I t is r e p o r t e d t h a t t h e Apost le of A l l a h (SAW) had s a i d :

"You w i l l c e C t a i n l y f i g h t a g a i n s t t h e pagans till t h e rest of ,you w i l l b a t t l e a g a i n s t d a j jal on t h e banks o f Jordan. You w i l l be on t h e e a s t e r n s i d e and t h e y on t h e wes te rn . " The r e p o r t e r o f t h e t r a d i t i o n remarks t h a t i t is n o t known i n which p a r t of t h e e a r t h w i l l J o r d a n l i e on t h a t day." [ R e l a t e d by Al-Bazzar and T a b a r a n i and Ibn Maadah from t h e t r a d i t i o n o f Nahik b i n Sarim A 1 Sakooni ) .

A f t e r t e l l i n g t h i s about d a j j a l t h e Apos t l e o f Al lah ( S A W ) obse rved :

" I am t e l l i n g a l l t h i s t o you ao t h a t you may g e t r e a l knowledge a b o u t him and u n d e r s t a n d h i s mischief we l l and you may have an advance assessment of t h e whole s i t u a t i o n s o t h a t you cou ld t a k e r i g h t measures a t t h e right t ime and warn t h e succeed ing g e n e r a t i o n s who may p a s s on t.he warning t o t h e i r successors f o r h i s m i s c h i e f w i l l b e t h e wors t of a l l mischisEs." [ R e l a t e d Ibny Naeem and A 1 Hakim i n Mustadrik! Compilation of Ahadith

During Life-Time of Prophet Mohammad(~.~.u.~.)

COMPILATION OF AHAIIITH IIIJKING LIFE - T I M E OF PROPHET MUHAMRlAII (Y.B.U.H)

Contents

Were the Ahadith of the Prophet written in the 2nd century A.H.

Answer to an objection

Memorization of Ahaclith (Traditions)

Bihl iogritp hy

Compilation of Ahadith During Life-Time of Mohammad (P.B.u.H.)

The Chancellor of the Islamic university Madinah Monawarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has asked me to study and evaluate the article"1slam" in Encyclopedia Britannica 0978) written by a Muslim/Pakistani "orientalist". The author,'in this article, has tried to bring home to his readers that:-

1. Hadith Literature (traditions of the Prophet) was written in 2nd century A.H. and chp i l ed in 3rd century A.H.

2. Hence. Hadith Literature is not reliable. 3. Hadith Literature does not contain anything important

about the life of the Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H.). 4. Most of Ahadith (Traditions of the Prophet) are

disputable and insignificant. In this paper, I have rqfered to the most authentic and

indisputable Ahadith and proved that most of the Hadith Literature was written and compiled during the life-time of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.).

It is either sheer ignorance or dishonesty to say that Hadith Literature was written or compiled 300 years after the death of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.

What is Hadith? It is the description of the Sunnah in written form.

What is Sunnah? It is the practical demonstration of the Quran, the Message of Allah. the Almighty. It contains:-

1. Sayings of the Prophet Moharnmad (P.B.U.H.) (oral teachings).

2. Practical life or actual deeds of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) 3. Silent approvals of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.). (He saw

something being said or done but did not disapprove it).

Now it can be very well judged that the Sunnah or the practical life of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) is the real and practical demonstration of the Quran. The Sunnah is the real and detailed explanation of the Message of Allah. It is the religion in practical form. This had been recorded in the form of Hadith Literature by the companions of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) in front of him. It was preserved most carefully and transferred onward to the coming generations without any gap.

We do not find even a single day in the last 1400 years when Hadith Literature would have suffered a break or gap. It has always been in tact and its transfer from generation to generation has been a continuous process.

Moreover, it has been preserved. with utmost degree of care and honesty. It evolved into a scienk. the like of which has never been witnessed by human history.

Humanity has not worked hard on such a big scale and with such dedication and self abnegation as it has worked and researched in Hadith Literature.

