By
Bassam Zawadi
Note: FIRST READ THIS ARTICLE (*)
Here are the hadiths which speak about this supposed controversial verse...
Saheeh MuslimBook 004, Number 1316:Abu Yunus, the freed slave of 'A'isha said: 'A'isha ordered me to transcribe a copy of the Qur'an for her and said: When you reach this verse:" Guard the prayers and the middle prayer" (ii. 238), inform me; so when I reached it, I informed her and she gave me dictation (like this): Guard the prayers and the middle prayer and the afternoon prayer, and stand up truly obedient to Allah. 'A'isha said: This is how I have heard from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him).
Book 004, Number 1317:Al-Bara' b. 'Azib reported: This verse was revealed (in this way):" Guard the prayers and the 'Asr prayer." We recited it (in this very way) so long as Allah desired. Allah, then, abrogated it and it was revealed:" Guard the prayers, and the middle prayer." A person who was sitting with Shaqiq (one of the narrators in the chain of transmitters) said: Now it implies the 'Asr prayer. Upon this al-Bara' said: I have already informed you how this (verse) was revealed and how Allah abrogated it, and Allah knows best. Imam Muslim said: Ashja'i narrated it from Sufyan al-Thauri, who narrated it from al-Aswad b. Qais, who narrated it from 'Uqba, who narrated it from al-Bara' b. 'Azib who said: We recited with the Prophet (may peace be upon him) (the above-mentioned verse like this, i. e. instead of Salat al- Wusta, Salat al-'Asr) for a certain period. as It has been mentioned (in the above-quoted hadith).
Malik's MuwattaBook 8, Number 8.8.26:Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from al-Qaqa ibn Hakim that Abu Yunus, the mawla of A'isha, umm al-muminin said, ''A'isha ordered me to write out a Qur'an for her. She said, 'When you reach this ayat, let me know, "Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and stand obedient to Allah." ' When I reached it I told her, and she dictated to me, 'Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and the asr prayer and stand obedient to Allah.' A'isha said, 'I heard it from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.' "
Book 8, Number 8.8.27:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Amr ibn Rafi said, "I was writing a Qur'an for Hafsa, umm al-muminin, and she said, 'When you reach this ayat, let me know, "Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and stand obedient to Allah." When I reached it I told her and she dictated to me, 'Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and the asr prayer and stand obedient to Allah.' "
Commentator 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mubarkafuri said in his commentary on Sunan Al Tirmidhi...
قال الباجي : يحتمل أنها سمعتها على أنها قرآن ثم نسخت كما في حديث البراء الذي رواه مسلم , فلعل عائشة لم تعلم
بنسخها أو اعتقدت أنها مما نسخ حكمه وبقي رسمه , ويحتمل أنه ذكرها صلى الله عليه وسلم على أنها من غير القرآن لتأكيد فضيلتها فظنتها قرآنا فأرادت إثباتها في المصحف . لذلك قاله الزرقاني في شرح الموطأ
Al Baaji said: It is possible that she (Aisha) heard that it is Quran then it was abrogated in the hadith of Bara'a as reported by Muslim. So its possible that Aisha did not know that it was abrogated or she thought that only its ruling was abrogated and its recitation remained, and its possible that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) reminded her that it was not part of the Qur'an to ensure its specialty so she thought that it was part of the Qur'an so she wanted to have it established in the manuscript. That is what al Zarqaani said in the commentary of Muwaat'a. ('Abd al-Rahman al-Mubarkafuri, Tuhfat Al-Ahwadhi Bi Sharh Jami` Al-Tirmidhi, Kitab: Tafseer al Qur'aan A'an Rasool Allah, Bab: Wa Man Soorat Al Baqara, Commentary on Hadith no. 2908, Source)
Al Baji says in his commentary on Malik's Muwatta'...
يقتضي أن يكون قبل جمع القرآن في مصحف وقبل أن يجمع الناس على المصاحف التي كتب بها عثمان إلى الأمصار لأنه لم يكتب بعد ذلك من المصاحف إلا ما وقع الإجماع عليه وثبت بالخبر المتواتر أنه قرآن فأما غير ذلك مما كان يكتب من معنى التفسير فأجمعوا على المنع منه .
