Developement of History and Hadith Collections

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              Developement of History and Hadith Collections

Let us read the following tradition very carefully and judge for ourselves
if we can ever give a possibility that such words have been uttered by the
messenger of Allah. The tradition is in Sahih Muslim, and is written in the
section of necessity of joining to the majority of people, and is as
follows:

        Narrated Hudayfh Ibn al-Yaman:

        Prophet said: "There will come rulers after me who do not guide to
        my guidance and do not practice my Sunnah, and the hearts of some
        them are the hearts of Satans but they are in the body of human."
        I said: "What should we do at that time?" Prophet (PBUH) said:
        "You should just listen to them and obey those rulers. No matter if
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        the hurt you and take your wealth, you should follow them and obey
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        them."

Sunni reference: Sahih Muslim, Chapter of al-Imaarah (chapter 33 for the
Arabic version), Section of necessity of joining the majority,
1980 Edition, Arabic version (Saudi Arabia), v3, p1476, Tradition #52.

This is the Arabic text of the above tradition narrated by Sahih Muslim:

          |             :      | |  :  @  |                 /      | | :
   q      |]_8_,  .  q ]_,_8_, |_|  4_o_, |     ]_e_,  .  q_)_,    | |_o
   /  (_S     .  (_) /      :               (_S    .  (_) /  :   (_|

        | :   ||            .      :          : .           . :      | |
 o_8_,q_|_o   ||_7    o_8_,_9  o q_o_,_w q    _,_,_w_,  .  q_,_,_w_, |_|
(   . /     (_| . /  (   :    (  /  :    / (_S      .  (_) /      :

      ..  | :         .  |     |  ^        .       |  |   ^ ||       | :
     .__,_|_o        w_, |  .  |_o_,_7    _9   . _,_D |_,_w_|| .__,q_|_o
                  (_/      (_)      .  (_S    (_):     :        .  /

       / |.   ..  /    |     |    | ||   |       |      .     |    .   /
   ? (_)_|>  .__,_)  > |  .  |  4_|_||   | q_w   |_,   e_,,_p | .__9_,_)
                   /     (_)           (_| /   /  :   (_            :

  /   |.         .      |            | | |     | :           :     | | :
(_) _8_D  .__, _,_p  .  | q     _,_o |_|_|  e_,_D_, q   e_o_w_,    | |_o
   /       .  /     (_)   /    /:          (_:      /  (_        (_|

                                  |  |           | .     / ||    . . |
                                 e_D | q   e_o_w |_9   (_)_||_o  ]_7 | q
                                (_     /  (_                           /

The above was just one example. There are more than 12 traditions similar
to this in the same section of Sahih Muslim. Who sold such traditions as
Sahih (authentic) to us? Aren't they those who wanted to make their kingdom
strong and away from any possible opposition? Any complaint is against the
above alleged word of prophet, and those people are sentenced to death. In
another tradition in the following section in Sahih Muslim, prophet has
ordered to kill those who disobey these unjust rulers. Let us see where the
origins of these books are, and who controlled the writing of them.

Muawiyah was the first one who turned his attention to write the history
and collecting the fabricated Hadiths (traditions). He got a history of the
ancients written by a person in the name of Ubayd whom he called him from
Yemen.

Marwan who had been exiled by the Prophet for his anti-Islamic
activities and who had a great influence with Uthman, was the implacable
foe of Ali. His son, Abdul Malik ascended the throne in year 65 AH,
reestablished himself in year 73, and died in year 86. Abdul Malik was the
one under whose funding finally a set of Islamic History, Hadith
(tradition), and Tafsir (interpretation of the Quran) was provided.

al-Zuhri was the first historian who wrote the history of Islam under the
direct order and fund of Abdul Malik. He also wrote Hadith collection. The
works of al-Zuhri was one of the main source for al-Bukhari.  al-Zuhri was
attached to the royal family of Abdul Malik, and was the tutor of his sons.
(See "al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah," by Shibli who is a great Sunni historian,
part I, pp.13-17).