It is deplorabld that most of the research scholars and orientalists in the west have tried to bring about a very dreadful picture of Islam. The Western institutions have also been successful in picking up a few mercenaries from ampng the muslim society who could write about the Quran and the S U M ~ ~ according to the wjshes of the Western scholars. In his article "Mohammad ", Montgomery Watt has, inadvertantly. confessed:-

" Few great men have been so maligned as Moharnmad. Christian scholars of medieval Europe painted him as imposter, a lecher and a man of blood. A curruption of his name "Mahound" even came to signify the devil. This picture of Moharnmad and his religion still retains some influence". (Encyclopedia Britannica . Ed. 1978, Vol. 12 P.609.)

Let us examine the notions in the article "Islam".

Were the Ahadith of the Prophet written in the 2nd Century A.H.?

About recording af Ahadith, the same author comes out saying on pages No. 921-922 of the same article:

"Thus in the early period, the character of learning was traditional. That tradition was committed to writing in the 2nd century A.H. and systematised and developed in the 3rd century A . H This vast activity of "seeking knowledge" (talab-al-ilm) resulted in the creation of specifically Arab sciences of tradition, history and literature". This is one of the most irresponsible statements often

given by the orientalists. And pity is that even some of the "orientalists" among the "Muslims" tend to believe it. (The author is also one of such so called muslims).

It is absolutely incorrect to say "that tradition was committed to writing in the 2nd Century".

The Holy Prophet emphasized and valued the act of learning through writing from the very first day. Nobody dare deny that the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) had set the prisoners of the battle of Badr free on the condition that they would teach the Muslims the art of reading and writing.

This is the reason that, when we study the Islamic history carefully, we can find the main treasure of Ahadith (properly and systematically) written down during the life time of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h).

The Ahadith (traditions) written down during the life time of the Prophet can be divided into three catagoriex-

1. The Ahadith dictated by the Holy Prophet through his formal orders.

2. The Ahadith written in his presence with his per- mission.

3. The Ahadith which the companions of the Prophet heard from him and recorded them after the adjournment of meetings.

, 'Yobodv can touch the Quran if he is u Ti&stk3 & Y j 6 Ax-1 not clean: no one can divorce unless he Lk ,& eU 3 : JlG d& j has lawfully married; no one c m s c t a

, && =,lave free unless he h u lawfully got h ~ m " . j F J -J h t / ~ &I ah) 4 b u Mohammad asked Sula~man . (A1 & From where dtd you get I[? He replied: .'From the book of Umar b 4bdul Az~z". (Dartm~ 2/84. au thexiu led by Ibn Hajar In Talkhis al- Hablr).

6. Kitab-us-Sadaqah: The Holy Prophet got this book compiled for sending it

to his governors. It contained injunctions about Zakat etc. It may be referred to the following authentic Ahadith:-

"It was narrated by AWullah bin

Muhammad Nufaili - Ubad bin Awan - ' Sufyan bin Husain - Zuhri - Salim - his

'father. he said :-

"The Prophet (p.b.u.h.) wrote the

Manuscr~pt on Finances

(Kitab-us-Sadaqah) but he did not tend

11 t o his governors till he died. He had

put 11 near his sword. Caliph Abu Bakr

acted on it rill his death; then Caliph

Umar acted according to it till he

died. "(.4bu Daud 1568; Darimt 1629;

Ibn Habban 793 authenticated by Ibn

Hajar In Talkhis al-habir 2. 151 and in

lsabah under m a r bin H a m ) .

ibrahirn Saigh reports from Nafi' that there were many books with Ibn Umar which he used to study. These per- tained-to the knowledge (of Ahadith). (Tarikh Kabir by Bukhari 1/1/325).

Among these was the copy of the book of Finance kept by Umar bin Khattab. I t was in fact the Book of Finance compiled by the Prophet.

