format_quote Originally Posted by
YaAqsa
Your comment doesn't make sense to me brother, sorry, what do you mean?
If you were to read what I wrote, however, you wouldn't think the Prophet(sawaws) wanted to commit suicide.
Narrated Aisha, 'Sahih' Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 111:
But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet became so sad as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, “O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah’s Apostle in truth” whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home.
I'm saying that Prophet's of Allah SWT do not do this stuff, if I were to say "Aisha was suicidal" you would ban me from this forum and say that I insult the Sahabah or wives of Prophet(sawaws), but when I ask you why you say these things about the Prophet(sawawS) himself, you think I am crazy
I think you're a deviant shia.. which is worst than crazy!
This article will be divided into the two following sections: -
1) The Reliability of the Narrations that Speak About the Prophet's Suicide Attempts
2) Even if the Narrations Were True, They Don't Disprove Muhammad's Prophet hood
The Reliability of the Narrations that Speak About the Prophet's Suicide Attempts
This incident is recorded in a number of sources.
Source 1:
First one is in Ibn Sa'ad's book,
Kitab Al Tabaqaat.
Problem with Narration:
It contains the infamous Al Waqidi, who has been condemned. Interestingly a Christian has done some impressive research on this individual in one of his articles and I will therefore be copying this short piece from his article...
Abd Allah Ibn Ali al Madini and his father said: "Al-Waqidi has 20,000 Hadith I never heard of." And then he said: "His narration shouldn't be used" and considered it weak.
Yahya Ibn Muaen said: "Al-Waqidi said 20,000 false hadith about the prophet."
Al-Shafi'i said, "Al-Waqidi is a liar."
Ibn Hanbal said, "Al-Waqidi is a liar."
Al-Bukhari said he didn't write a single letter by Al-Waqidi. (
Siar Aalam al nublaa -
althagbi - biography of Al-Waqidi)
The following Muslim author writes:
As a report of history, this narration suffers from two fatally serious defects.
The first is the UNIVERSALLY RECOGNISED UNTRUSTWORTHINESS OF AL-WAQIDI. Details of his unreliability as a narrator would probably fill several pages, but all of it may be suitably condensed into a statement by Imam ash-Shafi'ee, who was his contemporary, and who knew him personally. Ash-Shafi'ee has the following to say: "In Madeenah there were seven people who used to forge chains of narration. One of them was al-Waqidi."
3 (Sources:
http://www.allaahuakbar.net/shiites/vicious_unscrupulous_propaganda_of_shiia-2.htm" and
http://www.ansar.org/english/hasan.htm; bold emphasis ours)
Others say:
Al-Waqidi (130/747-207/822-23), who wrote over twenty works of an historical nature, but only the Kitab al-Maghazi has survived as an independent work. His reputation is marred by the fact that he relied upon story tellers; viz., those who embellished the stories of others. Al-Waqidi did such embellish, such as by adding dates and other details onto the account of Ibn Ishaq (at pages 25-29) (
http://jeromekahn123.tripod.com/enlightenment/id3.html)
Even the English translator of Ibn Sa'd's work had this to say about al-Waqidi:
... The chain of the narrators is not reliable because the person who narrated to Ibn Sa'd was Waqidi WHO IS NOTORIOUS AS A NARRATOR OF FABRICATED
hadithes. The next one Ya'qub is unknown and 'Abd Allah Ibn 'Abd al-Rahman is not a Companion. Consequently this narration is not trustworthy. (Ibn Sa'd's
Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir, Volume I, English translation by S. Moinul Haq, M.A., PH.D assisted by H.K. Ghazanfar M.A. [Kitab Bhavan Exporters & Importers, 1784 Kalan Mahal, Daryaganj, New Delhi, 110 002 India], p. 152, fn. 2; capital emphasis ours)
And the list goes on of those who called him a liar.
Al-Waqidi was also one of those that narrated the story of the Satanic Verses. The most amazing part of this is that the authors' friend, MENJ has a response
on the same web site where this rebuttal appears from G.F. Haddad seeking to deny the historicity of the Satanic Verses where he calls into question al-Waqidi's reliability! Here is what Haddad says about al-Waqidi:
[(*) Muhammad ibn `Umar al-Waqidi (d. 207), Ahmad ibn Hanbal said of him: "He is A LIAR." Al-Bukhari and Abu Hatim al-Razi said: "DISCARDED." Ibn `Adi said: "His narrations ARE NOT RETAINED, AND THEIR BANE COMES FROM HIM." Ibn al-Madini said: "HE FORGES HADITHS." Al-Dhahabi said: "CONSENSUS HAS SETTLED OVER HIS DEBILITY."
