CHAPTER TEN
The connivance of the Jews and the Nazarenes in altering some of the copies is not an impossible matter. some of the shortcomings of the Nazarenes.
This confusion in the Bible testifies without any shadow of doubt that these alterations did happen indeed, and as such, it does not stand to reason to keep looking at these altered versions as a book from God. On the contrary, these discrepancies point out that it is from a source other than God. If the reader contemplates the copies of the Bible and the copies of the Torah in the hands of the Jews, Samaritans, and the Nazarenes, he will find them different enough to definitely confirm the changes and the alterations. So are the copies of the Psalms; they differ to a great extent. It is common knowledge that the copies of the Torah and the Bible are kept with the chieftains of the Jews and the Nazarenes outside the reach of the common people , and that they do not memorise them by heart like the Muslims do the Qur’an . The few elite of the Jews and the Nazarenes are not impervious to colluding to alter some copies, especially when the rest of the people are not in the habit of memorising their Books by heart. If a group o f people among them intended to alter some copies in their possession they can, and if they colluded among themselves to conceal their deed from the common people, none of the latter would have noticed. Similar incidents o f collusion are common happenings in the world. Take the Jews, for example, they colluded and agreed in secrecy among themselves to conceal the prophethood of the Messiah and to repudiate the foretold about him, and to alter it. This was common knowledge in their community all over the world: eastward and westward . They also colluded against him and accused him of being a deceitful magician doctor and the son of a harlot . They stayed consistent in their calumny against him in spite of seeing the miraculous signs he was sent out with , and in spite of their full knowledge that he was the freest creature of God from these accusations. They spread these accusations against him and filled their books with them, eastward and westward. They also colluded against Lot the prophet that he committed incest with both o f his daughters , and that they bore children to him and this was publicized among all of them. They also colluded in saying that God regretted and wept and bit His fingers to have caused the Flood to happen, and that He wrestled with Jacob and the latter won over Him, and that He is slumbering and being unaware of them to the point that they had to wake Him up , and this was circulated in their midst!.
After the demise of their kingdom, they colluded in concocting some chapters they used in their prayers : chapters which are not known to be attributed to Moses or to any one of his followers ; as their saying in prayer:
«O Lord! blow in a huge horn to deliver us, and take us all from the four corners of the earth to Your Holiness, praised be You, you are the gatherer of the Diaspora of the people of Israel.»
And their saying in it:
« Render our rulers to be from our own people like the former rulers, and our comportment like it was in the beginning, and build Jerusalem, the village of Your Holiness, in our days, and strengthen us with power in building it. Praised be You, 0 You! The Builder of Jerusalem.»
Neither Moses nor his (true) people used to say anything like that in their prayer. They also colluded in what they say in their prayer at the beginning of every year as we have mentioned about them. They also colluded in making fasting a law in commemorating the burning of Jerusalem, and the fasting for Hasa, the fasting for kadlia, and the fasting for the crucifixion of Hamaan. They acknowledge that they have added on these laws for reasons these incidents required ; as such, they have colluded against the teaching of the Torah:
«Do not add anything to any matter I commend you to follow, and do not take off from it anything.»
They colluded in adding-on, and taking-off, and altering the laws of God . They also colluded in abrogating the religious duty of stoning the adulterer although it was stipulated in the text of the Torah. They also colluded in denying God the possibility of abolishing what He ordained to His servants under their pretext of their devotion to Judaism; but the Torah and all of the prophethoods belie them. Restricting the Will of God to abolish what He legislates lest He becomes liable to having new opinions and second thoughts is one of the strangest matters!. Then they (contradict themselves) in
saying that He regretted and wept over the Flood , and that He changed His opinion and regretted the creation of Mankind!. This is similar to the legislation of their brethren among the worshippers of the Cross who forbade their monks from getting married and from having children, yet they attributed to God, the One, the Eternal a companion and a son ! . Out of that conception comes their collusion that the Dominion will be returned to them, and that all beliefs will return to Judaism , and they will conquer all the people. Another example of their collusion is their invalidation to the laws and to the religious duties of the Torah, and their abandoning them in most of their matters except few, and they acknowledge this fact as being one of the main reasons for the demise of their dominion and their power. How could it be denied that a people who colluded to belie the Messiah, repudiate his prophethood, accuse him and his mother with the most heinous accusation , plainly lying about God and His prophets, invalidating H i s laws and exchanging them, and killing the prophets of God; would not collude to alter some of the Torah and conceal the attribute of Muhammad, the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) and his traits mentioned in it.
As for the stray nation, the worshippers of the Cross and the adorned pictures on the walls, the brothers of the pigs, the vilifiers of their Creator and Sustainer with the ugliest level of impudence, those who rendered Him a slapping object to the Jews and their collusion about that and about all sorts of impossibilities and falsehoods; I say to them that there is no god but God who brought to the light of existence the example of this nation which is strayer than donkeys on the loose grazing like livestock . What stood between them and Him is their vilification and devaluation to Him, their belying to Him, their belying to His Servant and Messenger, their antagonism against His party and His followers, their patronage to the Shaytan (Satan), their worshipping to pictures and crosses instead of worshipping the Most Merciful , the Most Compassionate, making the sign of the Cross over the faces instead of saying: «God is Great» and reading: «Praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, the King of the Day of judgement» in the opening of the Book (the Qur’an 1 , 2,3), instead of saying: «O God! give us our daily bread that is suitable to us» prostrating to the One, the Conqueror, instead of kneeling before pictures painted on the walls in red , yellow , and crimson colours. This is (an account) to some of the matters of these two nations who have some of the traces of the prophethood and who have a Book, how if this is so with these two nations could it be the case with the rest of the nations who do not have any feelings about the prophethood, or who did not receive any message, saw none of its wonders, and did not come across any trace about it!
The saying of the asker: why did not ibn Salaam come with the correct copies?
The asker said :
«If you say that Abdullah bin Salaam and Ka’b al-Ahbar, and others professed to us about that quoting their books, why did not ibn Salaam and his companion who embraced Islam , come with those copies of theirs to witness against us?»
