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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Rabi' al-Awwal 21, 1428/ April 10, 2007 #29


Thinking outside the box: The Zionists call their victims, the Palestinians, terrorists! Try to think of the stories they must have manufactured about people who really hated them such as Hitler and the National Socialists. Did Germany start World War II? Did Hitler hate the Jews without cause? If we want understanding, we'll have to study objectively and find the facts. Do you know that parts of Germany, with large German populations, were given to France, Poland and Czechoslovakia after the First World War? The German populations in these areas as well as German minorities in the Soviet Union were subjected to genocidal actions. Germany wanted to liberate its people. Read the "other side of the story." Don't be brainwashed. Many Jews were part of Communism and committed crimes against humanity working for Stalin. It's not without reason that many Poles, Latvians, Ukrainians etc hate the Jews, often more than Hitler ever did. Read up! The truth will set you free!


Jamaat al-Muslimeen News
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234

Outreach: 200 Muslims Receive Message in Philadelphia

April 6, 2007: At a crowded masjid behind the University of Pennsylvania, Jamaat al-Muslimeen's message was distributed after Juma' salat to 200 people. The crowd was mostly African and African-American with a sprinkling of Arabs and Indo-Pakistanis. The handout listed the Islamic slogans which were chanted for the first time during the anti-war rally at the Pentagon on March 17. The chants condemned the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and the threat to Pakistan and Iran; they included calls for the closing down of major U.S. prison complexes, Gtmo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram as well as some in the U.S., such as Reidsville, Terre Haute, Lewisburg etc where humanity is being degraded.

The handout included an intro to ISNA leader Siraj Wahhaj's betrayal of the great Islamic scholar Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman [the blind Shaikh].

Thanks go to Br. Aqeel of the local Jamaat al-Muslimeen, as well as Br. Amin, founder-member of the Jamaat, who introduced us to the Ameer of the masjid, an elderly gentleman from Sudan.


A Muslim American of African Descent is a Transforming Force for Students of Mathematics.

Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz, Distinguished Professor of Math at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.

Go to http://DrAAS.info [Web site with thanks to Br. Richard ]

Here is what this genius, Dr. Shabazz, lives for, in his own words. Here is how he serves Allah:

"What I consider my greatest achievements are my developed and developing students, who are prepared to face life in all of its beauty and ugliness. I am especially proud of my recent students and mentees, whom I have inspired to become experts in mathematics, some with and some without doctorates. Presently I know of at least 14 who have received PhD's in mathematics or computer science (3 of them) since 1998, and I know of at least 4 others who have completed all their work, except their dissertations for the PhD degree. This is what I have lived for, what I am living for, and what I shall continue to live for. This, indeed, is GRACE AMAZING."


Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Shoora: Muslims Need Analytical Thinking, Evaluation, Scientific Planning: We have Women Role Models in History along with Men

Host: Imam Badi Ali
Secretary General: Sis. Karen English
Ameer: Dr. Kaukab Siddique

The National Shoora will meet, inshallah, in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 9 AM to 5 PM, inshallah, on May 19.

Muslims are invited to join Jamaat al-Muslimeen. If you would like to join, please write to the address above about yourself and what you would like to offer in a movement which is peaceful but UNCOMPROMISING on the Qur'an and the Hadith.

If you wish to work in an interracial group where TAQWA, not race or gender, is the standard, Jamaat al-Muslimeen is for you.

If you do not want to join but would like the Jamaat to consider a matter of great concern to you, please write to the Secretary General by email at this address: pradia2@aol.com

Jamaat al-Muslimeen respects all schools of Islamic Thought and admires the work of great modern leaders of Islam such as Iqbal, Maudoodi, Syed Qutb, Malcolm X, Usman Dan Fodio, Shaikh Omar 'Abdel Rahman, Imam Jamil al-Amin. However, Jamaat al-Muslimeen is different from others in that we also have as leaders the great women of Islam, such as Hajirah, r.a., and Sumayya, r.a., and 'Ayesha Siddiqa, r.a., and Umm Ammara, r.a., and Nailah, r.a., and Asma, r.a., and Fatima Zahra, r.a., and Umm Waraqah, r.a., and the Kharijite woman leader Ghazala, and the Sufi woman leader Rabia Basri, and the women sacrificing themselves for Islam in Somalia, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir and Pakistan.