Mizan al-I`tidal (3:662-666 #7993).] (Source:
http://bismikaallahuma.org/Polemics/haddad.htm; capital emphasis ours)
So as we can see, this narration is unreliable.
Second Narration:
From Al Tabari's book,
Al Tarikh.
Problem with Narration
Contains two weak narrators.
First one is Ibn Fadl Al Abrash and Ibn Hajar Al Asqalani said regarding him "Trustworthy, but makes many mistakes".
Second one is Ibn Humayd Al Raazi and the majority of scholars have declared him a liar.
Anther problem with the narration is that it states that when Gabriel told the Prophet (peace be upon him) to read, the Prophet (peace be upon him) replied back "What should I read?". However, the several other sound narrations state that the Prophet (peace be upon him) replied back "I don't know how to read"
So there is a problem with the chain and content of this narration, therefore rendering it unreliable.
Third Narration:
Saheeh Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Hadith Number 111
Problem with Narration:
This narration is doubtful for a number of reasons.
First, there are several other sound narrations that speak about the revelation being sent to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and none of them speak about his suicide attempts.
Secondly, notice what the narration says...
Saheeh Bukhari
Volume 009, Book 087, Hadith Number 111.
Waraqa said, "This is the same Namus (i.e., Gabriel, the Angel who keeps the secrets) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they turn me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said: "Never did a man come with something similar to what you have brought but was treated with hostility. If I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet (peace be upon him) became so sad
as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, "O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah's Apostle in truth" whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the inspiration used to become long, he would do as before, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before. (Ibn 'Abbas said regarding the meaning of: 'He it is that Cleaves the daybreak (from the darkness)' (6.96) that Al-Asbah. means the light of the sun during the day and the light of the moon at night).
Notice that Aisha said that she only "heard" how the Prophet (peace be upon him) intended to commit suicide. We don't know who she heard this from and therefore cannot judge whether it came from a trust worthy source or not.
Thirdly, notice how the story doesn't make much sense...
Waraqa said, "This is the same Namus (i.e., Gabriel, the Angel who keeps the secrets) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they turn me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said: "Never did a man come with something similar to what you have brought but was treated with hostility. If I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet (peace be upon him) became so sad as we have heard that
he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, "O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah's Apostle in truth" whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the inspiration used to become long, he would do as before, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before. (Ibn 'Abbas said regarding the meaning of: 'He it is that Cleaves the daybreak (from the darkness)' (6.96) that Al-Asbah. means the light of the sun during the day and the light of the moon at night).
The narration is saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would attempt to commit suicide several times and each time before he was about to do it Gabriel would come and reassure him of his Prophet hood. This does not make sense. For if the Prophet (peace be upon him) wanted to ensure that he was truly a Messenger of God, then only one vision from Gabriel would have been enough proof.
Fourth, in an authentic hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked when he felt depressed the most...
Saheeh Bukhari
Volume 4, Book 54, Number 454:
Narrated 'Aisha:
That she asked the Prophet (peace be upon him), 'Have you encountered a day harder than the day of the battle) of Uhud?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, "Your tribes have troubled me a lot,
and the worse trouble was the trouble on the day of 'Aqaba when I presented myself to Ibn 'Abd-Yalail bin 'Abd-Kulal and he did not respond to my demand. So I departed, overwhelmed with excessive sorrow, and proceeded on, and could not relax till I found myself at Qarnath-Tha-alib where I lifted my head towards the sky to see a cloud shading me unexpectedly. I looked up and saw Gabriel in it. He called me saying, 'Allah has heard your people's saying to you, and what they have replied back to you, Allah has sent the Angel of the Mountains to you so that you may order him to do whatever you wish to these people.' The Angel of the Mountains called and greeted me, and then said, "O Muhammad! Order what you wish. If you like, I will let Al-Akh-Shabain (i.e. two mountains) fall on them." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "No but I hope that Allah will let them beget children who will worship Allah Alone, and will worship None besides Him."
Here we see that the Prophet (peace be upon him) stated that the worst trouble or depression that he went through was during the time he went to the city of Taif and was rejected the people. Yet, nowhere do we see that he tried to commit suicide after this incident. Therefore, for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to have attempted to commit suicide in the previous incident would have to mean that he was more depressed. However, we see that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that he was most depressed at this incident. This causes us to doubt the Bukhari narration even more.
:w: