HADITH OF
ABU AL-HAYYAJ
Now it is the
time to closely examine the hadith which the Wahhabi scholars narrate. Here we
produce a tradition from Sahih Muslim:
Narrated to us Yahya bin Yahya, Abu Bakr bin Abi
Shayba and Zuhayr bin Harb (on the authority of) Waki’ who narrates from Sufyan
who narrates from Habib bin Abi Thabit who narrates from Abu Wa’il who narrates
from Abu al-Hayyaj that ‘Ali told him: “I assign you for a task which the Holy
Prophet (s) assigned me for the same. Do not leave any picture but that which
you erase nor any high grave but that you level it.” [1]
The Wahhabis
have utilized this tradition as a pretext without paying attention to the authenticity
and logic of the tradition.
Whenever we
wish to derive an Islamic ruling from a hadith, it should possess two
conditions:
1. The authenticity
of tradition should be correct; that is to say, the narrators of tradition
should be such people that one could rely on their sayings.
2. The
instruction of tradition should be clear upon the purpose.
That is to say the words
and the sentences of the tradition should clearly prove our purpose such that
if we give the same tradition to a person well versed in language and aware of
its specifications, he would be able to derive the same meaning as we derive.
Unfortunately,
this tradition is worthy of criticism from both these points especially the
second, where one can find no relation with its purpose.
From the viewpoint of authenticity
(isnad), the traditionalists (those expert in the science of hadith) do
not accept the reliability of the persons narrating this tradition because we
see that its narrators are people like (1) Waki’ (2) Sufyan al-Thawri (3) Habib
bin Abi Thabit and (4) Abu Wa’il al-‘Asadi.
A traditionalist such as
Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani has criticised them in his book Tahdhib
al-tahdhib to such an extent that it throws doubt and uncertainty on the
authenticity of the aforementioned tradition and other traditions narrated by
them.
1. For example he
narrates from Ahmad bin Hanbal about Waki’ that:
“He has
committed mistakes in 500 traditions.” [2]
He also narrates from
Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi about Waki’ that:
“He used to
narrate the tradition according to its meaning (rather than narrating the
precise text) while his mother-tongue was not Arabic”. [3]
2. About Sufyan
al-Thawri, he narrates from Ibn al-Mubarak that:
“Sufyan was
narrating a tradition when I suddenly arrived and noticed that he was deceiving
in tradition. When he saw me, he felt ashamed.” [4]
Deception in any
tradition in whatever meaning it may be interpreted shows that there had been
no equity, truthfulness and realism in such a man that he has presented the
untrue things to be true.
In the
translation of Yahya al-Qattan, he narrates from him that Sufyan tried to
present to me an unreliable person to be reliable but eventually he was
unsuccessful. [5]
3. About
Habib ibn Abi Thabit, he narrates from Ibn Hibban that:
“He was
deceiving in tradition.”
He also
narrates from al-Qattan that:
“His traditions cannot
be followed because they are not firm.”[6]
4. About Abi
Wa’il he says:
“He is from
the nawasib and from the deviators from (the path) of ‘Ali (‘a) [7]
It is worthy
of attention that in the entire sihah sitta only one tradition is
narrated from Abu al-Hayyaj and that is the same which we have discussed
already. It shows that a person, whose share from the Prophetic knowledge was
only one tradition, was not a man of tradition at all. Therefore, it becomes
difficult to rely on him. When the reference of tradition possesses such
shortcomings, then no jurisprudent (faqih) can pass a verdict (fatwa)
based on such a weak reference.
The ‘instruction’ of
tradition is no less important than its reference as the following words in
this tradition testify:
Now we will discuss the
meaning of these two words i.e.
(a). 
and
and
(b). 
(a). The word
in
dictionary means high and elevated and it has been said that
in
dictionary means high and elevated and it has been said that 
is a high
place overlooking the other place.” [8]
The author of al-Qamus
who is having greater validity in the arrangement of meaning of words says:
with vowel of (
) is named as
something ‘high’ and ‘the hump of a camel’.
Therefore the
word (
) in
absolute term is called as ‘height’ and in particular that height which is in
the shape of a hump of a camel. By referring to the past, we have to see the
objective pertains to which kind of height.
) in
absolute term is called as ‘height’ and in particular that height which is in
the shape of a hump of a camel. By referring to the past, we have to see the
objective pertains to which kind of height.
(b).The word 
in dictionary
means ‘to restore equilibrium’, ‘to make equal’ and ‘to set right the crooked’.
in dictionary
means ‘to restore equilibrium’, ‘to make equal’ and ‘to set right the crooked’.
