Responding To Argument; Hadith Of Tirmadhi, Indicating Erroneous Innovation, Is Weak.

[MuhammedAli]

Introduction:

Muslims believe Islam recognises two types of innovations, praiseworthy and blameworthy. And believe praiseworthy innovations are those which have been composed of prophetic Sunnahs, consisting of acts of worship, charity, encouraging good, forbidding evil, and spreading Islamic knowledge, and such innovations earn the initiator and their partaker reward. Blamewothy innovations are those which have been composed what Islam has deemed Haram, Kufr, Shirk, and sinful. And if such innovation is partly or wholely are composed of Kufr than their practioners are guilty of Kufr. And if such innovation is composed of sinful activities than person is guilty of sin and sin is compounded of others act on it. Opponents of Islam on other hand argue there is no such thing as praiseworthy innovation in Islam because all innovations are evil. Muslims justify their understanding based on Ahadith of good Sunnah, whoever introduces a good Sunnah in Islam if it is followed the initiator and the actor both will equally be rewarded without reduction in their reward. Natural meaning of this Hadith is one who innovates a good Sunnah in Islam for him there is reward. Yet the opponents argue against the Islamic position with their baseless arguments. To refute such baseless arguments and to present Islamic understanding in light of Hadith of, and whatever the Muslims view as good is good in the sight of Allah, and whatever they view as evil is evil in the sight of Allah. In which the emphasis was the latter Hadith explains earlier.

Private Message From AhlalHdeeth Member:

And a Salafi brother sent me a private message on AhlalHdeeth forum regarding the Hadith of Tirmadhi quoted in footnote three, here. While refering to a portion under the heading: Understanding Ahadith Of Good And Evil Sunnah. He quoted underlined statement of mine – which will reproduced in context of actual discussion. And remarked; Hadith is notebly different from what you have claimed. He also stated Hadith has been classed as weak by Imam Tirmadhi, and therefore it cannot be used as evidence. What should be noted is; Salafi antagonist didn’t address the arguments presented and only nit picked. And I would have completely ignored his criticism had he not stated Hadith is weak. But his criticism allowed me to lift the lid of deception employed by enemies of Islam.

The Underlined Statement Which Brother Objected On:

“When something is designed, or created, or assembled, or thought of, and that tradition, precedent, custom, belief, is not already part of Islam, then what is that something? Would that be prophetic Sunnah of Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam)? Or would that be an innovation? The words of Hadith itself imply innovation. In another Hadith the general meaning of prophetic statement is exactly same but the word, precedent, is replaced with word, innovation: "And whoever introduces an erroneous innovation, which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger, then he shall receive sins similar to whoever acts upon it, without that diminishing anything from the sins of the people.” [Ref: Tirmadhi, B29, H2677]“And … it in the slightest.” [Ref: Ibn Majah, B1, H209] Establishing that even though Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam) used words good precedent he meant and implied good innovation.” [Note, parts from Ahadith have been omitted.]

0.1 - Hadith Fundamentally Is Same As Ahadith Of Muslim:

Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam) is reported to have said: “And he who introduces a evil precedent (i.e. Sunnah) in Islam there is upon him the burden of that, and the burden of him also who acted upon it subsequently, without any deduction from their burden.” [Ref: Muslim, B34, H6466] And while refering to various versions of quoted Ahadith it was stated the general meaning of Hadith is same as Hadith of Muslim. Innovation is which is not part of Islam, and if something which was not part of Islam and does not agree with its teaching it is evil innovation. And this meaning is obvious if you had paid attention to the following Hadith: “And whoever introduces an erroneous innovation, which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger, then he shall receive sins similar to whoever acts upon it, without that diminishing anything from the sins of the people.” [Ref: Tirmadhi, B29, H2677] If you read the Hadith in discussion without the underlined text, than it gives exactly same meaning as Hadith of Muslim. And reading the Hadith with the underlined text, with which Allah is not pleased nor His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam), than one has to take it as Tafseel (i.e. explanation) of what an erroneous innovation is. So the Hadith states, whoever introduces an erroneous innovation, and that erroneous innovation is with which Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) nor His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam) is pleased, and one who introduces such innovation and one who acts on it will receive equale blame of sin. Alhasil Ahadith of evil Sunnah - Muslim, Hadith 6466 - and Hadith of Tirmadhi - Hadith 2677 – give same meaning the only difference is in expressing the meaning.

