Islam of Abu Talib (Part 1 of 4)

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                     Islam of Abu Talib (Part 1 of 4)

It would be interesting if we analyze the verses that some Sunni
commentators have aleged to have revealed for the disbelief of Abu Talib
(RA). The first one is:

Surah VI - The Cattle (An'aam) - Verse 26
-----------------------------------------

        And they prohibit ( others ) from it and go far away from it,
        and they only bring destruction upon their own souls while they
        do not perceive it.

        - Tabari relates from Sufiyan Soori who relates it from Habeeb ibn
          Abu Sabit who narrated it from somebody saying that Ibn Abbas
                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
          said 'that this verse came down for Abu Talib, because he used to
          protect Muhammad from the Kufar but he never recited the Kalima.'

Sunni references

        - Tabaqat of Ibne Sa'ad, v 2 p 105
        - History of Tabari, v 7 p 100
        - Tafseer Ibn Katheer, v 2 p 127
        - Tafseer Kashaf, v 1 p 448
        - Tafseer Qurtubi, v 6 p 406
        -  ... and many many more

Now let us see for ourselves if the ideology behind the above
interpretation
is correct or not, so that we would have no doubts in our minds. Further
scrutiny of the above interpretation would lead us to believe that it is
nothing but a futile effort to discredit Abu Talib:

        - The verse talks about living people, since the verse mentions
          that ' people who prevent others from doing it and neither do
          it '. Of course a dead person can't think of preventing others
          from a course of action, and they have to be living to do so.
          This convinces us to believe that this verse can't be for
          Abu Talib.

        - The chain of narrators terminates after Habeeb ibn Abu Sabit
          and Sufyan doesn't mention who narrated it from Habeeb ibn Abu
          Sabit, and all he says that he ( Habeeb ) narrated it from some
          one who heard it from Ibn Abbas.

          This criterion is not acceptable according to the standards of
          hadeeth, since the chain of narrators is incomplete, therefore
          this hadeeth is unacceptable.

But for argument sake if we still accept the chain of narrators, and the
fact that Habeeb ibn Abu Sabit is the only person who narrates it, the
books of Rijal testify to the fact that we can't accept this tradition, for
the following reasons

        - In the eyes if Ibn Habban, Habeeb is a 'deceiver', and Aqeeli Ibn
          Aun has 'avoided' Habeeb since Habeeb has copied hadeeths from
          Ata'a which are ' absolutely unacceptable '.
          Qita'an says that Habeeb's hadeeths other than Ata'a are also
          unacceptable and are not safe from being fake. Abu Dawood quotes
          from Ajri that the hadeeths narrated by Habeeb from Ibn Zamrah
          are not correct. Ibn Khazeema comments that Habeeb is a
          'deceiver'

Sunni reference

        - Tahzeeb al-Tahzeeb, by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, v 2 p 179

Therefore the tradition narrated by Habeeb is his personal innovation, and
after reading the views of so many Rijal experts how can we accept his
hadeeth?

But this shouldn't stop us from further investigating the issue, and if we
accept the fact that Habeeb can be trusted, let us look at Sufyan who is
the last narrator in the chain of the tradition against Abu Talib. We still
have to declare this hadeeth void, because, al-Dhahabi writes about him
that

                      "Sufyan narrations are lies"
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sunni reference

        - Mizan al-Itidal, by al-Dhahabi, v 1 p 396


I find it very difficult to believe that despite the fact the commentators
who have written down the traditions are respectable personalities, they
have copied it down from cheap people such as above, without any
hesitation.

Despite all these weak traditions that have been narrated by weak
narrators, we find hadeeths related by Ibn Abbas that are genuine and state
the opposite of what we find in the hadeeth mentioned above. Let see what
they have to offer

     - Tabari states that the above verse came down for all the mushrikeen
     who used to stay away from the Prophet and used to advise others to
     stay away from him ( the Prophet ).

Sunni reference

        - Tafseer Tabari, v 7 p 109
        - Tafseer Durre Manthoor, v 3 p 8

The fact is that Abu Talib never advised others to stay away from Prophet
(PBUH&HF). Even many of those who accused him for not uttering Shahadah,
confess that he helped the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) during those days of
tribulations of the young Islam with all his means.  Also he raised the
Prophet when he was child, and then accepted that Imam Ali (AS) to be
raised by Prophet. He, in fact, was Muslim from the begining, but was
ordered by Prophet to practice Taqiyya (to conceal his belief) so that he
could play as a mediator between Prophet and chiefs of unbelievers in Mecca
(like Abu Sufyan).

Also it is important to note that we do NOT believe that the parents of
Prophets and Imams were necessarily perfect (Infallible). However we
believe that their parents and all their forefathers were righteous and
believers and monotheist during their entire life.

                                                         End of Part 1 of 4