Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith
The Abbasid State:
While many traditions were reported on merit of Mu’awiyah and the Sham, the Abbasid State had also a good share of traditions in its support after disintegration of the Umayyad State, and establishment of the Abbasid State on its debris. The following are some of them:
Al-Bazzaz reported on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah said to al-Abbas: “Prophethood and kingdom will be verily among you”. It is also reported by Abu Na’im in al-Dala’il, Ibn Adiyy in al-Kamil, and Ibn Asakir who reported it thus: “Among you shall be the Prophethood and among you shall be the kingdom.”
Al-Tirmidhi reported from Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah (S) prayed for al-Abbas with the following supplication: (O God), make caliphate perpetual in his descent.
Al-Tabarani reported that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: Successorship will be verily among my cousins and full brother of my father, till they hand it over to Christ. 224
Fabrication of hadith extended to include al-Saffah. Ahmad reported from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allah said: At the end of the Time and occurrence of seditions, a man from my household will verily appear, that will be called al-Saffah!!
Since course of speech is about the Abbasid State, we quote here
what al-Suyuti reported, in his book Ta’rikh al-khulafa’, about al-Mutawakkil, saying:
He has showed inclination toward the Sunni creed, supported its followers, sending for the narrators to come to Samarra’, giving them abundantly, and ordering them to narrate traditions related to traits and vision. People embarked on praying to God for al-Mutawakkil, exaggerating in extolling and glorifying him, that even some would say: The (real) caliphs are only three: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq due to exterminating the apostates (Ahl al-Riddah), Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz due to his restoration of the seized trusts (mazalim), and al-Mutawakkil due to his revival of the Sunnah and mortification of frowning.
As some of the eminent historians stated, some of the consequences and traces left for us by the Abbasid State, were dispersion of word of Islam, obliteration of the name of Arabs with the State being controlled by the Daylamites and then the Turks who founded for themselves a great sovereignty, after which the world kingdoms were divided into several parts!
Censuring the Turks:
On the occasion of making a reference to the Turks I intend to say: Al-Mu’tasim 225 brought a large number of the Turks into the country till they occupied everywhere in Baghdad, embarking on annoying and oppressing its people, who were averse to their coming, since they constituted a bad omen for them wherever they be. Then the traditionists started to narrate traditions on censuring the turks, ascribing them to the Prophet (S), some of which are the following:
“Verily the Turks are the first to plunder of my Ummah whatever be on their way”.
Ibn Abbas also reported that the Prophet said:
“Kingdom – or caliphate – shall be verily among my sons (or descendants), till they – at the peak of might – be conquerred by the red-faced
people, whose faces are like hammered pots.
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet said:
The Last Hour (Doomsday) will never come before the coming of wide-faced, small-eyed, flat-nosed people, who will tie their horses at the coast of Tigris. It was reported also by Ahmad in his Musnad from Abu Hurayrah with different wording: The Messenger of Allah said: The Doomsday will not come till you fight the Turks, who are small-eyed, red-faced and flat-nosed, and whose faces resemble harmed pots.
Besides, the Constantinople hadith was previously referred to. Anyone asking for more traditions can refer to al-Suyuti’s Ta’rikh al-khulafa’.
How Fabrication of Hadith was Permitted
It was not for fabricators of hadith to let alone their science without supporting it with evidences permitting and justifying whatever they used to compose. Al-Tahawi, in al-Mushkil, reported a hadith from Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet said: Whenever you are told a hadith from me, that you know and never deny (by mind), you have to believe it, whether I actually uttered it or not! Verily I utter that which can be known and not denied. And when it is reported to you a hadith from me, that you deny and never recognize, you have to disbelieve it, as I never utter that which is to be disapproved and cannot be known.
A similar hadith was reported by Ahmad, that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: When hearing any hadith ascribed to me, with which your hearts are acquainted and toward which you incline, finding it near to you, I am verily more entitled than you to it. But when you hear a hadith from me, which your hearts disapprove and from which your senses are alienated, finding it quite far from your conception, I will be verily farther than you from it. Al-Sayyid Rashid Rida says that the isnad (chain of transmission) of this hadith is good and authentic.
Khalid ibn Yazid is reported to have said: I heard Muhammad ibn Sa’id al-Dimashqi saying: When the speech being fluent, I see no harm in finding an isnad for it. 227
In al-Hilyah, he reported from Ibn Mahdi, from Abu Luhay’ah that he heard a shaykh from among the Kharijites saying (after repenting): These traditions are verily a religion, so you should be careful from whom you take your religion. We used to invent a hadith for anything we desired much.
The traditionist Ibn Hajar says: By God these traditions are actually backbreaking to those arguing with the mursal (hadith), as the heresy of Khawarij was during the early period of Islam with the presence of so many Companions, extending then to the age of the Tabi’un and those succeeding them.
When these people admire and approve of anything, they make of it a hadith with circulating it everywhere. Then it may happen that someone would hear something, relating it then without referring to that who firstly narrated it, out of good intention. From him it will be reported by another one, after whom comes that arguing with the assertives and takes it as a means for argumentation, despite its origin to which we referred before!
The prophecy of the hadith came true, as sovereignty remainted in the hands of Banu al-Abbas till the Jesus Christ received it from them!!
Mother of al-Mu'tasim was Turkish.
Tafsir al-Manar, Vol. IX, p. 228.
Sharh al-Nawawi ala Muslim, Vol. I, p.33.