Shia Strength: Muslim Unite Sunni and Shia The Shi’a View of Hadeeth Sciences

Dear All,

In this two-part article we will discuss the origin and early development of Shi'a Islam.

In this first part we discuss the Shi'a view of the Hadeeth sciences.

Read, reflect and comment.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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The Shi'a View of Hadeeth Sciences

By: Syed-Mohsin Naquvi April 20, 2005

The Shi'a Muslims use the hadeeth literature to learn and teach history, Seera, Tafseer, Arabic literature and culture and use Hadeeth literature to arrive at juridical rulings (IJTEHAD and TAFAQQUH FI'L-ILM).

Many of the most authentic hadeeth reports that the Shi^'a use as the basis to explain various verses of the Qur'an have actually been preserved by well-known Sunni scholars of the past, as well.

However, the Shi^'a scholars have developed a very strict set of standards for analysing the various chains of reporters. This has given rise to the science of RIJAAL. In that science, deep study is done to find out about the life and times of the people who are known to have carried the reports from the time of the Prophet to our own present times. There are a number of conditions to be met before a narrator is accepted as trustworthy. For example, the narrator should be known to be just (AADIL), he should be a pious practicing Muslim and there should be direct evidence to support that the person actually did exist in the time of the people from whom he takes reports as well as in the times of those to whom he delivers. For that reason, many of the very popular narrators who have reported hadeeth in the Sunni hadeeth literature, are rejected by the Shi'a scholars. The prime example is that of Abu Hurayra. Most of the hadeeth that he reports are rejected by the Shi'a scholars. Here are the common reasons.

1. Abu Hurayra did not become Muslim until after the conquest of Khaybar (7th year of Hijra). That gives him only three years and a few months in the company of the Prophet of Islam (pbh). In spite of that, in the SAHEEH of Bukhari the great majority of hadeeth reports are from Abu Hurayra (5,000 reports out of a total of 7,002), while those by all other great companions like Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali can be counted on one's fingers.

2. Abu Hurayra was a beggar on the streets. Even after accepting Islam, he was seen crowding people right after the five time prayers begging for food and money. When the Prophet was told of this, he called Abu Hurayra in and told him not to crowd people at the door of the mosque and had a makeshift bench built inside the courtyard of the mosque. There were some others like Abu Hurayra who were provided that bench to spend their nights. The word for 'bench' in Arabic is SUFA. Those homeless, thus got the name of ASHAAB AS-SUFA from that.

3. During Mu^'awiyyah 's time, Abu Hurayra became a millionaire by selling fabricated hadeeth reports to suit the rulers and other people.

These details have been documented by the Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abu Rayyaah.

Because of the rejection of Abu Hurayra as an authentic narrator, a great number of Hadeeth reports in SAHEEH Bukhari have been rejected by the Shi^'a scholars. That alone has earned the Shi^'a the title of Hadeeth Rejectors. However, those hadeeth reports in Bukhari which come up to the strict standards set by the Shi^'a scholars for authenticity are upheld and valued by the Shi^'a, nevertheless.

We quote below some opinions of Allama Tabatabai on this topic:

"The principle that the hadeeth possesses validity, as attested by the Qur'an, is not at all disputed among the Shi^'a or in fact among all Muslims. But because of the failure of some early rulers of Islam in preserving and guarding the hadeeth, and the excesses of a group among the companions and followers of the Prophet in propagating hadeeth literature, the corpus of hadeeth came to face a certain number of difficulties [1]."

The author then goes on to clarify the method by which Shi^'a scholars sort out the corpus of hadeeth.

"Shi'ism, in addition to seeking to authenticate the chain of transmission of hadeeth, considers the correlation of the text of the hadeeth with the Qur'an as a necessary condition for its validity. In Shi^'a sources there are many hadeeth of the Prophet and the Imams with authentic chains of transmission which themselves assert that a hadeeth contrary to the Qur'an has no value. Only that hadeeth can be considered valid which is in agreement with the Qur'an.[2]"

The fact of the matter is that the main body of Shi^'a hadeeth collection can be found in Sunni Hadeeth books of the sources.

