The Guide For Those Confused by the Fabrication of the Ḥadīth of Jābir

Authored by: Abu Al-Faḍl Abdullāh Ibn Al-Ṣiddīq Al-Ghumārī 1(d. 1413 H)

Translated by: Ibn Abbas Al-Misri

Edited by: Y. Ahmed
Released by www.marifah.net 1429 H

May all praise and thanks be to Allah, I thank Him, seek His assistance and depend on Him […],
and May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be on our liege-lord Muḥammad, the servant of Allah,
and His Messenger. He (Allah) gave him wisdom, with which he opened blind eyes, and
[opened] sealed hearts and deaf ears. And [May Allah’s peace and blessings be] on [prophet
Muḥammad’s] [noble] household and companions, and May Allah be pleased with those who
follow him  in goodness (iḥsān).

After which [I say],

This is a chapter I called: « The Guide For Those Confused by the Fabrication of the Ḥadīth of
Jābir ». I wished by it to clear the Holy Messenger  from that which has been attributed to him
and which was found to be untrue and is considered to be detested excessiveness. And in spite of
this, it is considered by the laymen as well as several scholars to be one of the Prophetic virtues,
the denial of which would be regarded as being slanderous towards him. They don’t realize that
in their view and words lies a great sin reiterated in the Prophet’s  saying: « Whoever tells a lie
about me, may he take his place in Hell »2. Hence whoever describes him with that which has not
been found authentic, has committed a forbidden act unless he repents and his praise of the
Prophet  will not intercede in his favor due to his lying.

And even though leniency is acceptable when it comes to mentioning virtues, the virtues of the
Prophet  should be restricted to what has been proven to be authentic and [the virtues] which
are known lest one commits the act of lying punishable by Hell and which the Prophet has
warned against – Allah’s refuge is sought.

False traditions have been reported about this [topic] and some errant views which could not
stand before examination have been brought up and which I will clarify in this Chapter by the
Will of Allah.

1
Biography available at: http://www.marifah.net/articles/abdullahghumari-mamduh.pdf
2
Refer to: Tashnīf Al-Asmā’ bi-Shuyūkh Al-Ijāza wa Al-Samā’ by Abi Sulayman Maḥmūd b. Sa’īd b. Muḥammad
Mamdūḥ p/346-354, and Sabīl Al-Tawfīq fī Tarjamat Abdullāh b. Al-Ṣiddīq by the same author.
‘Abd al-Razzāq narrates - as they claim - that Jābir  said:

« ‘I said: O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you, tell me of the
first thing Allah created before all things?’. He said: ‘O Jābir, the first thing Allah created was
the light of your Prophet from His light, and that light remained lit in the midst of His Power for
as long as He wished, and there was not, at that time, a Tablet or a Pen or a Paradise or a Fire or
an angel or a heaven or an earth or a sun or a moon or a jinn or a man.

And when Allah wished to create creation, he divided that Light into four parts and from the
first He made the Pen, from the second the Tablet, from the third the Throne, and then he
divided the fourth [part] into four [other] parts and from the first he created the bearers of the
Throne, from the second the Chair (Kursī), from the third the rest of the angels. Then He
divided the fourth into four other parts and created from the first the heavens, and from the
second the earth, and from the third the Paradise and the Fire, and then he divided the fourth
into four parts and created from the first the light of the believers’ sight, and from the second the
light of their hearts which is knowledge of Allah, and from the third the light of their inner
harmony (‘Uns) which is the Tawhīd ‘There is no god but Allah and Muḥammad is the
Messenger of Allah, etc. … ».

The tradition has a long continuation, and was mentioned in its entirety by Ibn al-‘Arabi al-
Ḥātimī in his book ‘Talqīḥ Al-Azhān wa Muftāḥ Ma’rifat Al-Insān’, and Al-Diyār Bakrī in his
book ‘Al-Khamīs fī Tarīkh Anfasi Nafīs’.

And its attribution to the narration of ‘Abd al-Razzaq is an error since it does not exist either in
his Muṣannaf, or his Jami’, or his Tafsīr 3.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Suyūṭī said in “al-Ḥāwī”4: “It does not have a chain that one can depend on”.

