Deviated ideas of Muhammad Hamidullah

63 - An Indian named Muhammad Hamidullah also spreads, under the name of Islamic knowledge, his thoughts which are incompatible with what the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars have conveyed. The heretical writings of this man, who is assumed to be an Islamic scholar because he has received professorship in Islamic knowledge in France, are translated into Turkish and put forward in front of the youth, thus leading many Muslims astray. We were astonished to read the following lines on the thirty-fourth page of the Turkish translation of his book The Prophet of Islam:

"We see him [Muhammad 'alaihi 's-salam] again in Hubesha [Yaman] and in the country of the Abdulgaises [Eastern Arabia, Bahrain, Oman] as a merchant. It may be thought even that he went to Ethoipia, perhaps by sea. All these journeys provided him with the acquirement of the commercial and administrative traditions and laws of Byzantium, Persia, Yaman and Ethiopia, in his age of maturity, this experienced man of forty attempted to reform his nation."

Whereas, Muslim historians say unanimously that Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) was suckled by his mother for three days, then by Abu Lahab's jariya named Suwaiba for 40 or 120 days and then by Halima Khatun until he was five years old. At his age six, his blessed mother, Amina Khatun, took him to Medina to see his maternal uncles. After having stayed there for a month, she passed away on the way back, near the place named Abwa, when she was twenty. He came to Mecca with Umm Ayman, a jariya, whom he had inherited from his blessed father, 'Abdullah, and stayed with his blessed grandfather, 'Abd al-Muttalib. When he was eight, his grandfather passed away and he stayed with his eldest paternal uncle, Abu Talib.

He was amongts those who went to Damascus once with Abu Talib when he was nine or twelve years old, once with Abu Bakr (radi Allahu 'anh) at his twenty, and once with Khadija's (radi-Allahu 'anha) caravan at his twenty-five. In all these three expeditions, when they came to a place named Busra, [Busra is located 90 km southeast of Damascus and 130 km northeast of Jerusalem.] the priests of the local church, Bahira and then Nastura, saw in him the signs of the Last Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam), whom they read about in the Injil, and they said, "Don't go to Damascus! Jews in Damascus will recognize and kill this boy." So, they traded there and returned back. When he was fourteen or seventeen years old, his uncle Zubair, who was going to Yaman, took him so that his trade be bountiful. After twenty years of age, he began to live on looking after sheep. There is not any dependable information about his going to Bahrayn; nor has anyone, besides those who disbelieve his prophethood, thought of his having traveled to Ethiopia. Those who say, "He was heard speak Ethiopian language. This makes one think that he may have gone to Ethiopia," are wrong. Because he answered the foreigners who came to him in their own dialects of Arabic, which was more difficult than speaking foreign languages. This speaking of his was one of the innumerable mujizas which Allahu ta'ala bestowed upon him. In none of the three or four expeditions mentioned above did he joined by himself; he was taken in order to get blessed with abundance by his honorable body. In the last expedition to Damascus, Maisara, leader of the caravan, wanted to send him to Khadija (radi-Allahu 'anha) to give her the good news. But Abu Jahl, who was in the caravan, said, "Muhammad is young yet. He is inexperienced. He has never traveled to any place. He may lose his way. Send someone else." This indicates that Hamidullah thinks wrongly and eccentrically. Saying that he went to Byzantium, Persia, Ethiopia and Yaman and attempted to reform his nation by putting forth what he had learned in these places, and behaving insolently towards Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) by saying "this experienced man" are not what a Muslim would do.