. He made it
straight; Arab says - I wanted to set right the crooked which was not
smoothened. It also comes in the meaning of ‘a faultless product’.
The Holy
Qur’an says:
“Who creates,
then makes complete”. (A’la: 2)
After knowing
the meanings of phrases and words, we have to see what this tradition means!
Two possibilities exist
in this tradition. We have to select one of the two by paying attention to the individual
meanings and other logical possibilities, the first one of it is:
1. One
possibility is that Prophet (s) ordered Abul-Haiyyaj to destroy the elevated
graves and level them to the ground.
This
possibility which the Wahhabis rely upon is rejected due to the following
reasons:
Firstly, the
word does
not mean ‘to destroy’ or ‘to demolish’ and if it meant so then they should have
said:
does
not mean ‘to destroy’ or ‘to demolish’ and if it meant so then they should have
said: 
Level them to
the ground while we do not find such words in the tradition.
Secondly, if
it is meant what they say then why the scholars of Islam have not given such a
verdict (fatwa)? It is because leveling of grave to the ground is
against the Islamic Sunnah which says that a grave should be slightly higher
than the ground level and all the jurisprudents (fuqaha) of Islam have
given verdict (fatwa) over this matter that a grave should be higher
than the level of ground by one span.
In the book al-Fiqh
‘ala al-madhahib al-‘arba’a, as per the verdicts (fatawa) of the
four well-known Imams (Hanifa, Malek, Shafe’i and Hanbal), we read as such:
“It is
recommended (mustahab) that the soil of grave be higher than the ground
by one span.” [9]
By paying
attention to this matter we are bound to interpret the tradition in some other
way to which we shall now refer.
2. Second possibility is
that he was ordered to make the top of the grave uniform, even or flat and not
like the graves which are made in the shape of the hind of a fish or the hump
of a camel.
Therefore,
the tradition is a witness to this fact that the top of a grave should be even
and flat and not in the shape of the hind of a fish or a hump which is common
among some of the Ahl al-Sunnah. All the four well-known Imams of Ahl
al-Sunnah, except al-Shafi’i, have given fatwa that the grave is
recommended to be so. Thus this tradition conforms to the Shi’a scholars who
say that a grave apart from being above the ground should be even and flat. [10]
Incidentally, Muslim, the
author of Sahih has himself brought this tradition and another tradition
which we shall soon discuss under the title
and similarly
al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa’i have brought this tradition in their Sunan
under the aforementioned title. This title gives the meaning that the surface
of grave should be even and flat and if it meant that the graves should be made
level to the ground then it was necessary to change the title and name it as 
Incidentally, in Arabic
language if 
is
ascribed to any thing (like grave) it means that the thing itself should be
flat and even and not that it should be made equal with any thing (like
ground).
is
ascribed to any thing (like grave) it means that the thing itself should be
flat and even and not that it should be made equal with any thing (like
ground).
Here we produce another
tradition which Muslim has narrated in his Sahih and this tradition too
contains the same contents which we have approved.
The narrator says: We
were with Fudala bin ‘Ubayd in Rome when one of our companions died. Fudala
ordered that his grave be made uniform and said that he had heard the Holy
Prophet (s) giving instructions for the leveling of graves. [11]
The key to understanding
this tradition lies in acquiring the meaning of the word 
which posseses three
possible meanings. By paying attention to the legal presumptions one of them
should be selected. Here are the three possibilities:
which posseses three
possible meanings. By paying attention to the legal presumptions one of them
should be selected. Here are the three possibilities:
1. One meaning is ‘to
destroy the structure over the graves!’ This possibility is false because the
graves which were in Medina were not possessing structure or dome.
2. Another meaning is
‘to level the surface of the grave to the ground’. This is against the Sunnah
(practice) of the Prophet (s) which is conclusive that the grave should be
above the ground by one span.
3. Lastly it
could mean ‘to surface the grave and make even the uneven portions and hence
bring it out from the shape of hind of a fish or hump of a camel’. This meaning
is exact and precise and needs no reason for proving this interpretation.
Now let us
see how the famous commentator of Sahih Muslim, al-Nawawi, interprets
the tradition. He says:
“It is Sunnah
(tradition) that the grave should not possess excessive height above the ground
and should not have a shape of a hump of a camel. However it should be one span
above the ground and should be even.” [12]
This sentence shows that
the commentator of Sahih Muslim has derived the same meaning as we have
derived from the word . That is to say, Imam al-Nawawi
recommended and advised that the surface of the graves should not possess the
shape of the hind of a fish and they should be made uniform, flat and even, not
that they should be levelled with the ground or that the grave and the
structure on it should be destroyed.
