3.
From the People for the People: Hadith: Proverbs and
Deeds of the Prophet
"Nobody who
seriously practices Islam studies would dare
to use the sayings attributed to Muhammad
and his companions as a source to formulate
a picture of the early state and teachings
of Islam."
Ignaz Goldziher, old master of Quran
research at the 1st International Congress
of Religious History, Paris 1900 |
3.1. Poetry sayings and the poets
[The alleged sayings of "Muhammad"]
Along with the Quran, the "hadith" (emphasis on the
second syllable, -th is spoken as an s) [[the
prophet's sayings]] are the major religious scriptures
in Islam. Hadiths are sayings and actions of the
Prophet: what he said to this or that matter, what
judgment he spoke on this or that case, who his
favorite wife was, what his favorite food was, and
whom he visited in heaven and encountered in hell.
There is hardly a conceivable or unthinkable event in
Muhammad's life that is not described in detail. The
statements are largely reproduced in direct speech.
The biography of the Prophet ("Sira") in its thousands
of variants and all the details is based on the
hadiths.
[Sunni and Shiite poetry sayings on "Muhammad" and
the poets - sayings of before 5 to 6 generation -
example of the pumpkin]
The number of hadiths exceeds the million mark. Six
collections are canonized, officially recognized by
the Sunni clergy as authentic and true. (But not by
the Shiites, who in turn present five collections of
their own). The authors of these six official
collections are
-- al-Buhari (died 870),
-- Muslim (died 875),
-- Ibn Madscha (died 886),
-- Abu Dawood (died 888),
-- Tirmidhi (died 892), and
-- Nasa'i (died 915).
The earliest, occasionally cited collection of
biographical data by Ibn Ishak (died around 770) is
not proven, the collection of Ibn Hisham (died 834) is
not canonized which seems to be strange.
As a reminder: The Prophet died [[officially]] in 632.
This means that the hadiths were written 150 to 250
years after his death, some much later yet. Until
then, they were passed on orally [p.53], mainly by
"quassas", these are professional storytellers. The
stories of the prophet Muhammad's words and deeds
literally went from tea-fire to tea-fire, from market
to market, from generation to generation, until they
landed at one of the scribes.
Let's look at some hadiths. They come from the
official Buhari collection and are numbered according
to the Reclam edition. Only the original informant is
mentioned. In reality, one has to think of the entire
"tradition chain" over five or six generations. This
would look like this:
"In this way person A was telling me, and he told me
that person B had mentioned that person C had said to
him that person D had mentioned that he had heard from
person E that person F said that person G had asked
Aisha (one of the wives of Muhammad): 'What did the
prophet of the Lord like to eat?' Whereupon Aisha
would have said: 'Truly, I say to you, he liked
candied fruit and honey, and he especially liked
pumpkin.'"
3.2. Muslim poetry: prayer, heaven,
hell, dates, women's discrimination, killing Jews,
sexuality, "evil eye", tattooing, garlic
[Invented sayings of a "Muhammad": prayer, heaven
and hell]
II, 11 [Muhammad above all describes thankless
ungrateful women in hell]
Ibn Abbas reports:
<The Prophet told: "Hell was shown to me, and most
of its inhabitants were women." Someone asked him,
"Did you not believe in God?" "They were ungrateful to
their companions, ungrateful for the benefits they had
received. If you only do goodness to such a woman, but
she discovers something that disgusts her, she says: I
have never seen anything good of you.">
II, 17
[People converting to Islam gets a many
fold back of his good deeds]
Abu Hurayrah reports that the Messenger of God had
said to him: "He who sincerely confesses to Islam, his
good good deeds will be credited ten to seven
hundredfold, while a bad deed will be noted only
once." [p.54]
III, 19
[The memory in the mantle]
Abu Huraira reports:
<I said, "O Messenger of God, I hear from you so
many hadiths, but often I forget them again." The
Prophet answered, "Spread out your cloak." I followed
this request. After that, the Prophet moved his hands,
so he scooped something into my coat. Then he said:
"Now put it on again." I did what he said and since
then I have not forgotten anything!>
IV, 2
[Do the little washing before praying]
Hammam ibn Munabbih reports:
Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of God said: "The
prayer of a person which is unclean will not be
accepted until he does the little washing." A man from
Hadramaut asked him, "Oh Abu Huraira, what makes you
impure?" "For example, by flatulence.">
IV, 5
[Visiting the toilet]
Anas reports:
<When the Prophet went away to the toilet, he said,
"Oh God, I take refuge in you from the evil and
unclean powers.">
IV, 6
[During visiting the toilet the persons must
not look to Mecca]
Abu Aiyub al-Ansari reports that the Messenger of God
had said: "When you are on the toilet, your face or
back must not be turned towards the Kaaba, but turn to
the west or to the east."
