Refutation
of False Claims Made by Christian Missionaries
by Dr. G. F. Haddad
Allah
Glorious and Exalted said in His Book which falsehood cannot approach in the
least: "And in truth We have made the Quran easy to remember; but
is there any that remembereth?" (54:17, 25)
He
also said in the Divine Hadith: "I am going to descend upon you a Book
which water can never wash away, and which you shall be reciting both in sleep
and wakefulness." Narrated by Muslim as part of a longer narration.
Imam
Abu al-Khayr ibn al-Jazari said: "Reliance upon the memorization of hearts
and breasts for the transmittal of the Qur'an rather than upon volumes and
books, is the noblest specialty which Allah gave to this Community."
The
men and women Companions known as the memorizers of Qur'an (al-qurra') were:
1-4.
The Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs. However, Abu Bakr and `Umar died before
memorizing it completely, while `Uthman and `Ali were among those who gathered (jama`a)
the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him. `Uthman was
one of those who used to recite the entire Qur'an in one day and night.
5.
`Abd Allah ibn Mas`ud -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who
gathered the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
6.
Salim, Mawla Abi Hudhayfa -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who
gathered the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
7.
Mu`adh ibn Jabal -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who gathered
the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
8.
Ubay ibn Ka`b -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who gathered
the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him. He would
recite it all in eight days.
9.
Zayd ibn Thabit -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who gathered
the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
10.
Abu Zayd -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who gathered the
Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
11.
Abu al-Darda' -- Allah be well-pleased with him-- one of those who gathered the
Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him. His class in
the mosque of Damascus counted 1,600 students, each ten with one monitor. If a
student made a mistake the monitor corrected him, and if the monitor made a
mistake Abu al-Darda' corrected him.
12.
Abu Musa al-Ash`ari -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who
gathered the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
13.
`Abd Allah ibn `Amr ibn al-`As -- Allah be well-pleased with him. He was
ordered by the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- to recite it in no less
than seven days.
14.
Talha ibn `Ubayd Allah -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
15.
Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
16.
Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
17.
Abu Hurayra -- Allah be well-pleased with him. He was examined by Ubay.
18.
`Abd Allah ibn al-Sa'ib -- Allah be well-pleased with him. He was examined by
Ubay.
19.
`Abd Allah ibn `Umar -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who
gathered the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
20.
`Abd Allah ibn `Abbas -- Allah be well-pleased with him. He was examined by
Ubay.
21.
`Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
22.
`A'isha bint Abi Bakr -- Allah be well-pleased with her.
23.
Hafsa bint `Umar -- Allah be well-pleased with her.
24.
Umm Salama -- Allah be well-pleased with her.
25.
`Ubada ibn al-Samit -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
26.
Mu`adh Abu Halima -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
27.
Mujammi` ibn Jariya -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
28.
Fadala ibn `Ubayd -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
29.
Maslama ibn Mukhallad -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
30.
Anas ibn Malik -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
31.
Umm Waraqa bint `Abd Allah ibn al-Harith -- Allah be well-pleased with her.
32.
Abu Umama al-Bahili -- Allah be well-pleased with him.
33.
`Utba ibn `Amir -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who gathered
the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him.
34.
Tamim al-Dari -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- one of those who gathered
the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- and who
used to recite the entire Qur'an in one day and night.
When
the above are added to the seventy Ansar who were killed in the battle of
Yamama against Musaylima the Arch-Liar, and who were all memorizers of the
Qur'an (qurra') [Bukhari and Muslim], the number of the Companions who had
memorized the Qur'an rises to over a hundred. This number excludes the numerous
Companions -- whether named or unnamed -- whose status of memorizers did not
reach us through isnad, as well as the women of both the Muhajirin and the
Ansar. All of this memorizing was mass-transmitted. The numbers of the next
generations, of course, keep rising exponentially in identical fashion of
transmission, and praise belongs to Allah.
Sources:
1. al-Nawawi, al-Tibyan
fi Adab Hamala al-Qur'an (p. 31);
2.
al-Dhahabi, Tabaqat al-Qurra' (1:24-50)
3.
al-Suyuti, al-Itqan fi `Ulum al-Qur'an (1:70-72);
4.
al-Zarkashi, al-Burhan fi `Ulum al-Qur'an (1:241-243);
5.
Nur al-Din `Itr, `Ulum al-Qur'an al-Karim (p. 164-166).
Remarks:
1.