Laith reported from Nafi that "he had put up this document in front of, Abdullah bin Umar many times". ( Amwal 393).

7 . Letters and Documents:- Dr. Hamidullah has compiled and published 281 letters

written by the Prophet to different kings, leaders of. the tribes and important personalities. The letters written to Maquqas (King of Egypt), Najashi (King of Ethiopia) and Munzir (King of Bahrain) are preserved still in original.

The Prophet used to give his writings/documents even to the common persons as it is evident from the following abstracts of a long authentic hadith:-

"It is reported by Abdullah that an old man from the ~ r i b e of Bani Tamim sat with me in. the Mosque of Basra a n d there was a manuscrip1 In h ~ s hand. Hajjaj was the ruler In thew davs. He \aid. "0 Abdullah d o you lhrnk this manuscript can save me from this rulcr and'be of some help to me?"

1 asked "what 17 thn manuscript?" H e replied: " T h ~ s IS a manuscript

by the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.1 , wherein he wrote for us that nobody should bc unjust with us in the mailers of finances." .(Ahmad 11163-164 with authentic sources). (Only a n abstract of hadith is translated).

Again there is an.abstract of a very long and authentic Hadith. This is actually a ta lk of the Prophet with M r . Fannukh, the messenger sent by the king of Roman

"0 brother Tannukh! I wrote a letter to the king of Persia. he tore it into pieces. Allah shall year him and his kingdom into pieces ... I wrote a Inter to your master: he kept it. The people will keep on fearing from him so long as there IS goodness in life there ." (Tunnukh says); I took an arrow and wrote everything on the skin o f my tword. Then he (the Prophet) gave the document to a person sitting to his left (to read out in front o f him)..'

(Ahmad bin Hanbal 3/41; Ibn Asakir's History of Damascus 1/418 authenticated by Ibn Kathir in Al-Bidayah-wan-Nihayah 5/16).

This proves that the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) used to send letters to important personalities and allow writing of Ahadith around him.

One important point here is that the above event had happened during the holy expedition of Tabuk, almost one year before his death. This shows that the last which he allowed and encouraged before his death was writing of Ahadith even though he had stopped some persons at some earlier stage writing anything except the Quran. 8. Constitution of Madinah State:-

Immediately a f t e r migrat ing t o Madinah Munawwarah, the Prophet had a pact with all the tribes of Aus, Khazraj, and the Jews and laid down foundations of the new state of Madinah in the form of a written constitu- tion comprising 53 articles..

This was really a very important document. Ibn Ishaq has mentioned it in his renowned work Seerat-u-Ibn Ishaq and Abu Ubaid Qasim bin Salam wrote i t in his Kitabul Amwal. Among the later historians, Ibn Kathir has copied the whole of this document in his renowned work Al-

"It wl r narrated by Al i bin A'asim - Duwaid - Amr bin Shoaib.- his father - his grandfather Abdulkh bin Amr. he said. "I said 0 Prophet o f Allah! we hear from your Ahadith but do nor remember them. Shwid we not write them! The Prophet replied:

"U'h) not? Do write them." (Ahmad 21215 rith a u t h t i c source).

It'is narrated by AWulkh bin Amr that he camc 10 the Proppha and said. 0 Prophe of Allah I wish that I may narrate Ahadith from you and I want to

help from my hand-writing alonewith my memory i f you allow that. Thc Prophet rrplied. "I f i t is my Hadith then you may gc~ help from your hand lwriting)alonEwith (karnine by) hcm."

(Darimi IIIM. authenticated by Hahim in h ~ s Mrrnadra). and also by Zahhabit.

