he proved the unknown and ascribed it to someone, who was free from it, would be strange of him indeed!
It would be better to him, according to his suspecting principle, to refute the pretended matter and to deny the confused case of the tomb from the beginning because the reality would be on his side!
WIth the same easiness that showed indifference towards the reality he sent his word, which had no evidence and was not free from the very confusion he accused the historical with.
He said: "He (the Prophet) invited his uncle and insisted upon him to be a Muslim and the man (Abu Talib) was about to accept but the fanaticism of the pre-Islamic paganism prevented him. When he died, his nephew said: "I will pray Allah to forgive you" but the Quran blamed him about that so severely!"
(1)
We didn't care for his attempt to defame the Prophet's uncle and protector, who "defended his (the Prophet's) religion against Quraysh" as Taha Husayn himself said
(2) but what bothered us was his unruly rush without any prudence until he described the Prophet (s) of being liable to the severe blame of the Quran.
How would the Prophet (s) be blamed severely for inviting and insisting upon his uncle, who had protected him and defended him and his religion, to be a Muslim?
Wasn't the task of the mission to invite people and to insist upon them to believe in it?
Didn't the Quran itself order the Prophet (s) to warn his near relatives in the dawn of the mission before warning the public?
Then how would the Quran blame the Prophet (s) for
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1 Ala Hamish as-Seera vol.1 p.193.
2 Al-Fitnatul Kubra: Othman p.151.
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carrying out the orders of the Quran itself?
Did the Quran become confused too as the matter of that pretended tomb when the historical became confused about it and then Dr.Taha Husayn tried to show them the truth when he said that it was the tomb of Abdul Muttalib?
He wasn't satisfied with making the Prophet (s) liable to severe blame of Quran only, but also he considered him as one of the ordinary Muslims, who were blamed by the Quran for a violating doing.
He said: "Did you see firmer and stricter description of justice without leniency in a situation that didn't accept any leniency than this verse, in which the Prophet (s) and the Muslims were blamed when they prayed Allah to forgive those, who didn't deserve forgiveness: (It is not (fit) for the Prophet and those who believe that they should ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives ...)"
(1)
This showed us how Taha Husayn was confused like the other historians and that he didn't get out of the darkness of suspicions and doubts. Using "perhaps" and "may" wouldn't change the truth.
We said that we didn't care much for the accusation Taha Husayn had ascribed to the Prophet's uncle, who was the defender of Islam. This book was written to refute such false accusations, one of which was this weak accusation, which had no evidence but it was just a dot among those black lines written against Abu Talib.
o. At-Tabari said: "Some others said: Asking for forgiveness in this subject means prayer." Then he mentioned a tradition narrated by al-Muthanna from Ata' bin Rabah saying: "I didn't give up praying for any one of the Muslims even if it was an Abyssinian woman
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1 Ala Hamish as-Seera vol.1 p.194.
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pregnant by adultery because I didn't hear that Allah had forbidden praying except for the polytheists. Allah said:
(It is not (fit) for the Prophet and those who believe that they should ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives ...)" (1)
You saw that there were some people, who interpreted begging forgiveness as the prayer for the dead. Abu Talib and Khadeeja had died before the prayer for the dead was legislated.
The prayer for the dead would begin as soon as a human being died. So did Allah forbid the Prophet (s) from praying for his uncle whereas nearly ten years had passed since the death of his uncle?
Then how would this thought agree with the fabrication saying that this verse concerned Abu Talib or the Prophet's mother or father?
p. Imam Ali said: "I told the Prophet (s) for the death of Abu Talib. He cried and said: "Go to wash (make ghust
(2) for) him, enshroud him and bury him. May Allah forgive him and have mercy upon him!" I did. The Prophet (s) prayed Allah to forgive his uncle for days and he didn't get out of his house until Gabriel came to him with this verse: (It is not (fit) for the Prophet and those who believe that they should ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives ...)."