Its possible that it was before the collection of the Quran in a manuscript and before the people began collecting the manuscripts that were written by Uthman to the Amsaar because he did not write after that in the manuscripts except what was agreed upon by consensus and proven by Mutawaatir narrations that it is part of the Qur'an. Other than that from what was written from the commentaries, they formed a consensus on its prohibition.
She ordered to be excused when she wanted him to write down the extra part that wasn't established in the manuscript that he was copying from and any other than that, which he can copy from. And she narrated that she heard that extra part from the Prophet (peace be upon him) so she wanted to have it established in the manuscript for that purpose. (Abû al-Walîd Sulaymân ibn Khalaf al-Bâjî, Al Muntaqaa Sharh Muwata' Maalik, Kitab: Nidaa' Al Salaah, Bab: Al Salaatul Wusta, Commentary on Hadith no. 288, Source)
It seems that some other brother, Dr Ahmad Shafaat, has already written a detailed article on this topic. He argues that the hadith are unreliable and cannot be used as a proof to suggest that this abrogated verse ever existed in the first place. Even though I don't support his views, I still find it to be a worthwhile and professional article that is worth reading and pondering about.
The reference to the Asr prayer in 2:238
We earlier noted that traditions alleging variant readings of the Qur`an without textual evidence are not trustworthy. We illustrate this point by a detailed look at one such tradition that has relatively early attestation. This is the tradition where 'Aishah allegedly dictated the addition of and 'asr prayer in 2:238. This tradition is found in Muwatta and Muslim, both versions being almost identical. We quote from Muwatta:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from al-Qa'qa' ibn Hakim that Abu Yunus, the mawla of 'Aishah, umm al-muminin said: 'Aishah ordered me to write out a copy of the Qur`an for her. She said, "Let me know, when you reach this verse, 'Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and stand obedient to God' [2:238]." When I reached it I told her, and she dictated to me, "Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and the 'asr prayer and stand obedient to God." 'Aishah said, "I heard it from the Messenger of God."
Notice the words of 'Aishah: "'Let me know, when you reach this verse ." These words admit that the verse in question was known without any reference to the 'asr prayer and it was written without that reference in the manuscript from which copy was being made at the request of 'Aishah. The basis on which 'Aishah tells the scribe to make an addition is that she heard it from the Messenger of God. The question is why the existing manuscripts did not have these additional words. If they were part of the Qur`an, as this story implies, then the Messenger was duty bound to tell about the additional words to every one (2:159-160, 5:67). One may say that they were abrogated, as a tradition from Muslim suggests. But what is there to abrogate in an exhortation to guard one of the prayers that remains obligatory any way? And why would 'Aishah want to add the abrogated words? Perhaps, she was ignorant of the fact of abrogation? But if we admit 'Aishah's ignorance about the Prophet's intention about the additional words, the tradition looses much of its credibility. More importantly, the story is discredited above all by the fact that it is found in Muwatta in another version in which both the wife of the Prophet and the scribe have changed:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that 'Amr ibn Rafi' said: I was writing a copy of the Qur`an for Hafsah, umm al-muminin, and she said, "Let me know when you reach this verrse, 'Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and stand obedient to God'." When I reached it I told her and she dictated to me, "Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and the 'asr prayer and stand obedient to God." (Muwatta; in some late versions Hafsah just like 'Aishah in the previous tradition adds that she heard these additional words from the Prophet).
Here the wife of the Prophet who requests a copy of the Qur`an and dictates the verse with an addition is not 'Aishah but Hafsah and the scribe is not Abu Yunus but 'Amr ibn Rafi', probably two different persons. Malik hears both versions from the same source, Zayd bin Aslam, who does not seem to remember, which wife dictated the additional words and which scribe recorded them. The story therefore has little credibility and it seems that Bukhari who does not include it in his Sahih thought the same. Despite this a late tradition reports Nafi' as saying that he saw with his own eyes a copy of the Qur`an with the additional words.