"Abdullah bin Amr rcports: I u d to --rite dowm cveryrhing I heard from the Prophet as I w-anted to memorize and prrxr\e i t . But the Qurashita prohihited me and said . "you write down cserythmg you hear from the Prophel and the Prophc~ is human k n p ; he alw talks In state 01 anger and PIC~W~C" h3 I voppml wrlt~ng and

6

Bidayah Wan-Nihayah and Ibn Sayyid-in-Nas in his Kitabus Seerah. (See "Kitabat-i-Ahadith", by Aba Bakr '

Ghaznavi p. 10). Category I1

Now we refer to the Ahadith (traditions) recorded in front of the Prophet during his sittings with his compa- nions:- Sahifah As-Sadiqah:-

This is a collection of the Ahadith of the Prophet writ- ten and compiled by Abdullah bin Amr bin Aas. It is very

I I

well known that the Prophet allowed him to write his Ahadith as it is evident from the following authentic '~

ment~oncd thn to the Prophet He ra~d. "Keep on wrttlng. I \wear by Htm Who has my ltfe in h:s Hand. I domot talk except the Truth and [he R~ght (even In stale ol anger and pleasure)" CAhmad ?/ 162. 4bu-Daud. lY2Dar1m1 Authcnucated by Ibn Hajar In Fathul Bar1

"It is reported by Yaad and Muhammad btn Yaztd - Muhamnud brn lshaq bin Shoatb - hts father - hls grandfather Abdullffi bln Amr that he said to the Prophet, "0 Messenger of Allah! Should I write all I hear from you? He sad . Yes". I askcd. "In stale of pleasure and anger also?" He replied. "Of course. as it is not becorntng ofme t o s p a k excep the Truth in any condinon."

Muhammad btn y w d reports the wordmg as follows: (Abdullah asked). "0 Messenger of Allah! I hear many thmgs from you; should I Wnte them down?" He replied. "Yes" (Ahmed 2 2 0 7 with authent~c source).

Abu Rash~d H~bram repom. "I came to

AMullah bn Amr Inn Aas and said to him. "Plaw n l n m to us (m 01 Ahadnhl you hard lrom the Prophet. He pul a mrnuwrtpl in m y h d r " IAhrmd UI% Tsmur. Kiubul dawut wilh authmlu uwrm).

This was the manuscript which Abdullah bin Amr wrote with the permission of the Prcphet and named it 'Al-Sahifah-us-Sadiqah". This remained in his family for quite many generations. His grandson Shoaib used to nar- rate Ahadith by reading them out of this very manuscript. (Tahzib, 8/52:

The most important evidence for the writing work of Abdullah bin Amr is the authentic saying of Abu Hurairah:

"There is no companion of [he Propha who could rumate more Ahadith than , j p dl& -+ ~d L Y! L & U m y e l f except Abdu1l.h bm Amr. Thts was because he used to write while I did . -5-i Y, A< JK *k not write. , J~UI -.-s , ;V ' 1 4;u1 ? )

(Bukhari Ilm 39. Fathul Bart 1/67). L; : & d l 6 I T i df#l,il ' r q 4.J

It may be mehoned here that Abu Hurairah narrate6 5374 Ahadith. We can well judge the number of Ahadith, compiled by Abdullah bin Amr in Al-Sahifah-us-Sadiqah.

This Sahifah was the thing regarded as the most valuable asset by Abdullah as it is clear from his following saying:-

"Nothing has made my life charming as . + a t ~ i ~ i + j ! ~ ~ ~ I

much as Sahifah Sadiqah has /,. i. : . j U j+ ,! dl+ "fi ~ u \ c , done ... Sadiqah is the manuscript. 1 Z~UI bb ... Z L J I Yl 34-1 +i have written down from the Prophet

I, (p.b.u.h).." . .& il JuJ i# - ! (Darimi 1/105 with authentic sourm) . . p.,. >\jk 1 . o / \ &I ab) i '

Category 111 Now we shall mention some of the manuscripts and

collections of Ahadith written by the companions of the Prophet on their own when they were not in front of the Prophet:- 1. Sahifah Abi Hurairah

There is a common misucderstanding that Abu Hurairah did not have any written collection of Ahadith. This is incorrect.

