up by him and grown under his kindness and care, whereas he was the obeyed leader, the sheikh of Mecca and the chief of Quraysh?

____________ 1 As-Seera an-Nabawiyya, vol.1 p.85.

Muhammad was a son or a grandson of Abu Talib and therefore it was Muhammad, who had to submit to Abu Talib, but what made Abu Talib submit to Muhammad, call him "my master" and address him with the best expression of praising, glorifying and sanctifying? Was there anything else than believing in the mission of Muhammad leading Abu Talib to do so? Was it because of the uncleship or any other kind of kinship? Would the sentiment of kinship stand against the religious enthusiasm, which defeated all the other sentiments and which nothing would resist whatever it was strong and firm?

We noticed how the religious enthusiasm had defeated the sentiment of fatherhood and sonhood like the situation of Abdullah bin Abdullah bin Obeyy towards his father and the situation of Adiy bin Hatim towards his son.

So the religious enthusiasm especially of this leader and sheikh Abu Talib wouldn't vanish when supporting his nephew, who was calling for a new religion other than the religion of Abu Talib -as it was pretended- just because of kinship! This wouldn't be believed even by those of a bit of reason.

Was the sentiment of kinship the only reason that led Abu Talib to drive such signs of praise and glory to his nephew and all that sayings that invited people to follow and support him? Certainly not! Abu Talib recited:

I seek protection of the Lord of the House, from every defamer intending evil for us, from a dissolute backbiting us, from a falsifier ascribing to the religion what we are free from. I swear by the House of Allah that you have told lies! We never give up Muhammad; we struggle and fight for him, We support him until we are killed around him. For him we ignore our wives and children.

Men with iron rush to you swiftly; By the House of Allah! When it is serious, our swords will pierce the heroes! And a white-faced, with whose face it is prayed, so that the clouds bring goodness. He is the shelter of the orphans and the guardian of the widows. You know well that our son had never been a liar, nor we care for absurdities. I swear I love Ahmed as a passionate lover; I sacrifice my soul for him, I defend him with all I have. He is still the beauty for this world and its people, pang for his enemies, blessing for his fellows. The hope of people; He has no like if the prudent compare! Patient, wise and fair, devoted to his God, not ignorant of Him a bit! So the Lord of the people assisted him, spread the right religion with no vanity.

We don't want to stay long at this wonderful poem so that not to violate its wonderfulness when trying to discuss or detail it. We let the reader take from it whatever he can because it will affect his heart so deeply. Abu Talib was not of that kind of people, who just said without carrying out the sayings! He carried out whatever he had said. He protected the Prophet (s) and supported him. He supported Islam and defended it that even his enemies, who had fabricated against him tens of lies, couldn't deny his favors and virtues.