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ABU HURAYRA AND THE FALSIFICATION OF HADITH
 By
Yasin T. al-Jibouri
In the year 7 A.H./629 A.D., a young and very poor man from theDaws tribe of southern Arabia (Yemen), met the Prophetimmediately after the battle of Khaybar and embraced Islam. He iswell known in history as “Abu Hurayra,” the fellow of the kitten,after a kitten to which he was very much attached. His name shoneneither during the lifetime of the Prophet nor of the four “righteouscaliphs” but during the un-Islamic reign of terror of the Umayyadswhich lasted from 655, when Mu'awiyah seized power inDamascus, 750 A.D., when Marwan II, the last Umayyad ruler inDamascus, died. It was during that period that the Islamic worldwitnessed an astronomical number of “traditions” which wereattributed, through this same Abu Hurayra, to the Prophet of Islam(
ﺹ
). Since these traditions, known collectively as
hadith
,constitute one of the two sources of the Islamic legislative system,the Shari`a, it is very important to shed a light on the life andcharacter of this man even if some readers may consider thischapter as a digression from the main topic.It is of utmost importance to expose the facts relevant to AbuHurayra so that Muslims may be cautious whenever they comeacross a tradition narrated by him or attributed to him which, all inall, reached the astronomical figure of 5,374 “traditions,” althoughhe spent no more than three years in the company of the Prophet, afact supported by the renown compiler al-Bukhari, whenever suchcompany did not involve any danger to his life, and despite the factthat Abu Hurayra did not know how to read and write... The reader can easily conclude that this figure is unrealistic when he comes toknow that Abu Bakr, friend of the Prophet and one of the earliestconverts to Islam, narrated no more than 142 traditions. Omer ibnal-Khattab, the story of whose conversion to Islam is narratedearlier in this book, narrated no more than 537 traditions. Othmanibn Affan narrated no more than 146 traditions. And Ali, the manwho was raised by the Prophet and who was always with him,following him like his shadow, and whose memory and integrity
 
nobody at all can question, narrated no more than 586 traditions.All these men, especially Ali and Abu Bakr, spent many years of their lives in the company of the Prophet and did not hide whentheir lives were in jeopardy, as is the case with Abu Hurayrah, yetthey did not narrate except a tiny fraction of the number of “traditions,” many of which cannot be accepted by logic andcommonsense, narrated by or attributed to Abu Hurayra. This iswhy it is so important to discuss this man and expose the factoriesof falsification of 
hadith
established by his benefactors, theUmayyads, descendants and supporters of Abu Sufyan, then hisson Mu`awiyah, then his son Yazid, all of whom were outrighthypocrites and had absolutely nothing to do with Islam.Abu Hurayra's name is said to be `Omayr ibn `amir ibn `AbdThish-Shari ibn Tareef, of the Yemenite tribe of Daws ibn`Adnan
1
. His mother's name is Umaima daughter of Safeeh ibn al-Harith ibn Shabi ibn Abu Sa`b, also of the Daws tribe. His date of  birth is unknown, but he is said to have died in 57, 58, or 59 A.H.,and that he had lived to be 78. This would put the date of his birthat 677, 678 or 679 A.D.When he came to the Prophet (
ﺹ
), he was young and healthy and,hence, capable of enlisting in the Prophet's army. But he preferredto be lodged together with destitute Muslims at the Suffa referredto above. Most of the time which Abu Hurayra spent with theProphet was during the lunches or dinners the Prophet hosted for those destitute. Abu Hurayra himself admitted more than once thathe remained close to the Prophet so that he could get a meal to eat.Another person who used to shower the destitute of the Suffa withhis generosity was Ja`fer ibn Abu Talib (588 - 629 A.D.), theProphet's cousin and a brother of Ali ibn Abu Talib. He was, for this reason, called “Abul Masakeen,” father of the destitute. This is
1
 
1
According to
 Al-Munjid fil lugha wal a`lam
, however, AbuHurayra's name is recorded as `Abd al-Rahman ibn Sakhr al-Azdi, andthat he died in 59 A.H./678 A.D. The same reference indicates that thisman spent “a long time in the company of the Prophet,” which is not trueat all; he accompanied the Prophet from time to time for only 3 years.The Publisher of this
Munjid 
, namely Dar al-Mashriq of Beirut, Lebanon,is sponsored by the Catholic Press of Beirut. Undoubtedly, theinformation about Abu Hurayra in this Arabic-Arabic dictionary musthave been furnished by Sunnis who try their best to elevate the status of Abu Hurayra even at the risk of sacrificing historical facts and data.
 
why, Abu Hurayra used to regard Ja`fer as the most generous person next only to the Prophet. When the Prophet mandatedmilitary service for all able men in the Mu'ta expedition, Ja`fer ibnAbu Talib did not hesitate from responding to the Prophet's call, but Abu Hurayra, who considered Ja`fer as his patron, preferrednot to participate, thus violating the order of the Prophet. Historyrecords the names of those who did likewise.In 21 A.H./642 A.D., during the caliphate of Omer ibn al-Khattab,Abu Hurayra was made governor of Bahrain. After two years, hewas deposed because of a scandal. The details of that scandal arerecorded in the books of Ibn `Abd Rabbih, the Mu`tazilite writer,and in Ibn al-Atheer's famous classic book 
 Al-Iqd al-Fareed 
. Asummary of that incident runs as follows:When Abu Hurayra was brought to him, Omer said to him: “I havecome to know that when I made you governor of Bahrain, you didnot even have shoes to wear, but I am now told that you have purchased horses for one thousand and six hundred dinars.” AbuHurayra said, “I had horses which have multiplied, and I receivedsome as gifts.” Omer then said, “I would give you only your salary. This (amount) is a lot more than that (more than your salaryfor both years). Pay the balance back (to
baytul-mal 
, the Muslimstate treasury)!” Abu Hurayra said, “This money is not yours.”Omer said, “By Allah! I would bruise your back!” Saying this,Omer whipped Abu Hurayra till he bled. Then he thundered: “Now bring the money back!” Abu Hurayra replied: “I am to account for it before Allah.” Omer said, “This could be so only if you hadtaken it rightfully and had paid it back obediently. I shall throwyou back to your mother as though you were dung so that shewould use you to graze donkeys.”According to the sequence employed by Ibn Sa`d in his
Tabaqat 
,Abu Hurayra ranks in the ninth or tenth class. He came to theMessenger of Allah near the end of the seventh Hijri year. Hence,historians say that he accompanied the Prophet no more than threeyears
1
according to the best estimates, while other historians say itwas no more than two years if we take into consideration the factthat the Prophet sent him to accompany Ibn al-Hadrami to Bahrain,
1
 
1
Al-Bukhari,
Sahih
, Vol. 4, p. 175, where the author quotes AbuHurayra talking about himself in a chapter dealing with thecharacteristics of Prophethood.
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Siraj Muhammad

Dear brothers and sisters, We should be mindful of what our tongues will utter, so that it will not lead us to the pit of hell fire. Abu Hurayara as a person who embraced Islam during the life time of the Prophet, SAW, the purest time of all the time created by Allah, SWT, he lives with the Prophet and his companions during and through thick and thin, he can not fabricated lies and spread them.

reply05 / 24 / 2012
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