The Wit and Wisdom of Abu Hurayra
klei...@astound.net
Malik ibn Anas which Malik repeats from Abu al-Zinad from al-A'raj from
Abu Hurayra. There are a total of 182 hadiths in the Muwatta that go
back to Abu Hurayra and other hadiths that were repeated by Abu
al-Zinad and al-A'raj, but this huge block with exactly the same isnad
is unique. `Abdullah ibn Dhakwan Abu al-Zinad is said (by Ibn Sa'd) to
have died in 130 AH. `Abdurrahman ibn Hurmuz alA`raj is said (by Ibn
Sa'd) to have died in 117 AH. Abu Hurayra is said to have died in 57
AH, so there may be a missing link between Abu Hurayra and al-A`raj.
The seven other hadiths from al-A`raj that Malik got through other
narrators than Abu alZinad are very similar to these.
But regardless of the source of this little collection and its
authenticity it forms a relatively homogeneous whole of some interest.
The order I have given them is the order in which they appear in the
Muwatta. The translation is a modified version of Aisha Bewley's
translation.
1. If the temperature is sweltering, wait until it gets cooler before
you pray. Scorching heat is a blast form Hell.
2 When you purify yourself, sniff the water into your nose and then
blow it out again. If you use stones to clean your private parts use an
odd number.
3. When you wake up in the morning, wash your hands before you them in
the purifying water. None of you know where thier hands were during the
night.
4. If a dog drinks out of one of your dishes, wash it seven times
before you use it again.
5. I did not order my community to use a tooth-stick because that would
have been one order too many.
6. When the call to prayer is sounded, Satan farts and goes away to
where he cannot not hear the call. When the call is completed he comes
back until the ritual prayer is announced, then he retreats again. When
the announcement is completed, he comes back again. Then he comes
between a man and that man's soul and he says, "Think of such and such,
think of such and such" naming something he was not thinking about
before, until the man becomes confused about how far he has gotten in
the ritual.
7. If one of you says "Ameen" and the angels in the heavens also say
"Ameen" at the same instant, all of his sins are instantly forgiven.
8. Even saying "Listen" to your neighbor during the sermon on Friday is
considered idle chatter.
9. There is a moment of Friday when Allah will give a praying Muslim
whatever he asks for. And Muhammad indicated with his fingers how brief
that moment is.
10. I seriously considered ordering someone to collect firewood,
ordering prayer be called, appointing a man to lead the prayer and then
coming up behind certain men and burning their houses down on top of
them them! If you told one of them they would find as much as a bone
with meat on it, they would attend the evening prayer.
11. If you lead people in prayer, make it short, because some people
are weak, ill or old. But if you pray on your own, pray as long as you
want.
12. The angels ask for blessings on you as long as you are in the place
where you prayed and you have not become impure. They say, "Allah,
forgive him. Allah, have mercy on him."
13. You are praying as long as the prayer detains you and there is
nothing that prevents you from returning to your family except that
prayer.
14. Do you see the direction I am facing now? Neither your modesty nor
your bowing is hidden from me. I can see you when you are behind my
back.
15. There are some angels with you in the night and other angels in the
day and they meet together during the sawn and sunset prayers. Then the
ones who were with you during the night ascend and Allah asks them -
although he knows better than they do - "How were my slaves when you
left them?" They say, "When we left them they were praying and when we
joined them, they were praying."
16. Satan ties three knots at the back of your head when you sleep, and
he seals each knot with the words "You have a long night ahead, so
sleep." If you awake and remember Allah, a knot is untied. If purify
yourself, a knot is untied. If you pray, a knot is untied. Then morning
finds you lively and in good spirits, and if not, morning finds you in
bad spirits and lazy."
17. Every prophet is granted a wish, and I am preserving my wish to use
as intercession for my community in the next world.
18. When you are praying do not say, "Allah, forgive me if you wish.
Allah, forgive me if you wish." You should be firm in your asking.
There is no possibility of your intimidating him.
19. The earth consumes all of a buried man except his coccyx. He was
created from it and he will be reconstituted from it.
20. Allah says, "If my slave is eager to meet me, I am eager to meet
him, and if he is reluctant to meet me, I am reluctant to meet him."
21. Once there was a man shoe told his family that he had never in his
life done a single good action, so when he died they were to burn his
body and then scatter half of the ashes on land and half of them at
sea. He was afraid that Allah would punish him more severely than
anyone else with in all the world has ever been punished. The man died
and his family did as he had asked. But Allah commanded the land to
collect everything that was scattered over it, and he commanded the sea
to collect everything that was thrown into it. When the man was whole
again he said to him, "Why did you do that?" and the man replied, "For
fear of you, Lord. And you know best." And Abu Hurayra added, "So he
forgave him."