IV, 24
[Do not use ponds and lakes as urinals]
Abu Huraira reports:
<The Messenger of God said: "Do not urinate into
calm waters, because later you may need this water to
wash you."> [p.55]
V, 3
["Muhammad" with the power of 30 men]
Qatada reports:
<Anas ibn Malik said: "In the course of one night
and one day, the Prophet came to all his wives, and he
had eleven!" I asked him: "Did he have so much
strength?" "Yes, he had the power of 30 men.">
V, 10
[Washings for man after sex without
ejaculation]
Ubai ibn Kab reports:
<I asked the Prophet: "O Messenger of God, how
shall a man wash himself after attending his wife, but
had no ejaculation?" He replied, "He should wash those
parts of the body he touched the woman with. Then make
the little washing.And then he can do the prayer.">
VII, 1
["Muhammad" shall be welcome to Enoch,
Jesus and Abraham]
Anas reports:
<The prophet told that he had met Enoch, Moses,
Jesus and Abraham in the heavens - God's blessings may
be count for them - but then he did not indicate
anything more about the conditions of their dwellings.
However, he pointed out that he saw Adam in the first,
Abraham in the sixth heaven. When Gabriel and the
Prophet passed Enoch, he said: "Welcome, o righteous
Prophet and devout brother of faith!" Then I met
Jesus. He also said: "Welcome, o righteous Prophet and
devout brother of faith!" Finally, I met Abraham. He
said, "Welcome, o righteous Prophet and devout brother
of faith!">
X, 14
["Muhammad" is said to have said that common
prayer counts 27 times more as praying alone]
Abdullah ibn Umar reports that the Messenger of God
had said:
"The common prayer has twenty-seven times the value of
a prayer done alone." [p.56]
XI, 4
["Muhammad" is said to have said that during
a Friday prayer all faults would be forgiven]
Salman al-Farsi reports that the Prophet said:
"Anyone who takes a bath on Friday and thoroughly
washes, oiled or perfumed his hair, then goes to
prayer and does not press between the prayers who have
already taken their seats before him, then doing the
prayer according to the rules and listening the sermon
attentively, this man will be forgiven his mistakes
being committed between this day and the Friday of
before."
XV, 1
["Muhammad" is supposed having said that all
who believe in Muhammad come to paradise, including
thieves and adulterers]
Abu Darr reports:
<The Prophet said, "The good news came from my Lord
that all the members of my community who serve God
alone, and do not attribute to Him any partner in His
Divinity, will go to Paradise after their death." I
asked him, "Does this also apply to those who have
committed adultery or have stolen?" - "Yes!">
XV, 13
["Muhammad" is supposed to have said that
all people automatically come to Islam then they are
not wrongly brought up]
Abu Huraira reports:
<The Messenger of God said: "Every newborn as the
natural predisposition for the right belief. The
parents are the factor educating it to be a Jew,
Christian or magician.">
[Fantasy sayings of a "Muhammad": about dates]
XX, 15
[Nafi is said having said that fertilized
date palms would belong to the fertilizer]
Nafi, the Maular of Ibn Umar, reports:
"If date palms are sold that are already fertilized,
and when there is no further arrangements, the harvest
belongs to the person who has fertilized the palms."
XXIV, 3
[Eating dates must be slowly]
Ibn Umar reports:
"The Prophet forbade eating two dates at a meal
together before asking for permission from others."