It is written on page 391 of Kisas Anbiya' that Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) was ummi, that is, he had not learned anything from anybody. He did not use to write or read. He had grown up amongst illiterate people. In Mecca, there was not a scholar who knew the history of old peoples. He had not gone to other places to learn anything from anybody. He had not started a job for earnings. So as he was, he communicated the knowledge in the Tawra, the Injil, and in all other books that had descended from heaven and the states of people that had passed. In those days, historical knowledge had been complicated and spoilt. There were very few people to distinguish the correct from the wrong. He responded to men of every religion and silenced them all. These accomplishments show that he was and is the Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam) sent down by Allahu ta'ala. Though he defied the literary men and the poets of his time, none was able to express even a line like the Qur'an he revealed. Whereas, the Meccans were interested in reading poems, making speeches and used to strive hard and compete with one another in this way. They used to boast of speaking coherently. The Qur'an overcame all the poets. They could not oppose the Qur'an. Out of their bewilderment, they took up to sword and risked fighting and dying. Unais, Abu Dharr's brother (radi-Allahu 'anhuma) was a famous poet who had overcome twelve poets. As soon as he heard the Qur'an, he understood that it was Allahu ta'ala's word and embraced Islam. The 48th ayat of the surat al-Ankabut says, "You had not read any book before the Qur'an descended; you had not written. If you had been literate, they would have said that you had learned it from others." Seeing these witnesses of Allahu ta'ala and of Islamic scholars anybody with iman and reason will not have difficulty in deciding definitely about Hamidullah's writing above. On the fortieth page, he says:

"For an unknown reason he bit his foster-sister's shoulder so severely that its scar remained all through her life. In a holy war, his foster-sister Shaima, too, was amongst the slaves captivated. When she told him the event and showed him the scar, Rasulullah recognized her." The enemies of Islam fabricated many slanders about Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam). They said he was black. In order to alienate youngsters from him, they called black dogs "arab". Hamidullah goes even further and attempts to misrepresent that exalted Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam) as a cannibal to youngsters. Whereas, Halima Khatun always kept him with her and would not let him go far away. One day, she missed watching him for a moment. He went among the lambs with his foster-sister Shaima. Halima, when she noticed his absence, looked for him and found him. She asked Shaima, "Why did you go out? It is so hot." Shaima said, "Mummy! A cloud keeps over my brother's head. It always shades him." Let alone complaining about him, she praised him. Everybody who stayed with him, young or old, praised and liked him. No one said to have been hurt by him. He never hurt his foster-sister. He respected her rights and even her milk and he did not suck the teat which she sucked. Halimah said, "When he sucked, my own son respected him and did not suck." This indicates that his foster-brother and sister were never hurt by him and they liked and respected him. "When he sucked, I could not stand looking at his beautiful face. He began to talk by uttering the words of the kalimat at-tawhid first. When he held something, he said 'Bismi'llah'. He did not join in children's playing. He said, "We were not created for playing.' He never cried or hurt anybody." In the eighth year of the Hegira, after the Hunjain Ghaza, a woman named Shaima amongst the captives said, "O Rasul-Allah! I am your foster-sister," and told some of what had happened in those days. He listened to Shaima's words. He recognized her and gave her many gifts. When he was yet a child, so many mujizas and wonderfully beautiful manners were seen in him that they have been written in very many books. Instead of doing an honorable service such as writing about those superiorities, which make the readers love them, and finding and adding to these what have remained unknown, does it befit a professor of Islam to write in his book a thing which may happen among children, under the title of "The Life of the Prophet of Islam"? And can the man who selects and narrates an ugly slander which was invented afterwards be regarded a real Muslim? Does such an attitude indicate a service to knowledge, or an effort in fault-finding? Every Muslim should tremble not to allow anything to be said against his Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam), whom he believes and whom he loves more than himself.

On the forty-eighth page, he says: "In order to protect himself from the burning heat of noon, he would shelter under the shade of 'Abdullah ibn Jud'a's arch [or wall]." All Siyar books write that a cloud kept over Rasulullah's (alaihi 's-salam) head and moved with him and shaded him, thus protecting him against the sun until nubuwwa (the time when he was informed with prophethood). To say that he used to shelter a shade, means to disbelieve this mujiza. He may have sat there not in order to sit in the shade, but in order to guide those who sat in the shade. On the forty-eighth page, he says:

