Falsification of Hadith and Distortion of The Sunna
The worst mischief upon which Mu’awiyah embarked was the fabrication of hadith, traditions detailing what the Prophet of Islam (ﻉ) said or did. Hadith is one of the two sources of Islam’s legislative system, the Sharaa. Selecting Imam Ali (ﻉ) as his lifetime’s adversary, Mu’awiyah soon found out that his cause was hopeless. Ali’s merits were very well recognized by every Muslim while Mu’awiyah’s family and dismal conduct were the objects of their contempt. Mu’awiyah’s past record was dark and shameful whereas that of Ali (ﻉ) was glorious and shining, full of heroism in defense of Islam.
In order to sustain his campaign and raise the status of his likes, Mu’awiyah had to attract the remnant of some companions of the Prophet (ﺹ) whose characters were known as weak and who had a genuine interest in this world and in its vanishing riches. He employed them to fabricate traditions custom-designed to his own tailoring.
This trend of fabricating hadith constituted a grave danger to the integrity of the Islamic tenets. Hadith is second in importance to the Holy Qur’an. It was very important to ward off such a danger. To expose such a trend to the Muslims at large was very vital, pivotal, of the highest priority. It would be accomplished by exposing and disgracing those who embarked upon committing and nurturing such a terrible mischief. Imam al-Husayn’s revolution broke out in order to undertake this very task.
Let us now review a few samples of fabricated traditions7.
Abu Hurayra is supposed to have quoted the Prophet (ﺹ) saying, “Allah has trusted three persons for His revelation: Myself, Gabriel and Mu’awiyah.” We wonder what Allah was doing for the revelation when Mu’awiyah was in the camp of the infidels. Abu Hurayra claimed the Prophet (ﺹ) gave Mu’awiyah an arrow then said to him, “Take this arrow until we meet in Paradise.”
What a lucky arrow to enter Paradise! Let us stop here to discuss this man, Abu Hurayra, who may have had the lion’s share in distorting the Prophet’s Sunnah especially when we come to know that he was quoted by a host of tabian who in turn are quoted by hundreds others who in turn are quoted by thousands…, and so on. This is why his name is in the forefront of narrators of hadith.
There is no agreement about what Abu Hurayra’s name was, nor when he was born or when he died. He is said as having died in 59 A.H./678 A.D., and some say that his name was Abdul-Rahman ibn Sakhr al-Azdi, while others say it was Umair ibn amir ibn Abd Thish-Shari ibn Taraf. But it is agreed upon that he belonged to the Yemenite tribe of Daws ibn Adnan and that his mother’s name was Umaima daughter of Safeeh ibn al-Harith ibn Shabi ibn Abu Sa’d; she, too, belonged to the Daws tribe.
It is said that the Prophet (ﺹ) nicknamed him “Abu Hurayra” after a kitten to which he was attached. He accepted Islam in 7 A.H./628-9 A.D. immediately after the Battle of Khaybar, and he was then more than thirty years old. He was one of those indigent Muslims who had no house to live in, so they were lodged at the Suffa, a row of rooms adjacent to the Prophet’s mosque at Medina. These residents used to receive the charity doled out to them by other Muslims. He used to see the Prophet (ﺹ) mostly when it was time to eat. He missed most of the battles in defense of Islam waged after that date although he was young and healthy and capable of serving in the army.
The time Abu Hurayra spent in the company of the Prophet (ﺹ), that is to say, on and off, is by the most generous estimates three years, yet this man narrated more traditions of the Prophet (ﺹ) than anyone else in history. The total number of “traditions” which he attributed to the Prophet (ﺹ) reached the astronomical figure of 5,374 of which only 326 are quoted by al-Bukhari, the most famous compiler of hadith, and who endorses no more than 93 of them! Muslim, another compiler of hadith, endorses only 89 of Abu Hurairay’s alleged ahadith. These facts and figures are stated in the famous classic reference titled Siyar Alam an-Nubala’ by at-Thahbi.
Compare this unrealistic figure of 5,374 “traditions” attributed to the Prophet (ﺹ) and compiled during less than three years with the 586 traditions compiled by Ali ibn Abu Talib (ﻉ), the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law who was raised by the Prophet (ﺹ) since his birth in 600 A.D. and who followed the Prophet (ﺹ) like his shadow for 32 years. Compare it with the figure of 142 traditions narrated by Abu Bakr, one of the closest companions and a longtime friend of the Prophet (ﺹ) and one of the earliest to embrace Islam.