Muslim gives another somewhat similar story in which the variant reading has changed:
Al-Bara' bin 'Azib reported: "The following verse was revealed: 'Guard the prayers and the 'asr prayer.' We recited it (in this way) so long as God desired. Then God abrogated it and it was revealed: 'Guard the prayers, and the middle prayer'." A person who was sitting with Shaqiq (one of the narrators in the chain of transmitters) said: Now this implies the 'asr prayer. Upon this al-Bara' said: "I have already informed you how this (verse) was revealed and how God abrogated it, and God knows best." Imam Muslim said: Aisha' narrated it from Sufyan al-Thawri, who narrated it from al-Aswad bin Qays, who narrated it from 'Uqbah, who narrated it from al-Bara' bin 'Azib who said: "We recited with the Prophet for a certain period" as mentioned in the above hadith (Muslim).
Here we have a clearer admission that the reference to 'asr prayer was never a part of the Qur`an in the form that the Prophet left it with the community, whether in writing or in recitation. We are told here that the words about `asr prayer were abrogated and replaced by those that we now find in our copies of the Qur`an. In other words, in the Qur`an as it was completed by the Prophet, 2:238 was exactly as it is today.
Notice that in this story the variant is simply
"Guard your prayers and the "asr prayer"
and this is replaced after abrogation by:
"Guard your prayers and the middle prayer"
This is different from what we read earlier in the ahadith about 'Aishah and Hafsah. In those ahadith the variant is:
"Guard your prayers and the middle prayer and the "asr prayer".
Also, the theory of abrogation invoked in the hadith attributed to al-Bara` bin 'Azib to justify the variant reading is not present in the ahadith about 'Aishah and Hafsah. There the phrase is added to the Qur`an as something that should be there. Clearly these contradictions do nothing to build any confidence in the trustworthiness of any of these ahadith.
Comparing the various versions and looking at the other traditions about the middle prayer, we can actually see how these stories came to be formed. To begin with we can clearly see that the "middle prayer" became at some point a subject of discussion. Some identified it with the zuhr (noon) prayer, some with the subh or fajr (morning) prayer, and some with the 'asr (afternoon) prayer.
Yahya related to me from Malik from Da`ud ibn al-Husayn that Ibn Yarbu al-Makhzumi said, "I heard Zayd ibn Thabit say, 'The middle prayer is the prayer of zuhr.' " (Muwatta)
But in another tradition we read:
Two men sent by a group of people from Quraysh asked Zayd bin Thabit about the middle prayer. He answered that it was 'asr. Then two other men asked him the same question and he answered that it was zuhr. Then the two asked Usamah who said it was zuhr.
Once, some people were sitting in the company of Zayd bin Thabit. The question of the middle prayer came under discussion. People sent a man to Usamah to find out. He answered that this is the zuhr prayer that the Messenger of God used to pray as soon as its time started (Tayalsi).
The earliest statement of the view that the middle prayer is the morning (subh) prayer is found in Muwatta:
Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that 'Ali ibn abi Talib and 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas used to say, "The middle prayer is the prayer of subh." (Muwatta)
Malik himself preferred the same view:
Malik said, "Out of all that I have heard about the matter, I prefer what 'Ali ibn abi Talib and 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas said."
But while according to Malik 'Ali identified the middle prayer with the morning prayer, in a hadith narrated on the authority of 'Ali in both Muslim and Bukhari the Holy Prophet identifies it with the 'asr prayer:
Narrated 'Ali bin Abi Talib: We were in the company of the Prophet on the day (of the battle) of al-Khandaq (the Trench). The Prophet said, "May God fill their (the infidels') graves and houses with fire, as they have kept us so busy that we could not offer the middle prayer till the sun had set; and that prayer was the 'asrprayer" (Bukhari).
'Ali reported: The Messenger of God said on the day (of the battle) of al-Ahzab: They diverted us from saying the middle prayer. May God fill their houses and graves with fire; he then observed this prayer between the evening prayer and the night prayer (Muslim).