It is certainly a fabricated tradition, and it contains Sufi terminologies, and some contemporary
Shanqitis (people of Chinguetti) have fabricated a chain to it, and mentioned that ‘Abd al-
Razzāq has narrated it from the way of Ibn al-Munkadr from Jābir and this is a sinful lie.

3
Narrated from several ways including what was narrated by Al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ in Kitab Al-‘Ilm (the book of
knowledge): Chapter of ‘The great sin of those who lie about the Prophet [], and in Kitab Al-Adab (the book of
etiquettes): Chapter of ‘Who used the names of Prophets’ and the wording is his, and Muslim in his introduction:
Chapter of: ‘Taghlīdh Al-Kadhib ‘Alā Rasūl Allah []’, and Abu Dawūd in his Sunan: Kitab Al-‘Ilm (the book of
knowledge): Chapter of ‘Al-Tashdīd fī Al-Kadhib ‘Ala Rasūl Allah []’, and Al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan: Kitab Al-
‘Ilm (the book of knowledge): Chapter of ‘What came in Ta’dhīm Al-Kadhib ‘Ala Rasūl Allah []’ and the Chapter
of ‘What came in speaking about Banī Isra’īl’, and the Book of Fitan: Chapter (07), and Ibn Mājah in his Sunan:
Introduction: Chapter of ‘Al-Taghlīdh’ in deliberately lying about the Prophet of Allah [] all of them adding
‘deliberately’ [in the ḥadīth], and [was narrated by] Aḥmad in his Musnad in several locations from different
narrators. I say: And the narration of Al-Bukhārī does not have the word [deliberately].
4
Refer to Al-Ḥāwī fī Al-Fatāwī 1/325 in the Tafsīr of Sūrat Al-Mudathir (Chapter 74), and Al-Suyūṭī mentioned in
‘Qūt Al-Mughtadhi Sharḥ Al-Tirmidhī’ after mentioned the Ḥadīth: When Allah the Exalted created the Pen first
…, he said: As for the tradition that first thing is the brain/mind it has no basis (Laysa Lahu Asl), and as for the
tradition that first thing is the light of Prophet Muḥammad it can’t hold (La Yathbut).
In general this Ḥadīth is rejected, fabricated and has no basis in the books of Tradition (Sunna)5.

Similar to it in falsehood is the tradition that was narrated from ‘Alī b. Al-Ḥussain from his
father from his grandfather that the Prophet  said: « I was light between the hands of my Lord
before Adam was created by 14,000 years » and this is also a lie.

Among the foolish lies also is the tradition according to which one of Mothers of the Believers
wanted to place a cloth on the body of the prophet , but it fell because he is [created of] light;
and that too has no basis. The Prophet  had the habit of using clothes and they did not slip
from his body. The fact that the Prophet  has been described as being a light is metaphorical,
similar to the Qur’ān being described as a light because it is the light for the minds and hearts.
From their exposed lies [can also be cited] their saying: « Were it not for you, the universe
[literally heavenly bodies] would not have been created »6, and what was narrated from ‘Alī 
from the Prophet  that he said that « Gabriel has descended upon me and said: Allah is sending
to you His peace, and says: “I have forbidden the flames [of Hell] on the progeny from whom
you descend, the womb that carried you and the lap that supported you »; this is a fabricated
tradition.

It has been narrated in some of the books written about the Prophetic Mawlid from Abu
Hurayra  that he said: « the Prophet  asked Gabriel : O Gabriel, how old are you? He
replied: O Messenger of Allah, I do not know except that in the fourth veil (Ḥijāb) there is a star
that appears once every 70,000 years. I have seen it 72,000 times. The Prophet then said: by the
Glory of my Lord, I am that heavenly body »; this is a disgraceful lie, May Allah disgrace he who
has fabricated it.

Some of the extreme Sufis mention [also] that « Gabriel  used to receive revelation from
behind a veil and that he was able once to see who was behind it. He found that it was the
Prophet  who was giving him this revelation, then Gabriel said: [It comes] from you, [and goes]
to you ».

