Hadith of Persians and belief

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A famous recorded oral tradition among Muslims (Arabic: Hadith) is about comment made by the prophet Muhammad to one of his Persian companions, Salman the Persian. Although this narration is prominently quoted and referred to, it is not given any formal name, in contrast to other hadith such as the Hadith of the pond of Khumm or the Hadith of Qur'an and Sunnah

1 Introduction
2 Narration
3 Muslim view
- 3.1 Sunni view
- 3.2 Shi'a view
4 References
5 See also

[edit] Introduction

[edit] Pleiades

The pleiades is a star cluster associated with knowledge, it can be used in words like "I have brought you a noble deed through which you reach the pleiades" ^[1]. Its Arabic name is "Thuraiya".

[edit] Abu Huraira

Abu Huraira was a companion of Muhammad known for transmitting large amounts of hadith. Shi'a have a very dim view of his character and in most cases, but not all they deem him to be untrustworty. Sunnis have the opposite view.

[edit] Salman the Persian

Salman the Persian was a companion of Muhammad and later a partisian of Ali. Ali was the first Shi'a Imam and fourth Sunni Caliph. Salman the Persian is highly regarded by Both Shi'a and Sunnis, Shi'a include him among the The Four Companions.

[edit] Al-Jumu'a

Al-Jumu'a is the name of a short chapter (Arabic: Surah) of the Qur'an, eleven verses long. The first verse states that everything "declares the glory" of God, the second verse stats that God gave "to the pagan folk (Arabs) an Apostle from among themselves" ^[2], in order to teach them Islam, third verse says that he is also sent to other people who have not joined yet. The chapter then continues until the eighth verse regarding those who did not hold to God's previous messages and ends stating that Fridays should be spent in remembrance of God, rather than enjoying "merchandise or sport".

This Chapter is read every Friday in Friday congregations.

[edit] Narration

The narrator, Abu Huraira said:

While we were sitting with the Prophet, Surah Al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse,

"And He (God) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims).....' (third verse)

...was recited by the Prophet, I said:

"Who are they, O God's Apostle?"

The Prophet did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman the Persian was with us. So God's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying:

"If Faith were at pleiades, even then would they (i.e. the Persians) attain it." ^[3]

There are two versions, one where word translated as "Faith" is the Arabic word Ilm, and another where the word used is Iman. Ilm denotes knoweledge [of Islam], and Iman denotes "Faith". Scholars have argued that the version having "Ilm" is a fabrication ^[4].

[edit] Muslim view

Muslims view this hadith as notable partly since Persians contributed notably to the development of Islamic science and theology. Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), for example, is one of the many scholars referring to this hadith. The hadith is also mentioned among the merits of Salman the Persian, in Sunni ^[5], Sufi ^[6] and Shi'a ^[7] and enumerations..

[edit] Sunni view

Sunnis considered this hadith as so strong that it is included in both of their most trusted Hadith collection, the Two Sahihs, two collections believed by Sunnis to contain only authentic hadith (Arabic: sahih).

The Sunni scholar Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) remarked on the fact that, with few exceptions, most Muslim scholars in the intellectual sciences have been non-Arabs:

"Thus the founders of grammar were Sibawaih and after him, al-Farisi and Az-Zajjaj. All of them were of Persian descent…they invented rules of (Arabic) grammar…great jurists were Persians… only the Persians engaged in the task of preserving knowledge and writing systematic scholarly works. Thus the truth of the statement of the prophet becomes apparent, "If learning were suspended in the highest parts of heaven the Persians would attain it"…The intellectual sciences were also the preserve of the Persians, left alone by the Arabs, who did not cultivate them…as was the case with all crafts…This situation continued in the cities as long as the Persians and Persian countries, Iraq, Khorasan and Transoxiana (modern Central Asia), retained their sedentary culture."^[8]

Sunni scholar Suyuti (d. 1526) remarked

"It has been communicated unanimously that this hadith refers to Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 765)" ^[9].

[edit] Shi'a view

In the Shi'a view, this is a critical and notable narration of the Prophet (SAW) since Iran is the stronghold of Shi'a Islam: Salafi Muslims are known for attacking the Shi'a, and when they attack Shi'a Islam, the Shi'a answer with this hadith, with the rebuttal that if Shi'a Islam is indeed in breach of the truth, then this hadith would be in error, yet, they note, the Sunnis too accept this narration as authentic and significant. ^[10]. Also, Shi'a reject that this hadith is only directed at a single or few indiviuals, such as a Abu Hanifa.

the seventh Shi'a Imam, Imam Reza is quoted in Usul al-Kafi:

This belief was revealed to the Arabs, but the Ajam will treasure it.

The saying reflects verse two and three of Surah Al-Jumu'a.

The Shi'a also maintain that the fundamental spiritual meaning of this hadith, that the Persians are capable of (and in context of a Prophetic utering, destined to) surmount challenges that would present unsurmountable challenges to other peoples (i.e. reaching across the vast and inhospitable expanse of outer space to a distant galaxy,) represents the same truth as indicated by the Sign 54 of Sura 5 of The Holy Qur'an, the Hadith of the other nations, and the Hadith of loving Ali.