"Ibn Kalbi narrates that Muhammad himself has sacrificed a dark sheep in front of an idol." These writings display clearly that the writer observes Islam from bird's eye view, from far away, and that he knows nothing about Iman and Islam. Every book writes that he would not let idols' names be mentioned and that he expressed his hostility against them when very young yet. Hamidullah himself wrote on page 67 that Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) hated idols. Every Muslim should believe that no prophet has ever committed anything that is forbidden in any religion, in any age of his life. It is written in the books Tuhfat al-ithna 'ashariyya and Asma al-muallifin that Ibn Kalbi, whom Hamidullah puts forth as a reference in order to trick Muslims, is an insolent la-madhhabi person. Yes, Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) sacrificed a dark sheep, but he sacrificed it on the 'iyd al-adha in Medina. On the fifty-eighth page, he says: "He admitted a delegation from the Abdulqais clan. He told them that he had visited their country before Islam." Many books like the Sahih of al-Bukhari and Al-mawahib al-ladunniyya write detailedly about the messengers who came from the Abdulqais clan in Bahrayn. None of them report that Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) had been to the country of the Abdulqais clan. To claim on the one hand that he had gone to distant places and to commercial centers and learned a lot, and on the other hand to narrate Islam's basic beliefs as if it were a historic knowledge! It makes one think that insidious and base plans are being put into practice. On the fifty-fourth page, he says:

"His eyebrows extended to his nose and were curved. His legs were thin."

With such impudent words, he wants to liken Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) to an ogre.

Whereas Qisas-i Anbiya' writes, "Allahu ta'ala collected all kinds of beauty in His beloved Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam). His blessed arms and legs were big and thick. He had crescent eyebrows, a well-shaped nose and long eyelashes." It is written in Al-mawahib al-ladunniyya, "His blessed eyebrows were thin. His blessed hands and feet were big." Each of his companions told about the symmetry in his blessed limbs, and his beauty and lovableness have been a general topic of conversation. It is written in books that so many people loved his beauty at first sight and converted to Islam without looking for anything else. Those who loved him as soon as seeing his beauty tried to describe it as much as they could and said that human sense would not be able to portray his beauty. Some of what those lovers expressed is given in Endless Bliss. Those who read it will immediately realize that Allahu ta'ala has created His beloved Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam) in an inconceivable proportion and a beauty which one would not get tired of looking at; they will begin to love him without seeing him. Those who love Habib-Allah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) feel the taste of his love in the coolness of air which goes into their lungs with each inhaling. Whenever they look at the moon, they get the pleasure of looking for the reflections of the rays that have come from his blessed eyes. Each mote of those who have attained one drop of the ocean of his beauty says:

"Who knows thy lovely cheek will never look at the rose!

Who melts in thy love will not search for repose!"

Hadrat Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi, one of those who loved him without seeing him, in his Persian divan (collection of poems), wrote about his beauty, his greatness, which the human mind cannot comprehend and which the human imagination cannot reach, very laconically and beautifully through the words coming out of his sensitive soul and his great literary skill. Those who read and can understand them admire them. In its translation into English, it is impossible to express that fine art, those deep meanings. Yet, let us render our book valuable by writing the translation of a few of the couplets which he said when visiting Qabr as-Saada:

O the most beautiful of the beautiful, you burn me with your love!
I care nothing; always with your dream is my mind!
You are the Shah of "Kaba Qawsain", and me a disobedient slave,
How can this confused speak of being a guest of you?
When you glanced once with pity, you enlivened dead hearts,
Refuging your endless mercy, I knocked at your door.
The source of goodness, the ocean of pity you are!
Favor me a drop, I am at a loss of remedy!
Everybody comes to Mecca, Kaba, Safa and Marwa.
As for me, for you I passed over mounts and hills.
Last night I dreamt of my head touching the skies,
I felt as if your servants had stepped on my neck.
O Hadrat Jami, the nightingale of my darling!
From amongst your poems, I selected this couplet:
'Like mangy dogs, with tongues hanging down,
Hoping a tiny drop, to your ocean of favor I came'."

