http://www.islam-watch.org/Peace4ever/Muhammad-Still-Greater.htm
Muhammad is Still Greater Than Allah
by Peace Forever
02 Jul, 2008
I had written about Muhammad placing service to himself above that of
Allah. Since then one of the main objections raised against my
argument was the argument #2, which I had briefly dealt with in my
original paper. Probably, certain muslims find my response to this
line of defense inadequate. I intend to respond to this defense that
certain muslims came up in the FFI forum and one certain muslim with
whom I had a long exchange over mail.
The defense is that, Surah Al-Fatiha, is one of the most im****tant
Surah of the Quran. They contend that according to the most authentic
collection of Sunnah of their prophet, one=92s prayer becomes invalid if
he/she doesn=92t recite Al-Fatiha [1, 2]. Muslims reckon it one of the
most virtuous Surahs of the Quran, that it was called Umm Al-Qur'an
meaning "the mother of the Qur'an". So Muhammad was right in
interrupting, as Ubayy=92s prayer would have been invalid.
There are several problems with the line of defense, apart from what I
had already mentioned in my original paper.
Firstly, anyone reading the narrations without an assumption that
Muhammad is the prophet of Allah and hence he wouldn=92t place himself
above his god can see that Muhammad was angry at Ubayy not answering
him as soon as he called him, and not because he was praying the wrong
way.
Muhammad didn=92t even know why Ubayy hadn=92t responded to him as soon as
he called him, he had to ask him.
=85Abu Hurayrah said, "The Messenger of Allah went out while Ubayy
bin Ka'b was praying and said, (O Ubayy!) Ubayy did not answer him.
The Prophet said, (O Ubayy!) Ubayy prayed faster then went to the
Messenger of Allah saying, 'Peace be unto you, O Messenger of Allah!'
He said, (Peace be unto you. O Ubayy, what prevented you from
answering me when I called you) He said, 'O Messenger of Allah! I was
praying.'=85 [Hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, via Tafsir Ibn
Kathir]
So, to say Muhammad=92s intention was to correct Ubayy goes beyond the
reading, as Muhammad wasn=92t even aware of what Ubayy was doing.
Moreover after knowing the reason Muhammad reprimands him for not
responding to him, and not for praying the wrong way. And as result of
this entire melee he even forgets about his promise to tell about Al-
Fathia!
Secondly, the defense works under the assumption Ubayy didn=92t know the
right way to pray. So, how could he be held accountable for ignorance
or something beyond his capacity? Didn=92t Muhammad himself say the
religion (Islam) is easy and one shouldn=92t overburden himself?
XXVIII: On the deen (religion) being easy
And the words of the Prophet, "The deen which Allah loves the most
is the tolerant Hanifiyya [natural unitary belief and correct
behaviour] one."
39. It is related from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The deen is easy.
Whoever makes the deen too hard for himself will be overpowered, so
direct yourselves to what is right, follow a middle course, accept the
good news of the reward for right action, and seek help [to reach your
goal by being constant in wor****pping] in the morning, evening and
some of the night." [Aisha Bewley, The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari,
The Book of Faith (Iman)]
Moreover, Islamic scholars are of the view that it is acceptable if
one can=92t recite Al-Fathia due to one being new to Islam or hasn=92t
learned it yet.
=85If one can't recite Al-Faatihah because one can't perfect it due
to certain reasons, but knows other verses, one would then recite
about seven verses instead. However, if one could not learn Al-
Faatihah quickly enough to pray - like the very newcomers to Al-Islaam
- one may recite, according to the Hadeeth by Rifaa'ah bin Raafi'e
(r.'a.):
Subhaanallah Glory be to Allah
Wal hamdulillah And praise be to Allah
Wa laa ilaaha illallaah And there is no deity but
Wallaahu Akbar. Allah, Allah is Greatest=85.
[Prescribed Prayer Made Simple, Chapter Two by Sheikh Tajuddin B.
Shu`aib's]
If one is defending Muhammad=92s actions by claiming Ubayy didn=92t know
Al-Fathia, it falls short of the mark since Islamic scholars pass off
a prayer without Al-Fathia under certain cir***stances. Also, this is
the view after the revelation of Al-Fathia, does is it mean that
Muslims didn=92t pray before Al-Fathia was revealed? Or does it mean all
prayers of Muslims including that of Muhammad was invalid before Al-
Fathia was revealed? If no, how could anyone claim Muhammad didn=92t do
any wrong by rebuking Ubayy even after he said he was praying.
What is even more interesting is Islamic literature shows Muhammad
contradicting himself, by condoning a certain muslim who didn=92t recite
Al-Fathia!
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
A man heard another man reciting (Surat-Al-Ikhlas) 'Say He is
Allah, (the) One.' (112.1) repeatedly. The next morning he came to
Allah's Apostle and informed him about it as if he thought that it WAS
NOT ENOUGH to recite. On that Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose
Hand my life is, this Surah is equal to one-third of the Qur'an!"
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: My brother, Qatada bin An-Nau'man
said, "A man performed the night prayer late at night in the lifetime
of the Prophet and he read: 'Say: He is Allah, (the) One,' (112.1) and
read NOTHING besides that. The next morning a man went to the
Prophet ,~ and told him about that. (The Prophet replied the same as
(in Hadith 532) above.) [Sahih al-Bukhari, 6.61.533-534]
And another online version has this to say on the veracity of these
narrations from Sahih al-Bukhari considered to be one of the most
authentic Sunnah:
The isnad contains 'Amra from 'A'isha from the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace ...