Among the students of al-Zuhri, two persons, namely Musa Ibn Uqbah, and
Mohammad Ibn Ishaq became famous historians. The former was a slave of the
house of Zubair. Although his history is not available today, it had been
the most popular work on history for a long time. You will find its
references in many history books on different subjects.

The second student, Mohammad Ibn Ishaq is the most famous historian for
Sunnis. His biography of the Prophet, called "Sirah Rasul Allah", is still
the accredited authority on the subject in the shape that was given to it
by Ibn Hisham, and is known as "al-Sirah of Ibn Hisham".

al-Zuhri is the first who compiled the Hadith also. (See "al-Sirah al-
Nabawiyyah," by Shibli, part I, pp.13-17). All Sunni History and Hadith
books written afterwards by other people were in great influence of these
works.

The above gives evidence to the following facts:

        1- Sunni Hadith and History books were first compiled under the
           direct order of Umayyah Kings,
        2- The first authors were al-Zuhri, and his two students Musa and
           Mohammad Ibn Ishaq,
        3- These authors were attached to the royal family of the Umayyah
           kings.

The hatred of the house of Umayyah against Bani Hashim (the house of
Prophet and Ali) is well-known. The wars of Abu Sufyan and his son Muawiyah
against Prophet and Ali respectively, also the horrible massacre of the
grandson of prophet at Karbala by the grandson of Abu Sufyan, are only some
of top items among the long list of such crimes. These are the criminals
who FIRST wrote the history and Hadith books. (The books written afterwards
by other people were in great influence of these works.) They fabricated
many traditions to justify their deeds, and to say that prophet has
ordered us to obey them even if they are unjust. What I quoted above was
just one example of such traditions.

Who was the first one that used the term "Ahlussunnah and al-Jama'ah"?

If one searches through the history books, he will find that they agreed to
call the year in which Muawiyah seized the power as "The Year of al-
Jama'ah" meaning the majority of people. It was called so, because the
nation had already become divided into two factions after the death of
Uthman: The Shia of Ali and the followers of Muawiyah. When Imam Ali (AS)
was martyred and Muawiyah took over the power, the year was called "al-
Jama'ah". Out of these two parties, the majority leading by Muawiyah won
the throne, and the other party was considered as a dangerous rival.
Therefore the name of "Ahl al-Sunnah and al-Jama'ah" indicates the Sunnah
of Prophet merged by the innovations by Muawiyah, and the agreement on his
leadership.

The Imams and members of Ahlul-Bayt who are the descendants of the Prophet,
know more than anybody else about the Sunnah of their grandfather and what
it entails, for as the proverb goes: "The people of Mecca know its paths
better than anyone else". But the majority of people did/do not follow the
12 Imams whom prophet has mentioned their numbers (see Sahih al-Bukhari)
and their names (see Sunni books like "Yanabi'ul Mawaddah" by al-Qunduzi
al-Hanafi). Despite the acknowledgment of al-Bukhari and Muslim about 12
Imams, they always stop at the four Caliphs.

==================================
Shia/Sunni and Scrutinizing Hadith
==================================
One major difference between the Shia and the Sunnis is that Sunnis accept
any tradition from any companions no matter if these companions fought each
other, abused each other, rebelled against their righteous Caliph, and or
innovate new things in to the religion. The Shia, however, believe that all
the narrators in the chain of a document should have been JUST. If they
have done any injustice in the history (such as those mentioned above)
their narrations are void for us unless the same tradition has been
narrated with another chain of narrators who all of them are proven to be
trustworthy.

One of the Wahhabi friends said that Shia, when narrating a Hadith, only
say the Imam so and so said, one of our friends said...Now how we can
authenticise the Hadith?

If a person has heard something directly from the 12 Imams, and that person
is trustworthy for the Shia and his narration is not against Quran, then 
the tradition is authentic for us, since we believe in the
infallibility of Imams as well as Prophets. The knowledge of Imam has been
derived from the knowledge of their fathers and forefathers up to the
Prophet (PBUH&HF).