(3)
You saw according to this thought, which was formed according to the political fancy, that this verse was revealed in the year when Abu Talib died if we didn't say in the month or in the week, in which Abu Talib died for there was the word "days" whereas the revelation of the sura, which this verse was a part of, was the last thing of
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1 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.14-15 from at-Tabari's Tafseer vol.11 p.33.
2 A ritual wash in a certain manner according to the Sharia.
3 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.15 from ibn Sa'd's Tabaqat vol.1 p.105 and ad-Durr al-Manthoor vol.3 p.282.
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the Quran that had been revealed and it was, at least, ten years after the death of Abu Talib.
q. When Abu Talib died, the Prophet (s) said: "Prophet Abraham begged forgiveness for my uncle." Allah revealed:
(It is not (fit) for the prophet and those who believe that they should ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives ...). The Prophet (s) became sad. Then Allah revealed to him:
(And Ibrahim asking forgiveness for his sire was only owing to a promise which he had made to him; but when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he declared himself to be clear of him).
(1)
According to this tradition the verse were revealed when the Prophet's uncle died.
r. When Abu Talib died, the Prophet (s) said: "May Allah have mercy upon you and forgive you! I will pray Allah to forgive you until Allah forbids me from it." Then the Muslims began to pray Allah to forgive their polytheist deads; therefore Allah revealed:
(It is not (fit) for the Prophet and those who believe that they should ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives ...). (2)
These were eighteen so-called traditions talking about the reason of the revelation of this verse.
We didn't want to discuss them or to put them under the hammer of criticism because much of them had nothing to do with the subject of the book besides that we didn't trust in everything they had.
But we quoted them to show that there were many contradicted sayings and thoughts about the revelation of the verse or in fact to show the distortion of the real reason of the revelation of this verse.
The first thing that drew the attention to uncover the
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1 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.15 from Iss~haq bin Bishr and ibn Assakir in ad-Durr al-Manthoor vol.3 p.283.
2 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.15 from ad-Durr al-Manthoor.
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ignorance of the fabricators was that the fabricators had ascribed contradicted sayings to Ali and ibn Abbas about this verse at the same time whereas the true traditions of Imam Ali and ibn Abbas about Abu Talib contradicted all these fabricated traditions.
So what was the real reason behind this contradiction? Which one would we depend upon and which one would we brush aside?
One time they said that the verse concerned the Prophet's uncle, another time his father and a third time his mother!
But the reality showed us that the accusation reached the Prophet's father and mother as a consequence of what was ascribed to his uncle in order to firm the plot against Abu Talib!
All those traditions agreed upon one thing although they were different in their points of view and aims. They agreed upon that the Prophet (s) prayed Allah to forgive some polytheists, to whom Allah had forbidden him from being loving and kind or begging forgiveness in many occasions and by much many Quranic verses, and that the Prophet (s) didn't give up disobeying Allah until this special verse was revealed to him!!!
Consequently these traditions sloped towards one thing; violating the sanctity of the Prophet (s) and the sanctity of the divine mission! Besides that it caused harms to the Prophet (s) whether via his uncle, father or mother!
The reality proved the faithfulness of all the fathers and mothers of the Prophet (s) until they reached the first faithful; Adam (s).
Therefore al-Halabi became confused when he mentioned some of these fabricated and distorted traditions. He thought that they must be corrected. He tried his best but he didn't find any way save to put aside the fire from Abdullah, the Prophet's father, and throw it
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upon Abu Talib because among the false traditions there was this tradition:
Some one asked the Prophet (s): "Where is my father?" The Prophet (s) said (and definitely he had never said): "My father and your father are in Hell!!!"
(1)
After walking in a zigzag way where al-Halabi accused whomever he liked and however he liked in order to justify this false tradition, he thought that he reached the shore of safety when he said: "The Prophet (s) didn't mean but his uncle when saying (my father)."
(2)
Thus al-Halabi saved from Hell whomever he liked and throw in it whomever he liked!
The least thing we could say about these traditions that they were contradicted and this contradiction would be enough evidence to deprive them of trust and regard.