Compare it with the figure of 537 traditions narrated by the second caliph Omer ibn al-Khattab and with the 146 traditions narrated by Othman ibn Affan, keeping in mind that all these men knew how to read and write whereas Abu Hurayra was illiterate; he could neither read nor write…
The Umayyads found in Abu Hurayra the right man to fabricate as many “traditions” as they needed to support their un-Islamic practices and then attribute them to the Prophet (ﺹ), hence the existence of such a huge number of traditions filling the books of the Sunnah. And the Umayyads rewarded Abu Hurayra very generously.
When he came from Yemen to Hijaz, Abu Hurayra had only one single piece of striped cloth to cover his private parts. When Mu’awiyah employed Abu Hurayra to work in the factories producing custom-designed “traditions,” he rewarded him by appointing him as the governor of Medina. He also married him off to a lady of prestige for whom Abu Hurayra used to work as a servant and built him al-Aqeeq mansion.
Abu Hurayra found himself during the Umayyads’ reign of terror and oppression a man of wealth and influence, owning slaves and having servants. Prior to that, Omer ibn al-Khattab appointed him as governor of Bahrain for about two years during which Abu Hurayra amassed a huge wealth, so much so that people complained about him to Omer who called him to account for it. Finding his excuse too petty to accept, Omer deposed him. Omer also questioned him about the unrealistically abundant traditions which he was attributing to the Prophet (ﺹ), hitting him with his cane and reprimanding him for forging traditions and even threatening to expel him from the Muslim lands.
All these details and more can be reviewed in famous references such as: Ar-Riyad an-Nadira الرياض النضرة by at-Tabari, in Vol. 4 of the original Arabic text of al-Bukhari’sSahih, where the author quotes Abu Hurayra talking about himself, in Abu Hurayra by the Egyptian scholar Mahmoud Abu Rayyah, in سير أعلام النبلاء Siyar Alam an-Nubala’ by at-Thahbi, in شرح نهج البلاغة Sharh Nahjul-Balagha by Ibn Abul-Hadad, inالبداية و النهاية Al-Bidaya wal Nihaya by Ibn Katheer, in طبقات الفقهاء Tabaqat al-Fuqahaby Ibn Sa’d (also famous as Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d), in تأريخ الأمم و الملوك Tarikh al-Umam wal Muluk by at-Tabari, in تاريخ الخلفاء Tarikh al-Khulafa by as-Sayyuti, in فتح الباري Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, in المستدرك Al-Mustadrak by al-Hakim, and in numerous other references. Yet some Muslims label Abu Hurayra as “Islam’s narrator,” propagating for his fabrications without first studying them in the light of the Qur’an and going as far as invoking the Almighty to be pleased with him….
اللهم أرزقنا شفاعة الحسين
Abdullah ibn Omer (ibn al-Khattab), too, claimed that the Prophet said, “You will see greed after me and things with which you will disagree.” People, he went on, asked, “O Messenger of Allah! What do you order us to do then?” The Prophet, Abdullah continued, said, “Give the governor what is his and plead to Allah for yours.”
Islam, true Islam, never condones toleration of unjust rulers. Another fabricated tradition is also by Abdullah ibn Omer who quoted the Prophet (ﺹ) saying, “Put up with whatever conduct you do not like of your rulers because if you abandon theجماعة Jamaa (group) even the distance of one foot and then die, you will die as unbelievers.”
Surely many despots ruling the Muslim world nowadays can appreciate such “traditions” and will not hesitate to publicize for them and be generous to those who promote them; they would give them generous salaries and build them mansions… Such fabricated “traditions” are not only in total contrast with the Qur’an and the Sunnah as well as with other verified traditions, they invite the Muslims to be the slaves of their rulers.
This is exactly what Mu’awiyah wanted, and this is exactly what so-called “Muslim” rulers like him want in our day and time… Unfortunately for the Muslims and fortunately for their enemies, there are quite a few “Muslim” rulers like this Mu’awiyah. This is why there is poverty, ignorance, dictatorship, injustice, oppression and subjugation to the enemies of Islam throughout the Muslim world nowadays.