There are other versions of this hadith that conflict with the above version. Thus while in the above version the 'asrprayer was delayed till after the sunset, the following version delays it to a time before the sunset:
'Abd Allah (bin Mas'ud) reported that the polytheists detained the Messenger of God from observing the 'asrprayer till the sun became red or it became yellow. Upon this the Messenger of God said: They have diverted us from (offering) the middle prayer. May God fill (mal`a) their bellies and their graves with fire, or he said: May God stuff (hasha) their bellies and their graves with fire (Muslim).
More importantly, both Muslim and Bukhari give a hadith in which it is 'Umar who scolds the polytheists for causing through battle a delay in the `asr prayer and there is no mention of the middle prayer:
Jabir bin 'Abd Allah reported that 'Umar bin al-Khattab had been cursing the pagans of the Quraysh on the day (of the battle) of al-Khandaq. (He came to the Holy Prophet) and said: "Messenger of God! By God, I could not perform the 'asr prayer till the sun set." Upon this the Messenger said: "By God, I, too, have not performed it." So we went to a valley. The Messenger of God performed ablution and we too performed ablution, and then the Messenger of God performed the 'asr prayer after the sun had set and then performed the maghrib prayer after it (Muslim).
Narrated Jabir bin 'Abd Allah: On the day of al-Khandaq 'Umar bin al-Khattab came cursing the disbelievers of Quraysh after the sun had set and said, "O God's Messenger, I could not perform the 'asr prayer till the sun had set." The Prophet said, "By God! I, too, have not prayed." So we turned towards Buthan, and the Prophet performed ablution and we too performed ablution and offered the 'asr prayer after the sun had set, and then he offered the maghrib prayer (Bukhari).
Even more, Bukhari gives a version of this last tradition in which the Prophet is not explicitly involved:
Narrated Jabir: 'Umar came cursing their disbelievers on the day of al-Khandaq and said, "I could not offer the 'asr prayer till the sun had set. Then we went to Buthan and he offered the prayer after sunset and then he offered the maghrib prayer (Bukhari).
Here there is no talk of the Prophet also being unable to perform the 'asr prayer in time due to engagement in battle. Thus it seems that the historical event underlying the above traditions may be nothing more than the simple fact that in about the battle of al-Khandaq some Muslims could not perform 'asr prayer in time and had to perform it after its appointed time. This incident was used to make various points of fiqh and also to identify the 'asr prayer with the middle prayer. This identification becomes much more explicit in some traditions found in relatively late or less reliable documents:
Abu Hurayrah was once asked about the middle prayer. He said: We also once differed about it. Abu Hashim bin 'Utbah rose from the gathering and went to the house of the Messenger of God. After seeking permission, he entered and obtained the information. He came out and told us that it was 'asr (al-Tabari, Tafsir).
Once in the company of 'Abd al-'Aziz bin Marwan the question of the middle prayer came up. He said, "Go and ask such and such companion." But one person in the gathering said: "Listen! When I was young I was sent by Abu Bakr and 'Umar to the Prophet to ask the same question. The Prophet took my little finger and said: 'Look, this is the fajr prayer.' Then he took the finger next to it and said: 'This is the zuhr prayer.' He took the thumb and said: 'This is the magrib prayer.' He took the finger used for shahadah in prayer (the finger next to the thumb) and said: 'This is the 'isha prayer.' He then asked: 'Which finger remains.' I said, 'the middle finger.' He asked: 'Which prayer remains.' I said: 'Asr.' He said: 'Well, that is the middle prayer'." (Al-Tabari, Tafsir).
The Prophet recited the verse [2:238] and said: This is the 'asr prayer (Musnad Ahmad).
