Yasir Qadhi – Regarding the Suicide Narration in the Srah Ask Shaykh YQ EP 254
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Yo Brother Mohammed como rule from a land that I'm not going to mention a country I'm not going to mention, let's just say somewhere in Asia, he says that there is a major controversy brewing in his land. And I read this in 12 different emails or more about a particular scholar who said something on television that cause some type of issue. And they're emailing or a number of people are emailing me, including Brother Mohammed, Commodore, asking the validity of what is being said. And what was said, is something to do with the Sierra, which is why I have gotten so many emails. So apparently, in some land far away, a preacher or a shareholder, a teacher, I don't know the person at all,
neither was his name mentioned in any of the emails. Now, he said on national television, that this is what he said that there are reports that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was allegedly allegedly contemplating suicide. And he said this in a broader context, basically saying that, you know, if somebody is thinking in this regard, then in and of itself is not a major, you know, it's not a problem to think. But you have to fight the thought that was, I think, the context of what is being said here. Now, this claim, it caused a huge uproar. And this individual was accused. He was accused of disrespecting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was accused of disrespecting
the Prophet salallahu it he was setting them and a lot of scholars. They they they complained, and apparently he had to retract and whatnot, I am getting a lot of emails saying that this scholar has quoted texts. And so is this true is it found in the Sierra or not 107, mi COVID ek, in Regina, and no, he, he him first IRLO lickity.
Cool.
So I want to begin by stating, I have zero desire to wait into another controversy, I have enough of my own controversies. To be honest, I have no desire to take sides, in your land and between various scholars. And to be honest, I don't know any of these by name. And I don't need to know. So my response is generic, it's an academic response. I don't know the person who said or the wordings he used. And so whatever I say it is speaking about the topic, and not speaking about the incident that is occurring in your land. Again, I do not know any of the individuals never met any of them don't even know the names of any of them. So please don't read in to any particular person. I will speak
as a neutral academic about the concept. Is this a report that is found in our tradition or not? So the question, therefore, is that this preacher has claimed or people are claiming that the in the prophetic zero, there seems to be reports of a contemplation of suicide in the early in the early message. So this is a very sensitive question. And understandably, you know, people get very, very emotional about this. So we have to firstly take a step back and just listen with an open mind and see what is going on. So I'm going to answer this in multiple parts. Firstly, is there such a narration found in the books? And is it authentic? Is there such a narration and is it authentic?
Secondly, that whether there is or not or what should be done, when there are narrations that people are going to find problematic, what shouldn't be done, when there are difficult narrations not just this one any overall? And then thirdly, what are the red lines like where do we what do what is the limit to what we can and cannot say? So as for the first, is there or are there such reports and narrations? The fact of the matter is that there are such narrations found in a number of works, the what this preacher said he's not pulling out of thin air, it is something that is found. Now whether it's authentic or not, let us see. So the first of these is actually a report in Sahil Bahati. It is
inside Behati Hadith number 6581 In the chapter of dream interpretation, so in the chapter of dream interpretation, the book excuse me of dream interpretation, that would be the first Hadith in that book. So Imam Al Bukhari has 97 books in his life. Each one is book one, Book Two, book three. So these are the equivalent of chapters, and somewhere towards the end, there's the chapter of
Dream Interpretation you can find this online you can look it up yourself in this chapter of dream interpretations. The first tradition in this chapter or in this book you can say I'm calling a chapter but he mumble Holly calls it a book is the same thing is a very long narration. And in this narration, he the the mangled body goes through a chain that goes through a militia, Missouri, who says Otowa narrated to me from Artesia Rhodiola one half, and then it's an entire page of an incident of when the Wahid began, that when Djibouti came and squeezed him and then he returned to his house me Loony, then the report goes on with Fatah Hillforts rotten, that the wahi or the
revelation stopped for a while, until the Prophet salallahu it he was setting them began to feel worried. And then Azadi says FEMA Bella Asana, what we have heard, this is a zody who is Azuri a zuvor. He is one of the students of the students of the Sahaba and it is true he met one or two of the Sahaba but overall his generation his narrations, generally speaking, they go to somebody who goes to a Sahabi generally speaking, Ibni, Shahab, Azadi. Sometimes he narrates for one of the Sahaba like Anna's, but usually he narrates from one of the senior Tabby rune who never is from the Sahaba so administer hobbyzone Who died 127 hijra, right so he's dying, he's passing away 110 years
after the Prophet Sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam that's like two generations or so Ibni Shabbos od says, Bella Ivana, I have heard that this some female by Donna, what I have heard is that the the grief of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam became very, very severe. And he would then go to the tops of the mountains, he would then go to the tops of the mountains, every time he would think about jumping off that Djibouti would come to him and say, Yo Mohammed in Naka, Rasulullah, he has done all Hamas, awesome. You are the Prophet of Allah in truth. And so that fear that he had and that trepidation would go away, and he would come back to Khadija his house, then when the war he
did not come for another period of time, the same thing would happen, and he would go to the top of the mountain, then God would come and Jimmy would say to him, don't jump down. Now. This hadith is in Sahale body insofar as it goes to English or hobbyzone and even shabbas ot says their own what my teacher narrates from Asia, he shows it was Aunt, so Indonesia episode he has a whole narration, then the narration stops from Asia. Then Azadi says, people have told me and then he goes on this is very important over here. So this edition is not from our mother, I should have the Allahu Anna who was an eyewitness to the Prophet salallahu it he was sent him it goes back to ebony she had a Zuri
and this is why the great scholars including at Hatfield have been a hedgerow the commentary memorable Holly and Hatfield Abu Shama democracy, they said hi them in Kalamazoo hurry, not our issue. This is from the statements of Missouri and not Asia. And it is well known to the scholars of Hadith, that when English Shabbat Zohar, he says something about the time of the Prophet system, there's two generations between him and the prophets of Allah, why they he was setting them. And so it is considered that whenever she BNI chapters what he says the prophets of salaam said, we take this with very little authenticity, ie, we don't know who told him where did you hear it from? And
therefore we say that this phrase, the majority of scholars, the vast majority of scholars have said it is not back to our mother Artesia, it is coming to ebony, she has a zakhary and you can read more details about why the Scholars of Hadith say this, when you read the commentary of it half even hedger, also the great scholar of Hadith of the last generation Shankara Albani, that he has an entire treaties about certain problematic Hadith, and this is one of them, and he says that this narration, it is not authentic, it is not authentic to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now there are other narrations of this regard as well. of them is one reported in the bubble auto inside
the bubble or the inside inside, died in the year 230 Hegira. And he has a very early book called Double caught. And in this he has with a very long chain. And once again, it has, you know two people in it that are not considered to be reliable. It goes back to even Airbus this time and it has the similar phrase in it over there as well. And there is a third report in the tadi of October. So there are a number of reports three to be pretty
syce In this regard, and all of them have severe defects, not minor, not trivial severe defects. And therefore, it is correct to point out therefore, that the majority of scholars did not view this phrase or this incident to be authentically narrated, and they did not accept it. However, a very small group of scholars did say that this is true of them is Abu Bakar, or this smiley, the great scholar of Hadith who died in the year 370 hedgerow. So he's one of the early commentators of Hadith and he has Mustafa Giada, and other books of Hadith, he has them. And so look at the smiley. He considered this to be authentic. And he said that, at this earliest, I'm paraphrasing at this early
stage at this early stage, when the Prophet system is still not fully aware of you know, all of the realities of being a prophet. He had a natural fear, a natural human fear because he is a human being and just like Allah describes the Prophet Musa alayhis salam that when Musa saw the miracles of Allah for Oh, Josephine FC he fatten that he became scared corner lotta cough we said don't be scared. So Allah says in the Quran, Musa became scared that found my twin Musa became scared what he has what he is seeing of the miracles, not the miracles excuse me, of the magic of the of the magicians, and Allah says, don't be scared now. Should the prophet be scared? Should the prophet be
scared of
the magician's? Well, what type of fear was this? It wasn't a fear of a higher power. It wasn't a fear of shit. It was a natural fear of fear of what if the people don't believe me? What if they reject Allah because of my own, you know, not the incapacity to respond to the magician's, a frown. So a natural fear. Prophets are humans, they get hungry, they need to eat and drink they need to sleep. They're human beings. We discussed this in my Wednesday series about the lives of the prophets, you can listen to that over there. So according to obika dismay at that, too, to have certain doubts and to feel trepidation and to feel anxiety to this level, he said that it does not
negate the perfection of Prophethood at this early stage, it is a human fear. Now, that is a minority opinion, as I said, the majority especially of later scholars, they simply dismiss this and they say that this is not from the wordings of any Sahaba this is something that even if you have a zodia saying it has reached me, and even between ignition hub, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is over 100 years, even if it is inside Bahati. Still, it goes back to Missouri and not to the early generation. So this is the majority opinion that this incident is not authentic. And the minority opinion as you know, exists. Now, this leads me to my second question. So we talked about
the positions and whatnot, where it comes from. Now we get to the second issue, what is to be done with regards to such reports, because in the end of the day, this particular individual whoever it is, he did not pull it out of thin air. And on the contrary, he probably assumed that this is coming from our mother or any report inside body because when you read the report, you might easily understand this, because there's a phrase there FEMA, Bella ohana, that even Jabba zodia saying that what people have told me and if you're not paying attention, then you might easily assume that this is our mother, our issue will be Allah Juan Ha, saying as an eyewitness, meaning by an eyewitness, I
mean, to the Prophet system speech to her because obviously, Asia or the Allahu Anhu in Medina, was in Makkah, she would not have known of this as an eyewitness, this is before she was born. This is before she was born in terms of this incident taking place. But as a wife of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, she is hearing the stories directly from him. So the point being, that perhaps this speaker or preacher did not, you know, know this reality, so Well, perhaps he wasn't that knowledgeable about the sciences of Hadith and the commentaries, and so, he made an assumption that this is in body and he narrated it as if it is in body and even if by the way, he said well, it is
from us, Zoe and Buhari and that will be accurate, accurate, and he said it is reported in the pubblicato admin site and that is accurate and it is reported in such and such a book and he says it accurately, what should be done about such reports. And see this is the the difficulty that all of us, including myself are facing, we are quite literally in a bit of a Pandora's box. And it is a complex conundrum that
There is no simplistic solution, because in our times, can you really just ignore and hide something that is found in our tradition? Now, technically, ideally, in a utopia, difficult subjects are taught to advance students in the seminaries, no problem. And, and this is in any field. I mean, again, you don't start teaching quantum physics to high school students, they would literally not understand and make fun of what is being said and what not if you were to tell a middle school student that you know, time and space is relative, he would literally laugh at you, what are you talking about you of course, time is not relative, you know, they cannot even comprehend and they
might reject something more basic because they can't understand something more advanced. This is the reality of how all sciences are taught. You start with the basics, you develop your foundations, you become well aware of the mainstream realities, then you get to the more difficult and you build from previous and especially when it is about one's faith and once Eman when it is about the Quran and Sunnah, when it is about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, it is so important that we build and we solidify, and then in the right time with the right audience, we move on to the topics that might be more difficult to those who are not trained. That is ideal. That is a beautiful utopia.
Okay, let us now fast forward to the current year, and the current time and the current place. The internet has flattened the curve, there is no gradual learning anymore. You cannot hide information. By hiding, I mean, not like hide permanently I mean, teach to the right people, you cannot choose the right students, and then develop with them bit by bit. It's just not possible in the global scale of things. Because the curve of knowledge has flattened completely, you can log on to YouTube right now. And listen to the most advanced lectures cutting edge in physics, chemistry, astronomy, and also listen to the most basic and nobody can force upon you that hey, before you jump to the
advanced physics, go do your basic physics, understand Newtonian before you move on to Einstein, you know, you nobody will force it upon you, you and the problem is compounded when you deal with Islam and the sciences of Islam. So what should we do? Should we tell preachers to not preach something that is sensitive, something that is controversial, something that is problematic or potentially problematic? And by the way, you know, again, if you're aware of my own issues and whatnot, how many youngsters especially have refuted me because I say things that they have never heard because it's beyond their comprehension. And they find issues even even to say something is problematic. You
know, one of these kids made an entire video I'm calling the traditions problematic. Yeah, he's some issues are problematic, how you understand them, not how they exist. This issue is an example. This issue is is whether you like it or not, there are narrations in Sahadi. In the book, all the women said that, you know, the persona of the process of contemplated suicide, is this not problematic to just point out like this, of course it is. When I say this or somebody says this or Oh, the biller we're not rejecting the Koran or so now, we are saying there are things in the Quran and Sunnah that indeed, are very potentially problematic for those who are not trained for those who don't
understand this is in the Sunnah it says, I Bahati, what are you going to do about it? So you have one group of people? And perhaps it seems that the other camp that refuted him, they felt this way that they're like, be quiet, just don't talk about this, you know, why are you preaching this? You know, don't even say anything, and they want to cover it up. And they say, don't speak about these things to anybody. And you know, I understand where they are coming from, and you know, it is it no doubt when you when you bring up these things, it will cause an element of confusion. But on the flip side, even if this group of scholars was able to silence this one person on television, can
they silence the entire globe? Can they eliminate this text from her body? Can they cut out the paragraph in the Takata massage such that nobody in the world will ever find it? What are you going to do when these incidents are displayed front and center from people who don't believe in Allah and His messenger? And they're trying to make a mockery and they're bringing incorrect ideas? What are you going to do? What are you going to do from people whose knee yet are evil? I have no doubt insha Allah Tala. I don't know the person but I have no doubt the scholar who said it is a good man over all he's a worshipper of Allah. He loves the prophecies and he came across this narration and he
said it and I'm sure in an appropriate setting or in an appropriate way of respect and whatnot. Now what are you going to
do if somebody does not believe in Allah, His Messenger does not respect the persona of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And he uses and cuts and paste this, and that and this. And he constructs an image straight from our books, not fabrications. And he constructs an image, a caricature that nobody will understand a nobody will will, you know, recognize growing up as a Muslim, and yet every fact is going to be referenced Oh, this is in body and this is in here, this isn't there. And this young man or woman has never heard of any of these things. And perhaps the shock of what he has been exposed to, is going to be so severe, it might cause a crisis of faith. So
what is the solution? I have to tell you honestly, I am still grappling with the problem. I don't have a solution. I myself have been embroiled in so many refutation videos and controversies because of the same issue. And that is, should we say something or should we not? And overall, the position that I have, you know, formed over the last 15 years, is that this is my opinion, Allah knows best is that there is no point in hiding in covering up in silencing or censoring, what is found in our own tradition. And if something might potentially be difficult or problematic, well, then it is up to the scholar it is up to the guy or the preacher to be as wise as possible, knowing that you can't
fully get rid of the controversy. I mean, understandably, you know, when this narration comes up, and it isn't so high Bahati. I mean, again, it's not coming out of nowhere, it is the most authentic book, and it is easy to misunderstand that this is an authentic hadith. And in reality, it is from Emily Shahab, Rizzoli. And there are missing chains. The average person doesn't know this, but they come across it, and the guy references body, if he looks it up, he will find it in body. And then nobody has told him, nobody has explained to him. Nobody has given a 25 minute lecture like I'm doing right now explaining where this is coming from, and what other scholars have said, and how do
we understand it, and the fact that it is weak. So what is to be done, what I did in my entire Sierra, and what I continue to do in my q&a and my lectures is that I do preach what is found in our tradition, and I do, I never censor in In fact, when I talked to zero, you know, almost a decade ago, more than a decade ago, I put a condition on myself, and I said this in this era, as well, multiple times. And I said, I will never censor anything that some people might find awkward or problematic if it happened, that we have to talk about it and defend it. And if it didn't happen, well, then we have to clarify that it's not authentic, and it is still found in our traditions, just
because it's found in our books, doesn't make it authentic, doesn't mean it actually happened, it could be a mistake, it could be human error, something like this can happen. So, this is the philosophy that I follow that we will bring up these awkward aspects, but in the right context, and we will explain different points of view. And we will point out what is and isn't possible to believe and what is the red line? Yes, it requires a level of maturity on behalf of the listener and the level of patience on behalf of the speaker. But if you ask me, in the long run, this is the wisest course of action and inshallah with a little bit of Inshallah, and you're not bragging or
boasting Shala with humility in sha Allah, if you look at my own teachings and preachings for the last 15 years and what I have done, this has been my philosophy as well. And especially with the Sierra, I did mention this in the early on, and I said it is not an authentic narration and we moved on from there, I did not go into level of detail on going out. But I did not hide away from this. And it was mentioned in passing that it is not an authentic narration. Now, the point being here, therefore, that I sympathize with both sides of the equation here. On the one side, the preacher said what he thought was authentic in the books. On the other side, the other scholars were like,
Why are you saying this? Don't say this, but I have to point out without knowing the details.