The answer has different facets :
1 – One of them is that the testimonies and the signs of the prophethood are not confined to what the people of the Book have about the attribute and the description of the Prophet (peace be upon him ) , for the signs and the evidences of the prophethood in the former Books are only one facet out of many.
The majority of the people of the earth did not embrace Islam because of the evidences and the news mentioned in their Books; but they embraced Islam because of the evidences they lived and the signs they witnessed. The evidence of the people of the Book have come as an assuring, though dispensable, confirmation . . Here are the Arabs
from the first to the last one of them : their embracement to Islam did not depend on knowing the evidences the people of the Book have even though these evidences had reached some and fell on the hearing of some before the prophethood and after it. The Ansar,for example, used to hear from the Jews the attributes of his Prophet (peace be upon him) , his description, and the time and place of his emergence. When they sighted him, they recognized him through the attribute they knew from the Jews . So, the enemies of God choked on their saliva, throttled on their drinking water and said:
«This is not the one we are promised!»
The knowledge of the prophthood of Muhammad, the Messiah, and Moses (peace be upon all of them) is not confined to knowing that those who came before them foretokened their prophethood; but the means of knowledge in this matter are varied . When a person knows the prophethood of the Prophet (peace be upon him) by any of these means , his prophethood is confirmed , and following him becomes a duty even though if no precedent foretelling his prophethood is available, since his prophethood is confirmed by many other proofs . The foretoken circulated by those who came before him is either a prerequisite to his prophethood or not. If it is not, it should not have happened.
Besides , it is not a prerequisite to believing in a prophet . Even without it happening, a prophet should be believed . If it is not a prerequisite, then it provides the confirmation that it (the foretoken) had taken place . If the foretoken did not reach us it does not mean it did not happen, for the occurrence of an event does not warrant neither its general nor its special publication. Not everything Moses, the Messiah, and the other former prophets said reached us and this can be known by necessity that the Messiah and others did not foretoken his coming, for they could foretoken his coming without
having the foretoken conveyed. It is a possibility to consider as well that the foretold could have been mentioned in books other than the currently circulated and well known Books. Every nation still holds books which are accessible only to the erudite elite excluding the general public. It could have been mentioned in some copies and
suppressed or altered in others , and all the copies were transcribed from the latter altered version and were circulated as such with the full concealment of the original copies.
This is only a reply to the assumption that there was no mention whatsoever to this foretoken in the original & opies of the Books . But we have mentioned some of the foretokens in their Books which are irrefutable by any person with the minimum level of knowledge in their midst, even if they can spread the wings of their vanity and seek
to beguile the interpretation among their mobs and laymen.
2-Abdullah bin Salaam had met with the Jews and had them stand before the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) , and proved to them that his attribute and traits are mentioned in their Books, and that they knew that he was the Messenger of God; The Jews had testified that ibn Salaam was the most knowledgeable among them, he was the son of the most knowledgeable among them , and he was the best man in their midst, and the son of the best man among them. Their change of heart to the contrary later on after his embracing Islam that he is the most wicked and the son of the most wicked , the most ignorant and the son of the most ignorant, does not change the facts and it bears no significance. It is like when a man gives a fair and good testimony on behalf of another man before a judge, and he affirms that he only testifies with the truth , and that he accepts the other man’s testimony toward him; and when this other man testifies, the first man accuses him of being a liar and a false witness. It is well known that this outcome does n o t depreciate the second man’s testimony. As far as Ka’b al-Ahbaar is concerned, he filled the world with the news about what the former prophets foretokened about him (Muhammad), and how these foretokens were overtly declared to the Muslims, Jews, and the Nazarenes. He heralded to the reach of everybody’s hearing these foretokens . The Muslims among the people of the Book attested to the news he declared and asserted his claim, and that he was the most comprehensive of men among them in his knowledge in the Books of the Prophets. The Companions used to test him in the news he used to bring over, and they used to balance his sayings against the variety of what they knew, and as such, confirming his truthfulness. They testified on his behalf that, among all of the people of the Book who convey news to them, he is the most truthful or one of the most truthful of men . Acting on behalf of Abdullah bin Salaam , we found for you today these same foretold in your Books . They are for us witnesses against you and the Books in your hands . Bring over these Books and recite them if you are truthful . For those among you whom God guided to embrace Islam, we have for them in our midst people who stand by them, agree with them, and confirm the truth they believe in against you. Or else, testify against yourselves by what God, His angels, His prophets, His messengers, and His believing servants testified against you of unbelief, disbelief, rejection of the truth, and antagonising God and His Messenger.
3-If Abdullah bin Salaam brings you every clear and frank copy (containing the foretokens about the Prophet) you would search for every possible means to alter it out of your untruthfulness, stubbornness , and fallaciousness . If he brings you the news of someone unfamiliar to you, you would say: «It is not he , he did not come yet» and you would say : «We do not leave the canons of the Torah, and we do not follow the prophet of the illiterate people» although your predecessors saw the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) , and made sure after examining him that he was indeed a messenger, he was indeed the foretold one, the one promised on the tongues of the former prophets. One of them said to him face to face:
«We do profess that you are a prophet indeed»
«What holds you back then from following me?» he said.
«We are scared that if we do, some of the Jews will kill us.»
God Most High said:
“Those against whom the Word of Thy Lord bath been verified would not believe * Even if every Sign was brought unto them,- until they see (For themselves) the Penalty Grievous” (Yunus: 96- 97-)
He brought you signs greater than the foretokens of the prophets, and although He showed to the people each one of these signs more than the measure needed for them to believe; you increasingly adopted more distasteful , more fallacious , and more rejective
attitude against the truth . Even if God had sent down His angels to you, made the dead talk to you, and made everything succulent or everything dry testify to his prophethood ; misery would have overcome you, and you would have ended up as you were described before in the mother of the Book (the opening surah of the Book). Those who were wiser than you and your fathers, after having seen the Signs of God , envy made them cling more to fallacy and stubbornness!. No wonder, for your predecessors and exemplars in the business of belying the prophets are a nation that only God can keep count of. You became as if you have struck a deal among yourselves to foster this legacy of untruth from one generation to the other. The Most High said:
“ Similarly, no apostle came to the Peoples before them, but they said (of him) in like manner “A sorcerer, or one possessed! * Is this the legacy they have transmitted, one to another? Nay, they are themselves a people transgressing beyond bounds!” (al-Zariyaat: 52- 53-)
Even if we put aside the foretold of previous prophets, is not there sufficient proof of his prophethood in the evidences and signs that came at his hands? God willing, I shall mention some of these signs after finishing these answers in a way to give conclusive judgement.