The Prophetic hadith narrated by `Abd Allah ibn `Amr ibn al-`As: "Learn
the Qur'an from these four: `Abd Allah ibn Mas`ud, Salim, Mu`adh, and Ubay ibn
Ka`b" [Bukhari] means: because they have the time and leisure to teach it
in addition to their knowledge and competence, and Allah knows best.
2.
Anas' reply, when asked who had gathered (jama`a) the Qur'an in the time
of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him: "Four men, all of them of the
Ansar: Ubay ibn Ka`b, Mu`adh ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thabit, and Abu Zayd"
[Bukhari] means: because Anas thought of a particular characteristic of theirs,
or because they came to his mind at the time the question was asked, since this
is by no means an exhaustive list, and Allah knows best.
3.
The hadith of `Abd Allah ibn `Amr shows that there were two sources available
to the Companions for the memorization of Qur'an: the Prophet -- Allah bless
and greet him -- and the knowledgeable Companions. This is confirmed by the
narration of `Abd Allah ibn Mas`ud that he had memorized seventy suras
"directly from the Prophet's mouth" [Bukhari], i.e. in
contradistinction from what he memorized from others, since he is also
"among those who had gathered the Qur'an in the time of the Prophet."
4.
The claim that "they gathered the Qur'an" does not automatically
signify "they memorized it" is an anachronism projecting on the
Companions our modern notions that we can possess and read books without
memorizing them. It is unthinkable that the Companions -- Arabs of superlative
mnemonic skills, and pious men and women in obsessive pursuit of divine
acceptance, would store a shred of Allah's Book without memorizing it.
Similarly, their reciting the Qur'an only means "by heart," and one
known to be "a reciter" means that he has reached a level where he
has memorized the Qur'an and is able to teach it.
5.
As for the false view that some reciters were not memorizers on the basis of
the following text:
Sahih
Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 468: Narrated Ibrahim: The companions of
'Abdullah (bin Mas'ud) came to Abu Darda', (and before they arrived at his
home), he looked for them and found them. Then he asked them, 'Who among you
can recite (Qur'an) as 'Abdullah recites it?" They replied, "All of
us." He asked, "Who among you knows it by heart?" They pointed
at 'Alqama.
The
above, first of all, is a translation adduced by someone who is not even able
to verify if its grammatical and lexical rendering is accurate or not, I mean
Jochen Katz. Then he wants to dispute the authenticity of the Qur'an. The same
person has complained that his likes should not be compared to Jehovah
Witnesses, but he himself recently cited Khalifa's English mutilation of the
meanings of the Qur'an side by side with Muhammad Pickthall's translation --
placing together a Muslim with a known apostate -- in order to recycle old
insinuations about "contradictions in Qur'anic translations."
Anyway,
this Bukhari translation is false and unreliable. It was the height of
irresponsibility to bring it out in its present state on the part of those who
failed to review or have it reviewed after authoring it, and those who
published it and disseminated it; Allah hears and sees who plays havoc with
Religion for a cheap gain -- to sell books! Yet the fact that Allah uses them
to misguide the enemies of Islam, shows that there is wisdom even in what seems
the death of wisdom.
The
original Arabic does not say what the above rendering has. An accurate
rendering would be:
He
asked them: "Who among you recites (ayyukum yaqra') Qur'an
according to `Abd Allah's [canonical] reading?" They replied: "All of
us." He asked: "And who among you is the best memorizer?" (fa
ayyukum ahfaz). They pointed to `Alqama.
Thus
it can be seen that the whole edifice of this would-be critic crumbles because
he misread the original meaning "Who among you is the best memorizer"
to read "Who among you knows it by heart." They all knew it by heart.
But they considered that the best memorizer was `Alqama, i.e. the foremost
among them in fiqh and the Prophet's Sunna in addition to mere memorization.
And would someone who does not memorize claim that he can recite Qur'an in the
first place?!
"I
myself have heard a good number of Qur'an recitations in various Muslim
gatherings. Sometimes a passage was recited from memory, but more often the
open Qur'an was in front of the reciter and he recited while reading the text.
The ability to recite the Qur'an seems to refer more to the art of recitation,
the right intonation, etc, than to having memorized the text. A reciter is not
the same as a memorizer."
His
saying that he heard the Qur'an recited in Muslim gatherings, is like a blind
art critic who went to the Louvre a good many times. Then he wants to discuss
with you color, perspective... He is not even aware that the reward of reciting
Qur'an from an open mushaf is greater than reciting it from
memory because the former method adds the worship of the eyes to that of the
rest of the limbs, as prescribed in the Sunna. This has no bearing on whether
the reciter has memorized what he recites or not.
