Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (5/413)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

Kāf Hā Yā ʿAyn Ṣād. A reminder of your Lord’s mercy to His servant Zachariah, when he called upon his Lord with a quiet plea, saying, “My Lord, truly my bones have grown feeble and my head shines with gray; yet, my Lord, I have never been disappointed in my supplication to You. I fear my kinsmen after I am gone, while my wife is barren, so grant me, from Your own presence, an heir who will inherit from me and inherit from the House of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, well-pleasing to You.” (Maryam 1–6)—the story in its entirety.

He said: “an heir … who will inherit from me and inherit from the House of Jacob” (Maryam 6), meaning prophethood, as we have explained in the Tafsīr; all praise and grace belong to Allah. It has already been reported in the narration of Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, from Abū Bakr, that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “A prophet is not inherited from.” This generic term encompasses all prophets, and al-Tirmidhī deemed it sound. In another narration he said, “We, the company of prophets, are not inherited from.”

Second, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was singled out from the other prophets by rulings peculiar to him, as we shall dedicate a separate chapter to them at the end of the Sīrah, Allah willing. Thus, even if—hypothetically—other prophets could be inherited from (which is not the case), the report transmitted by the Companions we have named—among them the four Imāms, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī—would show that this ruling applies to him alone.

Third, acting upon this ḥadīth and judging in accordance with it is obligatory, just as the Caliphs did and as the scholars acknowledged its authenticity, whether or not it is unique to him. He said, “We are not inherited from; whatever we leave is charity.” Linguistically, his words “whatever we leave is charity” may be taken as a statement of the legal ruling that applies to him—or to all prophets with him, as mentioned, and this is the clearer sense. It may also be taken as the enactment of a bequest, as though he were saying: We are not inherited from because everything we leave we have designated as charity. In that case the specificity lies in his permission to devote all his estate to charity. The first interpretation is the more apparent, and it is the path adopted by the majority.

The second meaning is strengthened by what has come beforehand in the report of Mālik and others, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “My heirs shall not divide up a single dinar; whatever I leave after providing for my wives and the wages of my agent is charity.” This wording is recorded in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. It refutes the corruption introduced by some ignorant members of the Shīʿah who narrate the ḥadīth as “whatever we leave is charity”—with “whatever” taken as a negative particle. How, then, will they deal with the opening of the ḥadīth, “We are not inherited from,” or with this version, “Whatever I leave after my wives’ maintenance and my agent’s wages is charity”? The situation resembles what is reported of a certain Muʿtazilī who recited before a Sunnī scholar: “and Allah spoke to Moses …”

(1) In al-Fath by al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (vol. 12, p. 8), he comments: As for the phrase widely cited in the books of the uṣūl scholars and others, “nahnu maʿāsharat al-anbiyāʾ lā nurith” (“we, the assembly of the prophets, do not bequeath”), it was rejected by a group of the imams—especially the use of the pronoun “nahnu” (“we”). However, al-Nasaʾī records it in al-Kubrā (no. 6309) as “innā maʿāshara al-anbiyāʾ” (“O assembly of the prophets, truly…”). I note that Ahmad also transmits it (2/463) from Abū Hurayra on a sound chain of transmission. (2) In the printed edition: “ma taraknahu.” (3) In the printed edition: “wasiyyatuhu.” (4) This wording does not appear in the printed edition. (5) In the printed edition: “lā taqsim.”