0.2 - Are The Ahadith Notably Different Or One And The Same:

Following Hadith was quoted in the article: "And whoever introduces an erroneous innovation, which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger, then he shall receive sins ...” [Ref: Tirmadhi, B29, H2677] This Hadith of – Tirmadhi, H2677 - was not quoted on its own but it was coupled with following Hadith:“And whoever introduces an innovation that is acted upon, will have a burden of sins equivalent to that of those who act upon it ...”  [Ref: Ibn Majah, B1, H209] And there is another version of this Hadith which reads: “Whoever starts an innovation with which Allah and his Messenger are not pleased, he will have a (burden of) sin equivalent ...” [Ref: Ibn Majah, B1, H210] Pay attention to the words of these Ahadith and note the additions being to them in each version. It is stated by Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam): “And whoever introduces an innovation that is acted upon, will have a burden of sins equivalent to that of those who act upon it …”  [Ref: Ibn Majah, B1, H209] This Hadith is slightly different, words, fil Islam (i.e. in Islam) have been omitted because naturally sin is for [sinful] innovation introduced in Islam, otherwise the Hadith is virtually the same as Hadith of evil Sunnah. And it agrees with various other versions of Hadith of evil Sunnah where the words, in Islam, are absent as here: “And whoever introduces a reprehensible Sunnah that is followed, he will receive its sin and a burden of sin equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.” [Ref: Ibn Majah, B1, H203] Note - Hadith 209 – is vague and does not explain which type of innovation earns the initiator and actor sins. And with this in mind words following words were added; with which Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) and His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam) are not pleased. As evidenced here: “Whoever starts an innovation with which Allah and his Messenger are not pleased, he will have a (burden of) sin equivalent to that of …” [Ref: Ibn Majah, B1, H210] With this addition it became evident which type of innovation brings equal sin for initiator and its actor. Now sinful innovation has been defined, what remains is how to classify the innovation which does not please Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) and RasoolAllah (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam), and for sake of classification of such innovation, words erroneous innovation were introduced: "And whoever introduces an erroneous innovation, which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger, then he shall receive sins ...” [Ref: Tirmadhi, B29, H2677] Hadith 209, was improved by, Hadith 210, and Hadith 210 was improved by Hadith 2677. This naturally implies fundamental meaning of  - Ibn Majah, Hadith 209 – is part of two Ahadith - 210 and 2677 - which were improved upon, to further explain the type of innovation intended. Alhasil - Ibn Majah 210 - is sources of improvements and it agrees with - Muslim, Hadith 6466 – therefore naturally meaning of both Ahadith are part of Tirmadhi 2677.

1.0 - Did Imam Tirmadhi Classified The Hadith Weak Or Hassan:

You referred to online translation, available on Sunnah.com and stated Hadith is weak even according to Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala).  Truth of matter is Hadith is Hassan according to Imam Tirmadhi. Jami’at Tirmadhi, Volume 2, Publishers; Darul Ishaat, Translation by Maulana Fazal Ahmad Deobandi, Abwabul Ilm (chapters of knowledge), Acting On Sunnah And Abstaining From Innovation, Page 149, see here. Another publication of Jami’at Tirmadhi, Volume 2, Part One , Publishers; Maktabatul Ilm, Translation by Maulana Nizam Ud-Deen Deobandi, Abwabul Ilm (chapters of knowledge), Acting On Sunnah And Abstaining From Innovation, Page 242, see here. And according to online version, whose publishing details are missing, Page 574, see here. These relevent scans be accessed on SCRIBD, here, here, and here. This establishes Ahadith were graded Hassan by Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) but the distorters did not present his grading correctly. In fact weak grading has been taken from Shaykh Zubayr Ali Zai. Shaykh Zubayr’s weakening of the Hadith is unwarranted and it is demonstration of his basic knowledge of science o Hadith and his excess.

