Who is quoted & who is quoting?

Who is quoted & who is quoting?

By: Shahid Bin Waheed شاهد بن وحيد

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الحمدلله رب العالمين والصلوة والسلام على اشرف الانبياء وسيدالمرسلين نبينا محمد صل ا لله عليه وعلى آله واصحابه وازواجه اجمعين - امابعد

All the praises and thanks be to Allaah, Sustainer of the Universe, and blessing and salutation to be the most distinguish of the Messengers and foremost among the Prophets, our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allaah be on him and on his wives, children and Companions.

Many people imagine that Seerah سيرةالنبی is a branch of the science of Hadeeth حديث – (i.e. it is a collection of different events of the Prophet’s صلی الله عليه وسلم manners and habits as found in different Ahadeeth احاديث). But that is not the case, and we cannot say that no book has been composed on Seerah سيرةالنبی in which care is not taken for authenticity.

The very first question is, what is Seerah سيرةالنبی? In the earlier terminology of the Muhadditheen محدثين (scholars of Hadeeth حديث) and the arbab rijal ارباب رجال (biographers of narrators of Hadeeth حديث) the battles of Prophet Muhammad صلی الله عليه وسلم are known as Maghazi and Seerah سيرة. Accordingly, Ibn Ishaq’s (ابن اسحاق) book is called both, Maghazi and Seerah سيرة. Hafiz Ibn Hajar (حافظ ابن حجار) uses both these names for one book Fath al Bari (فتح الباری), Kitab Maghazi (كتاب مغازی). The same terminology is used in fiqh فقه (Jurisprudence). The chapter Kitab al Jihad wa al-Sayr in the books of fiqh فقه employs the word Seerah سيرة to refer to the injunctions of the battles and Jihad جهاد.

Dimiyati دمياتی is a well-known scholar of Hadeeth حديث, he wrote a book on Seerah سيرة, which is available today as well. He has often agreed with the writers of Seerah سيرة; but when he investigated deeply, he learned the authentic Ahadeeth احاديث should be preferred to account Seerah سيرة. He wished to correct his books but innumerable had been printed already and he could not correct them all. Ibn Hajar ابن حجار has quoted Dimyati دمياتی,

ودل هذا علی انه كان يعتقد الرجوع عن كثير مما وافق فيه اهل السيرو خالف الاحاديث الصحيحة وان ذلك كان به قبل تضلعه منها ولخروج نسخ كتابه وانتشاره لم يتمكن من تغييره

We learn from it that he (Dimyati دمياتی) had resolved to retract everywhere he had preferred the biographers over authentic Ahadeeth احاديث. He had done that before he had gained competency in the science and he could not correct his writings because his book had already been printed.”

Ibn Hajar ابن حجار has then written:

“The substance of this discussion is that Seerah سيرة is a learning by itself and not the same as the science of Hadeeth حديث. The same care is not exercised in reporting them as was done for the six books of Saheeh Ahadeeth صحيح احاديث. We can say by way of example that the learning of fiqh فقه is based on Qur’aan قرآن and Hadeeth حديث but we cannot say that it is the same thing as Qur’aan قرآن or Hadeeth حديث or parallel to them…”

Having said that, I must emphasize that Muslims should not be discouraged and/or confused when some disinformation and/or questionable claims are made by anti-Islaam elements to attack and demonize Islaam. The rule is simple, i.e. outright reject the references and/or quotes from the English translations done by non-Muslims of Seerah سيرة books and/or work. Since it has no bearing over Islaamic creed and/or Islaam unless it is supported and/or authenticated by the Glorious Qur’aan and authentic Ahadeeth صحيح احاديث. Glorious Qur’aan, Sunnah and Ahadeeth صحيح احاديث takes precedent over any Seerah سيرة, not other way around.