[p.57]
[Invented sayings of a "Muhammad": women's
discrimination, killing of Jews, sexuality, "evil
eye", tattoos, garlic]
XXVI, 7
[The testimony of a woman is only worth
half]
Abu Sail al-Khudri reports:
<The Prophet said to the women: "Is it not true
that the testimony of a woman count only half of a
man's testimony?" They replied, "Yes, O Messenger of
God!" - "The reason for this is your poor common
sense!">
XXVIII, 18
["Muhammad" is said to have ordered the
killing of all Jews]
Abdullah ibn Umar reports that the Messenger of God
had said:
<I will fight the Jews until one of them seeks
refuge behind a stone. And this stone will shout:
"Come here, this Jew did hide himself behind me! Kill
him!">
XXIX, 5
["Muhammad" is said having granted
temporary marriage for sexual satisfaction]
Abdullah reports:
<We were on a military campaign and we did not have
any women with us. So we said to the Prophet: "Is not
it better to have castrated?" He forbade us to do so,
but he allowed women to marry for a limited time.>
XXIX, 7
["Muhammad" is said having allowed sex
only in the dark, but women are liked to be combed
and shaved]
Gabir ibn Abdullah reports:
<As we approached our destination, the Prophet
said: "Take your time and ride slowly, so that you
arrive at nightfall in Medina, because the women
should find time to comb and shave their pubic hair!"
>
XXXIV, 15
["Muhammad" is said having granted the
"evil eye", but not tattooing]
Abu Huraira reports:
<The Prophet said: "The evil eye is reality!" And
he forbade tattooing>
XXXI, 14
["Mohammad" is said having forbidden
garlic before going to the mosque]
Abdul Aziz reports:
Someone asked Anas: "Did the Prophet say anything
about garlic?" Yes, he said: "Those who have eaten
garlic should not approach our mosque!"> [P.58]
3.3. The dating and classification of
poetry: "they appear authentic"
So, these hadiths were put down about 200 years later
and even more later after the affirmed events, and
there are hundreds of thousands of them. It is clear
to everyone, of course, that the authenticity of
citations that have been transmitted orally over the
centuries, and that happened on a huge scale, has to
be observed with greatest skepticism.
[The hadith industry in the 9th and 10th century -
poet al-Audsha]
In the 9th and 10th century, there was a true hadith
industry. Hadiths were issued against orders and
against payments, rulers let edit them for their
justification of power. A certain al-Audsha admitted
that he freely invented 4,000 hadiths [25].
[25] McDonald: Development of Muslim
Theology; Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory;
New York 1903
He was executed for this, but the real problem was not
eliminated.
[The authors Abu Dawud and Al-Buhari classify
sayings which seem to be authentic]
Abu Dawud, author of one of the official collections,
stated that he had accepted only 4,800 of 500,000
hadiths "that appear authentic, or almost". Al-Buhari,
the most prominent hadith editor, classified "only
7400" of 600,000 stories as authentic. Now, the
careful estimation are 1.5 million hadiths as a raw
material for the official editors. And 100.000s
individual reviews of the transmitters would be
needed, and in the best case they would have an age of
"only" 150 years...
The recognition of a hadith as "real" has it's
conditions. The informer must
-- be trustworthy and have a good reputation;
-- be faultless in faith and religious behavior;
-- to provide the safety that they have understood the
information correctly;
-- have handed down more than one hadith.
The traditional text must
-- be state for sure that the reported content comes
from Muhammad personally;
-- prove a complete chain of informants;
-- to fit into the time of Muhammad. [p.59].
[The chain of narrators ("Isnad") as a criterion
for a true Muhammad saying (Hadith)]
The quality of a hadith is always decided by the
Isnad, that is the chain of the narrators. If the
Isnad is in order, it is also the Hadith itself,
however contentwise or logically it may be very
questionable. A solid proven lineage provokes an
approval of a solid ("healthy") hadith. Criticism of a
Hadith is therefore never criticism of the content,
because the basic assumption always comes from the
Prophet himself, but it is only criticism of Isnad and
its transmitters (narrators). Hadith suppliers were
beside the Prophet his "comrades" and their
"successors", altogether these were a few thousand
persons. Their statements about the Prophet are more
or less a certificate of authenticity with a guarantee
of origin.
For a long time there was no review of the hadiths,
each one was "real." Only when the hadith binge (bad
behavior) was dominating criteria were established,
but the dams were already broken.
[[So everyone could give a saying in the name of the
fantasy prophet Muhammad]].
Hadiths have almost the same worth for Muslims as
Quran verses, because God speaks in them through the
Prophet. They are passed down by the popular language
and thus everybody can understand them, and the big
awesome distance is missing because this exists
respect to the Quran. The editor of the Buhari Hadith
Collection (Reclam) writes in his introduction:
"Non-Muslim readers will learn a great deal when
reading what may seem strange and strange to them.