I said: May Allah curse he who fabricated this foolishness which goes against the Qur’ān. Allah -
Exalted is He - says to his Prophet: « And thus did We reveal to you an inspired book by Our
command. You did not know what the Book was, nor (what) the faith (was) » [Qur’ān 42:52],
and He says: « The Faithful Spirit has descended with it,* Upon your heart that you may be of
the warners » [Qur’ān 26:193-194].

Imam Aḥmad, Al-Ḥākim, and Al-Bayhaqī in ‘Al-Dalā’il’7 reported from Al-‘Irbāḍ b. Sariya 
that he said: I heard the Prophet of Allah  saying: « Verily, I was written [in Umm Al-Kitāb] in

5
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Al-Muḥadīth Aḥmad Al-Ghumārī, may Allah have mercy in him, said in the introduction of his book ‘Al-
Mug’īr ‘Ala Al-Jami’ Al-Sag’īr’: ‘O Jābir, the first thing Allah created was the light of your Prophet from His light,
…fabricated’, and then he said: ‘and its continuation is in around two pages from the big size, containing weak
wordings and rejected meanings’.
6
The Mawdū’at of Al-Saghani p. 25, and Al-‘Aghluni agreed with him in Kashf Al-Khafa’ 2/232 in ruling that it is
fabricated.
7
Narrated by Imam Aḥmad in his Musnad 4/127 twice, and 128 and has: ‘‘Abd-u-Allah’, and Al-Ḥākim in Al-
Mustadrak similar to it 2/600, and Al-Bayhaqī in Al-Dalā’il 1/80 and 83 with a minor change in wording.
Allah’s presence as the Seal of the Prophets, while Adam was still kneaded in his clay, and I will
tell you the meaning of this: [I am] The supplication of my father Ibrahim and the glad tidings of
‘Isa to his people, and the vision of my mother who saw light coming out of her illuminating the
castles of Syria (al-Shām), and this is what the mothers of Prophets see ».

Al-Haythamī said in ‘Majma’ Al-Zawa’id’8: Narrated by Aḥmad with several chains, Al-Bazzār9
and Al-Ṭabarānī with its similarity. The narrators mentioned in one of the chains of Imam
Aḥmad are among the reliable ones, with the exception of Sa’īd b. Suwaid whom Ibn Ḥibbān
rated as reliable10.

I say: It was narrated by Al-Ḥākim from the way of Abi Bakr b. Abi Maryam, from Suwaid b.
Sa’īd, from Al-‘Irbād b. Sariyah, and he [i.e. Al-Ḥākim] said: “Its chain is authentic”, but Al-
Dhahabī commented on this by saying that Abi Bakr is weak11. [Hence] Dr. Qal’aji the examiner
of the book ‘Dala’il Al-Nubuwah’ did a mistake when he said that Al-Dhahabī agreed with Al-
Ḥākim in his authentication. Imam Aḥmad12 narrated from the way of Budail, from Abdullah b.
Shaqīq, from Maysarat Al-Fajr that he said: “I said: O Prophet of Allah, when did you become a
Prophet? He said: While Adam was still in a midway phase between spirit and body”.

That is how Al-Baghawi and Ibn Al-Sakan narrated it in ‘Al-Ṣaḥabah’.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ said13: and that is a strong chain.

I said: And Al-Bukharī mentions it in ‘Al-Tarīkh’ without reporting the beginning of the chain
(mu’alaqan)14.

Al-Ḥākim narrates15 from Abu Hurayra  that he said: « It was said to the Messenger : When
was Prophethood assigned to you? He said: between the creation of Adam and the time his soul
was breathed into him ».

And Imam Aḥmad narrates16 from the way of Abdulla b. Shaqīq, from a man that he said: « I
said: O Prophet of Allah, when were you declared a Prophet? He said: When Adam was in a
midway phase between soul and body ». Al-Haythamī said17: Its narrators are among the ones
considered to be trustworthy.

