Sunday 11 June 2017

Did Lady Khadija, Prophet Muhammad's wife, tested Angel Gabriel's revelations ?

Some sources quote the following story:

Testing by Khadija

Ibn Ishaq recorded that when the spirit came another time, Khadija tested him:
Isma`il b. Abu Hakim, a freedman of the family of al-Zubayr, told me on Khadija's authority that she said to the apostle of God, 'O son of my uncle, are you able to tell me about your visitant, when he comes to you?" He replied that he could, and she asked him to tell her when he came. So when Gabriel came to him, as he was wont, the apostle said to Khadija, 'This is Gabriel who has just come to me.' `Get up, O son of my uncle,' she said, `and sit by my left thigh.' The apostle did so, and she said, `Can you see him?' `Yes,' he said. She said, `Then turn around and sit on my right thigh.' He did so, and she said, `Can you see him?' When he said that he could she asked him to move and sit in her lap. When he had done this she again asked if he could see him, and when he said yes, she disclosed her form "tahassarat" and cast aside her veil while the apostle was sitting in her lap. Then she said, `Can you see him?' And he replied, `No.' She said, `O son of my uncle, rejoice and be of good heart, by God he is an angel and not a satan.' (Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, tr. Guillaume, 1967, p. 107)
She was covering her face, "tahassarat" means to expose her face. The thought is that an angel respects a woman's modesty, while devils don't.

Chain of narration examined: 

The chain of narration is severed. Isma`il b. Abu Hakim didn't hier from the mother of the believers, Khadija. She died 3 years before Hijrah while he died 130 H. Another chain of narration says that Fatimah bint Hussein heard the story from Khadija, however she didn't hear from her either so, the chain is cut


الرواية هي من سيرة ابن هشام و هي ضعيفة سندا لعلة الانقطاع بين اسماعيل بن ابي حكيم و بين ام المؤمنين خديجة رضي الله عنها . فاسماعيل بن ابي حكيم توفي سنة 130 هجرية و اما خديجة رضي الله عنها فتوفيت في السنة العاشرة من البعثة اي 3 قبل الهجرة :
This is Imam Albani's comments saying the chain of narration is severed:

.أولاً : يحيى بن سليمان بن نضلة المديني فيه كلام من جهة حفظه ، قال ابن
عدي (7/2710) :
"قال ابن خراش : لا يسوى فلساً . (قال ابن عدي) : يروي عن مالك وأهل
المدينة أحاديث [عامتها] مستقيمة" .
وقال ابن أبي حاتم (4/2/154) عن أبيه :
"شيخ ، حدث أياماً ثم توفي" .
ويعني أنه في المرتبة الثالثة عنده ؛ أي : يكتب حديثه وينظر فيه ؛ أي : أنه
يستشهد به ؛ لأنه قبل المرتبة الرابعة وهي من قيل فيه : متروك الحديث ، أو
كذاب ، ونحو ذلك .
ولما ذكره ابن حبان في "الثقات " (9/269) قال :
"يخطئ ويهم " .
قلت : فمثله لا يحتج بحديثه ؛ إذا لم يتابع كما يفيده قول الطبراني عقبه :
"تفرد به يحيى بن سليمان " .
فكيف به وقد خولف ، وهو قولي :
ثانياً : فقال ابن إسحاق في "السيرة" (1/257) ومن طريقه الطبري في
"التاريخ " (1/208) ، وكذا البيهقي في "الدلائل " (2/151 - 152) : وحدثني
إسماعيل بن أبي حكيم مولى آل الزبير : أنه حدثه عن خديجة رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا ...
الحديث نحوه . قال ابن إسحاق : وقد حدثت عبد الله بن حسن هذا الحديث ؛
فقال : قد سمعت أمي فاطمة بنت حسين تحدث بهذا الحديث عن خديجة ،
إلا أني سمعتها تقول :
أدخلتْ رسول الله صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بينها وبين درعها ؛ فذهب عند ذلك جبريل ، فقالت
لرسول الله صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : إن هذا لملك وما هو بشيطان .
قلت : وهذا أصح من الأول ، رجاله ثقات ، ولكنه منقطع من الوجهين ؛ فإن
إسماعيل بن أبي حكيم ؛ ثقة من السادسة عند الحافظ ؛ فهو تابع تابعي ، وفاطمة
بنت حسين ؛ فهي تابعية لم تدرك خديجة رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا ، وقد أشار شيخ الإسلام
ابن تيمية إلى ضعف الحديث في رسالته "لباس المرأة في الصلاة"
سلسلة الأحاديث الضعيفة" رواية 6097
The story also contradicts the authentic one mentioned in Saheeh Albukhari'
.....Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones." Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal.... (Sahih Bukhari)
 About Ibn Ishaq and similar books:
These books contain some strange or awkward narrations which are not considered authentic, even by those who narrated them. So, these books are not authoritative because they contain many reports with incomplete chains of narration. Such history books at his time did not pay attention to tracing the chain of transmitters for their stories. Ibn Is’haaq’s specialty was history/seerah therefore he was abandoned by the scholars of hadeeth (such as Bukhari and Muslim) when it came to narrating hadeeth and a reason for this might be because he might include those weaker/severed narrations while he narrated the hadeeth.
And Allah knows best

No comments:

Post a Comment