They are approaching the privacy of a foreign
culture."
This is true, they are approaching the privacy, but
they are not at all approaching the facts.
3.4. Poetic sayings in the Muslim
media
[Muslim media discussing life situations and
spreading sayings (hadith)]
Hadiths reflect mostly daily life situation. But they
are all the more important for the believer, because
he finds therefrom instructions for the situation
where an answer is wanted for. In every Islamic
country there are newspaper sectors, radio and
television broadcasts, where the audience can ask
questions about specific life situations and the
author or presenter provides the appropriate hadith.
However, today's questions have only yesterday's
answers - the basic problem of Islamic thought [p.60].
3.5. Poetic sayings as the basis of
the brutal sharia
[The hadith poetry is the basis of the brutal
sharia]
Hadiths are the main basis of Shari'a, Islamic
jurisprudence, because in the Quran itself only a
maximum of 500 passages are legally relevant and the
numerous, contradictory Quranic verses only make big
problems in practice. Thus, the Koran itself is not
sufficient for a legal basis, so for justice not only
deeds and sayings of the Prophet are cited, but also
the ones of his friends or his successors are rated.
Countless heads rolled and countless hands fell in the
sand, cut off on the basis of hadiths.
The apostasy from Islam is punished with the death
penalty. This is due to a single Hadith: "Kill him who
changes his religion." There is no corresponding
passage in the Quran itself. A single "saying" having
emerged from somewhere can decide about life and
death.
[Quran scholars in "Islamic science" were sorting
the hadiths without scientific criteria "]
Also Quran scholars are aware of the problem of the
hadiths. At all times there was work for a cleanup.
Currently there is the "Islamic science" ilm
al-ridschal which is dealing with the narrators of the
hadiths. Its task is to check "the living conditions
and the scientific qualification" of the narrators of
that time. That means that false hadiths are sorted
out and the right ones are kept. But, which are the
scientific criteria for this election? Again, one has
to ask oneself what "science" should mean in the
Islamic context. At any rate, it does not seem to have
much to do with a generally accepted definition of
science.
Let's remember: We are speaking of the necessity of
testing 100.000s of parts of a chain of persons
concerning life data and character characteristics
which are said to have transmitted about 1,400 years
ago much information as quotes in a personal speech
without written proofs over 5 to six generations
without mistaking anything. Persons can call this a
wonder, and I omit the term of science.
[The comparison with rumors about Napoleon -
Hadiths are classified according to the feeling
principle]
The historical correctness of hadiths is as precise as
if we would describe life and actions of Napoleon with
all his speeches inclusive only on the base of
narrations which were given [p.61] to us over
generations ("My great-uncle said to me, his father
had told him that the grandfather of a friend whose
grandfather knew someone whose uncle served with
Napoleon, had learned that the following said: ... ").
What historical reliability would that have?
But that's how Hadiths are working. And such a
"chain", then as now, should be seriously verifiable?
We do not know anything about the truth of the
communication itself, because the content of a hadith
is not called into question.
Principally, everything that was right according to
the feeling of the naive believer became a a saying of
the Prophet - a hadith.
3.6. The biography (Sira) of the
"Muhammad" with invented poetry (hadith)
[The biography ("Sira") are all invented hadiths by
feeling and hearsay]
It is not just about individual passages, but about
the entire construct of the life and work of the
Prophet, because the "Sira", the biography of the
Prophet, is nothing more than biographically Hadith
material being put together.
Here, the Islam-immanent basic problem of the sources
becomes clear: histories from hearsay are presented as
facts. Source research does not exist.
[CIA-Wikipedia claims the feeling for Hadiths would
be "authentic" because of the narrators]
CIA Wikipedia says: "However, the Sira literature
differs from the hadith literature because Sira
literature is normally not backed by a chain of
narrators." [[Wikipedia: Sira:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As-S%C4%ABra_an-Nabaw%C4%ABya
- as of 30.8.2015]].
Should the "chain of narrators" be a seal of approval?
If one regards the "chain of narrators" as "secured",
then what else is "not secured"? Comes a fairy tale
passing the door and is leaving the room as a secured
fact?
[CIA Wikipedia claims that the invented Sira
hadiths would be in it's core "largely authentic"]
And: "According to the current state of research, the
Sira in it's core is a mostly authentic historical
source; except only some passages." [[CIA Wikipedia:
Sira:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As-S%C4%ABra_an-Nabaw%C4%ABya
- as of 30.8.2015]].