Ibn Hajar while explaining the above saying of Abu Hurairah writes in Fathul Bari:

"Abu Hurairah's saying" I do not write"may seem contradictory to what Ibn Wahb has narrated through Hasan bin Amr bin Umayyah. (Ibn Wahb) said, "A Hadith was narrated before Abu Hurairah; he took me hand im hand to his house and showed us books of Ahadith of the Prophet and said, "This is all written with me".

Ibn Abdul Bar says, "Hadith of Humam is most cor- rect but we can reconcile the both by saying that he (Abu Hurairah) did not write during the life time of Prophet but did write later on. e

I say that more probable is that it is not necessary that the Hadith literature present with him should be in his own handwriting and it is proved that he did not write himself.

Anas bin Malik used to exhort and encourage his sons to write &wn Ahadith.

Thamama bin Abdullah reports that Anas used to say to his sons:-

"We did not regard the knowledge of . " L L c L & ) > h Y U" that person as knowledge who did not ;&I + ~ i +/q7 &I lj.) write". (Taqyid-ul-llm p. %). (+*I

There are many Ahadith which show that the Prophet not only allowed but also encouraged the writing of Ahadith:-

Ibn Abbas narrates [hat the Prophet . .. (p.b.u.h.). when his ailment became a &4 AS\ Li : Ji &G _+I _i,' worse (before his dcarh). he said. &I5 A A &I : Jli, w; "Bring f o r me (writing) paper and I will write for you a slatemcnt after which . "+I+)'

you will nor go astray ..." (Bukhari Ilm 114)

Ibn Hajar while explaining this hadith says, "This hadith has an evidence showing that the writing of Ahadith was allowed. (Fathul Bari 1/209).

"Narrated Muhammad bm S a d - Shank - Tarrq bln Abdur Rehman - S a d bin Jubarr. who ~ d . "I u ~ e d 10 hear Ahadith from ibn Umar and Ibn abbas at night and used to wrlte 11 down at the wood of camel's back" (Danmr 1/105 wrh aurhcntrc sources)

. . Umar bin Khartab srylng:" "Prcservc ,i;kl-, ,& U- .;I >+ $1 - 1 ,& - knowlcugc by writing it down". , U,&b I+ : ;,+?

(Darami 1 /105. Aurhenricaled by Hakim in Musradrak 1/106)

j F ~ I -, 1 . a / \ : ,&-L(1

0. I/\ 4-

Answer to an Objection:- Somebody may come out here with the following oft-

quoted objection:- The Prophet used to prohibit from writing down of

Ahadith, as according to an authentic hadith, narrated by Abu Saeed Khudri, he once said:-

"Do nor wrrrc anyrhmg from me excepl Ji$~ @ & & @ Y" the Quran"

Then how can we reconcile this with the actual writing of hadith literature during the life time of the Prophet?

Hafiz Ibn Hajar has written a convincing reply to this objection:-

"From :he event of Abu Shah, it is evident that the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) allowed the writing of Ahadith from him but rhis seems contradictory to the hadith of Abu Saeed Khudri wherein the Prophet is reported to have said:

1 '

"Do nor write anything f r o m me except JI,AI ,+ ~ 16- Y" [he Quran".

The reconciliation between the two is that the prohibi- tion is only for the moment when the Quran used to be revealed to the Prophet so that i t should not be got mixed up with the non-Quran. And the permission is t o write for all other times (when the revelation was not coming). Or the prohibition is only from writing some thing other than the Quran on the same writing material, wherein the Quran was being recorded and the permission was to write on any other thing. O r the prohibition is at early stage and permission to wire came later cancelling the prohibilion once ir was en- swed thar the Quran will nor be rnised up with Ahadirh.

Thus according to this version of Hadith, it was ad- dressed in a broader sense to all the Prophet's companion in general. Abu-Hurairah spoke only about himself but it is quite possible that there might have been a large number of the companions who followed in Abu-Hurairah's foot- steps. Nevertheless Abu-Hurairah did not rely solely on memorization of Ahadith but he committed them to writing also as clarified before in this chapter.

Evidently, the companions paid much attention in learning the Prophet's Ahadith by heart, taking much pride in it. They cherished this act of memorization making Ahadith an inseperable part of their personalities. Thus,

both memorization and writing went side by side; they did not confine on either of the two.

The art of writing flourished at that time. It was because the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) desired his companions to acquire the skills of reading and writing and seek as much knowledge as possible. Thus nothing prevented them to have recourse to writing with a view to preserving knowledge even after their death.

This is how, the scholars of Hadith unanimously asserted that a narrator of Hadith should be characterized by precision and accuracy in preserving Hadith. The "preservation of Hadith", according to them would be ef- fected in two ways:-

1. Commitment to memory. 2. Commitment to writing Thus, alongwith memory, committing to writing is

considered an essential condition in determining the validity of Isnad i.e. the chain of narrators. We have never come to know that anyone who was engaged in compiling and writing on Hadith literature, whether in the past or at pre- sent exempted anybody from this condition of writing ex- cept the Companions.

The companions of the' Prophet s(p.b.u.h.) have- been exempted from the condition of writing becaused the)i;li~ed with the Prophet (p.b.u.h)f heard his sayingst saw hirhldo+ ing things and observed him approving or disapproving many things tacity. Thus they received the knowledge of the Sunnah (Hadith) in the most direct and accurate man- ner, and made it an inseperable part of their practical lives: It were only they who, as narrators of Hadith, were exemp- ted from the condition of writing;none else.

A great deal of texts provide an ample evidence testify- ing to the fact that grammatical rules were committed to writing, in the early period of Islam, at the hands of Abul- Aswad Al-Dualie, who according to Ibn Habban, is one of the most dependable followers of the companions Tabi'een

and pioneers of knowledge in Basrah. These grammatical rules ascribed to him were regarded

as means of understanding the Quran and the Hadith. It is not logically possible that these grammatical rules

which were properly committed to writing, could be transferred to the coming generations in unwritten from i.e. only through memory, hearsay or traditional ways of lear- ning.

Then how about the traditions of' the Prophet (p.u.b.h)? Were they committed to writing in 2nd century A.H. ?

i

4. ~ r e ; ~ h a d i t h Disputable rid . & Insignificiint? Another quotation, related to tht! s h e dbjec t , by the

author qf the article "Muhammad" may also be looked in- t0:-

"The vast collections of traditions (Hadith) or anec- dotes about his words and deeds, are historically disputable and besides, seldom tell us ariything significant about Muhammad's career". Encyclopaedia Britannica ed. 1978, V. 12, p.609).

TO give a sweeping statement about the collections .of traditions dubbing =$hem "historically disputable" is nothing but ignorance. The scholars of Islam have been spending their lives in scrutinizing Ahadith i n the light of most scrupulous criteria. Right in the 2nd century they started dividing Ahadith in different categories and have been grading them according to their correctness and credibility. The traditions which were liable to any doubt have been graded and categorized according to the level and gravity of doubts, and they have been preserved alongwith the proper comments and observations.

Even those traditions which were unanimously con- sidered by scholars of Hadith (Muhaddithin) as entirely in- correct, once for all, were properly categorized according to the level and gravity of their incorrectness and these have also been preserved so that they may not be mixed up with the correct Ahadith with the passage of time.

, Every narrator whose name is mentioned in the line (Isnad) is mercilessly scrutinized. Every hadith be it ge- nuine, doubtful or spurious is properly scrutinized, dis'cussed, researched upon, reasoned out and then fixed up in one particular category and preserved for ever. And this process of research has been open to all for the last thirteen centuries. ,

I can claim with full responsibility that there is no sub- ject in the histpry of mankind which has drawn attention, hard work, sincerity of purpose and sacrifices as much as the subject of the scrutiny of traditions has done.