We found such contradiction even in the same tradition fabricated against Abu Talib, Aamina
(3) or Abdullah. With one look at any tradition of them, the reader would recognize their falseness clearly.
These fabricated traditions, besides their contradiction and untrue or weak series of narrators that made them vain, were refuted by clear irrefutable evidences like the Holy Quran, which proved the purity of the Prophet's lineage and the purity of the Prophet's progeny too.
(4) No uncleanness was worse than unbelief and polytheism. Certainly ascribing unbelief or polytheism to the Prophet's parents or uncle would hurt the sanctity of the Prophet (s) and would consider him as disobedient in
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1 As-Seera al-Halabiyya, vol.1 p.60, Muslim's Sahih vol.1 p.132.
2 As-Seera al-Halabiyya, vol.1 p.60.
3 Aamina was the Prophet's mother.
4 WIth reference to the Quranic verses (And your turning over and over among those who prostrate themselves before Allah) 26:219 and (Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (through) purifying) 33:33.
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loving and praying for faithful and polytheist persons whereas Allah had forbidden him from that!
4. The verse, whose meaning and occasion were distorted, had a meaning of negation and not prohibition. The verse showed that the Prophet (s) didn't pray Allah to forgive the polytheists. Neither did the Muslims, who followed his principles. The verse denied begging unfaithful, and not prohibited him from that because he was infallible from committing any mistake.
So anyone, whom the Prophet (s) had prayed Allah to forgive, must be a faithful and we were not to doubt about that a bit as long as we believed in the Prophet and his infallibility and believed that he wouldn't do but rightful things.
The verse did never show that the Prophet (s) used to beg forgiveness for the polytheists and then Allah prohibited him from that. Interpreting the verse in this way would defame the sanctity of the Prophet (s) and the position of the prophecy especially that the Prophet (s) had received many verses forbidding him from doing that a long time before the revelation of this certain verse.
We found in this verse the secret behind begging forgiveness by the Prophet (s) for his uncle. There were many people, who didn't know about the faithfulness of Abu Talib because he used to conceal it and when they saw the Prophet (s) begging forgiveness for his uncle, they thought that it was permissible to pray Allah to forgive their polytheist relatives, hence Allah might reveal this verse to say to the Muslims that this thing was not permissible and when the Prophet (s) begged forgiveness for his uncle that definitely his uncle was not polytheist so the Muslims were not to beg forgiveness for their polytheist parents. After that the verse explained the situation of Prophet Abraham (s) towards his father.
There was a difference between begging forgiveness for a live person and for a dead person as we referred to
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perviously.
The verse showed that the Prophet (s), when begging forgiveness for his uncle or others, didn't beg forgiveness for a polytheist and so his begging forgiveness for someone would be evidence proving the faithfulness of that one.
The sacred position of the prophecy and the sanctity of the mission prevented the Prophet (s) from praying Allah to forgive a polytheist or from committing what Allah had forbidden him from or doing what might discontent Allah.
Many people knew that when the Prophet (s) prayed Allah to forgive his uncle that was because his uncle was faithful so they didn't use that as an excuse to justify their begging forgiveness for their polytheist fathers.
We found that when we mentioned the conversation between Imam Ali and that man, who prayed Allah to forgive his polytheist parents. The man justified his doing according to the story of Abraham.
5. Some ones mentioned a complement with the tradition, which we quoted from al-Bukhari and Muslim. They said: "When Abu Talib was dying, al-Abbas looked at him and saw him moving his lips. He listened to him carefully and said (al-Abbas said): "O my nephew! He said the word that you asked him to say."
(1)
This was a witness by al-Abbas showing that the last thing Abu Talib had said before dying was the shahada that the Prophet (s) had asked him for as the tradition said.
Those, who thought that the tradition was true, had to believe in all of the tradition or to throw all of it aside.
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1 As-Seera an-Nabawiyya, vol.1 p.83, as-Seera al-Halabiyya, vol.1 p.388, as-Seera al-Hishamiyya, vol.2 p.59, Biharul Anwar, vol.6 p.523, Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.312, Sheikhul Abtah p.73, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.39 p.136.