There are still more traditions in the literature attributing different views to different companions, sometimes opposite views to the same companions. Thus 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Ayyub, Ibn 'Umar, Ibn 'Abbas, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, and Abu Hurayrah are said to identify the middle prayer as the 'asr prayer. Traditions attributed to 'Ali, 'Umar, Ma'adh bin Jabal, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn 'Umar, Jabir, 'Ata, and 'Akramah identify the middle prayer as the subh orfajr prayer. Tradtiions attributed to Zayd bin Thabit, Usamah bin Zayd, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, and 'Aishah identify it as zuhr prayer. Among the later generations, we again find contradictory views attributed to the same scholar. Iman Malik is known only to favor the subh prayer. Shafi'i probably held the same view, but later scholars of the Shafi'i school argued that since Shafi'i was bound by every hadith, therefore had he known the ahadith identifying the middle prayer with the 'asr prayer he would have revised his view. But if Shafi'i (died 204) did not know these ahadith, then it is probable that they are relatively late. Hasan Basri, Ibrahim Nakh'i, Qatadah, Dahhak, Kalbi, Maqatil, Abu Hanifah, Ahmad, Abu Da`ud, Ibn Mundhar were of the opinion that the middle prayer was the 'asrprayer, although one tradition from Abu Hanifah identifies it as zuhr prayer. There are also other opinions, e.g. that the middle prayer is the maghrib prayer (attributed to Ibn 'Abbas) or 'isha` prayer, or jum'ah prayer, or one of the 'Idprayers or an unidentifiable prayer.
From this one should not get the impression that the middle prayer was never clearly understood. What this means is that in the early period the question was not discussed, probably because it was clear to the well-informed companions what prayer was the middle prayer. For, the companions who counted the start of the day from sunset the middle prayer was probably understood as the morning prayer and this is probably also how it is understood in the Qur`an. Its special mention can be explained because sleep can easily prevent people from praying the morning prayer on time. But outside Arabia people counted the start of the day in other ways and this gave rise to other interpretations of the middle prayer. Thus those who started the day from some point in the night (e.g., midnight) the middle prayer will be either zuhr prayer or the 'asr prayer, depending on whether they counted the night prayer or the morning prayer as the first prayer of the day. If one started the day from sunrise the middle prayer will be themaghrib prayer. The identification with the maghrib prayer is also suggested by the fact that it divides 24-hour period into day and night, with two prayers before it during the day and two prayers after it during the night. But it is the identification with the 'asr prayer that became a popular alternative to the earlier view that correctly identified the middle prayer with the subh prayer.
We earlier noted that often the variants of the Qur`an arose when some explanatory words were by mistake made part of the Qur`anic verses and then, out of enthusiasm for those explanations and willful clinging to the mistakes, stories were created to justify the mistakes. Thus the view that the middle prayer was the 'asr prayer made some half-informed over-enthusiastic imam to read the verse with the "middle prayer" replaced by "'asr prayer". The wrong reading when confronted with the standard correct reading did not result in a correction of the mistake but in willful insistence on it. Stories were fabricated to show that the reading was indeed once a part of the Qur`an. The absence of the phrase from all the written copies of the Qur`an and from its recitation by everyone else is explained in two ways: by the theory of abrogation and by assuming that it somehow got omitted from all the copies of the Qur`an. The first approach gave rise to the story attributed to al-Bara` bin 'Azib while the second approach led to the story of 'Aishah/Hafsah.
These stories, though they were probably created to identify the middle prayer with the 'asr prayer, inadvertently left a loophole. In the hadith of al-Bara` bin 'Azib the abrogation of "guard your prayers and the "asr prayer" by "guard your prayers and the middle prayer" can suggest that the middle prayer is not the 'asr prayer, for otherwise abrogation merely substitutes one name of the prayer by another, hardly a meaningful change. This explains the exchange in the hadith between Shaqiq and his companion, in which the question whether the middle prayer is the 'asr prayer is not clearly resolved.
The same ambiguity characterizes the variant given in the story about 'Aishah or Hafsah. In fact the variant has been used to argue that the middle prayer is not the 'asr prayer. This is because the statement "guard . the middle prayer and the 'asr prayer" can be understood in two ways. One way is that the middle prayer is identical to the 'asr prayer. This is possible in Arabic as in English. For example, a person could say, "I saw my friend and my collegue," referring to one and the same person. The second interpretation is that the middle prayer and the 'asr prayer are not the same prayer. It is perhaps using this last interpretation that Malik can record this story and still prefer the view that the middle prayer is the subh prayer, although admittedly the earlier Muslim scholars often quoted traditions without necessarily fully accepting them. In any case, the ambiguity left by the earlier form of the alleged variant reading of the Qur`an was removed at some stage. Thus al-Tabari in his Tafsir gives the following variant reading:
Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer -- and this is the 'asr prayer (wa hiya salat al-'asr)--and stand obedient to God.