The number of narrators among the companions of the Prophet, their disciples and still their disciples exceeds 100,OC$l personalities. Each one of them has been thoroughly grid, meticulously examined, by thousands of research scholars (MuhaddisFn). More than 500,000 Ahadith were reportedly recorded, many of these were nar- rated by different narrators belonging to different places.

Every hadith was scrutinized in the light of each line or dif- ferent lines of its narrators (Isnad or Turuq) by thousands of Muhaddisin. To give one example, we see Imam Bukhari selecting only about 4000 Ahadith (unrepeated) out of the vast collections. Same 1s the case of other Muhaddisin. We find height of intelligence, carefulness, honesty and sacrifices in the collection and compilation of hadith literature.

Imam Bukhari says that he could complete his research work only on thoseahadith which he included in his book "Sahih". There are many more genuine Ahadith which other might research upon and include in their selections. This was done.

Still more irresponsible statement is to say that "Ahadith seldom tell us anything significant about Muhammad's career".

At times when a student comes across this level of understanding and honesty on the part of the orientalists, he really feels so much hurt and depressed that he feels like forgetting about them and leaving them in their darkness.

The fact is that the Islamic teachings are derived from two main sources:

The Quran and the Sunnah comprises the follow- ing:-

1. The Sayings (words) of the Prophet. 2. The Actions (deeds) of the Prophet. 3. Taqareer (Tacit Approval; that the Prophet saw

something being said or done and did not stop it). The message of Allah was explained by the words,

deeds and taqareer of the holy Prophet. This is why the Sunnah was completely preserved. We

know the minutest details about the life, habits, likings, dislikings, behaviour and cortlplete character of the Pro- phet, through Ahadith (traditions). His daily schedule of life, his dealings with his children, friends and foes, his

prayers, his food and fasting, his journeys, wars, pacts, lec- tures, jokes, his smiles and state of invoking Allah was all recorded through Ahadith. How minutely they have recorded the acts of the prophet, can be seen in Ahadith, particularly, when we read in a hadith "the prophet smiled and four of his teeth were visible". The Prophet had allow- ed everybody, including his wives, to narrate anything they saw him saying or doing. Nothing was to be kept secret. Even the minute details of his private life were recorded through Ahadith.

At this juncture, we must appreciate the plight of the orientalists. Most of them are either Christians or Jews. They fail to understand their real difficulty. The fact is that all the prophets, except Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) were meant for a particular race and period. This is why that after the end of that period their teachings alongwith their life- sketches died away. The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) is for the whole humanity irrespective of time and space. Thus the Sunnah, the complete details about the life Muhammad (p. b.u. h.) were preserved with maximum possible exac- titude. The poor orientalists, while writing on Islam, generalize what really had happened to the life sketch of their own prophets and ignorantly apply it to the life of Muhammad (p.b.u.h).

I t will not be out of place to mention what Basworth Smith, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford has said in his lectures in Royal Institute of Great Britain, later on published in the form of the book "Muhammad and Muhammadanism". I would like to abridge what he has said in one of his lectures:-

"We know only too little about the life of Jesus Christ i.e.2 !ittle about three last years of his life. How about his thirty years? He revived one third of the humanity and may revive more. But the major part of his life, the ideal life is

not known to us. We know little about his mother, his family life, his friends, his dealing with them, his work for his mission and its gradual development. There are many question about him which shall always remain questions.

But in Islam everything is distinct and clear. There is nothing hazy, unknown or secret about the life of Muhammad. We have definite history about i t . We do not find mythology and supernatural events in the early Arab literature. And i f at all they are there, they can be easily separated from the historical events. No body can deceive hinuelf or others here. Here we find broad day light which makes everything (in the life of the Prophet) visible and this light can reach anybody on earth". (Muhammad and Muhammadanism in 1880 p. 14).

Bibliography: Arabic Books:

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