. That is to say, Imam al-Nawawi
recommended and advised that the surface of the graves should not possess the
shape of the hind of a fish and they should be made uniform, flat and even, not
that they should be levelled with the ground or that the grave and the
structure on it should be destroyed.
It is not only we who
have interpreted the tradition as such but al-Hafiz al-Qastallani too in his
book Irshad al-sari fi sharh Sahih al-Bukhari has interpreted the
tradition as we have. He says:
“It is the sunnah
that a grave should be surfaced and we should never abandon this Sunnah
just because surfacing of the grave is the motto of the rawafid. When we
say that the Sunnah is surfacing of grave (having no difference with the
tradition of Abu al-Hayyaj) it is because
The objective
is not to make the grave on par with the ground but the objective is to make
the surface of the grave flat and even although being above the ground level.
[13]
Moreover, if the
objective of recommendation was to destroy the structures and domes over the
graves then why didn't ‘Ali (‘a) himself destroy the domes over the graves of
the Prophets existing during his own time!? Besides, he was the ruler over the
Islamic lands and places like Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Yemen,
which were full of such structures over the graves of the Prophets and were
within his sight.
Forgoing all that we
have said even if we assume that Imam (‘a) ordered Abu al-Hayyaj to level all
the elevated graves on par with the ground, still the tradition never bears
testimony over the necessity of destroying the structures over the graves since
Imam (‘a) has said:
i.e. ‘destroy the graves’,
but has not said:
‘There is no building
and no dome (dome of grave) unless I made them separate’.
Moreover our discussion
is not about grave itself but about construction and structures over the graves
where people occupy themselves under the shade of these structures and recite
the Qur’an, invocation and prayers. Which part of this sentence bears testimony
for the destruction of the structures surrounding the graves which in fact
facilitates the visitors to worship and recite Qur’an and protects them from
extreme heat or cold!
Two more possibilities in tradition
In the end we
are bound to present two more possibilities in the tradition:
(1) It is possible that
this and some other similar traditions are pointing to a series of graves of
the past people where people took the graves of the pious and virtuous people
as their qibla instead of performing prayers towards the true qibla.
They used to perform prayers over the grave and the picture which was near the
grave and were refraining from facing the true qibla which God has
selected.
Thus the tradition has
no connection to the graves which have never been prostrated upon by the
Muslims but have recited prayers near them facing the divine qibla
(Ka’ba).
And if they expedite in
visiting the graves of the pious people and worship God near their pure bodies
and the holy graves, it is because of the high esteem these dignified places
have acquired due to the burial of their bodies. We shall discuss about them
later on.
(2) By 
is meant the portrait
of idols and by 
is meant the graves of
polytheists which were still respected by their near and far ones.
is meant the portrait
of idols and by is meant the graves of
polytheists which were still respected by their near and far ones.
Over here we shall
narrate the verdicts of the four scholars of Sunni school of thought:
It is makruh
(abominable) to build a house, dome, school or mosque over the grave.” [14]
With such consensus
existing amongst the four Imams how can the judge of Najd insist that
construction over the grave is haram (prohibited)!?
Moreover, its being makruh
is itself not having a decisive and correct reference especially when construction
over the grave provides a means of worship for the visitor to the grave of
Prophets and pious people.
Notes :
Notes :
[1] Sahih Muslim, kitab al-jana’iz, vol. 3 p. 61; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, bab ma ja’a fi taswiyat al-qabr, vol. 2 p. 256; and Sunan al-Nasa’i, bab taswiyat al-qabr, vol. 4, p. 88.[2] Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, vol. 11, p. 125.[3] Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, vol. 11 p. 130.[4] Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, vol. 4 p. 115.[5] Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, vol. 11 p. 218.[6] Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, vol. 2 p. 179.[7] Ibn Abi al-Hadid al-Mu’tazili, Sharh Nahj al-balagha, vol. 9 p. 99.[8] Al-Munjid.[9] al-Fiqh ‘ala al-madhahib al-‘arba’a, vol. 1, p. 420.[10] al-Fiqh ‘ala al-madhahib al-‘arba’a, vol. 1, p. 420. Therefore, no groups from the Islamic tradition have acted upon this tradition, except the Shafi’i’s and the Shi’a.[11] Sahih Muslim, kitab al-jana’iz, vol. 3 p. 61.[12] al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, vol. 7, p. 36.[13] al-Qastallani, Irshad al-sari, vol. 2 p. 468.[14] al-Fiqh ‘ala al-madhahib al-‘arba’a, vol. 1, p. 421.
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