U.S. Islamic Woman Leader Speaks
Time for Fake Muslim Leaders to Step Down: Our Situation is Bad.
These "leaders" are Often the Worst Offenders


It is time for Muslims to be savvy in the political arena. We must read, analyze and ask questions (many, many) questions. We must be sure that we have all the information we need to stand firm any cause. We must know who is leading us. Too many of us are just following the person with the loudest voice or someone we have been told is okay by a friend. We must stop this and stop wasting our time in this manner.

Too many women in Islam are very loyal to men who by their actions show they do not care about them or their families. It is time for women to read and study like we are told to in the Qur'an. This is not the time nor the place to be stupid. Also it is not the time or place for us to lash out at each other so that our true enemies can use the inter-religious conflict to their advantage. We must find ways to talk to each other and straighten out our concerns amongst ourselves.

We also need to do some house cleaning before we can jump on board with others (interfaith activities). We do not have any social services to speak of in the Islamic community, yet our leaders want to sit on the stage with Ministers, Rabbis and Priest who have multi-million dollar social service agencies in the communities. Our schools need a lot of work and attention (even the best of them). Some of our leaders will sit among ministers, rabbis and priests who have some of the finest private schools in their communities, social service agencies and other vehicles they need to support family life as though they have the level of development in their communities nod, smile and just fake it. Then, after the event is over, they return to their communities and, either by design or by neglect, are party to the closing of the few small services we have (food pantries, feeding programs and the like). It is time we hold these lying and faking leaders accountable.

However we can't do that until we hold ourselves accountable. How can we say we love people and we can't put them up for at least three nights as stated in the sunnah or feed them? Most brothers can go to a masjid and sleep at least three days (most of the time they are there until they get put out) and get a decent meal. However most sisters do not have a place to go and many of their own sisters will look down on them. Our cold hearted Imams who lie on any given Friday as they deliver their Khutbuhs will say they love you, you are a queen, etc. However will not support the opening of places for you to sleep in dignity when in trouble. Nor help maintain the few that are open if the leader or manager is not to their liking. Usually the leaders of the organization are targeted and blamed for not running it right so they can not help this or that group due to its leadership. What actually is the reality most of the time is that the leaders have some idea of what they are doing and will not allow the Imams to micro-manage from a distance. Nor will they allow people to make the place out of a pick up spot for brothers looking for desperate sisters to marry and dominate. Or a depository for second, third and fourth wives of brothers who can not afford to maintain these women and their children. Nor will they play favorites.

We have a lot to do as a community before we jump on a stage yell and scream for human rights in the public. Most of our leaders are the worst offenders of human rights in their communities. Unfortunately the women who are mesmerized or intimidated by them are efficient GATEKEEPERS! These misguided women will go on the attack if a sister is not in their clique or if the Imam drops the word. "She does not like me." He has to say no more. The sister guilty or not is the target. No justice for her in the community and lots of lies, gossip and the like. Many of us need to learn what Human Rights is before we set among those who practice their scripture to the best of their ability daily, study international law, work diligently to make themselves free of oppression and do all they not to be oppressors.

We need to be real about what we are doing. Stop faking and pretending. Or just get out of the way.

Hadayai Majeed
Moderator
Muslim Women Political Action Committee


Interview with Umm Hasan Principal of Jamia Hafsa, Islamabad, Pakistan

Why Did Islamic Women Decide to Risk their Lives to Defy General Musharraf in his Stronghold?

New Trend: Sis. Umm Hasan, I decided to interview you after I saw that the forces opposed to Islam are busy trying to discredit Jamia Hafsa on the Internet. It is obvious that your Islamic university is having a tremendous impact on the situation in Pakistan, located as you are in the capital of Pakistan. BBC interviewed you ....

Umm Hasan: BBC gave a totally distorted picture of our struggle. It said that we wanted to use violence and throw acid on the faces of women who do not wear Islamic covering. That would be totally unislamic and against Shari'a [Islamic Law]. BBC tried to defame us.

New Trend: I have also heard that your university [Jamia] is facing a threat of military action by General Musharraf which could happen at any time. Is that true?

Umm : Yes, Musharraf has prepared a strike force known as Triple One. It is heavily armed. We only have lathis [wooden staves] to defend ourselves, but we will defend ourselves. We have heard that a special gas has been prepared by Musharraf's forces which would put people to sleep.

NT: I don't think that will be easy for Musharraf. I have read that Islamic volunteers from all over the country are coming to your defense and many have assembled in Lal Masjid which is in the same complex as Jamia Hafsa. But how did all this start? Why are the young women in your care coming out to fight?

UH: Women of Islam have been terrorized by General Musharraf for much too long. We won't take it any longer. We are sick and tired of his anti-Islam policies and actions. To give you some idea, our university was attacked first by Musharraf in the year 2004 during the night of August 16-17. In the police rampage, our young women were terrorized and attacked by the SWAT teams of Musharraf.

NT: That is indeed shameful!

UH: Then in 2005, in the aftermath of the London bombing of 7/7, after 11 days, Tony Blair called on Musharraf to attack the Madrassas. Hardly had Blair spoken, then on the very next day, July 19, Musharraf's Special Forces raided Jamia Hafsa. They were shelling us with tear gas and firing plastic bullets at the girls.

NT: You mean right there in Islamabad? What a dastardly act! The general is a bloody coward!

UH: In this attack, Musharraf's forces injured 150 of our girls. One of them had to spend three months in a clinic. When Musharraf learned that a number of our students were in hospital and were being given oxygen, he ordered that the oxygen be turned off.

NT: What an accursed coward!

UH: The raids of 2004 and 2005 emboldened Musharraf so much, he decided to start demolishing mosques in Islamabad. Hamza masjid was actually demolished along with 8 others. We received notice that Jamia Hafsa, along with another 80 [eighty] mosques and religious schools and establishments, were to be demolished and that we should leave. This was the immediate cause of the uprising of our young women and the occupation of a small library as the symbol of our resistance.

NT: I have read that the occupation of the library and the young women's open defiance of the regime had good results. The government announced that it would rebuild Masjid Hamza and stop the demolition process. Then why did your struggle continue? I have heard that the young women kidnapped a "madam" who was running a prostitution den.

UH: Let me explain!

NT: Isn't that a violation of law and due process of law? [Benazir Bhutto's] Peoples Party is making a big noise, calling on Musharraf to crack down on Jamia Hafsa for this "violation of law."

UH: There is no "rule of law" in this country. No woman can appeal to the police for help. Any woman who falls into the hands of the police is liable to be raped or at least assaulted.

NT: What happened in the case of this "madam?" I read somewhere that her name is "Shamim Naqvi" [a Shi'ite].

UH: She is known as "Auntie Shamim." Our girls had been watching her activities for over a month. The neighbors are sick and tired of her procurement of women for men in the government and the crime and noise which goes along with it. She was very confident of her power. She told anyone who objected to the presence of thugs in her area and the activities related to procuring women that she has protection right from the top and that no one will dare to touch her and survive. She was openly working as a procuress. She was increasing her business with government support, even sending girls to other cities.

NT: Then what happened?

UH: Our Islamic girls went to talk to her and begged her to stop her activities, gave her the teachings of Allah and His messenger, pbuh. The Islamic girls reminded her of the Hereafter. Instead of relenting, at this advice she became very angry and took out a knife. She cut one of our Islamic girls. Then the young women picked her up and brought her over. She was kicking and screaming and used her mouth to bite two of the girls. She left tooth marks. She was not hurt and was brought without injury,

NT: All praise belongs to Allah! And then?

UH: She was told that Islamic women mean her no harm and only want to stop her shameful and sinful activities of procurement of women for government officials. At first she threatened and said that she has "long hands" and we will not survive. However, when she realized that the Islamic women were not going to let go easily, she repented and wrote a full confession of her misdeeds.

NT: Who were her clients?

UH: She did indeed have long hands. She gave us the list of her "customers." Among her clients or customers are Shaikh Rasheed and his nephew Rasheed Shafiq.

NT: You mean the Shaikh Rasheed who is the closest publicist of Musharraf? He is Railway Minister perhaps, isn't he? The one who keeps giving press statements about how great Musharraf is ? Are you sure?

UH: The very same. Top government women are also involved in this corruption.

NT: Such as?

UH: Nilofar Bakhtiar and Zubaidah Jalal.

NT: You might get into a lot of trouble. You are mentioning top people including Shaikh Rasheed by name. He is a powerful man, very close to Musharraf. Aren't you afraid?

UH: We have been taking names right from the time "Auntie Shamim" confessed. We want the people of Pakistan to know how corrupt and degraded this government is. Thus when Musharraf tries to get these people "elected," Pakistanis will know who is being "voted" into power. Musharraf is going for new "elections."

NT: You are challenging the power structure. Your girls have long sticks [lathis]; the government has machine guns and tanks. Why do you feel so strong? Who is on your side?