Just the opposite is the case. The scientists may ring
the bell who see an "authentic and historic source"
with these hadiths and their derivates.
Because the sources are completely obscure and
unverifiable, the hadith can be confidently called a
collection of fairy tales [p.62].
3.7. The struggle with the invented
hadiths from region to region
[Different regions invent different hadiths to
fight other Islamic regions]
There is no criteria fulfilling the conditions for
being a usable historic source - with one exception:
Hadiths are a prime illustration how Islam was
created. The different directions that came out within
this developing religion, the positional struggles,
the dynastic conflicts, the theological formations,
they all can be found in the hadiths. And the hadiths
also represent very clearly the different regions and
schools - Damascus, Basra, Kufa, Medina, Persian
theologians against Arabs - because for every occasion
the adequate Hadith was at hand to strengthen the own
position and weakening the opposite position.
[Elements of other religions are included in the
hadiths: example the prayer "Our Father"]
The influences of the neighboring religions also
manifest themselves in the Quran as in the hadiths. In
borrowing from the gospel of Matthew 5:3 ("blessed
shall be the poor in spirit"), the prophets are told
in a totally un-Islamic way that most of the
inhabitants of paradise would be the simpletons
(whereas nerving wives would form the majority in
hell). In the canonical collection of the Abu Dawud,
the narrator Abu-l-Darda testified that he had heard
Muhammad saying the following prayer: "Our God in
heaven, hallowed be your name, your will be done in
heaven and on earth, as your mercy in heaven be it on
earth, forgive us our guilt and our sins ... "
3.8. Invented hadiths in Islamic
justice
[The Islamic justice looks for hadiths - and when
there is none, one asks oneself: what would the
Prophet have said?]
For justice the hadiths had deep and strict
consequences. The early schools of Abu Hanifa and
Malik bin Anas did not handle hadiths - that is,
Muhammad did not exist at all - but later schools
essentially relied only on hadiths. It was no longer
about creating legal principles, but only about the
comparison. What did the Prophet say about that? What
has he done? If there was no adequate answer, they
searched for the "comrades" and their "successors".
And if that did not succeed, the question arose: what
would the Prophet say?
[Hadith counterfeiter Hanafis]
Time came when without hadiths nothing could be done
any more. Thus the basically really rational Hanafis
were doing some work producing more hadiths being the
most eager hadith producers and fakers. This was the
time when hadiths were arranging the life of the
believers and of their society [p.63].
3.9. The "tradition" (Sunna) regulates
Muslim life with poetic sayings (hadiths) and
prophetic life (sira)
The general term of hadiths and sira is the sunna, the
"tradition". The totality of all the traditions of the
Prophet is Sunna, the hadith being of the greatest
importance. Sunna is what the Prophet said, what he
did, and what was said about him. According to the
Prophet's tradition, the Sunna regulated the manner of
greeting and what a sneezing person was to be wished,
as well as the number of women, the beard, the length
of the dress or the ban on eating.
[The Sunna controls the Quran]
Sunna is the form of government and justice and,
ultimately, the most important normative principle of
all private and public life. As early as the third
Islamic century, Quran and Sunna were equally one
aside the other; there was the saying "The Sunna is
the judge of the Quran and not the other way around".
The leading jurists al-Scheibani and al-Shafi affirm
this point of view, while Ibn Kuteiba at the same time
established the thesis of the divinity of the Sunna.
[The Salafists want to live strictly according to
the Sunna and the hadiths]
Salafi, the "imitator of tradition" - the tradition of
Muhammad - was the greatest title of glory for a
believer in the 9th century. These "imitators of
tradition" forming the group of "Salafists" are still
in the 21st century, a significant stream of Islam.
[The "tradition" (Sunna ") develops from simple
life into complicated forms of life]
Of course, where the highest virtue was only imitation
and comparing things, no theology could develop. And
even more: the original Islamic topics turned into the
opposite. While the earliest Islam was rooted in the
eagerness for clear and simple life rejecting the
Greek Christianity with it's luxury, wounds and holy
statues, so in the third Islamic century came
precisely this characteristic also to the new
religion. Contradicting Quran and Arabic Sunna a prime
figure was created without mistake and error, a
perfect human fulfilling wonders and provoking soon
thousands of legends: Muhammad.