=85It is related mursal from Ibrahim, and with an isnad from ad-
Dahhak al-Mashriqi. [Aisha Bewley, The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari,
4726 =96 4727]
Here we have Muhammad instead of rendering his prayer invalid goes on
to condone it by claiming it is equivalent to 1/3rd of the Quran. Note
how the man who complained thought it was insufficient and rightly so
[see Sahih al-Bukhari 1.12.739 and also Sahih Muslim 004.0779-80] and
hence he asks Muhammad about it. Yet, Muhammad condones it!
Moreover, one can=92t try to reconcile these hadiths by arguing that
this was before Al-Fathia, since the verse recited by the muslim was
from Surah Al-Ikhlaas, which was the revealed much later than Surah Al-
Fathia (Al-Ikhlaas is placed 22nd in the chronological order as
opposed to Al-Fathia which is place 5th see here & here).
Finally, the defense rests on the notion that Muhammad was correcting
Ubayy. Here is the whole of the incident as quoted by Ibn Kathir,
along with the parts I left in my original paper:
=85 Abu Hurayrah said, "The Messenger of Allah went out while Ubayy
bin Ka`b was praying and said, (O Ubayy!) Ubayy did not answer him.
The Prophet said, (O Ubayy!) Ubayy prayed faster then went to the
Messenger of Allah saying, `Peace be unto you, O Messenger of Allah!'
He said, (Peace be unto you. O Ubayy, what prevented you from
answering me when I called you) He said, `O Messenger of Allah! I was
praying.' He said, (Did you not read among what Allah has sent down to
me,)
(Answer Allah (by obeying Him) and (His) Messenger when he ()
calls you to that which gives you life) He said, `Yes, O Messenger of
Allah! I will not do it again.' the Prophet said,
(Would you like me to teach you a Surah the likes of which nothing
has been revealed in the Tawrah, the Injil, the Zabur (Psalms) or the
Furqan (the Qur'an)) He said, `Yes, O Messenger of Allah!' The
Messenger of Allah said, (I hope that I will not leave through this
door until you have learned it.) He (Ka`b) said, `The Messenger of
Allah held my hand while speaking to me. Meanwhile I was slowing down
fearing that he might reach the door before he finished his
conversation. When we came close to the door, I said: O Messenger of
Allah ! What is the Surah that you have promised to teach me' He said,
(What do you read in the prayer.) Ubayy said, 'So I recited Umm Al-
Qur'an to him.' He said,
(By Him in Whose Hand is my soul! Allah has never revealed in the
Tawrah, the Injil, the Zabur or the Furqan a Surah like it. It is the
seven repeated verses that I was given.)'' =85 [Hadith recorded by Imam
Ahmad bin Hanbal, via Tafsir Ibn Kathir]
Ubayy knew Al-Fathia! He recited Al-Fathia to Muhammad when he asked
what he used to read in the prayer! The entire defense based on Ubayy
not praying the right way falls flat! But the hadith talks about
Muhammad, wanting to teach Al-Fathia to Ubayy, something Ubayy already
seems to know, which leaves us with two possibilities. One, Muhammad
simply wasn=92t aware of the fact that Ubayy knew it, which wouldn=92t
save Muhammad of his blasphemous act, either, because of the reasons
mentioned above (since Ubayy=92s ignorance of Al-Fathia wouldn=92t
automatically make his prayer any less valid and moreover, Muhammad=92s
anger seems to stem from the fact Ubayy ignored him, and not Ubayy was
praying the wrong way =96 note how Muhammad in spite of promising by
Allah=92s name, almost forgets it and needs to be reminded =96 something
unexpected if his sole cause of his outburst was Ubayy praying the
wrong way!). Two, the narrators didn=92t convey what they intended to -
probably it was intended to mean Muhammad wanted to inform about the
best surah in the quran and not teach it. It is probably so, since Ibn
Kathir quotes a Hadith on a similar instance where Muhammad wants to
inform about the best Surah and not teach it.
=85Ibn Jabir said, "I went to the Messenger of Allah after he had
poured water (for purification) and said, `Peace be unto you, O
Messenger of Allah!' He did not answer me. So I said again, `Peace be
unto you, O Messenger of Allah!' Again, he did not answer me, so I
said again, `Peace be unto you, O Messenger of Allah!' Still he did
not answer me. The Messenger of Allah went while I was following him,
until he arrived at his residence. I went to the Masjid and sat there
sad and depressed. The Messenger of Allah came out after he performed
his purification and said, (Peace and Allah's mercy be unto you, peace
and Allah's mercy be unto you, peace and Allah's mercy be unto you.)
He then said, (O `Abdullah bin Jabir! Should I inform you of the best
Surah in the Qur'an) I said, `Yes, O Messenger of Allah!' He said,
(Read, `All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the existence,' until you
finish it.)'' This Hadith has a good chain of narrators=85. [Hadith
recorded by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, via Tafsir Ibn Kathir]
Another fact that leads credence to this view is that, Muhammad in
reply to Ubayy=92s question about what Surah Muhammad was talking about,
says =93What do you read in the prayer=94, which means Muhammad knew that
Ubayy knows the Surah, he was talking about and he just needs to given
the hint, which being the =93Surah read in prayer=94, remember, that Al-
Fathia is the Surah recited in the prayer!
It is amply evident that Muhammad, conjures up Allah to manipulate
people to do what he wants. But as soon as he realizes that his false
God is revered more than himself, he comes out with verses demanding
respect! Just as Muhammad=92s young bride Aisha once said sarcastically
on Muhammad=92s revelations =93I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling
your wishes and desires=94, & Allah obliges
http://www.islam-watch.org/Peace4ever/Muhammad-Still-Greater.htm
|
