Hadith of Persians and belief
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Hadith relates a comment made by Muhammad about the Persian adoption of Islam.
Although this narration is prominently quoted and referred to, it is not given any formal name, in contrast to other hadith such as the Hadith of the pond of Khumm or the Hadith of Qur'an and Sunnah
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[edit] Narration
The Hadith is narrated by Abu Huraira, a companion of Muhammad known for transmitting large amounts of hadith. Shi'a have a very dim view of his character and in most cases, but not all of them deem him to be untrustworty. Sunnis have the opposite view.
The Hadith is linked to the Surah Al-Jumu'a, which starts with the verses:
- Whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare the Praises and Glory of Allah,- the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
- It is He Who has sent amongst the Unlettered an apostle from among themselves, to rehearse to them His Signs, to sanctify them, and to instruct them in Scripture and Wisdom,- although they had been, before, in manifest error;-
- As well as (to confer all these benefits upon) others of them, who have not already joined them: And He is exalted in Might, Wise. [1]
Abu Huraira relates that:
- While we were sitting with [Muhammad] Surat Al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, "And He has sent [Muhammad] also to other [Muslims].....' (62.3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, "Who are they, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman Al-Farisi was with us. So Allah's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying, "If Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (pleiades, the highest star), even then (some men or man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk)) would attain it."[2]
There are two versions, one where word translated as "Faith" is the Arabic word Ilm, and another where the word used is Iman. Ilm denotes knowledge [of Islam], and Iman denotes "Faith". Scholars have argued that the version having "Ilm" is a fabrication [3].
The mentioned Salman was a Persian by birth and a companion of Muhammad and later a partisan of Ali. Salman the Persian is highly regarded by Both Shi'a and Sunnis, Shi'a include him among the The Four Companions.
[edit] Muslim view
Muslims view this hadith as notable partly since Persians contributed notably to the development of Islamic science and theology. Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), for example, is one of the many scholars referring to this hadith. The hadith is also mentioned among the merits of Salman the Persian, in Sunni [4], Sufi [5] and Shi'a [6] and enumerations..
[edit] Sunni view
Sunnis considered this hadith as so strong that it is included in both of their most trusted Hadith collection, the Two Sahihs, two collections believed by Sunnis to contain only authentic hadith (Arabic: sahih).
The Sunni scholar Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) remarked on the fact that, with few exceptions, most Muslim scholars in the intellectual sciences have been non-Arabs:
- "Thus the founders of grammar were Sibawaih and after him, al-Farisi and Az-Zajjaj. All of them were of Persian descent…they invented rules of (Arabic) grammar…great jurists were Persians… only the Persians engaged in the task of preserving knowledge and writing systematic scholarly works. Thus the truth of the statement of the prophet becomes apparent, "If learning were suspended in the highest parts of heaven the Persians would attain it"…The intellectual sciences were also the preserve of the Persians, left alone by the Arabs, who did not cultivate them…as was the case with all crafts…This situation continued in the cities as long as the Persians and Persian countries, Iraq, Khorasan and Transoxiana (modern Central Asia), retained their sedentary culture."[7]
Sunni scholar Suyuti (d. 1526) remarked
- "It has been communicated unanimously that this hadith refers to Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 765)" [8].
[edit] Shi'a view
In the Shi'a view, this is a critical and notable narration of Muhammad since Iran is the stronghold of Shi'a Islam: Salafi Muslims are known for attacking the Shi'a, and when they attack Shi'a Islam, the Shi'a answer with this hadith, with the rebuttal that if Shi'a Islam is indeed in breach of the truth, then this hadith would be in error, yet, they note, the Sunnis too accept this narration as authentic and significant. [9]. Also, Shi'a reject that this hadith is only directed at a single or few individuals, such as a Abu Hanifa.
the eighth Shi'a Imam, Imam Reza is quoted in Usul al-Kafi:
The saying reflects verse two and three of Surah Al-Jumu'a.
The Shi'a also maintain that the fundamental spiritual meaning of this hadith, that the Persians are capable of (and in context of a Prophetic utering, destined to) surmount challenges that would present unsurmountable challenges to other peoples (i.e. reaching across the vast and inhospitable expanse of outer space to a distant galaxy,) represents the same truth as indicated by the Sign 54 of Sura 5 of The Holy Qur'an, the Hadith of the other nations, and the Hadith of loving Ali.
[edit] References
- ^ [1] Translation by Yusufali
- ^ Sahih Bukhari [2], Sahih Muslim, chapter "The merits of the people of Persia" [3] [4]
- ^ Sunnah.org regarding the "Ilm" version being a fabrication
- ^ Binoria.org, a Sunni site
- ^ Naqshbandi.org, a Naqshbandi site
- ^ Abu Hurayra, book from the Shi'a site Rafed.net
- ^ The Muqaddimah, Translated by F. Rosenthal (III, pp. 311-15, 271-4 [Arabic]; R.N. Frye (p.91). He translated the Arabic word "Ajam" into "Persians".
- ^ Trueislaam.free-online.co.uk and Sunnah.org regarding Suyutis quote on Abu Hanifah
- ^ link to Al-islam.org regarding Iran, Shi'as and Salafis.