8
Majma’ Al-Zawā’id 8/223
9
Refer to ‘Kashf Al-Astār’ 3/112-113, and Al-Bazzār said: ‘we do not know that it has a chain better than this, and
Sa’īd b. Suwaid is a Shāmī Laysa bihi Ba’as, and Abu Bakr b. Abi Maryam we had already mentioned him
previously’.
10
Al-Thiqat by Ibn Ḥibbān 8/262
11
He is Abu Bakr Abdullah b. Abi Maryam Al-Ghasani Al-Shami, refer to: Tahdhīb Al-Tahdhīb 12/228, and Al-
Du’afa and Al-Matrūkīn by Ibn Al-Jawzi 1/152.
12
He attributed it in Majma’ Al-Zawā’id 8/223 to Al-Ṭabarānī in Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabīr 20/353, and said: ‘Its men are
those of the authentic’, and Imam Aḥmad narrated it in his Musnad 5/59 with the word: ‘I wrote’.
13
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Al-’Asqalānī attributed it to them in Al-Isāba 3/470.
14
Al-Tarīkh Al-Kabīr 7/374.
15
Al-Mustadrak 2/609.
16
Narrated by Imam Aḥmad in the Musnad 4/66.
17
Majma’ Al-Zawā’id 8/223
I said: And it is one of the ways of the Ḥadīth of Maysarah Al-Fajr.

And Ibn Sa’ad said in al-Ṭabaqāt18: We were told by ‘Afān b. Muslim and ‘Amr b. ‘Āṣim al-Kalbī,
they said: we were told by Ḥammād b. Salamah, from Kh’alīd al-Ḥaza, from Abdullah b. Shaqīq,
from Abdullah b. Abi al-Ja’dā, he said: « I said: O Prophet of Allah, when were you a Prophet?
He said: Since Adam was in a midway state between soul and body ». Its narrators are among
those who are considered to be trustworthy.

Al-Bazzār narrates19, and Al-Ṭabarānī20 with a weak chain from Ibn ‘Abbās he said: « It was said:
O Prophet of Allah, when were you a Prophet? He said: When Adam was in a midway phase
between soul and body ».

Al-Bayhaqī said21: And what is meant by Prophet Muḥammad  saying: « I was written [in Umm
Al-Kitab] in Allah’s presence as the Seal of the Prophets, while Adam was still kneaded in his
clay » is that [his prophethood] was destined [to him] and predestined by Allah even before he
[i.e the Prophet] became the father of Men and the first of Messengers.

Abu Al-Ḥusayn Ibn Bishran said that they were told by Abu Ja’far Muḥammad Ibn ‘Amr from
Aḥmad Ibn Isḥāq Ibn Ṣālih, from Muḥammad Ibn Ṣālih, from Muḥammad Ibn Sinan Al-‘Awfi,
from Ibrahim Ibn Ṭahmān, from Budayl b. Maysara, from Abdullah b. Shaqīq, from Maysarah
that he said: « I said: O Prophet of Allah, when did you become a Prophet? He replied: “When
Allah created the earth, turned to the heaven and fashioned it as seven heavens, created the
Throne and wrote on the leg of the Throne: ‘Muḥammad the Messenger of Allah is the Seal of
the Prophets’. Then Allah created the Paradise in which He made Adam and Eve dwell, wrote
my name on its gates, tree-leaves, domes and tents at a time when Adam was in a midway phase
between spirit and body. When Allah – Exalted is He – breathed life into him, he looked at the
Throne and saw my name, whereupon Allah informed him that ‘He  is the best of all your
descendants.’ When Satan deceived them both, they repented and sought intercession to Allah
through my name ». A good strong chain.

[This Ḥadīth] implies that the meaning of [Muḥammad] being a Prophet, is showing this in the
celestial world, before the soul was breathed into Adam .