However, the chain of narrators should be evaluated. If the chain turns out
to be broken (i.e., one element in the chain is missing), then the
tradition is considered weak in Isnad. Thus all the narrators should be
named, and this is the case for the majority of Shi'i collections of
traditions.

Nevertheless, there are only a number of traditions in Usul Kafi in which
the last element in the chain is missing, i.e., the name of the person who
reported to Kulaini in person. In stead of mentioning his name, Kulaini has
used the phrase "a group of our associates". But Kulaini has mentioned all
other elements in the chain.

The reason for this was that, as I mentioned, Shia have always been under
prosecution of unjust rulers including the Abbasids. If Kulaini (RA) have
mentioned the names of those who reported to him and were still alive, and
if the book could have found his way to the officials, then all those
reporters would have been killed. To protect them, he did not mention their
names and codified it by saying "a group of our associates". However he
mentioned the name of those who reported to him but died during Kulaini's
life.

But the good news is that since Kulaini knew the regulations of
scrutinizing of the traditions by the Shia, he told some of his students
how the names of the last narrators are codieifed. More specifically, it
was mentioned that:

I.   Whenever you read in Usul Kafi, that "a group of our associates
     narrated from Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Isa", then the group
     here means the following five persons:

       1.Abu Ja'far Muhammad Ibn Yahya al-Attar al-Qummi
       2.Ali Ibn Musa Ibn Ja'far al-Kamandani
       3.Abu Sulayman Dawud Ibn Kawrah al-Qummi
       4.Abu Ali Ahmad Ibn Idris Ibn Ahmad al-Ash'ari al-Qummi
       5.Abul Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Hashim al-Qummi.

II.  Whenever you read in Usul Kafi, that "a group of our associates
     narrated from Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Khalid al-Barqi", then
     the group here means the following four persons:

       1.Abul Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Hashim al-Qummi
       2.Muhammad Ibn Abdillah Ibn Udhaynah
       3.Ahmad Ibn Abillah Ibn Umayyah
       4. Ali Ibn al-Husain al-Sa'd Abadi.

III. Whenever you read in Usul Kafi, that "a group of our associates
     narrated from Sahl Ibn Ziyad", then the group here means
     the following four persons:

       1. Abul Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Aban al-Razi, who is
          known as Allan al-Kulaini
       2. Abul Husain Muhammad Ibn Abdillah Ja'far Ibn Muhammad Ibn Awn al-
          Asadi al-Kufi, resident of ray.
       3. Muhammad Ibn al-Husain Ibn Farrukh al-Saffar al-Qummi
       4. Muhammad Ibn Aqil al-Kulaini.

IV.  Whenever you read in Usul Kafi, that "a group of our associates
     narrated from Ja'far Ibn Muhammad who narrated from al-Hasan
     Ibn Ali Ibn al-Faddal", then the group here consists of the
     following person:

       1. Abu Abdillah al-Husain Ibn Muhammad Ibn Imran Ibn Abi Bakr al-
          Ash'ari al-Qummi.

Thus the narrators of those traditions are known and can be evaluated
accordingly. Nontheless, we do not claim that al-Kafi is an all authentic
book of traditions for the Shia. There are certain traditions in al-Kafi
which are reported by weak narrators who are known to the Shia scholars of
Hadith.
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Imam Ali (AS) said:                                     |   ||   | | :
Be the enemy of the oppressor and          : (  c )    _|_e_||   | |_o
the helper of the oppressed one.               (_   (_S        (_|
(Nahjul Balagha, the sayings of Imam Ali)

           |.            ||.   | |      |      .     |||. |  |  .    /
           |_, q_c   o q_|_D_o_|_|  q   |_o,_p_7   o_||_D_|  | q_, q_)
               /    (  /            /             (            /   /

Please compare this tradition of Imam Ali with the tradition of
Sahih Muslim given at the beginning of the article.
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