Many
of (the passages) of the Qur'an that were sent down were known by those who
died on the day of Yamama... but they were not known (by those who) survived
them, nor were they written down, nor had Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman (by that
time) collected the Qur'an, nor were they found even with (one person) after
them. (Kitab al-Masahif, p.23)
Kitab al-Masahif was compiled by `Abd Allah
ibn Sulayman ibn al-Ash`ath al-Sijistani, known as Ibn Abi Dawud, the son of
the major early hadith master Abu Dawud. This is what the authorities said
about Ibn Abi Dawud:
Ibn
`Adi narrated in al-Kamil fi al-Du`afa' with his chain from `Ali
ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Junayd: I heard Abu Dawud say: "My son, `Abd Allah,
is a liar."
Ibn
Sa`id said: "Suffice it for us, what Ibn Abi Dawud's father said about
him."
Ibrahim
ibn Awrama al-Asbahani said: "Ibn Abi Dawud is a liar."
Abu
al-Qasim al-Baghawi received a paper from Ibn Abi Dawud in which the latter
asked him about the wording of a hadith related from his grandfather.
Al-Baghawi read the paper then said: "I swear by Allah that in my view you
have brought yourself out of hadith science."
Sources:
Ibn `Adi, al-Kamil fi al-Du`afa' (4:226); al-Dhahabi, Mizan
al-I`tidal (2:433) and Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' (10:582).
It
follows that anything that comes only from Kitab al-Masahif must
be held in suspension until corroborated by an independent, reliable source or
declared authentic by one of the competent authorities, or adduced by them.
It
is reported from Ismail ibn Ibrahim from Ayyub from Naafi from Ibn Umar who
said: "Let none of you say 'I have acquired the whole of the Qur'an'. How
does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur'an has disappeared? Rather
let him say 'I have acquired what has survived.'" (as-Suyuti, Al-Itqan
fii Ulum al-Qur'an, p.524).
This
reference to the Itqan is untraceable as no edition of it is
in less than two volumes to my knowledge.
The
above refers to a famous saying of Ibn `Umar, once again deceptively/ignorantly
mistranslated so as to mislead readers to think it means other than its actual
meaning.
The
words used by Ibn `Umar for the terms given as "acquired,"
"disappeared," and "what has survived" above were -- I am
quoting from memory -- respectively "ahattu" (I have
encompassed), "faatahu" (escapes him), and "ma
tayassara minhu" (whatever amount of it has been facilitated). The
actual meaning of Ibn `Umar's words is:
"Let
no one say: I have encompassed the whole of the Qur'an [= its meanings]. How
does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur'an escapes him? Rather, let
him say: I have encompassed whatever amount of it has been facilitated [for me
to know]."
Ibn
`Umar was famous for his strictness in refraining from interpreting the Qur'an,
even criticizing Ibn `Abbas's interpretive zeal in the beginning, then
accepting its authority. He was not referring to the collection of the Qur'an!
But only to the ethics of the exegete, in the same line as Ibn `Abbas's saying
narrated by al-Tabari and cited by al-Suyuti and al-Zarkashi: "There are
ambiguous verses in the Qur'an which no one knows besides Allah. Whoever claims
that he knows them, is a liar."
Also
Ibn `Abbas's and `Abd al-Rahman ibn `Awf's saying: "The Qur'an has an
outward meaning, [literally 'a back'] (zahr) and an inward meaning
[literally 'an inside'] (batn)."
Some
parts might have been written down but not memorized by people who survived. It
got lost because the manuscripts disappeared. Ubayy said, 'It used to equal the
length surat al Baqara and we used to recite in Ahzab the stoning verse.' Zirr
asked, 'What is the stoning verse?' Ubayy recited, 'If the saikh and the saikha
fornicate, stone them outright as an exemplary punishment from God. God is
might, wise.' (Jalal al Din `Abdul Rahman b. abi Bakr al Suyuti, "al
Itqan fi `ulum al Qur'an", Halabi, Cairo, 1935/1354, pt 2, p. 25)
I
was able to trace the above according to the page and number given. Al-Suyuti
cited the above report among many other reports in the chapter entitled
"The Abrogating and the Abrogated," section entitled "Verses
Whose Recitation Was Abrogated But Not Their Legal Ruling." Enough said.