For example, the hadeeth about the sending down of Ayat of Tatheer is reported by both Muslim and Tirmidhi (both Sunni scholars); the four most powerful reports praising Imam Ali are reported in Saheeh Bukhari. In fact, the great Sunni Scholar named Muhaddith Ahmad bin Sho'ayb Nisa'i (d. 303 H) wrote a complete book on Imam Ali, that is known as Al-Khasa'is. The story of Imam Ali giving away a ring from his finger in the middle of the prayer and the revelation of the Ayat of Wilaya is fully recorded by the great Sunni Mufassir Imam Fakhr Razi in his Tafseer-e-Kabeer. The story of Mubahala and the appearance of the five holy souls (The Prophet of Islam, Imam Ali, Fatima Zahra and Hasan and Husayn - peace be unto them all) to confront the Christians (See Q. 3:61) is fully recorded by the great (anti-Shi^ca) Sunni Scholar of India Abdul Haq Muhaddith of Delhi. The TASBEEH of Fatima Zahra is described in Saheeh Bukhari exactly as the Shi^'a do, and not as the Sunnis do. The report about doing MASAH (wiping) of the feet over one's socks is recorded in the SAHEEH of Bukhari, exactly as the Shi^'a do while the Sunnis insist on washing their feet during Wudhu. The story of how the Prophet of Islam gave the verses of Sura Tawba first, to Abu Bakr and then, sent Ali after him to take it away from him with the command that Allah says: Either the Prophet or one from among his nearest can read that message, is recorded in every great and authentic Sunni TAFSEER, including Mawlana Mawdoodi's Tafheem-al-Qur'an. And the list goes on. These are all hadeeth reports, fully upheld for their genuineness and authenticity by the Shi^'a.

The Shi'a do have a collections of hadeeth reports from the Prophet of Islam, which have been handed down to forward generations by the twelve Imams and recorded and propagated by their able disciples. There are four all-time greats:

THE FOUR GREAT BOOKS:

1. AL-KAFI, of Muhammad bin Y'qoob al-Kulayni (d. 329 )

2. Man la Yahdharuhul Faqeeh, of Ibn Babway, also known as Sh. Sadooq(d.381)

3. Tahzeeb al-Ahkaam, of Sh. Toosi (d.460)

4. Al-Istibsaar , also by Sh. Toosi.

Two modern works of later years have become of great importance.

5. Bihaar al-Anwaar, of Allama Majlisi (d.1110 )

6. Mustadrak al-Wasa'il, of Noori Tabrasi (d. 1320 ).

Note that none of the above mentioned books is named SAHEEH. There is a very valid reason for that. Every Shi^'a scholar considered themselves as fallible men. They could make mistakes. So, they collected the hadeeth reports as they found them in their times. But, they left the analysis of the reports to the coming generations. The main reason for that thinking is that the Shi^'a religion is based on rational thought, not on blind following.

AL-KAFI contains nearly 16,000 reports (as compared to Bukharee's 7002). Out of that only 6000 have been confirmed as good and authentic, but the book still remains in its original shape and form. That is because, every coming generation has the right to do its own research and draw its own conclusions.

MODERN STUDY OF SHI^'A HADEETH

There are a number books available on this subject, as follows:

(1) The Formative Period of Twelver Shi^'ism – Hadith Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad, by Andrew J. Newman (university of Edinburgh), Curzon Press, Richmond, Surrey, 2000. In this work the author has discussed three early hadeeth books –

· (i) Al-Mahaasin of Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Khalid al-Barqi, died 260 A.H.

· (ii) Basaa'er ad-Darajaat of Muhammad bin Hasan bin Farrukh as-Saffaar, died in Qum , 290 A.H.

· (iii) Kafi fi ilm ad-Deen of Kulayni died 329 A.H.

This work by Newman is an excellent study and shows that the work on Hadeeth by Shi^'a scholars had begun during the times of the twelve Imams and had actually reached a certain level of maturity while the scholars belonging to the majority Sunni sect were still struggling with it.

(2) An Introduction to Shi^'a Law – A Bibliographical Study, by Hossein Modarresi Tabatabai of Princeton University, published by Ithaca Press, London, 1984. This is a comprehensive list of all the works available on Usool al-Fiqh (study of Jurisprudence) and on various topics of Fiqh (law, e.g., Salat, fasting, Zakat, women's questions, etc.) with the names of the respective authors and source of publication or location in case of manuscripts.

(3) Kitab al-Irshad of Shaykh al-Mufid, translated into English by I.K.A. Howard of Edinburgh , published by Muhammadi Trust, London , 1981. This book consists of full biographies of the twelve Imams with the evidence of their appointments to Imamat.

There are two other books in English which are relevant to our study:

(4) Probe into the History of Hadeeth by Allama Murtaza Askari, translated by Fazal Haq, Saqi Books.

(5) Introduction to Hadeeth by Shaheed ath-Thani, Saqi Books. This book has discussed the concept of diraya and it is a good view of science of hadeeth from the Shi'a point-of-view.

[1] Tabatabai/Nasr, Shi'i Islam, p.101

[2] ibid. p.102

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