This variant leaves little doubt about which prayer was the middle prayer!
How some explanatory words could be made variants of the Qur`an by some ill-informed or over-enthusiastic people is illustrated by examples in the Hadith. We need not go further from the subject of the middle prayer for an example. The versions in Bukhari of the hadith about the delay in the 'asr prayer on the day of al-Khandaq provide and example. We quote these versions again for the sake of convenience of the reader:
1) Narrated Jabir bin 'Abd Allah: On the day of al-Khandaq 'Umar bin al-Khattab came cursing the disbelievers of Quraysh after the sun had set and said, "O God's Messenger, I could not perform the 'asrprayer till the sun had set." The Prophet said, "By God! I, too, have not prayed." So we turned towards Buthan, and the Prophet performed ablution and we too performed ablution and offered the 'asr prayer after the sun had set, and then he offered the maghrib prayer.
In this version there is no mention of the middle prayer; the delayed prayer is simply called the 'asr prayer. The same is the case in the next version:
2) Narrated Jabir: 'Umar came cursing the disbelievers on the day of al-Khandaq and said, "I could not offer the 'asr prayer till the sun had set. Then we went to Buthan and he offered the prayer after sunset and then he offered the maghrib prayer (Bukhari).
But in the following version the delayed prayer is called the middle prayer:
3) Narrated 'Ali: On the day of al-Khandaq, the Prophet said "God fill their houses and graves with fire as they have prevented us from offering the middle prayer till the sun had set."
4) Narrated 'Ali bin abi Talib: We were in the company of the Prophet on the day (of the battle) of al-Khandaq. The Prophet said, "May God fill their (the infidels') graves and houses with fire, as they have kept us so busy (in battle) that we could not offer the middle prayer till the sun had set; and this (was) the 'asrprayer (wa hiya salat al-'asr)"
In both versions attributed to 'Ali (number 3 and 4) it is clear that the middle prayer is understood to be the afternoon ('asr) prayer, since it is said to be delayed till sunset. But notice that in the version number 4 we have the words "and this (was) the 'asr prayer" that are not found in the version number 3. It is probable that these words were added to the more original version to further clarify the identification of the middle prayer with the 'asr prayer. And in view of the ahadith attributed to Jabir in which the middle prayer is not even mentioned, it is likely that even in the version number 3 the reference to the middle prayer is secondary. We can thus see two developments: First 'asr prayer was changed to middle prayer and then the identification between the two was made more explicit.
It seems fairly certain that something similar happened during the transmission of the Qur`an at some places at the hands of some careless people: First the middle prayer was explained as 'asr prayer and then this explanation was made a variant reading of the Qur`an. Indeed, in Arabic the additional words (wa hiya salat al-'asr) in the version number 4 are identical to the additional words in alleged variant of the Qur`anic verse as given in al-Tabari.
Regardless of whether one accepts the above explanation of how the traditions about an alleged variant of 2:238 referring to 'asr prayer came to be formed, it is clear from the above review of the various traditions that we are not dealing here with a reliable set of reports. Muslim scholars in earlier times reached the same conclusion. Thus Ibn Kathir wrote in his Tafsir:
This khabar wahid [about the variant reading of 2:238] does not establish the reading in the absence oftawatur. This is why 'Uthman did not accept it in his mushaf of the Qur`an. Nor are these additional words found in the recitation of any of the seven reciters or even any other trusted reciter. Moreover, another hadith establishes the abrogation of this reading. (Dr. Ahmad Shafaat, PRESERVATION OF THE REVELATIONS RECEIVED BY THE PROPHETS MUHAMMAD AND JESUS, Chapter 6, Source)
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