Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith
Hadith of Ali’s Sahifah:
The following hadith is reported by Ahmad, al-Shaykhan (al-Bukhari and Muslim) and authors of al-Sunan (books) with miscellaneous expressions. But al-Bukhari reported it under chapter kitab al-’ilm, on the authority of Abu Juhayfah thus: I said to Ali: Do you have a (special) book? He said: No, except the Book of Allah, or an understanding given to a Muslim man, or whatever is recorded in this sahifah. I said: What does this sahifah contain? He said: (It contains) intellect and setting free of a captive, and that the Muslim should not be killed for (killing) an infidel (kafir).
Under bab al-diyat, it is reported that he said: I asked Ali, may Allah be pleased with him: Do you (Ahl al-Bayt and Shi’ah) have anything other than the Qur’an? He replied: By Him Who has splitted the seed and created the air, we never have other than what this Qur’an contains, except a comprehension given to a man in his book, and what this Sahifah contains. I said: What does this sahifah contain? He said: Reason (‘aql), and freeing the slave … etc.
In Kitab al-Hajj, bab Haram al-Madinah, Ibrahim al-Taymi reports on the outhority of his father that he (A) said: We have noting except the Book of Allah and this sahifah that is taken from the Prophet (may God’s peace and benediction be upon him and his Progeny), in which he said: “al-
Madinah is a sanctuary (haram) between ‘Athir to so and so. Whoever causing a hadath (condition requiring wudu’), or giving shelter to a muhdith (one causing hadath), upon him shall be the curse of Allah and angels and all mankind. From him neither disposition nor justice will be accepted”. And he said: “Dhimmah (obligation) of Muslims is one. Whoever disgraces a Muslim upon him will be the curse of Allah, and angels and all people, and neither disposition nor Justice shall be accepted from him. Whoever takes as a patron someone without permission of his masters, upon him shall be the damnation of Allah, and angels and all people. Neither disposition nor justice will be accepted from him.”
Under bab dhimmat al-Muslimin in Kitab al-jizyah, the hadith is reported thus: Ali addressed us saying: We have nor book to read except the Book of Allah and whatever is there in this sahifah. The audience said: What does this sahifah contain? He said: It contains sarcasms and camels’ teeth, and that al-Madinah being sanctified (haram) from ‘Ir up to so and so region. Whoever causing any hadath (condition requiring wudu’), or giving shelter to a muhdith (one causing hadath), upon him shall be the curse of Allah and the angels and all people, and neither disposition nor justice will be accepted from him. Whoever takes as a supporter other than his masters, upon him will be the like of this. The obligation (dhimmah) of Muslims is one, and whoever disgraces any Muslim, upon him will be the same (curse).
Under bab: “The guilt of whoever making a covenant and breaching it then with a word,” it is reported from Ali (A) that he said: We have written nothing from the Prophet (may God’s peace and benediction be upon him and his Progeny) other than the Qur’an and whatever this sahifah contains: The Prophet (S) said: Al-Madinah is haram between ‘Athir and so and so place (kadha). Whoever causing any hadath or giving shelter to a muhdith, upon him shall be the curse of Allah and the angels and all people. From his neither disposition nor justice shall be accepted. Obligation of Muslims is one; whoever violates sanctity of a Muslim, upon him shall be the curse of Allah and the angels and all people. No disposition or justice will be accepted from
him. Whoever patronizing a people with no permission from his masters, upon him shall be the curse of Allah, and angels and all people, and no disposition or justice shall be accepted from him.
Under bab: “The guilt of that who disowns his masters by a word,” he is reported to have said: We have no book to read other than the Book of Allah and this sahifah. Then he took it out, and it contained things like jirahat and teeth of the camels, and that al-Madinah is haram...etc. beside referring to the issues of taking a friend (wala’) and obligation as previously mentioned.
And under bab: “Repugnance of penetration and disputation and extravagance in religion, from kitab al-i’tisam bi lafz, it is reported: One day Ali addressed us from the pulpit saying: By God we have no book to read except the Book of Allah and whatever this sahifah contains. When he opened it, we found in it teeth of the camels, and al-Madinah is haram from ‘Ir up to so and so region ... Whoever causing a hadath in it, upon him shall be the curse of Allah ... and obligation of Muslims is one, calumniated by the lowest of them. Whoever violates the sanctity of a Muslim upon him...etc. And whoever patronizes a people without permission of his masters upon him ... But he said: Allah will never accept from him any disposition or justice (as reported by al-Bukhari).
The narrations of Muslim and authors of Sunan give the same meaning of the ones reported by al-Bukhari, while Muslim referred to the two boundaries of al-Madinah, i.e. ‘Ir and Thawr (two mountains). Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, in his comment on hadith of Ali, on the authority of Ibrahim al-Taymi from his father said: The sahifah included whatever is reported, i.e. every narrator was reporting something from it, either due to the situation necessitating mention of it alone, or because some of them could never memorize or hear whatever it contained. Undoubtedly all that which was reported by them was only conveyed according to the denotation without any abidance by the original words as a whole, the fact entailing the occurrence of differences among the expressions used by them. The narrators couldn’t claim
that he has read the traditions for them as a whole, and they have memorized or written them down from him, but rather their words indicate that he used to mention whatever they contained or some of it out of his memory. Besides, those for whom he read the traditions, have not written them down, but narrated whatever they memorized, including the Prophet’s words and those summing up the meaning. An example for this is the phrase “al-`aql and freeing the captive”, and the word `aql indicates blood-money (diyah) of murder. It is called `aql as it is originally a camel that is tied, i.e. bound by shackles in the courtyard of the murdered man, or his relations deserving it. His words (teeth of camels) in some narrations give the meaning of the provisions stipulated for the teeth of the camels of blood-money (diyah) or sadaqah (alms) ... etc. Generally speaking, we know no one to have written from Amir al-Mu’minin any text of the Sahifah, nor that he himself to have written it according to the Prophet’s order, as he said in the narration of Qatadah on the authority of Abu Hassan, that he heard something and committed it to writing briefly.
Should we have to comment on this Sahifah which is ascribed to Ali, and the various traditions it contained, that were recorded in hadith books, we want to say that we never have confidence in all the narrations cited in it whoever be their narrators. Sufficient be for us to notice what kind of narrations reported by Ibn Hajar.
The reason behind our suspicion lies in the fact that if Ali intended to write from the Messenger of Allah, that which seemed for him to be of benefit for Muslims, he would never be content with such a Sahifah that he – as reported – used to hold in the sheath of his sword. But he used to write thousands of traditions regarding all the rules concerning Muslims’ affairs, being truthful in all his writings if he intended. Nevertheless we have extremely benefitted from the reports contained in this Sahifah, as it showed us clearly the extent of distortion caused by riwayah through meaning, and how it was detrimental to religion, language and literature, as will be soon demonstrated God-willing.
We conclude this chapter with a short comprehensive statement by Ibn Kathir in his book al-Ba’ith al-hathith.
“Riwayah (narration) through meaning was prohibited by another group of traditionists, Jurisprudents and usuli scholars, with strong emphasis in this regard. This was supposed to be the matter of fact, but it never happened. Because the trend that was actually followed being narration of hadith through the meaning it was conveying, which is widely found in all hadith books with no exception. When going through biography of al-Bukhari, it will be found out that he was one among those who used to narrate hadith through meaning. The dear reader can refer to chapter “Standpoint of Grammarians toward Hadith Books” in this book.
- Al-Ba'ith al-hathith, pp. 165, 166.