The asker said :
«You have attributed the two mentioned great nations to the choice of unbelief over belief for the above mentioned reasons. Ibn Salaam and his companion fit more into this accusation because they are very few in number against their innumerable adversaries».
The answer to this question is tackled from different perspectives:
1 -We have shown that the majority of these two mentioned nations believed in him and followed him and they were all over the world . Here is al-Shaam (Syria) and Egypt and the neighbouring countries, and the adjacent constituencies , and Jazeera (the island), the Mosul and their constituencies , and the majority of the countries of al-Maghrib, and many of the countries of the East. They were all Nazarenes and the inhabitants of these lands all embraced Islam except a small minority. Here are the pagans! they all embraced Islam except those living in the most remote areas of the earth, due to the reason that the call did not reach them. Here is the nation of the Magians ( Majoos) which amounted to these two nations in power and populace, they embraced his religion, and some dwelled on their old belief as if you were living like you were humiliated and under the payment of al-Jizyah.
2-We have shown that the reason behind their disbelief is not only the sheer prohibition of some food and the chieftainship, though these two issues played a role, and some rejected belief merely because of them; but some were led by jealousy, some by whims and snobbery, some by their reverence to the tradition of their fathers and forefathers and their trust in them , some by their familiarity to the religion they were brought up in , and some by their natural disposition where departing from what they are accustomed to is like separating a man from his temperament. You see how this reason is the controlling and dominating factor over most of the progeny of Adam in their predilection to what they are accustomed to of food, drink, clothes , dwellings, and religion against what is better and much more appropriate!. Some were led by the blind copying of customs and traditions , led by ignorance , These are the blind followers who know not. Some were led by fear of losing a beloved person or by fear of a sinister foreboding befalling them . So the reason behind these two nations’ disbelief is not only attributed to the above mentioned two issues.
3 -We have shown that the nations before them were more numerous and more copious in knowledge than they were; but in spite of that, they chose blindness against true guidance, disbelief against true belief and guiding insight. To these two nations there were many predecessors and they were the majority of the people.
4- Abdullah bin Salaam and his relatives embraced Islam at a time where hardships prevailed, where Muslims were few and insubstantial, where all people were closing in on them with hostility, and the Jews and the polytheists were the people of the fighting furor, equipment, planning, and arms. At that time the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ) and his Companions had sought refuge in Madinah while foes were chasing after them in every direction, and offering luring awards for anybody who brought them in shackles. Then the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ) went out with his
companion and their servant and they hid inside an underground cave . Three days later, they came out and headed to Madinah on a different route . The fighting furor , military might, equipment, resources and numbers in Madinah were in the hands of the Jews and the polytheists. When Abdullah bin Salaam saw the Prophet (peace be upon him ) on his arrival , he recognized the signs of the prophethood he already knew about and saw them in him . He embraced Islam . He left behind the motives that prevented the Jews from embracing Islam, that is : chieftainship, and affluence among them. Before the emergence of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) they all testified to his favour that he is their chief, the best of the men in their midst, and their master. He knew that if they get to know of his conversion to Islam they would kick him out of the
chieftainship and commandership, so he wanted the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) to know about his fear: he said to him:
«Go to their houses and ask them about me.»
The prophet did; he asked them about him and they told him that he was their master, leader, and the most knowledgeable among them . Then ibn Salaam showed up and reminded them and apprised them that they know all the way through that he is the Messenger of God . He confronted them with the issue; they cursed him, rebuked him, and denied him the chieftainship, the commandership, and the knowledge . If Abdullah bin Salaam was a kind of a person who is influenced by worldly vainglory and by the chieftainship, he would have followed the lead of the brothers of baboons the like of the Jew, the people of slander; but he did not. That is how the situation was for those among the Jews who embraced Islam. Many of those who chose to stay behind stated the reasons both to their close circles and to the public, they said:
«Our people have ennobled us and accepted us as their leader. If we follow him they would take away from us all of that.»
This state of affairs is to be observed in our own days . We held a debate that lasted the latter part of a whole day with some of the well informed men of the Nazarenes, and when the truth became clear to them they were flabbergasted. I asked one of them in seclusion:
What prevents you now from following the truth?
” If I come close to those donkeys ” – that is how he literally described them- they would spread dissension among us under the very hooves of my riding animal, and would make me rule over their money and women (by their sheer stupidity) ; and I have no other craft , I d o not memorise the Qur’an and know nothing about philology or jurisprudence. If l embrace Islam I would have to roam the streets begging people . Who would be pleased to live like that!?, he said .
But it can not be like that ! , how could you think that if you disobey the calls of your whims for the sake of God, He would let you down, humiliate you and make you indigent?. Besides, for argument’s sake, suppose your fears come to pass, what would you have earned of truth, Salvation from Hell, and the wrath and anger of God would
be a good recompense to what you have missed:
Till God wills, he replied
This is not a matter of fate. If fate was a proof, then the argument of the Jews in belying the Messiah , and the argument of the polytheists against the Messengers would have been , at least apparently, valid . How would the situation be knowing that you do not believe in fate in the first place? How do you use it as a proof?.
Let us forget about that now, he said , then he refrained from saying anything anymore.
5- (Addressing the asker) the answer to your question is included in your question . You have confessed that Abdullah bin Salaam and his relatives were very few in number , and their foes were innumerable . It is well conceivable that the reason that leads to an argument with a mighty majority is stronger than the reason that leads to an argument with a weak minority, and God is the granter of prosperity.