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They didn't have to choose what agreed with their fancies and to leave what objected their fancies.
6. If we lowered the curtain upon the confession of Abu Talib, his sayings and doings, which showed his faith clearly, if we forgot his will before the people of Quraysh when he was dying and if we ignored the Prophet's praying Allah to forgive him, his witnesses, his loving and loyalty to him, the witnesses of Ahlul Bayt and the witnesses of the companions like Abu Bakr, Abu Tharr and ibn Abbas ... if we left all these aside and submitted to this tradition -after it was refuted by clear evidences- then the very saying of Abu Talib "on the religion of the Abdul Muttalib" would be a certain evidence proving his faithfulness.
What was this religion of Abdul Muttalib?
Wasn't it the religion of Prophet Abraham (s)?
Wasn't Abdul Muttalib on the religion of Allah that He had chosen when He had sent Abraham as his messenger?
Didn't Abdul Muttalib believe in the One and Only God, the Day of Punishment and in sending his grandson to spread the mission of his God? Didn't Abdul Muttalib wish, when he was dying, to remain alive until he would witness the spread of the light and the shining of the sun of his great grandson?
But this was just some ooze that was thrown upon Abu Talib and it hit the Prophet's mother Aamina one time, his father Abdullah another time and his grandfather Abdul Muttalib a third time.
In fact it was the ooze that was thrown upon Ali to defame his high position because "the low would envy whoever was higher than them" and consequently they threw some of that ooze upon his father thinking that they might defeat Ali by defaming his father and hence no one of these great men was safe from this harm even the Prophet (s) himself as long as the end would justify
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the means according to the account of the enemies of the rightness.
Proving the faithfulness of Abdul Muttalib didn't concern our subject although his faithfulness didn't need to be proved. We mentioned the evidences of his faithfulness in a previous chapter in this book.
There were many detailed books about this subject. It was mentioned that as-Sayooti had written six books about the faithfulness of Prophet Muhammad's father.
(1)
Abu Talib said "on the religion of Abdul Muttalib" in that tradition -if the tradition was real- to mystify the truth before the people of Quraysh surrounding him. He used this policy to be free in serving the mission and the Prophet of Islam. If he didn't do so, he wouldn't be able to perform the great deeds he had performed or to defend the Prophet and his mission.
As for the verse:
(Surely you cannot guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He pleases Quran 28:56), we showed the reasons behind distorting the meaning of this verse and saying that it concerned Abu Talib and we uncovered the secrets behind fabricating the tradition.
Although the fabricated tradition, which distorted the meaning of the Quranic verse, was refuted, we thought that we had to talk about distorting this verse in some points.
1. There were some people, who fabricated traditions about this verse, other than Sa'eed bin al-Musayyab and Abu Hurayra that we just refuted them and their series of narrators. We wanted here to discuss two other traditions
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1 Refer to al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.17 about their names. Also they were mentioned in As-Seera an-Nabawiyya, vol.1 p.77.
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concerning the same verse and to discuss their narrators.
a. Abul Sahl as-Sariy bin Sahl from Abdul Qoddooss ad-Damashqi from Abu Salih that ibn Abbas said: "The verse (Surely you guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He pleases) was revealed about Abu Talib, the Prophet (s) insisted upon him to be a Muslim but he refused, so Allah revealed this verse."
(1)
Ath-Thahabi said about as-Sariy: "Ibn Adiy considered him as weak and said that he pirated traditions and ibn Kharash considered him as a liar." Then he mentioned some of his traditions and said before them: "... and among his disasters (wonders or oddities) ... and among his afflictions ...!"
(2)
Al-Ameeny considered him as one of the liars according to many historians.
(3)
As for Abdul Quddooss ad-Damashqi, Abdur Razaq said: "I haven't seen Ibnul Mubarak ascribing the word "liar" openly except to Abdul Quddooss." Al-Fallass said: "They (the historians) agreed upon leaving his traditions aside." An-Nassa'iy said: "He was not trusty." Ibn Adiy said: "His traditions were denied whether in their series of narrators or their text."
