MUSJIDUL HAQ

Imam Shahab al-Deen Ahmad ibn Hajar al-Haitami Makki al-Shafe’i(D. 974 A.H.) – may Allah be pleased with him – quotes the narrations of thefour rightly guided Caliphs of Islam in his book entitled “Al-Ne’mat al-Kubra ‘Ala al-‘Aalam fiMawlidi Sayyidi Wuldi Adam” as follows:

قَالَ اَبُوْ بَکْرٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰہُ عَنْہُ: مَنْ اَنْفَقَ دِرْھَمًا عَلٰی قِرَاءَۃِ مَوْلِدِ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰہُ عَلَیْہِ وَسَلَّمَ کَانَ رَفِیْقِیْ فِیْ الْجَنَّۃِ

Sayyiduna Abu Bakr – may Allah be pleased with him – said:  One who spends one dirham on the recitation of the Mawlid of the Holy Prophet – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him – will be my companion in Paradise.

وَقَالَ عُمَرُ رَضِیَّ اللّٰہُ عَنْہُ: مَنْ عَظَّمَ مَوْلِدَ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰہُ عَلَیْہِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَدْ اَحْیَا الْاِسْلَامَ

Sayyiduna ‘Umar – may Allah be pleased with him – said: One who honours the Mawlid of the Holy Prophet – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him – has indeed revived Islam.

وَقَالَ عُثْمَانُ رَضِیَ اللّٰہُ عَنْہُ: مَنْ اَنْفَقَ دِرْھَمًا عَلٰی قِرَاءَۃِ مَوْلِدِ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰہُ عَلَیْہِ وَسَلَّمَ فَکَاَنَّمَا شَھِدَ غَزْوَۃَ بَدْرٍ وَّ حُنَیْنٍ

Sayyiduna ‘Uthman – may Allah be pleased with him – said:  One who spends one dirham on the recitation of the Mawlid of the Holy Prophet – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him, it is as if he has participated in the battle of Badr and Hunain.

وَقَالَ عَلِیٌّ رَضِیَ اللّٰہُ عَنْہُ وَکَرَّمَ اللّٰہُ وَجْھَہٗ : مَنْ عَظَّمَ مَوْلِدَ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰہُ عَلَیْہِ وَسَلَّمَ وَکَانَ سَبَبًا لِّقِرَائَتِہٖ لَا یَخْرُجُ مِنَ الدُّنْیَا اِلَّا بِالْاِیْمَانِ وَ یَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّۃَ بِغَیْرِ حِسَابٍ

Sayyiduna ‘Ali – may Allah be pleased with him – said: One who honours the Mawlid of the Holy Prophet – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him – and / or was a cause for its recitation, will not leave the world but with Iman and will enter Paradise without accountability.

(Al-Ne’mat al-Kubra ‘Ala al-‘Aalam p. 7-8)

Verification by Huzoor Tajush Shariah Allama Akhtar Raza Khan al-Azhari – may Allah be pleased with him:

Question:

Are the statements of the four rightly guided Caliphs concerning the virtues of Mawlid al-Nabi – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him – in the book Al-Ne’mat al-Kubra ‘Ala al-‘Aalam which is written by Imam Ibn Hajar Makki Shafe’i – may Allah be pleased with him – merely a fabrication?  Have you seen them in any book or heard them from any of the pious predecessors?

Answer:

I do not have the audacity to label the statements of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman and ‘Ali – may Allah be pleased with them – about the Mawlid Shareef that are recorded in Al-Ne’mat al-Kubra of Imam Ibn Hajar as fabricated on my own accord without researching, for it is the way of those who consider their own intellect and their level of knowledge as the ultimate proof, and those who do not find it in some books, they quickly jump to the conclusion that it is not mentioned in any book at all.  The scholars of Hadeeth recorded most of Ahadeeth but there many Ahadeeth which the Awliya, people of Kashf (spiritual insight and foresight) mentioned but the Mukharrijeen (Those who research and locate the source of a narration) do not have clue about them, which clearly proves that the Musnads (plural form of Musnad collections), Ma’aajim (plural of Mu’jam collections), Hihah (plural of Sahih collections) and Sunan did not completely cover all the Ahadeeth of the Holy Prophet – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him.  There are some Ahadeeth which have been left out of these compilations.  Same is the case of those statements of the Companions of the Holy Prophet – may Allah send peace and blessings upon him – that were not compiled.  So now, if any reliable and great ‘Aalim writes them then it is on his accord and he takes the full responsibility.  Our view is to reference it to them and trust them that there must be a foundation for this narration.  It is not in my capacity to label it as fabricated.  Ibn Hajar has written it and he is very credible and cautious scholar, therefore it definitely has some foundation.  To call it fabricated is the crooked ideology of wahabies and ghair muqallids.  Nowadays, a lot of newly qualified scholars from Al-Azhar generally classify numerous Ahadeeth as such just on the basis of “because they could not find it”.  They consider the lack of their reach to its source as a criteria, in other words, they take their lack of knowledge as the absence of the knowledge itself or take the absence of reference as referring to something that does not exist and so on.  This is due to the nature of their intellectual capacity.  They must know what they are doing!

Our viewpoint is that whatever our great Imams have written, we do not have the courage to disregard it without a valid proof and research.

I would like to relate to the Hadeeth:

اَصْحَابِیْ کَالنُّجُوْمِ بِاَیِّھِمْ اِقْتَدَیْتُمْ اِھْتَدَیْتُمْ

(May Companions are like stars, anyone of them you follow, you will be guided)

The scholars of Hadeeth criticized this Hadeeth (its chain) a lot.  According to most of them, this Hadeeth is not founded upon anything.  There some who are seen as great Hadeeth scholars and sometimes, Ulama even mention them; such as, Ibn Hazm, who has isolated himself from Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’ah in many aspects but some ‘Ulama still accept his views.  The same Ibn Hazm labeled this Hadeeth as fabricated and our ‘Ulama even quoted it that this Hadeeth is fabricated because Ibn Hazm has classified it as fabricated.  The views of many other scholars of Hadeeth are mentioned in this concern; such as Abu Zuh’a, ibn ‘Adi etc.  I have written a thesis on this subject entitled “Al Sahaaba Nujoom al-Ihtida”.  I assessed that many a times, Muhadditheen classify a narration as fabricated just because they could not find its chain of transmission but they do not mean that there is actually no such Hadeeth at all.  Blinded by this misconception, some newly qualified scholars label these narrations as fabricated just because they could not find its source by the Muhadditheen.  This is due to their lack of understanding in relation to the Hadeeth terminology and the methodology of the scholars of Hadeeth.  It is the fabrication of their own thought.  People have called this Hadeeth fabricated and classified all its chains of transmission as weak but its wide acceptance among the scholars, that they accepted it without an objection, which is one of its strengths, it denotes that this Hadeeth has a foundation.

Similarly, what Ibn Hajar has written in Al-Na’mat al-Kubra, the ‘Ulama have been accepting it without an objection.  Therefore, to call it fabricated is irrational.  Its acceptance among the ‘Ulama is the proof that it definitely has a foundation.

Reference:

An-Nematul Kubra naami Kitab jo Ibn Hajr Shafaee Alaihir raHma ki hay uss mein Khulafaa-e-Arba’a k mawlid an-Nabawi SallAllaho Alaihi wa Sallam k fazail par Aqwal naql kiye gaey hain. Kia Khulafa-e-Arab’a k wo Aqwal Modu hain ya Hazrat ne kabhi kisi kitab ya kisi buzurg se sunay?
http://jamiaturraza.com/session/20Feb11/23.mp3