رَبِّكَ عَبْدَهُ زَكَرِيَّا (٢) إِذْ نَادَى رَبَّهُ نِدَاءً خَفِيًّا (٣) قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي وَاشْتَعَلَ الرَّأْسُ شَيْبًا وَلَمْ أَكُنْ بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيًّا (٤) وَإِنِّي خِفْتُ الْمَوَالِيَ مِنْ وَرَائِي وَكَانَتِ امْرَأَتِي عَاقِرًا فَهَبْ لِي مِنْ لَدُنْكَ وَلِيًّا (٥) يَرِثُنِي وَيَرِثُ مِنْ آلِ يَعْقُوبَ وَاجْعَلْهُ رَبِّ رَضِيًّا﴾ [مريم: ١ - ٦] القصة بتمامها. فقال: ﴿وَلِيًّا (٥) يَرِثُنِي وَيَرِثُ مِنْ آلِ يَعْقُوبَ﴾ [مريم: ٦] ، يعني النبوة، كما قَرَّرنا ذلك في "التفسير" ولله الحمد والمنة. وقد تقدَّم في رواية أبي سلمة، عن أبي هريرة، عن أبي بكر، أنَّ رسول الله ﷺ قال: "النبيُّ لا يُورَثُ" وهذا اسمُ جنسٍ يَعُمُّ كُلَّ الأنْبياء، وقد حَسَّنَهُ الترمذي. وفي الحديث الآخر: "نَحْنُ مَعْشَرَ الأنبياءَ لا نُورَثُ" (١) . والوجه الثاني: أنَّ رسولَ الله ﷺ قد خُصَّ من بينِ الأنْبياء بأحْكامٍ لا يُشارِكونه فيها، كما سنَعْقدُ له بابًا مُفْرداً في آخر السِّيرة، إن شاء الله، فلو قُدِّرَ أنّ غيرَهُ من الأنبياء يُورَثون -وليس الأمر كذلك- لكانَ ما رواهُ منْ ذكرنا من الصحابة الذين منهم الأئمة الأربعة؛ أبو بكر، وعمر، وعثمان، وعليٌّ مُبِّيناً لِتَخْصيصه بهذا الحكم دونَ ما سواه. والثالث: أنه يجبُ العملُ بهذا الحديثِ والحكمُ بمقتضاه، كما حَكَمَ به الخُلَفاءُ، واعْتَرفَ بصحّته العلماء، سواء كان منْ خصائصه أم لا، فإنه قال: "لا نُورَثُ، ما تَرْكنا (٢) صَدَقةٌ" إذ يَحْتَملُ من حيثُ اللفظُ أن يكونَ قولُهُ (رحمهم الله) : "ما تركنا صَدَقَةٌ" أن يكونَ خَبَراً عن حُكْمِه أو حُكْمِ سائر الأنبياءِ معه، على ما تَقَدَّم وهو الظاهر، ويحتملُ أن يكون إنشاء وَصِيَّةٍ (٣) كأنه يقول: لا نورثُ لأن جميع ما تركناه جعلناه (٤) صدقةً، ويكون تخصيصُه من حيثُ جوازُ جعلِه مالَه كلَّه صدقةً، والاحتمالُ الأولُ أظهرُ. وهو الذي سلكه الجمهور. وقدْ يَقْوَى المعنى الثاني بما تقدَّم من حديث مالكٍ وغيره، عن أبي الزِّناد، عن الأعرجِ، عن أبي هريرة، أنّ رسولَ الله ﷺ قال: "لا يَقْتَسِم (٥) وَرَثَتي ديناراً، ما تَرَكْتُ بعدَ نفقهِ نِسائي ومُؤْنَةِ عاملي فهو صدقةٌ" وهذا اللفظ مخرجٌ في "الصحيحين" وهو يردّ تَحْريفَ منْ قال من الجَهَلَة من طائفةِ الشّيعةِ في روايةِ هذا الحديث ما تركنا (١) صدقة بالنصب، جعل -ما- نافية، فكيف يصنع بأول الحديث، وهو قوله: لا نُورثُ؟! وبهذه الرواية "ما تركت بعدَ نفقة نسائي ومُؤْنَة عامِلي فهو صَدَقةٌ" وما شأنُ هذا إلا كما حُكِيَ عن بعض المعتزلة أنه قَرَأَ على شيخٍ من أهل السّنَّة: وكَلَّمَ اللهُ مُوسى

(١) قال الحافظ ابن حجر في الفتح (١٢/ ٨) وأما ما اشتهر في كتب أهل الأصول وغيرهم بلفظ "نحن معاشر الأنبياء لا نورث" فقد أنكره جماعة من الأئمة، وهو كذلك بالنسبة لخصوص لفظ "نحن" لكن أخرجه النسائي في "الكبرى" رقم (٦٣٠٩) بلفظ "إنا معشر الأنبياء" أقول: وهو عند أحمد (٢/ ٤٦٣) من حديث أبي هريرة بإسناد صحيح. (٢) ط: (ما تركناه). (٣) ط: (وصيته). (٤) ليس اللفظ في ط. (٥) ط: (لا تقتسم).