It is a mistake to bring in the issue of disrespecting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in all of this, because it's not this person's fault that it is mentioned. It's Ahadi. He didn't invent it. He didn't lie. And there have been small groups of olema agreed they are the minority. But there have been some odema who have affirmed this. We have to be really careful. We don't throw out the disrespect card, because a lot of times it's not disrespect of the prophets. I said them it is your interpretation of what is disrespect. This has happened to many people, including myself. I remember one time in one of my lectures a q&a As I mentioned, you know the
issue of the age of isodiol Ah, whiner and it is my belief and it is the vast majority opinion that, you know her age was, you know nine years old that that's what is mentioned in Buhari and it is herself and everything fits. Now that's the opinion everybody holds of the classical tradition. But a certain individual got very angry. And he accused me of disrespecting the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. So much so that almost Cofer was being used against me for simply saying, a fact. It's not my fault that you are considering this to be disrespect that the Prophet system was this years old and I should that's your fault that you think it is disrespect. No scholar who said this is
intending to disrespect or find a disrespect. You're the one who has interpreted it to mean disrespect. So we have to be really careful brothers and sisters, what does it mean to disrespect? If you find a narration that you think is authentic? And you interpret it in the appropriate manner, like the Imam that half of Obama did is married he and others he's not the only one, by the way, a number of early scholars as well. In fact Ibni Shabbos already? I mean, are we forgetting Ibni Shahab is one of the greatest aroma of his timeframe everybody admires and loves him. Even if we say that it's a broken chain, okay. Did not diminish you have himself believe this? Didn't he himself
narrated? Are we going to accuse a zody of disrespecting the Prophet system? Think about what you're saying here. There is no disrespect intended, you can say that believing in this portrays there is SMA or the infallibility in a manner that we don't agree with. Yes, a valid point here. But don't accuse the person of disrespect because disrespecting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is Gopher, if you intend to disrespect him, this is Cofer. You cannot disrespect the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam as a Muslim, so be careful about this issue of in order to Stoklosa issue. We have a fanaticism in our countries that needs to be called against and this needs to be toned down, people
die mobs are formed, people are burned to death strip to death literally cut into pieces because of a mob mentality. And we need to speak out against this will start a lawsuit or being disrespectful, respectful of the promises that has certain conditions and certain contexts. If a scholar preaches what is found in our own tradition and textbooks, even if you disagree, don't bring the disrespect card say the is neither is authentic, say it's a minority opinion, say this scholar has misunderstood and the correct opinion is this way, but don't accuse a share in an argument and a half of and somebody whose entire life is dedicated to defend the promises that don't accuse him of
disrespecting, because that shows you don't understand the reality of knowledge and the various opinions that can be held. So, to conclude this first question of ours for today, to conclude what this particular person has said, he cannot be faulted for saying that it exists the narration is there. And he cannot be faulted for quoting it. You can say if you want to that it wasn't wise to say on national television that's a valid opinion to hold, but you cannot accuse him of lying or fabricating of disrespecting and the issue then comes how should this information be taught? Which is a whole different question, then the issue of respect and disrespect How should this information
be conveyed? It does not prefer to narrate what is in body it is not good for to to even hold this view it's not disrespecting the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam however, we can say and we should say that this issue of the contemplation and walking on the mountains and whatnot, it is not authentically narrated and therefore if you ask me or you ask another person, we will tell you the vast majority of scholars they have considered these to be weak narrations and so we do not rely upon them and do not base anything upon them. Well Allahu Taala Allah Allah subhanho wa Taala knows best
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