22. Judgement Day will not come until a time when one man passes by the
grave of another and says, "If only I were in his place."
23. Every child is born in the natural condition of a han being. It is
his parents who make him into a Jew or a Christian. It is just like it
is with camels. They are born whole. Do you see any defects?" They
asked, "Messenger of Allah, what happens to babies who die?" He
replied, "Allah knows best what they deserve."
24. Beware of constant fasting. Beware of constant fasting." They said,
"But you fast constantly, Messenger of Allah." He replied, "I am not in
the same situation as you are. My Lord feeds me and gives me things to
drink.
25. Fasting is a protection for you. So when you are fasting, do not
behave obscenely or foolishly. If anyone argues with you or abuses you
say, "I am fasting, I am fasting."
26. The breath of a man who is fasting smells better to Allah than
musk. Allah says, "He gives up his desires and his food and drink for
my sake. Fasting is for me and I will reward it. Every good action is
rewarded by ten times as much, up to seven hundred times, except
fasting, which is for me, and I reward it."
27. He saw a man driving a camel which he was going to sacrifice. He
told him to ride it. The man said, "Messenger of Allah, it is an animal
that I am going to sacrifice," and he repeated, "Ride it, confound
you!," several times.
28. Someone who does goes to war for Allah is like someone who fasts
and prays constantly and does not slacken from his prayer and fasting
until he returns.
29. Allah guarantees either paradise or a safe return home with his
reward or booty to anyone who goes to war for his sake, provided it is
solely belief and trust in his promise that led him to leave his home.
30. I would like to fight for Allah and be killed, then brought to life
again so I could be killed, and then brought to life again so I could
be killed."
31. Allah laughs at two men. One of them kills the other, but both of
them will enter paradise. One fights for Allah and is killed. Then
Allah wins over the killer. Then he too fights for Allah and he too is
killed.
32. If any of you is wounded in a fight for Allah (and Allah knows who
is wounded for his sake), then on Judgement Day blood will gush from
his wound. It will be the color of blood, but its odor will be the odor
of musk.
33. A man cannot be married at the same time to a woman and her aunt.
34. He forbade mulamasa and munabadha. [see 43]
35. It is unjust for a rich man to delay paying his debts. If one of
you has enough money to pay a debt, pay it.
36. Do not go out into the desert to trade with caravans. Do not bid
against each other to raise prices. A townsman must not buy on behalf
of a man of the desert. Do not tie up the udders of camels and sheep so
that they appear to be full of milk. If you do a person who buys them
has two options open to him after he milks them. If he is pleased with
them, he keeps them. But if he is displeased with them, he can return
them along with a basket of dates.
37. Adam and Moses argued and Adam got the better of Moses. Moses
rebuked Adam, "You are Adam who led people astray and brought them out
of the Garden." Adam asked him, "You are taht Moses to whom Allah gave
knowledge of everything and whom he chose above other people and to
whom he gave his message?" He said, "Yes".' Adam said, "How can you
criticize me for a matter which was predestined for me before I was
even created?'
38. A woman should not ask that her sister be divorced so that she can
have everything for herself and she can marry. She will get what is
decreed for her.
39. Beware of suspicion. Suspicion is the greatest lie. Do not spy and
do not eavesdrop. Do not compete with each other and do not envy each
other and do not hate each other and do not shun each other. Be slaves
of Allah, brothers.
40. On Judgement Day, Allah will not look at a person who arrogantly
trails the lower edge of his garment.
41. Do not wear one sandal. Wear two of them or go barefooted.
42. When you put on sandals, begin with the right foot. When you take
them off, begin with the left foot. The right foot is the first to be
put into its sandal and the last to be taken out.
43. He forbade two kinds of sale. Mulamasa, in which a man is obliged
to buy whatever he touches, and munabadha, in which two men throw their
garments to each other without either seeing the other's garment. He
also forbade two ways of dressing. One in which a man sits with his
legs drawn up to his chest wrapped in one robe that does not cover his
genitals, and another in which a man wraps a single robe over one arm
and shoulder restricting them.
44. The very poor are not those people who constantly walk from person
to person and are given one or two morsels and one or two dates. They
asked, "Then who are the very poor, Messenger of Allah?" He said,
"People who do not find enough for themselves and other people are not
aware of them to give sadaqa to them, and they do not start begging
from other people."