The Muslims are above all the nations in good deeds and beneficial knowledge
The asker said:
«We have some doubt about your trust in Abdullah bin Salaam and his companions. That is you built most of the foundation of your religious canons in the matters of lawfulness and unlawfulness, command and interdiction, on the sayings of some companions from the common people who have had no track record in any field of
knowledge, no learning and no written books before the emergence of your prophet. Ibn Sallam and his companions are worthier to be quoted and believed in their sayings and accounts than any other, because they were people of knowledge, research, study, and writings before and after the emergence of your prophet. We do not see you quoting any of their tellings about lawfulness and unlawfulness, command and interdiction , other than a scanty trickle, and even though it is classified as «Weak» in traceability in our midst.»
We address the reply from different points of view:
I -Their statement is false because we did not build the foundation of our shariah on anything other than the Book of our Most Glorified God : the Book which He sent down upon His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) , and through which he challenged all the nations of different sciences, races, and temperaments at a time where he was still weak, and his foes were filling the earth, lacking neither in numbers nor in means to challenge him by producing a similar Book, and prove worthier than he in upholding the truth, and as such demons trating their truth fulness and his imposture; instead they proved their incapability to do so . This, and his enemies, who were nearer to him, were the most eloquent of the people, were people of rhetoric, literary eloquence, language, poetry, prose, oratory, and all kinds of debate and discussions; neither one of them uttered a single word in opposition to him although they were
the keenest of the people to belie him , and the most intense in harming him both verbally and physically, and the most ardent to have people repulse him in every possible way . There is no evidence that any one of them answered his challenge in one single sura; except Musaylimah the liar who tried to parody the phrasing of the Qur’an
with some of his fabrications, like:
«O frog! the daughter of two frogs, croak O how many times you croak! Neither the drinker you prevent, nor the water you muddy.
And like the grinders that crush grain to powder, and the dough kneader who pummels mixtures into dough, and the bakers who turn dough into bread; you keep growing bigger and fatter.»
And like some other passages he wrote which were closer to the writings of a madman or an imbecile than to the writings of a mentally stable man.
The Muslims built the foundations of their religion and the scholastic guideposts of lawfulness and unlawfulness on the Book which no other Book was ever sent down from heavens to be greater than it. It contains elucidation to everything, and completeness of details to everything, and true guidance, mercy and healing to the
hearts. It contains the Guidance of God, His Messenger and his people. It is the foundation of their religion.
2-Your saying that the Muslims built the foundations of their religion on the accounts of common people from among the companions is one of the biggest false accusations and one of the most atrocious lies, for even if they were illiterate, when God sent to them His Messenger, He purified them and taught them the Book and taught them wisdom, and favoured them over all the nations in knowledge, deeds, guidance, theology, and learning that purify and perfect the souls . No other nation is left to match them in their
contributions, sciences, good deeds, and learning. If the knowledge, sciences, true guidance , insight, and vision of all the nations were measured compared to theirs, they would fail to measure up in every way even if the other nations were more knowledgeable than they in arithmetic, geometry, integral, differential, pulse (medecine), the vial (chemistry and pharmacy) , urology, measurements , weighing the
rivers , pictures painting, engravings on the walls , invention of astonishing machines, the craft of chemistry, agriculture, physiognomy, astrology, musicology, and many fields of other learning which are in between the useless learning and false assumptions on one side, and learnings that are only useful in this passing life on earth and have no provision for life in the Hereafter. If you mean that the companions had no knowledge in this sort of learning; then what a perfect lack of learning it is!. It is a complaint that can only distress the complainer . If you meant they were illiterate in the learnings about God, His Holy Names, Qualities, Deeds, Laws, Religion, Shariah and its details, the Day of Judgement and its details, the details of life after death , the knowledge of the bliss of the souls and their chastisement, and the knowledge of the goodness of the hearts and the sickness of the hearts ; those who slandered their prophet with whatever they defamed him with, and repudiated his prophethood and his message which is brighter than the sun in its clarity to the sights- , would not hesitate to slander his Companions, repudiate their merits, discredit their knowledge, and denounce what God had privileged them with , and the way He distinguished them from their predecessors and all of their successors till the Day of Judgement. How could they be common people in this matter when they are the smartest of the people in their natural
disposition and the purest at heart and in their souls . Besides, they were receiving it fresh, extolled and pure, from their prophet. And they were the most protective of the people to him and the most eager to be with him, and the Revelation from heaven reached them on his tongue in the hours of the night and the day, in urban settlements and on the road . Their Book encompassed the learnings of their predecessors and their successors and the learning of what was in the Beginning, the Day of Judgement, the Creation of the world, the history of past nations, the prophets and their biographies and their states of affairs with their peoples, their ranks and status before God, their number and the number of the Messengers among them, the mention of their Books, the kinds of punishments that God chastised their enemies with, and the noble-heartedness He bestowed on their followers, the mention of the angels, their kinds and ranks and their functions , the mention of the Last Day and the details of its actualities, the mention of Paradise and the details of its bliss, Hell and the details of its punishment, the mention of the Barzakh (the time between death and resurrection) and the details of the state of affairs of the Creatures in it, the mention of the portents of the Hour with detailed description that no other Book contained from the time the world was created till the day God inherits the earth and all that is on it. The Messiah foretold his coming in his saying in the Bible:
«Everything the Lord Most High has prepared for you, he will recount to you.»
And in another site in the Bible, it reads:
«He will tell you about the events and the Unseen.»
And in another site:
«He will teach you everything.»
And in another site:
«He will unravel to you the Secrets and explain everything to you.
I bring to you parables; he will bring to you the Interpretation.»
And in another site:
«I have many words I want to tell you but you cannot possibly bear them; but when the Spirit of the Truth comes he will guide you to all of the Truth because he does not speak on his own authority, but he speaks what he hears (is revealed to him) . He will tell you about all that is coming to pass and make it known to you all that is coming to pass and make it known to you all that belongs to the Father. »
That is where his learning came from; a learning the Messiah bore witness to . His Companions were receiving all of that from him, bearing in mind that they were the smartest of the creation, the most devoted in commitment to memory, and the most striving in their endeavours. How could any nation equal them in these learnings and
spheres of cognizance!?.