In another poem of his, he expresses as follows:

"O the shelter of sinners, to take refuge in you I come!
I committed many guilts, here to beg you I come!
I deviated into dark places, I got stuck in bogs,
To the source of light, the illuminator of right path I come.
I have only a life left to lose, O the life of all lives!
Will it be proper to say 'to sacrifice my life I come'?
You are the healer of the sufferer, and me is a sick at heart,
For the remedy of my heart's sore, to knock at your door I come?
It is improper to take something to the door of the generous,
To kiss the honored earth which you have trodden on I come.
My sins are a lot like mountains, my face black like tar,
Entirely to get rid of this burden, this darkness, I come.
A drop of your ocean of favor will certainly clean all,
Although with my deed-book as black as my face I come.
If I can only kiss the soil of your door, O darling dearer than my life
Works impossible with water arises from that soil!"

On the eighty-second page, Hamidullah writes that it was historians who wrote about the dividing of the moon into two. He does not write that it was written in the Qur'an and the Hadith. Furthermore, he does not say if he believes it or not. He says:

"First his wife, and then his uncle passed away. The majority of Muslims were in Ethiopia. He did not have anybody besides Allah to depend on."

Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) and his companions and every Muslim trusted only in Allahu ta'ala in everything they did. Yet, they held on to the intermediaries because He commanded so. They did not depend upon the intermediaries. They believed that the intermediaires did not make but help. On the ninety-second and third pages, he says:

"The Miraj is a state of mood. It was done when he forgot about his body and when his soul was dominant. The sura Isra says that one night Hadrat Prophet was taken from the holy center on earth to the holy center in the sky (Masjid Aqsa). The distant masjid cannot be thought to be in Jerusalem. For there was not a masjid in Jerusalem then. The sura Rum declares that Palestine is the nearest place. A masjid which is far away cannot be a place which is near. Allahu ta'ala consoles him by reminding him of the history of the ancient prophets."

Allahu ta'ala declares, "I took My 'Abd from the Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa at night." Man is called " 'Abd" (human creature). It is not his soul or state of mood which is called " 'Abd". It is written in the long Hadith in the Sahih of al-Bukhari, in the Qur'an commentaries of the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars and in all the books dealing with the Miraj that Rasulullah (alaihi 's-salam) said, "I went to Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and saw it." In those days, Masjid al-Aqsa existed in Jerusalem. Long ago, Sulaiman ('alaihi 's-salam) had had it built. Later it had come into the possession of Persians and Greeks. After 'Isa's ('alaihi 's-salam) Ascension to Haven, it came into the Romans' possession. It collapsed and was repaired several times. Lastly, 'Umar (radi-Allahu 'anh) had it repaired. Palestine is a neighbor to Arabia. Since it was nearer than other countries, it was called "the Nearest Place". Amongst the masjids on earth Masjid al-Aqsa was the one farthest to Mecca then. Therefore, it was called "the Farthest Masjid". Why should not the farthest masjid be at the nearest place? For sixteen months after the Hegira, Muslims had performed salat towards Masjid al-Aqsa. If a masjid had not existed in Jerusalem then, would it have been commanded to perform salat towards there? Would Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) have said that he had performed salat in Masjid al-Aqsa? Since Hamidullah's intellect, thought and scientific understanding cannot comprehend that Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) was taken to Jerusalem and thence to heaven with his blessed body, he cannot believe it. He means that the Miraj was a state of spirit. Therefore, he misinterprets the Qur'an. He strives to prove his thought to be right by evasive words. If the Miraj had been a state, none of those who had heard of it would oppose it. Nor would the disbelievers say anything against it. Because he said, "I went in body," many disbelieved it. It is declared unanimously by Islamic scholars that he who does not believe that Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) was taken to Jerusalem from Mecca will be kafir. And he who does not believe that he was ascended to heaven, will be a man of bidat, a heretic.