1.1 - The Deception Of Sunnah.Com:

Sunnah.com is a very good website because it has contributed greatly toward understanding Sunnah of RasoolAllah (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam). But this resource website is reminder that one should not take their Deen from Salafi/Deoband published texts. The habbit of these people is to change the books of great scholars of past in such a fashion so the books of great scholars represent heretical understandings of Deobandism/Salafism. Anyway coming back to the topic. I have checked the Sunnah.Com link he provided me, and the source material which it uses. The Hadith at Sunnah.Com ends with words “… without that diminishing anything from the sins of the people.’” But the part in which Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) graded the Hadith was not presented by whoever placed the text on search engine. Note even on Sunnah.Com the following words are present in Arabic text: “[Muhammad] Abu Isa [Imam Tirmadhi] said: This Hadith is Hassan. Muhammad bin Uyainah, Missisi is Shami (i.e. Syrian) …” See the words in the link provided, here and here: [“… قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ ‏.‏ وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ هُوَ مِصِّيصِيٌّ شَامِيٌّ”]. Darussalam publishers is stated source for Sunnah.Com database. The Darussalam translation has the following words: “[Abu Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hassan. Muhammad bin Uyainah is Al-Missisi, from Ash-Sham, and Kathir bin Abdullah is Ibn Amr bin Awf Al Muzani.”  This establishes that Adminstrator of Sunnah.Com deliberately omitted to conceal how Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) graded the Hadith in discussion. The word (Da’if) is found at the end of Darussalams translation, here, as in: “… without that diminishing anything from the sins of the people.’” (Da’if) but this is not part of Imam Tirmadhi’s grading but Shaykh Zubayr Ali Zai’s grading. Alhasil the real blame is upon Admin of Sunnah.Com, or who ever typed the text of Ahadith for the website. None has the right to remove any grading from, Jami at-Tirmadhi of Imam Muhammad Abu Isa (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala), even if one does not agree with his grading. Imam Tirmadhi’s (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) grading of Ahadith as Sahih, Hassan, is proof of what he believed. Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah) graded the Hadith in discussion as Hassan, and this establishes he believed, one who introduces evil innovation, and those who follow the evil innovation all are equally sinful. If his grading of - Good - was omitted from translation of Jami at-Tirmadhi and anothers grading of - Weak - was inserted than it would give impression that Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah) did not believe so because the Hadith is weak. This is an attempt to converted Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah) to Salafism by tempering with his grading of Ahadith. Likewise countless other scholars of past belonging to Ahle Sunnat have been converted to Salafism.

1.0 - Imam Tirmadhi The Imam Of Hadith And A No-Body:

The foolish one has graded it weak thinking he posseses better knowledge of Hadith than Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala). But his worth in judging authenticity of Ahadith is of an arrogant imbecile. Imam Tirmadhi’s (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) grading is sufficient for a Muslim. His knowledge regarding lives of narrators, and their strenths and weaknesses, and his knowledge of science of Hadith was better than nobodys of modern era. And with all knowledge regarding science of Hadith he classified it Hassan, and he did not grade it Hassan due to his ignorance but due to excellence in science of Hadith. If Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) permits it, grading of Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) will be established in next section.