(4)
Isma'eel bin Ayyash said: "I don't witness against one of being a liar except against Abdul Quddooss."
(5)
Abdullah bin al-Mubarak said: "Being a highwayman is better to me than to narrate a tradition from Abdul Quddooss ash-Shami."
(6)
As for Abu Salih We didn't know who he was!
Finally ascribing the tradition to ibn Abbas uncovered
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1 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.20 from ad-Durr al-Manthoor vol.5 p.133
2 Mizanul I'tidal, vol.1 p.370.
3 Al-Ghadeer, vol.5 p.202, vol.8 p.20, 143-144.
4 Mizanul I'tidal, vol.2 p.143.
5 Al-Ghadeer, vol.5 p.208, vol.8 p.21.
6 Al-Ghadeer, vol.10 p.90
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the plot and removed the cover from above the lie.
Ibn Abbas was born in the Shi'b when the Prophet (s) and the Hashemites were blockaded there three years before the hijra;
(1) the same year, in which Abu Talib died, so how could ibn Abbas see what happened to narrated such a tradition?
Ibn Abbas was free from that! We saw how he answered when he was asked about the faithfulness of Abu Talib. It was mentioned in the previous chapter under the title (The Sayings of Ahlul Bayt).
b. Then the two liars; as-Sariy and Abdul Quddooss ascribed the fabricated tradition to ibn Omar.
(2) Abdullah bin Omar was born in the third year of the prophetic mission
(4) so he was about seven years old when Abu Talib died. It was not easy for him in this age to attend or to described the death of Abu Talib and it was not possible to depend upon his tradition in this age if it was supposed that he had attended the event.
No one other than these two liars, who fabricated the tradition and ascribed it to ibn Abbas one time and to ibn Omar the other time, had mentioned this false tradition.
2. As for the verse itself, we found it in the middle between two verses:
(And when they hear idle talk they turn aside from it and say: We shall have our deeds and you shall have your deeds; peace be upon you, we do not desire the ignorant. Surely you cannot guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He pleases, and He knows best the followers of the right way. And they say: If we follow the guidance with you, we shall be carried off from our country. What ! have We not! settled them in a safe, sacred territory to which fruits of every kind shall be drawn? - - a sustenance from Us; but most of them do not know) 28:55-57.
The first verse concerned the believers. It described
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1 Al-Issaba vol.2 p.322.
2 Al-Ghadeer, vol.8 p.21 from ad-Durr al-Manthoor vol.5 p.133.
3 Al-Issaba vol.2 p.338.
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their deeds.
The third verse described those, who didn't believe fearing that they might be carried off from their country.
The distorted verse came in the middle between the two. It was addressed to the Prophet (s). Allah said to him that guiding those people was not because of his love to them and that the Prophet (s) was not the only guider of them; that they weren't guided by hearing the Prophet's invitation only, but also by the will and support of Allah.
This was not the only verse in the Quran that had this meaning. There were many other verses such as:
1. (To make them walk in the right way is not incumbent on you, but Allah guides aright whom He pleases) 2:272.
2. (If you desire for their guidance, yet surely Allah does not guide him who leads astray) 16:37.
3. (Do you wish to guide him whom Allah has caused to err?) 4:88.
4. (... but can you show the way to the blind though they will not see?) 10:43.
5. (... the Allah makes whom He pleases err and He guides whom He pleases and He is the Mighty, the Wise.) 14:4.
6. (Thus does Allah make err whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases) 47:31.
7. (whomsoever Allah guides, he is the rightly guided one, and whomsoever He causes to err, you shall not find for him any friend to lead (him) aright) 18:17.
We were not to quote all the Quranic verses having this meaning. There were many other than these mentioned above showing that the guidance would be by the support of Allah without depriving man of his will as long as man was willing to be guided. Therefore we found many other verses ascribing guidance of deviation to man himself like this verse:
(therefore whoever goes aright, he goes aright only for the good of his own soul, and whoever goes astray, he goes
