Zād al-Maʿād - Ibn al-Qayyim - (2/360)

Zād al-MaʿādIbn al-Qayyim

‘So I hurried ahead of the others and found Bilāl at the door. I asked, “Where did the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—pray?” He replied, “Between the two front pillars.”’ He added: ‘I forgot to ask him how many units of prayer he prayed.’”

In Sahīh al-Bukhārī (1), Ibn ‘Abbās reports that when the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—arrived in Mecca, he refused to enter the Kaaba while the idols remained inside. He ordered their removal, and they were taken out. Among the images they removed was one depicting Abraham and Ishmael holding divining arrows. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “May Allah destroy them! By Allah, they certainly knew that neither of them had ever used those arrows for divination.” Ibn ‘Abbās continued: “He then entered the Kaaba and proclaimed Allah’s greatness in its various parts, but did not pray inside it.”

It has therefore been suggested that he entered twice, praying on one occasion but not on the other.

This is the approach of those deficient in critical judgment: whenever they encounter a difference in wording, they turn it into a separate event. Thus, differences in wording led them to claim that the Night Journey occurred repeatedly, that he purchased Jābir’s camel from him repeatedly, and that he performed the farewell circumambulation twice because its accounts differ in their narrative sequence. There are many similar examples.

Expert hadith critics, however, reject this approach. They do not shrink from declaring that someone who is not immune to error has made a mistake, or from attributing an oversight to him. Al-Bukhārī and other leading scholars said: “Bilāl’s account is the one to accept, because he affirmed that the Prophet prayed, having witnessed his prayer, unlike Ibn ‘Abbās.” The point is that his entry (2) took place only during the campaign for the conquest of Mecca, not during his Hajj or any of his ‘umrahs. In Sahīh al-Bukhārī (3), Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Khālid reports: “I said to ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī

(1) No. (1601). (2) After this word, the printed edition adds “al-bayt (the House),” which is absent from the manuscripts. (3) No. (1791); also reported by Muslim (1332).

فبادرتُ النَّاس، فوجدتُ بلالًا على الباب، فقلت: أين صلَّى رسول الله ﷺ؟ قال: بين العمودين المقدَّمين. قال: ونسيت أن أسأله كم صلَّى. وفي «صحيح البخاريِّ» (١) عن ابن عبَّاسٍ: أنَّ رسول الله ﷺ لمَّا قدم مكَّة أبى أن يدخل البيت وفيه الآلهة، قال: فأمر بها فأُخرِجتْ، فأخرجوا صورة إبراهيم وإسماعيل في أيديهما الأزلام، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: «قاتلهم اللَّه! أما والله لقد علموا أنَّهما لم يَستقسِما بها قطُّ». قال: فدخل البيتَ فكبَّر في نواحيه، ولم يصلِّ فيه. فقيل: كان ذلك دخولين، صلَّى في أحدهما، ولم يصلِّ في الآخر. وهذه طريقة ضعفاء النَّقد، كلَّما رأوا اختلافَ لفظٍ جعلوه قصَّةً أخرى، كما جعلوا الإسراء مرارًا لاختلاف ألفاظه، وجعلوا اشتراءه من جابر بعيرَه مرارًا لاختلاف ألفاظه، وجعلوا طواف الوداع مرَّتين لاختلاف سياقه، ونظائر ذلك. وأمَّا الجهابذة النُّقَّاد فيرغبون عن هذه الطَّريقة، ولا يَجْبُنون عن تغليط من ليس معصومًا من الغلط، ونسبته إلى الوهم. قال البخاريُّ وغيره من الأئمَّة: والقول قول بلال؛ لأنَّه مثبِتٌ شاهدَ صلاته، بخلاف ابن عبَّاسٍ. والمقصود أنَّ دخوله (٢) إنَّما كان في غزاة الفتح، لا في حجِّه ولا عُمَره. وفي «صحيح البخاريِّ» (٣) عن إسماعيل بن أبي خالدٍ قال: قلت لعبد الله بن أبي

(١) برقم (١٦٠١). (٢) بعدها في المطبوع: «البيت»، وليست في النسخ. (٣) برقم (١٧٩١)، ورواه أيضًا مسلم (١٣٣٢).