1.1 - The Grading Of Hadith According To Science Of Hadith:

It is a principle in science of Hadith; when a weak hadith has number of Ahadith than such Hadith is elevated to level of Hassan (i.e. good). Another principle employed is, when a weak Hadith is corroborated by an authentic Hadith than weak Hadith is elevated to level of Hassan. Ibn Majah, Hadith 209 and 210, and Hadith of Tirmadhi 2677 all come togather to strenthen themselves. And all these are strenthened by Ahadith of Muslim, Hadith 2677, and by following version of Nisai: “And whoever sets an evil precedent in Islam, he will have a burden of sin for that, and the burden of those who acted in accordance with it, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.” [Ref: Nisai, B23, H2555] There are many other AUTHENTIC versions of Ahadith of good/evil Sunnah, all of which add to elevate the grading of Hadith in discussion to level of Hassan.

1.2 - How The Ahadith Of Evil Sunnah Support Tirmadhi 2677:

Innovation is something which does not have precedent prior to its origination. And it is recorded that Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam) has stated: “And he who introduces a evil precedent (i.e. Sunnah) in Islam there is upon him the burden of that, and the burden of him also who acted upon it subsequently, without any deduction from their burden.” [Ref: Muslim, B34, H6466] “And whoever sets an evil precedent in Islam, he will have a burden of sin for that, and the burden of those who acted in accordance with it, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.” [Ref: Nisai, B23, H2555] These Ahadith indicate innovation because they tell initiator/actor of evil Sunnah in Islam will earn equal sins. Therefore the evil Sunnah for which sin is earned equally cannot already be part of Islam but is innovated into Islam, and is innovated evil Sunnah. And Hadith of Tirmadhi states: "And whoever introduces an erroneous innovation, which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger, then he shall receive sins ...” [Ref: Tirmadhi, B29, H2677] If an innovation was introduced and it was evil, such as thermonuclear weapon (i.e. Hydroge Bomb), but it is not believed to be part of Islam than there is no sin upon one who introduced it. But if use of H-Bomb is considered permissible in Islam than H-Bomb has been made part of Islam. And thereafter any Muslim who deems its usage permissible, and one who employs it as a weapon to target a populace, all are equally responsible and sinful, for murder of innocent non-combatants. Point being made is evil innovation becomes sinful when it is made part of Islam either by judging it permissible or by considering it prophetic Sunnah. Therefore by default Hadith of Tirmadhi is talking about introducing an evil innovation into Islam even if it does not textually state it. In other words, meaning of Hadith is as follows: "And whoever introduces an erroneous innovation [in Islam], which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger, then he shall receive sins ...” [Ref: Tirmadhi, B29, H2677] And it was already explained; the statement, with which Allah is not please nor His Messenger, is Tafseel/Tafsir (i.e. detail/explanation) of what an erroneous innovation is therefore if it is removed meaning of Hadith would not be effected in anyway. As a demonstration: "And whoever introduces [in Islam] an erroneous innovation (i.e. which Allah is not pleased with nor His Messenger) then he shall receive sins similar to whoever acts upon it, without that diminishing anything from the sins of the people.” Removing the Tafsir of erroneous innovation from the main text of Hadith and inserting it as a additional explanation reconciles the Hadith with Ahadith of Muslim and Nisai. And this goes on to establish the statement made in section - 1.2 – that, Ahadith of evil Sunnah strenthen Hadith of Tirmadhi 2677, and elevate its grading to Hassan. And Hassan is accepted as proof in matters of religion by Ijmah of Muslims.

Conclusion:

Imam Tirmadhi (rahimullah alayhi ta’ala) classified the Hadith as Hassan and not as weak. And his grading is supported by principles employed by Muhaditheen. When a weak Hadith has number of chains than they all come togather to elevate the Hadith to level of Hassan. And if a weak Hadith is supported by a Sahih Hadith than the weak Hadith is also strenthened to level of Hassan. The Hadith of Tirmadhi conveys the very same meaning as the Ahadith of evil Sunnah found in Muslim, Nisai, Ibn Majah, and elsewhere. And any detail missing from a version of Hadith can be implied from another version of Hadith because the statements of Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi was’sallam) explain each other. And to explain the Ahadith by each other is highiest level of commentary.

Wama alayna ilal balaghul mubeen.
Muhammed Ali Razavi

[MuhammedAli]

Bump.