One day the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ) prayed the morning prayer, went up to the mimbar (pulpit) , and gave them a sermon till the noon prayer was due. He came down and prayed, then he went up to the mimbar and gave them another sermon till the Asr (afternoon) prayer was due. He came down and prayed, then he gave them another sermon till the Maghrib (sunset) prayer was due . He did not leave anything without mentioning it till the Day of the Resurrection . He was the most cognizant of them and the most committed to memory. One day he gave them a speech and he mentioned things from the beginning of the Creation till the point when the people of heaven entered their houses . A Jew said to Salmaan:
«Your prophet has taught you everything, even that which will come to pass in the Hereafter.»
«Yes indeed» he said: this Jew knew more about our prophet than the asker and his co-religionists.»
The Companions are the most cognizant of the people and the best of men among them. The scholars of the Ummah (nation) are their disciples. Some of the luminaries of the Companion and the Imams.
How could the Companions of our prophet be assumed as commoners and all of these beneficial fields of learning, are taken from them , from their speeches and the endeavours o f their fatwa (verdicts)! . Here is Abdullah bin Abbas, he was one of their boys and lads disciples and he overwhelmed the earth with his knowledge. His fatwas (formal legal opinion in Islamic law) heaped up close to thirty volumes. He was a sea (of knowledge) that never dries out. If all the people of the earth sought his opinion he would have encompassed them with knowledge. When he embarked on giving a fatwa in the matter of lawfulness and unlawfulness, people used to say : no other person can do better. When he embarked on interpreting the Qur’an, the listeners used to say: no other person can do better. When he embarked on explaining the sunnah and the narration on the authority of the prophet, the listeners used to say: no other person can do better. When he embarked on tracking the stories of the prophet, the history of the Umma, and the biography of the predecessors, the listeners used to say as mentioned before . When he embarked on tracking the lineages of the Arabs , their tribes , origins, and descendants, the listeners used to say the same. When he embarked on poetry and rhetorical styles, the listeners used to say the same.
Mujahid said:
«The learned men are the companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him).»
“And those to whom knowledge has come see that the (Revelation) sent down to thee from thy Lord- that is the Truth and that it guides to the path of the Exalted (in Might), Worthy of all praise. “ (Saba: 6)
Qatadah said:
«They are the companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him). When Mu’az was on his death-bed he was asked:
Advise us.
He said :
* Sit me up . Knowledge and faith are in their proper places. He who seeks them will find them with a group of four: with Uwaymir abi-1-dara’, with Salman al-Farisi, with Abdullah bin Mas’ ood, and with Abdullah bin Salaam of whom I heard the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) say:
(He is one of the ten known to be in Paradise.)
And on the authority of Abdullah, Ishaaq al-Subay’ee said :
(The scholars of the earth are three: a man in al-Shaam (Syria) another in Kufah, and another in Madinah . The first two refer to the man in Madinah; but the man in Madinah asks none of them .).
Ali bin abi Talib was asked:
(Tell us about the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) ,) .
He said :
(Which one of them?)
They said:
(Abdullah bin Mas’ood)
He said :
(He read the Qur’an and taught the sunna then he finished, and what he contributed is enough .)
They said:
(Tell us about Huzayfah),
He said:
( Among the Companions of Muhammad he is the most knowledgeable in the affairs of hypocrites).
They said:
(What about abu Zarr?),
He said:
(Resourceful, full with knowledge and kneaded in it)
They said :
(What about Ammar?),
He said:
(Faithful but forgetful. If you will remind him he will remember God, faith is mixed with his flesh and blood . Hell has no share in him.) They said:
( What about Abu Musa? ) . He said , « he was dipped in knowledge». They asked, «What about Salman?»
He said:
(He learnt the former and the latter knowledge . He is a sea (of knowledge) that does not dry out. He is one of us: the people of the House.)
They said:
(Tell us about yourself O you the Prince of the faithful).
He said:
(You asked for it, when I am asked I give, when I am not I make the gesture).
Masrooq said, I spoke, mouth to mouth, to the Companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him) , and I found out that their learning is traced to six men : Ali , Abdullah, Omar, Zayd bin Thabit, abi-1-Darda’e , and abi bin Ka’b . I spoke to the six of them , mouth to mouth, and found that their learning is traced to Ali and to Abdullah.
Masrooq also said :
I sat with the Companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him ) and found them captivatingly resourceful to the point that they can quench the thirst of every seeker on earth, and Abdullah was one of those Companions.
The Saheeh ( the authoritative chronicles of the Prophet’s traditions) recounts that the Prophet said:
«While I was asleep I dreamt I was given a glass of milk, and I drank from it till I saw whey oozing out of my fingernails. Then I gave the rest to Omar. » He said: «That is knowledge».
Abdullah said:
«I would reckon that Omar bin al-khattab got hold of nine tenths of al-Ilm (Knowledge)».
He (Abdullah) also said :
«If the knowledge of Omar bin al-Khattab was put in a balanced pan and the knowledge of the rest of the people of the earth in the other pan, the knowledge of Omar would weigh more.»
And Huzayfah bin al-Yaman said:
«The knowledge of the people compared to the knowledge of Omar is like a scratch in a stone. »
Abi Sha’bi said:
«The judges of the nation are four: Omar, Ali, Zayd, and Abu Moosa.»
And Qubaysah bin Jaber said:
«I have never seen a man more knowledgeable about God, more involved in reciting the Book of God, and more comprehending to the jurisprudence of the religion of God, than Omar.»
Ali said :
«The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) sent me to Yemen and I was still at a young age and having no knowledge in jurisdiction.
I said:
You are sending me to a people among whom there are young men and I have no knowledge in jurisdiction!
He pointed his finger to my chest and said:
God will guide your heart and strengthen your tongue.