In the books of Indian scholars, there are pertinent answers to this writing of the Indian Hamidullah who goes so far into disbelief. Hadrat 'Abdulhaq ad-Dahlawi, a great scholar of the Hadith, says in his Persian Madarij an-nubuwwa: "One of the most honorable blessings of Allahu ta'ala on Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) is His having him ascend to heaven in the Miraj. He has not given this miracle to any prophet besides him. It is declared clearly in the Qur'an that he was taken from Mecca to Masjid al-Aqsa; he who does not believe this becomes a disbeliever. Mashhur hadiths inform with the fact that he was taken up to heaven from Masjid al-Aqsa; the one who disbelieves this becomes a man of bidat, a sinner. The majority of the Sahabat al-kiram, of the Tabiin, of the scholars of the Hadith, of the scholars of fiqh and of the scholars of kalam communicate that the Miraj happened as he was awake and with body. Also sahih hadiths communicate that this happened so. Miraj took place many times. One of them was when he was awake and with body. Others happened spiritually only. 'Aisha (radi-Allahu 'anh) told about one which happened spiritually in his dream. This narration of hers does not necessarily show that the Miraj which happened when he was awake and with his body was untrue. Nevertheless, Islamic scholars communicate unanimously that prophets' dreams were wahi. There is no way for doubt in these. While their eyes were closed, their blessed hearts were awake. Those which happened spiritually before were intended to prepare him for the Miraj that would happen bodily. Because the disbelievers would not believe in the Miraj and asked for information about Masjid al-Aqsa in order to test him, it was declared clearly in the surat al-Isra that he was taken to Masjid al-Aqsa. In this sura, the ayat, 'I took him to show Mine Ayat,' shows the fact that he was taken up to heaven. The dream mentioned in the sixtieth ayat, "We have made the dream which We showed you an instigation for people,' of this sura implies the Miraj. Some scholars said, 'It was the dream in which he saw that he would go to Mecca and perform tawaf (hajj) together with as-Sahaba. Because they did not go into Mecca but turned and went back from Hudaibiya in the year when he communicated this dream to as-Sahaba, the munafiqs aroused instigation.' Whereas he did not see the dream that year; why should it have caused instigation, then? Many of the scholars of tafsir have informed that the word 'ruya' (dream) is used in the sense 'seeing while awake at night' here, and they have put forward examples for this from the Diwan of the poet Mutanabbi. The Batinis, that is, members of the Ismailism, have said that the Miraj was not a journey with body, but it was the soul's getting exalted passing beyond the ecstasies and ranks; this word of theirs is kufr and ilhad, that is, it is being zindiq; it is enmity against Islam." Hamidullah's writing shows that he belongs to the Ismaili group. The fact that he is from Hydarabad, center of the Ismailis, emphasizes this supposition of ours. Most of the Sahabat al-kiram reported the hadith about the Miraj. It is written with details by al-Bukhari and Muslim. Those who have iman should also believe the mujiza of the Miraj.

It is seen that Hamidullah, in all his books, tries to explain Islam in two different points of view, one according to the history and one according to his own understanding. The majority of what he derives and communicates from history books narrates the events correctly. But his own heretical points of view and corrupt beliefs, which he has secretly pushed among this knowledge, shock the iman of those who read and believe them and annihilate their respect and love towards Rasulullah ('alaihi 's-salam) and their trust in the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars.

Nowadays, everybody who knows a little Arabic and who is capable of expressing himself in writing has been attempting to write religious books. By disguising as religious men and getting diplomas, each of them has been writing different things. All of them have been demolishing Islam and spoiling the belief of Muslims. The pure youngsters are at a loss as to which book to read and whom to believe.

Those who want to learn Islam, which Allahu ta'ala likes, and to attain repose and happiness in both worlds by holding to Rasulullah's ('alaihi 's-salam) religion should read 'ilm al-hal books, which are the selections from the books that the great men of tasawwuf wrote after the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars. Only the Ahl as-Sunnat scholars have comprehended the real meaning of the Qur'an and communicated it by writing thousands of books. They are the apples of the eyes of Islam and were praised in the Qur'an and the Hadith. One should not read the deceitful and made-up articles of upstart men of religion, of false shaikhs or of insidious enemies of Islam, or fall for their words and lectures. One should look for the right books prepared by real Muslims, who adapt themselves to Islam and who make their children live compatibly with Islam, that is, who perform every kind of 'ibadat and abstain from the haram.