The Forgotten Truth
The
first tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that I want you to focus your
attention on is the one reported by his Companion Harith Al-Ash‘ari (RAA). This
hadith has been included in Mishkat Al-Masabih (Kitaab al-Imarah), Musnad of
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (RA), and the Jame‘ of Imam Tirmidhi (RA). The wording of
this hadith is extremely important. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is reported to have
said:
I
declare obligatory upon you five things; Allah (SWT) has commanded me to do so.
They are: organization, listening, obeying, making Hijrah, and making Jihad for
the cause of Allah.
I
assume that most of the brothers and sisters in this audience may be hearing
this hadith for the first time. Please compare this hadith with the one which
deals with the five pillars of Islam. According to this, Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
has said:
Islam
is based upon five things: the Shahadah that there is no god except Allah and
that Muhammad (SAW) is His messenger, to offer the Prayers, to pay Zakat, to
perform Hajj, and to fast during the month of Ramadan.
As
you know, the familiar concept of the five pillars of Islam is actually based
upon this tradition. And this is a very
well-known hadith, very often repeated, very often narrated. Although if you
consider its wording carefully, you would realize that no explicit order is
being given here. That Islam is based on five things is not a command; rather,
it is a simple statement of fact. On the other hand, in the hadith that I have
quoted, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has very emphatically ordered us to adhere to
these five things — organization, listening, obeying, Hijrah, and Jihad. Yet
this hadith is not as popular as the one about the five pillars. In fact, a
vast majority of Muslims is virtually oblivious of such a tradition. Let me
narrate an incident here.
This
happened about twenty years back. I came across this hadith through Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad who first quoted it in 1912 in his magazine Al-Hilal, and also
through Maulana Sayyid Abul ‘Ala Maududi who quoted it in one of his lectures
delivered in 1946 in Muradpur in the Sialkot District (later published as a
booklet entitled Shahadat-e-Haq). However, neither of them gave the source of
this tradition. That is, they did not mention as to where from did they get
this hadith? I was curious about the source, and so I approached a prominent
scholar of Islamic sciences, who was in fact a Sheikh-ul-Hadith (an expert and
a teacher of hadith) at an important Islamic institution in Lahore. I asked him
about the source (maakhaz and sanad) of this tradition. And he said: “The
wording of this hadith is rather unfamiliar. I don’t recall it.”
Now
the amazing thing is that this tradition, as I mentioned earlier, is included
in Mishkat, which is the primer of Ilm Al-Hadith, the very first book that is
taught in this discipline. Still, an ‘alim who is considered an authority in
hadith could not recall reading or hearing these words. Is it not a very
serious matter indeed? There has to be a reason why a significant hadith would
just vanish from the consciousness of both, the scholars and the general
public.
To be continued....
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