Years
ago I replied to another ignoramus on the same lines. At that time I had
written in reply to an article in which Steve Walker wrote:
In
Sahih al-Bukhari vol 8, p.539, Umar says: "Allah sent Muhammad (saw) with
the truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was
the Verse of the Rajam (stoning of married person who commit
adultery) and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorised it. Allah's
Apostle (saw) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him.
I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we
do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book', and thus they will go
astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed."
In
the Qur'an as it is today, the only punishment for adulterers is 100 lashes,
with no distinction between married and unmarried people. Umar was clearly
convinced that this passage was meant to be part of the Qur'an.
I
had replied:
Amazing,
how knowledgeable you are of a Companion's mind when you don't even understand
his language!
No,
`Umar was not convinced that this passage was meant to be part of the Qur'an.
As a matter of fact `Umar told Zayd ibn Thabit that he (Zayd) was wrong to
include it when he himself (`Umar) had seen the Prophet (s) not include it! The
latter hadith is in al-Hakim and Ibn Hajar cites it in his commentary on the
reason why the verse was abrogated. Fath al-Bari 12:174
(#6829).
As
for the next verse which `Umar mentions in the same hadith and which you also
bring up, it too was abrogated for other reasons which `Umar in no way
questions. The fact that he mentions these two verses does not suggest
revisionism on his part -- this would be the manner of archbishops and Councils
-- rather he reminds the people that their rulings are still very much in
effect, and he warns them not to forget them. Both are unambiguously confirmed
by the Sunna.
End
of reply to Walker.
John
Burton quotes plenty of additional evidence explaining the workings of the
abrogation of that particular verses in part 5 of his book The Collection of
the Qur'an (1977) which was posted in full three years ago in SRI and from
which Katz et al. cull their insinuations then rechew them before us every year.
`A'isa
explains how the wording came to be omitted from the mushaf: The stoning verse
and another verse were revealed and recorded on a sheet (sahifa) which was
placed for safe-keeping under her bedding. When the Prophet fell ill and the
household were preoccupied with nursing him, a domestic animal got in from the
yard and gobbled up the sheet. (Burhan al Din al Baji, "Jawab",
MS Dar al Kutub, Taimur "majami`", no. 207, f. 15)
The
above report is also taken from Burton. I consider it a forgery and add that
its content is absurd, since the Companions did not rely on this missing piece
to ascertain the existence of the wording or its abrogated status. At any rate,
such a report stands out for not being cited in any of the recognized sources
in the technical literature.
--
Because
of Katz's constant hankering after half-truths and misconstructions, one cannot
follow-up on his posts except with a broom and pail. I feel sorry for the
victims of his deluded websites but suspect that, like the Khalifites, their
numbers in real terms are negligible.
I
only wrote the above material in hope that it will benefit myself and other
students in the sciences of the Qur'an, by way of refutation. It is obvious to
all that neither Katz's material stands to scrutiny, nor is he himself apt to
discuss his own material or understand a refutation. One who violates truth
long enough, cannot go back to distinguishing it from falsehood anymore. Let us
not waste time, and success is from Allah alone.
A parting note:
Says
Francis Cardinal George, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, speaking to
a Library of Congress conference on ``Frontiers of the Mind in the 21st
Century'':
"In
the next millennium as the modern nation state is relativized and national
sovereignty is displaced into societal arrangements still to be invented, it
will be increasingly evident that the major faiths are carriers of culture...''
And
he added:
"The
conversation between Christianity and Islam is not yet far advanced, but its
outcome will determine what the globe will look like a century from
now.''
-------------------
-------------------
we can show you ten
thousand names, all you need to do is show us 25.
SubhanAllah we have the
the biography of Ten Thousand Sahabah (ra) documented.
usud al-ghabah fi ma'rifat
al-sahabah
By Shaykh Ibn Athir Jazari
(r.a) – Shaykh Abdush Shakoor Farooqi Lakhnavi (r.a)
Imagine 10,000 Sahaba (ra)
biography are preserved and documented. the actual eyewitnesses, who they are,
and what we know about them, who physically saw the Prophet Muhammed Pbuh. Each
companions are carefully documented and written about.
The Question is can a
single Christian name us 25 witnesses out of the 500 Paul was mentioning in
Corinthians 15?
"After that, he
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same
time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep."
just give us the names of
25 people that's all. we can show you 10,000 names you show us 25.
if you can't even name 25
people how reliable are your sources?