Ali said:
After that I never had doubts in judging between two people.»
In the Saheeh books of hadith we have mentioned an account on the authority of Abdullah bin Mas’ood that he said:
«I was tending some sheep for Oqbah ibn abi Mu’ayt. The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) passed by me alongside with abu Bakr. He said to me:
O Lad! Is there any milk available?
Yes there is, but I am entrusted I said
Is there any ewe unmounted yet by a male sheep?,
I brought him one; he stroked its udder, and milk came down. He collected it in a utensil, drank from it, and passed it to abi Bakr to drink from it. Then he said to the udder: contract, and it did. Then I came closer to him and said:
O Messenger of God! Teach me some of these words!
He stroked my head and said:
* May God have mercy on you, you are taught and you are a teacher.» Aqabah bin Amir said:
«I do not see anybody more knowledgeable in what descended upon Muhammad than Abdullah.»
Abu Moosa replied:
«If you say so , he was hearing when we were not, and he was coming in when we were not.»
On the authority of Abdullah, Masrooq said:
«No sura (chapter o f the Qur’an) was sent down without me knowing the reason why and what for. If l know that there is a man more knowledgeable in the Book of God than I, I would ride as many camels as it takes, and search every.possible means to reach him. »
On the saying of the Most Exalted in Might, the Most Revered:
“And among them are men who listen to thee, but in the end, when they go out from thee, they say to those who have received knowledge what is it he said just then?” (Muhammad : 16)
Abdullah bin Buraydah said that this verse refers to Abdullah bin Mas’ood. And Masrooq was asked:
«Did Ayeshah have command of the knowledge of religious duties?»
«By God, I have seen the eminent men among the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ) consulting with her on religious duties» he replied.
And abu Moosa said :
«No ambiguity faced us (the Companions) from the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and we asked A’ yeshah but we gained knowledge and clarification from her.»
Shahr bin Howshab said :
« When the Companions of Muhammad engaged in a conversation and Mu’az bin Jabal was present among them, they looked up to him out of reverence.»
And Ali bin abi Talib said
«Abu Zarr is a container full of knowledge, then it was tied up and nothing of it was lost till he died.»
Masrooq said :
«I came to Madinah and found Zayd bin Thabit to be one of those men who were deeply rooted in knowledge.»
When the news of the death of Abdullah bin Mas’ ood reached abul-Darda’ , he said:
«Nobody like him will succeed him»
Abul-Darda’ said:
« Some people are endowed with knowledge but not with forbearance; but Shaddad ibn Aws is one of those who are endowed with both: knowledge and forbearance .»
When Zayd bin Thabit died, ibn Abbas eulogised him at his grave side, he said:
«This is how knowledge goes away.»
And the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ) hugged ibn Abbas and said:
«O God, teach him wisdom and the Interpretation of the Book.»
And when ibn Abbas died, Muhammad bin Hanafiah said:
«The godly man of this nation has died.
And Obaidullah bin Abdullah bin Otbah said:
«I have never seen anybody more knowledgeable in the sunnah, more firm in his opinion, and having a more piercing sight when he looks than ibn Abbas.»
And Omar bin al-Khattab used to say to him :
«We have encountered many enigmatic cases and you are the match to them and to their likes.»
Obaidullah used to say:
«Omar is Omar in his diligence and his good opinion toward the Muslims. »
And Ata’ bin abi R a bee’ a h said:
«I have never attended a council more honoured than the council of ibn Abbas, or more jurisprudence and greater in generosity . The luminaries of jurisprudence are with him, and the experts in the Qur’an are with him, so are the masters of poetry. He encompasses them all in a wide valley . Omar bin al-Khattab used to consult him with the most eminent men of the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) , and the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ) prayed that God would give him more knowledge and jurisprudence.»
And Abdullah bin Mas’ud said:
« Had ibn Abbas caught up with us ( before he died ) in the issuance of the Laws, neither one of us would have reached one tenth of his knowledge. »
And ibn Abbas said:
«Nobody had asked me about a matter without me knowing whether he is jurisprudence or not .»
Once he was asked:
«How did you attain such a high level of knowledge?»
«Through a questioning tongue and a comprehending heart» he replied.
He used to be called ” the sea ” due to the abundance of his knowledge.
And Tawoos said:
«I caught up with about fifty o f the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him ). When ibn Abbas mentioned something to them and they disagreed; he kept on discussing the matter till he convinced them.»
And al-A’mash said:
«lbn Abbas was that kind of a man that when you see him you say: he is the most handsome of men, and when he speaks you say: he is the most eloquent of men, and when he discusses a matter you say: he is the most knowledgeable of men.»
And Mujahid said:
«When ibn Abbas explains a matter you see light shining all over him.»
And ibn Sireen said:
«They used to see that this one single man knows what all the people put together do not.»
lbn Awn said: «As if he saw me denying that» s o he said that he said:
«Did not Abu Bakr know what other people did not, then Omar knew what other people did not!?».
And Abdullah bin Mas’ud said:
«If the knowledge of all the living Arabs was put in one pan and the Knowledge of Omar in the other ; the knowledge of Omar outweighs it.»
Al-A’mash said:
«They mentioned this to Ibrahim, then he said:
If we are to account for his knowledge he would come up with nine tenths of the ilm (Knowledge)»
Sa’eed bin al-Musayyeb said:
«After the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) I never knew anyone more knowledgeable than Omar bin al-Khattab.»
Al-Sha’bi said :
«The judges of the people are four: Omar, Ali, Zayd bin Thabit, and Abu Moosa al-Ashari .»
A’ishah (May God be pleased with her) was well advanced in the knowledge of the religious duties ( Fara ‘idh) , rules and laws, the lawful and the unlawful (Halal and Haraam) , and the interpretation ( Tafseer).
Urwa bin al-Zubayr said :
«I have never sat down with anyone who is more knowledgeable in jurisdiction , history of al-Jahiliyyah (pre- Is lamic times) , poetry telling, and more knowledgeable in religious duties, and medicine than A’ishah.»