45. The Muslim eats into one intestine and the unbeliever eats into
seven!
46. The food of two is enough for three, and the food of three is
enough for four.
47. The good dream of a pious man is a forty-sixth part of prophethood.
48. The main source of disbelief will be towards the east. Boasting and
pride is common among people who have horses and camels. The
loud-mouthed people are the people of the tents. Tranquillity is with
the people who have sheep.
49. Let none of you complain about time, for Allah is time.
50. One of the most evil people is the two-faced person who shows one
face to some people and another face to other people.
51. My inheritance is not divided up by the dinar. What I leave apart
from the maintenance of my wives and provision for my servant is
sadaqa.
52. The fires people light are a seventieth part of the fire of Hell.
They said, "Messenger of Allah, this fire is certainly enough." He
said, "That fire is sixty-nine times greater."
53. It is better for you to take your rope and gather firewood on your
back than that you come to a man to whom Allah has give some of His
favor and ask him for a hand-out so that he either gives you something
or refuses.
klei...@astound.net
Abu al-Zinad but not both.
The collection I am focusing on seems to stem from al-A'raj. The
remaining material from the Muwatta which is credited to Abu Hurayra
via al-A'raj seems to be very like the 53 items transmitted by Abu
al-Zinad. Here it is numbered in the same series
54. He joined Dhuhr and 'Asr on his journey to Tabuk.
55. The worst food is the food of a wedding feast to which the rich are
invited and the poor are left out. If anyone rejects an invitation, he
has rebelled against Allah and His Messenger.
56. He forbade prayer after 'Asr until the sun had set, and prayer
after Subh until the sun had risen. [compare 61]
57. He forbade fasting on two days, the Day of Fitr and the Day of
Adha.
58. he forbade fasting on two days - the day of the 'Id al-Fitr and the
day of the 'Id al-Adha.
59. Do not ask for a woman in marriage when another Muslim has already
done so.
60. He forbade mulamasa and munabadha. [see 43]
61. Whoever manages to perform a rak'at of Subh before the sun has
risen has done Subh in time, and whoever manages to perform a rak'at of
'Asr before the sun has set has done 'Asr in time.
In the Muwatta Abu al-Zinad narrates from Abu Hurayra through only one
other narrator than al A'raj. There is a rather full hadith as follows:
Some people from al-Jar came to Marwan ibn al-Hakam and asked him about
eating what was cast up by the sea. He said, "There is no harm in
eating it." Marwan said, "Go to Zayd ibn Thabit and Abu Hurayra and ask
them about it, then come to me and tell me what they say." They went to
them and asked them, and they both said, "There is no harm in eating
it." They returned to Marwan and told him. Marwan said, "I told you."
and what looks like a summary version of the same story:
Abu Hurayra saw no harm in eating what was cast up by the sea. [Zayd
ibn Thabit said the same]
Both of these name Abu Salama ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman as the intermediate
narrator. Abu Salama (according to Ibn Sa'd) was an important person in
Madina where he was sometimes the qadi. He is said to have died in 94
but other dates are also reported. As noted al-A'raj is dated half a
generation later (died 117).
54 was transmitted by Daud ibn Husayn. Ibn sa'd says Daud died in 135
and specifically names al-A'raj as someone he reported from.
55 was transmitted by Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (died 124)
56 to 60 were transmitted by Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Habban According to
Ibn Sa'd Muhammad died in 121 and Ibn Sa'd specifically names al-A'raj
as someone he reported from.
61 was transmitted by Zayd ibn Aslam (d 143)
Malik ibn Anas the author of the Muwatta died in 179 at the age of 85.
His reported age is suspicious because it makes his date of birth 94
and 94 was the year that so many of the teachers of the second
generation died. Exactly when, and even whether, Malik created the
Muwatta is a controversial subject. I have assumed that Malik's dates
have been reported incorrectly and that the Muwatta is quoting the
circle of Abu al-Zinad, the circle of Muhammad ibn Yahya and even the
circle of al-Zuhri rather than the man themselves. But these details
should not change the basic conclusion.
The collection I have reconstructed was put togther by 'Abdurrahman ibn
Hurmuz al-A'raj. al-A'raj (according to Ibn Sa'd) left Madina and
settled in Egypt where he died a considerable time later in 117AH.
klei...@astound.net
Munabbih. It appears that what I have extracted from the Muwatta is
another example of the same thing.
These both seem to be small hadith collections made up of stories from
Abu Hurayra.
It remains to determine how alike the collections are.
klei...@astound.net
For a disucssion of the Sahifah of Hammam ibn Munabbih visit