Lesson 4: Authorship about the messenger ﷺ

Question 1

How were the companions when it came to the messenger ﷺ and what did they report about him?

Answer 1

• studied under him, learned from him
• He was their leader
• Every part of his body from what is visible the companions transmitted how he looked ﷺ

they described and transmitted him to great extents, such as:

• how he prayed
• How he was in battles
• How he conveyed the message
• His mercy to the creation and his eagerness towards guiding the prople
• How he would sit and stand
• How he walked

and so on

Question 2

Hadith of Anas Ibn Malik on the description of the messenger ﷺ and benefits from it

Answer 2

Saheeh Muslim:

<aside>

**حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى، قَالَ قَرَأْتُ عَلَى مَالِكٍ عَنْ رَبِيعَةَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَهُ يَقُولُ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَيْسَ بِالطَّوِيلِ الْبَائِنِ وَلاَ بِالْقَصِيرِ وَلَيْسَ بِالأَبْيَضِ الأَمْهَقِ وَلاَ بِالآدَمِ وَلاَ بِالْجَعْدِ الْقَطَطِ وَلاَ بِالسَّبِطِ بَعَثَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى رَأْسِ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً فَأَقَامَ بِمَكَّةَ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ وَبِالْمَدِينَةِ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ وَتَوَفَّاهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى رَأْسِ سِتِّينَ سَنَةً وَلَيْسَ فِي رَأْسِهِ وَلِحْيَتِهِ عِشْرُونَ شَعْرَةً بَيْضَاءَ ‏.‏**

</aside>

> Anas b. Malik reported that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) was neither very conspicuously tall nor short-statured, and his color was neither glaringly white nor brown; his hair was neither very curly nor very straight; Allah commissioned him (as a Prophet) when he had reached the age of forty years, and he stayed in Mecca for ten years and for ten years in Medina; Allah took him away when he had just reached the age of sixty, and there had not been twenty white hair in his head and beard.

This Hadith has several different words*

• 10 years is due to the companions rounding the numbers to the nearest 10, it was 13 years in mecca
• The same with 60, when he was 63
• despite the messenger ﷺ often covering his hair, the sahaba still were able to count the amount of his white hairs!
• This dedication to the companion shows how he was truly their everything, and how they cared about him

Question 3

Hadith of Abu Ma`mar on how the companions would know how the messenger ﷺ would read and benefits from it

Answer 3

حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَاحِدِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا الأَعْمَشُ، عَنْ عُمَارَةَ بْنِ عُمَيْرٍ، عَنْ أَبِي مَعْمَرٍ، قَالَ قُلْنَا لِخَبَّابٍ أَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقْرَأُ فِي الظُّهْرِ وَالْعَصْرِ قَالَ نَعَمْ‏.‏ قُلْنَا بِمَ كُنْتُمْ تَعْرِفُونَ ذَاكَ قَالَ بِاضْطِرَابِ لِحْيَتِهِ‏.‏

> We asked Khabbab whether Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to recite (the Qur’an) in the Zuhr and the `Asr prayers. He replied in the affirmative. We said, “How did you come to know about it?” He said, “By the movement of his beard.”

-Bukhari

• Dhuhr and asr are silent
• prayers, and the companions would tell by the movement from his beard!
• They were looking at him deeply, even when his back was towards him, so they looked at him from the side

Question 4

Extent to the number of books on the messenger ﷺ life

Answer 4

Scholars from Syria tried to count the amount in his biography including different languages, and reached 10k, and this was decades ago, so how about how?

Question 5

Orientalists who spoke about the messenger ﷺ

Answer 5

• David Samuel Margoliouth (British orientalist, was a priest in the Church of England, professor of Arabic in Oxford university 1889-1937, wrote a few books such as Muhammed and the rise of Islam (speaks negative of him ﷺ but does mention that he ﷺ is a figure to reckon, that should be understood and appreciated in history and makes the messenger ﷺ a revolutionist who united the Arabs)

Early development of Muhammedinism, was originally a Jew and converted to Christianity, and his entire mission was to study Islam.

• John Davenport

An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran and says there is no conqueror or legislator that has legislated in more details, and conquered lands in more accuracy than him.

Question 6

How did the orientalist David Samuel Margoliouth influence Taha Hussein and who were the scholars who responded, and what are the dangers we could learn?

Answer 6

he effected Taha Hussain, which mesmerized him, and embraced his works and his doubts, of the pre-Islamic poets that they aren’t true, and made it up by the Muslims and authored a book on it, which was responded by the scholars such as

• mustafa Sadiq ar raa’fi’ee
• Ustadh Muhammed al Khadir
• Muhammed khadar hussain

and more

• and this is something very dangerous and common, Muslims go to western academic studies without grounding themselves in the Islamic sciences and get influenced by non-Muslims and instead of benefiting Islam and Muslims, they turn into a thorn at our sides.