It has also shown that the secret behind the declaration of his Prophethood at that time which is
attributed to two reasons unique to the Prophet:

18
Ṭabaqāt Ibn Sā’ad 7/59.
19
Refer to Kashf Al-Astār 3/112, and ‘Uqbah said: ‘We do not know it narrated from Ibn ‘Abbās except in this way,
and Nasr was not strong, and he wasn’t a liar, but he had Shi’a inclinations (Kān Yatashaya’) and we did not find this
tradition except with him’. And in Al-Bazzār with the word: ‘I wrote’.
20
Narrated by Al-Ṭabarānī in Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabīr 12/92 with the same chain of Al-Bazzār, and 119 through a
different chain from Ibn ‘Abbās.
21
Dalā’il Al-Nubuwah 1/81.
One of them being that he is the best of Adam’s descendants. The other one being that he is the
Seal of the Prophets which was corroborated by the glad tidings given to Ibrahīm and ‘Īsa about
him.

[It is worth noting] that all Prophets have their Prophethood predestined by Allah though there
is no record that Allah announced it to anyone of them before the creation of Adam. It only
happened to our Prophet  which explains his saying that « I was a Prophet when Adam was in a
midway phase between soul and body » which means that the bearers of the Throne and the
angels knew his name and Prophethood before the creation of Adam , and yet they [i.e angels]
did not know Adam until he was created.

[Caution should be taken regarding] the Ḥadīth whereby the Prophet said: « I was a Prophet
when Adam was in a midway phase between water and clay » which has no basis22, and the
Ḥadīth whereby he said: « I was a Prophet when there was no Adam, or water, or clay » 23 which
also has no basis.

[Hence] what exists in the books of the Prophetic Mawlid from traditions that hold no weight or
value are from the excessiveness that Allah and his messenger prohibited; it is, therefore,
forbidden to read such books. Giving excuses that they [describe] virtues and that one can be
lenient when citing weak traditions about them, is unacceptable. Fabricated Ḥadīths regarding
the prophetic virtues are not acceptable, by consensus, to cite or narrate except for when it is
pointed out that they are such [fabricated].

The Prophet  has [in matter of fact] said that: « Whoever narrates about me a tradition which
he sees is a lie, then he is one of the liars »24 (by ‘sees’ is meant ‘thinks’).

He also says: « Whoever tells lies about me, let him take his place in Hell » 25.

The virtue of the Messenger  is such known and shown in the Holy Qur’ān and authentic
traditions, that there is no need to tell lies and [resort to] excessiveness [when describing his
virtues]. He  said: « Do not praise me, like the Christians have praised ‘Isa. I am but the servant
[of Allah], hence call me the servant of Allah and His messenger » 26.

22
Refer to ‘Al-Tadhkirah Fī Al-Ahadīth Al-Mushtaharah’ p. 172, ‘Al-Maqāsid Al-Hasanah’ p. 522, ‘Tamīdh Al-
Tayyib min Al-Khabīth’ p. 126, ‘Kashf Al-Khafa’ 2/173, ‘Tanzīh Al-Sharī’ah’ 1/341, ‘Al-Asrar Al-Marfū’ah’ p. 178,
‘Tadhkirat Al-Mawdū’at’ p. 86, ‘Asnā Al-Mat’alīb’ p. 243.
23
Refer to previous sources cited.
24
Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ: Introduction: Chapter of: The obligation of narrating from those reliable
and leaving the liars, and warning from lying on Prophet Muḥammad --, and al-Tirmidhī in his Sunan with its
similarity: Book of knowledge: Chapter of: What was narrated about those who narrate traditions and see that it is a
lie – from Al-Mughīrah b. Shu’bah, and he said: And in the chapter from the narration of ‘‘Alī b. Abi Tālīb, and
Samarah, Abu ‘Īsa said: This tradition is Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ, and Ibn Mājah in his Sunan: Introduction: Chapter of:
Whoever narrates a tradition from Prophet Muḥammad -- while seeing that it is a lie.
25
The reference was already mentioned.
26
Narrated by Aḥmad in his Musnad with similar aḥadīth 1/23, 24, 47, 55, 56, and Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ with its
similarity also refer to Al-Iḥsān Bi-Tartīb Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 8/46, and from Ibn ‘Abbās 1/318, and Al-Ḥumaydī in his
Musnad with its similarity 1/16 all of which are narrated from ‘Umar.
This is something that I wrote quickly on Sunday 25th of Dhu Al-Qa’idah 1408 H, and all praise is
due first and foremost to Allah and May His peace and blessings be upon His messenger
Muḥammad and his household.