Ataa’ said:
« A’yeshah was the most knowledgeable and the most jurisprudent of the people.»
In his Saheeh (authoritative Chronicle), al-Bukhari said:
«God looked inside the hearts of his servants and found the heart of Muhammad the purest; so He chose him and sent him out with His message. Then He looked inside the hearts of the rest of His servants and found the hearts of the Companions to be next in purity; they were made his ministers». Then he quoted the following Verse.
“Say: Praise be to God, and peace on His servants whom He has chosen (For His Message) ,(al-Naml: 59)
Ibn Abbas said :
«They are the Companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him) .» And ibn Mas’ood said:
«He among you who adheres to the sunnah, seeks a proper way of life, let him follow the way of life of those who have passed away for the living are not immune against deviations and novelties .»
These are the Companions of Muhammad: the kindest and most devoted at heart, the deepest in knowledge, the least engaged in ceremonials, a people chosen by God to carry out His Religion and accompany His Prophet. Knowledge is their right: hold on to their guidance for they were on the straight path . God, praised be He, complimented them in terms He never complimented with any nation before. The Most Sublime said:
“Thus have we made of you an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations” (al-Baqarah: 143)
That is a moderate nation and full of goodness. And the Most High said:
“Ye are the best of people, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in God.” (al-Imran: 110)
“Muhammad is the Apostle of God: and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other. Thou wilt see them bow and prostrate themselves (in prayer), seeking Grace from God and (His) Good pleasures , on their faces are their marks, (being) the traces of their prostration. This is their similitude in the Taurat; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the unbelievers with rage at them. God has promised those among them who believe and do righteous deeds forgiveness, and a great reward.” (al-Fath: 29)
And the Most High said:
“O ye who believe! fear God and be with those who are true (in word and deed).”(al-Tawbah: 119)
This refers to Muhammad and his Companions. It was correctly attributed to him that he said:
«You live up to the promise of seventy nations, and before God you are the best and the most high-minded and noble-hearted of them all.»
And the Most Sublime said:
“The vanguard (of Islam)- the first of those who forsook (their homes) and of those who gave them aid, and (also) those who follow them in (all) good deeds,- well-pleased is God with them, as are they with Him: For them bath He prepared Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever: that is the supreme Felicity” (al-Tawbah: 100)
And on the authority of Nafe’, Malik said:
« During the pilgrimage season (al- Hajj) ibn Abbas and ibn Omar used to hold sittings for the people and I used to sit one day before this and one day before that. lbn Abbas used to reply and deliver formal legal opinions (Fatwa) in everything he was asked, and
ibn Omar used to reply more than giving fatwa.»
And Malik said:
«And I heard that on Judgement Day, Mu’az bin Jabal will stand by one stone throw in front of the scholars.»
Malik said:
«lbn Omar stayed sixty years after the Prophet (peace be upon him ) delivered fatwa to the people in the season of the pilgrimage and in other times . He was a great imam of religion.»
And Omar said to Jareer:
«May God have mercy on you, for you were a master in the days of al-Jahiliah, and a jurisprudence ( Faqeeh) in the days of lslam.»
And Muhammad bin al-Munkader said :
«Nobody came to Basrah better than Umran bin Husahyn.»
And Jaber bin Abdullah had a circle in the mosque of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) in which he used to teach, and he is considered a reference of learning (ilm).
Knowledge spread out in the wideness o f the horizons by the efforts of the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) . It is they who conquered the lands through Jihad, and inspired the hearts through learning and though the Qur’an, and filled the world with goodness and cognizance, and the people of today live on the remnants of their heritage in learning.
In his epistle ( Al-Resalah) , after he mentioned the Companions with ennoblement and praise, al-Shafi’i said:
«And they were above us in every field of (religious and Spiritual) learning, in every endeavour, piety, reason, and comprehension. And their opinions are more commendable and more deserving than ours. And those among them whom we accepted and with whom we were able to catch up with (before they died) , and those whom we were told about in our country; their conducts in life , without them knowing, have become a sunnah attributable to their unanimous sayings as a group, or rendering them their due merits in recounting their good sayings and good deeds.»
And al-Shafi’i said :
«And God praised the Companions in the Torah , in the Bible, and in the Qur’an . And on the tongue of their Prophet (peace be upon him) He granted them acknowledgement to their graciousness: an acknowledgement He never granted anyone after them.»
And abu Hanifah said:
«When it (a hadith) comes from the Prophet (peace be upon him) we take it with great pleasure, and when it comes on the authority of the Companions, we choose their sayings and adhere to it.»
And ibn al-Qassim said:
«I heard Imam Malik say:
When the Companions of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) entered al-Shaam (Syria), one man of the people of the Book looked at them and said:
(The Disciples of Jesus, the son of Mary, who were cut to pieces by see-saws and were crucified on the crosses were not stranger endeavourers than these men.)
The truthful and honest (the Prophet) who does not speak out of fancy, bore witness to them that they were the best o f the people along the centuries, and their Lord, Most Sublime Most Glorified, bore witness to them that they were the best of the people of all times.
The scholars who studied under them and their disciples are the people who filled the earth with learning. All of the scholars of Islam are their disciples and the disciples of their disciples so on and so forth . And those forty Imams whose learning overwhelmed the earth, eastward and westward, are the disciples of their disciples, and the best they have is the best of what the Companions had, and the best of Jurisprudence is what is quoted from them, and the best of the Interpretation is what is quoted from them.
As for their discussions in the learning about God, His Names, Qualities, Deeds, Fate and Divine Decree ( Qadha ‘ & Qadar) , it is in the highest ranks (of reasoning and Spiritual maturity) for he who studies them and knows what the prophets had said, would know that they were derived and translated from their sayings . Every beneficial learning in the nation is derived from their words and taken from them . These are their disciples and the disciples of their disciples : their books and fatwas’ reached every corner of the earth. Here is (Imam) Malik! His fatwas were collected in several volumes, so were Abu Hanifah’s . Here are the books of (Imam) al-SHafi’ee, they come close to a hundred volumes . Here is Imam Ahmad! His fatwas and writings come close to one hundred volumes, and his fatwas alone are about twenty volumes. Most of his classified books, in fact all of them, are about the Messenger of God (peace be upon
him ) , the Companions and the followers . And here is their succeeding scholar!: sheikh al-Islam ibn Taymiah. Some of his companions collected his fatwas in thirty volumes and I saw them in the Egyptian lands. These are the writings of the Imams of lslam that only God can keep count of, and all , from the first to the last, acknowledge that their scholarliness compared to their (Companions) is like the scholarliness of the companions compared to that of their prophet.
In the Thaqafiyyat, Qutaybah bin Sa’eed tells us on the authority of Sa’eed bin Abdul-Rahman al-Ma’afiri and his father that Ka’b saw a rabbi weeping . He said to him:
«Why are you weeping?!»
«I remembered something,» the rabbi replied.
«I implore you by God ! if I tell you what is making you weep would you believe me?»
«Yes.»
«I implore you by God ! , do you find in the revealed Book of God (The Torah) that Moses looked into the Torah and said:
O Lord! , I find that the best nation brought up to the people to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, believe in the first Book and in the last Book , and fight against the people of misguidance till they flight against the one-eyed swindler (the antiChrist),
make them my people, and He (the Lord) said: (they are the people of Ahmad, O Moses!)
«Yes» replied the rabbi.
«I implore you by God ! , do you find in the revealed Book of God that Moses looked into the Torah and said:
O Lord! , I find a nation who are the lauders ( Hammadoons) , the arbitrating shepherds of the sun, if they want something they say:
(We will do it by the Will of God)
Make them my people, and the Lord said to him :
(They are the people of Ahmad, O Moses!).»
«Yes» said the rabbi.
«I implore you by God ! , do you find in the revealed Book of God that Moses looked into the Torah and said:
O Lord! I find people if one of them attain an honourable thing he praises the Greatness of God, and if a misfortune befalls him he thanks God. Sand is their cleansing (Tayammum) and the ground to them is a place for prostration. Wherever they are they cleanse themselves from impurities (Janabah) . The cleansing in sand when they cannot find water is equal to their self-cleansing in water. Radiant and unique they are from the effect of ablution. Make them my people.
Ka’eb said that the Lord said:
(These are the people of Ahmad, 0 Moses)
«Yes» the rabbi said.
«I implore you by God ! , do you find in the Book of God that Moses looked into the Torah and said:
O Lord ! I find the people spared by your Mercy and Compassion are still weak, but you bequeathed them the Book and choose them for yourself, some of them do wrong against themselves, some of them are thrifty, and others get ahead in good deeds and righteousness . I do not find any of them who are not spared by your Mercy. Make
them my people.
The Lord said:
(These are the people of Ahmad, 0 Moses),
«Yes» the rabbi said to Ka’b .
«I implore you by God ! , do you find in the Book of God that Moses looked into the Torah and said:
O Lord ! I find people whose Books are in their hearts, they stand aligned in their prayer like the arrays of angels, their voices in their mosques are like the humming of bees, no one of them enters till he is guiltless and pure like a (pure) stone devoid of tree leaves . Make them my people. The Lord said:
(These are the people of Ahmad, O Moses!)»
«Yes» the rabbi said to Ka’b .
When Moses greatly admired the abundant goodness God bestowed upon Muhammad and his people, he said:
«I wish I were one of the companions of Muhammad. »
Thereupon, to please him, God revealed to him these verses:
“(God) said: 0 Moses! I have chosen thee above (other) men, by the mission I (have given thee) and the words I (have spoken to thee): take then the (revelation) which I give thee and be of those who give thanks. * And we ordained laws for him i n the Tablets in all matters, both commanding and explaining all things, (and said): take and bold these with firmness, and enjoin thy people to hold fast by the best in the precepts: soon shall I show you the homes of the wicked, – (How they lie desolate” (al-araaf: 144- 145)
“Of the people of Moses there is a section who guide and do justice in the light of truth” (al-A’araaf: 159)
And Moses was fully pleased. Some of these sections are found in the current version of the Torah in the hand of the Jews, some are found in the prophecies of Isaiah , and some are found in the prophecies of others, and the Torah is more comprehensive than the current version of the Torah . God, praised be He , had written to Moses in the Tabloids ( A lwah) a sermon for everything and details of everything. When he broke them, many of them were lifted up and many good things remained . The ignorance of most of the people of the Book fails in censuring this conveyance (of the Tabloids) for there
are still in the inherited learning information about the prophets only known to the very few of the people i f not only to one single person. And this nation, in spite of its closeness in time to its prophet, there are in the inherited learning information about the prophet that are only known to the very few of his nation , and the rest of the
people deny them and are unaware of them.
And Ka’b heard a man saying:
« I saw in a dream the similitude of people gathered for Judgement and the prophets were called on. Every prophet came with his people, and I saw every prophet had two sources of light and everyone of his followers had one walking between his hands. Muhammad (peace be upon him) was called on and to every hair in his head and to his face there was a set of light, and to everyone of his followers there were two sources of light walking with them.»
ka’b said:
«Who talked to you about that?»
«It is a vision I saw in my dream» he said.
«You did see that in your dream!?»
« By Him in whose hands my soul rests , it is the trait of Muhammad and his people , and the trait o f the prophets and their people as if you have read it from the Book of God.»
Some of the ancient books mentioned that it was said to Jesus the son of Mary (Peace be upon both of them):
«O Spirit of God! Is there a nation after this one?»
«Yes» he replied.
«What nation?»
«The nation of Ahmad»
«O Spirit of God ! What is the nation of Ahmad?»
« Savants , sages , righteous and devout men , so rooted in jurisprudence as if they were prophets . They are contented with the little sustenance when it is given by God, and God is pleased with them with as little as they can do. He will enter them to paradise
through the testimony of the Oneness of God.»
Ka’b said:
«The savants of this nation are like the prophets of the people of Israel.»
There is another traceable account on the same line, but I am not sure of its authority.
By Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziah
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