UH: Allah and His messenger, sal Allaho alaihi wassalam, and the believers.

NT: How many young Islamic women are holding on to the library?

UH: 150

NT: What's the total enrollment of Jamia Hafsa?

UH: We have a total of 6,000 female students. Of these, 3,000 are at the middle school and matric level. The rest are at the university level. In addition to regular courses, we teach Hifz Qur'an and at the senior level we teach Fiqh [Islamic Jurisprudence\ and Study of Hadith.

NT: How many of the students are on campus at this time?

UH: About 1,500.

NT: How many teachers?

UH: 175.

NT: Since when have you been the Principal?

UH: Since we began in 1991.

NT: Thank you for the interview. I'll come back to you with more questions. May Allah keep you safe and strong in Islam.


Veiled female Pakistani Islamic students carry bamboo sticks outside Jamia Hafsa religious seminary in Islamabad. AFP/Aamir Qureshi)


Ice Storm Snuffs Out Liberty's Lamp
By Edward W. Miller, MD

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
(Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor)

However it wasn't nature's sleet and snow that on March 6th, tarnished America's image as a champion of liberty and personal freedom, rather, it was an ICE storm (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) blowing straight up from Washington, complete with troops, armed and in uniform, with police cars blocking access roads and helicopters circling overhead.

The torrent of public and media response to this sudden armed intrusion into a peaceful New England town serves to remind us that, like tiny European lemmings, which stampede themselves over the cliffs into the sea, we Americans are again being stampeded into self-destructive behavior over such a simple issue as immigration.

That inborn suspicion of any human not quite like our tribe has, through the centuries, served as the lever by which politicians have manipulated our attitudes toward foreigners both at home and abroad.

At 8:30 AM on March 6th, 2007, some 300 ICE agents and other law enforcement officers raided the Michael Bianca Inc. clothing factory on the New Bedford waterfront, with a warrant charging that the owner Francesco Insole and three managers had encouraged these illegal immigrants to work long hours and there and accept substandard working conditions at the leather goods factory. At least 300 workers were rounded up who could not immediately prove they were in the country legally were initially detained. And most were then transferred to nearby Fort Divans for further processing.

As the Boston Globe described the scene (Mar 7th) " a lot of people were screaming and crying," said Tina Pacheco, a supervisor who has worked at the company for 14 years. "They told American citizens to stand in one area and the people without papers to stand in another area. It was terrible, they were crying and didn't know what was going to happen." Witnesses said police guarded exits while other officers grabbed some of the fleeing workers and shouted at them to lie on the ground. Several officers drew their handguns. Workers tried to leave the building, but were brought back inside. The majority of the workers were either Guatemalan or Salvadorian..." Local immigration activists were outraged at the arrests yesterday."

"On the eve of federal legislation being introduced to fix the broken system, we should not be using precious federal resources to tear up families and devastate our communities," said Helena S. Marques, executive director of the Immigrant Assistance Center in New Bedford." This has been a total nightmare," Marques said. "I've never seen so much panic." Many of those impacted gathered last night at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church. Luis Matias came to seek help for the 9-month-old and 3-year-old daughters of his tenant, Rosa Gutierez, 26, of Guatemala, who was taken into custody." It's inhumane to take a mother away from her children," he said. "She's not a criminal."

Local citizens expressed concern to ICE officials about the children of these seized employees, most of whom were already in school some time before their parents were arrested. During the raid, workers were processed in the plant cafeteria where many were fingerprinted and photographed on the spot. All who could not show documents or prove legal status in the country were detained. Targeted by ICE, the factory, named Michael Bianco Inc., had an $83 million contract with the US Defense Department to manufacture backpacks for soldiers and marines. During that day, ICE officials fitted at least 60 people with electronic tracking devices and released them to care for children or for health problems. Local officials of the Defense Security Service (DSS), a department controlled by the US Department of Defense (DoD) which monitors security in plants with defense contracts such as Michael Bianco, Inc., had been informed of plans for the raid back in December, but were not involved in the immediate arrests and triage which followed.

On March 7, the day after the plant seizure, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick called Michael Chertoff, head of Homeland Security, under whose Organization ICE has now been placed and demanded that DSS workers be allowed access to the incarcerated workers. Chertoff agreed. However, by the time DSS workers arrived on Wednesday night, 90 workers had already been flown to either of two detention centers in southwest Texas or one in Florida. By March 8, a federal judge who had been called to intervene by either the governor, Congressmen or the local mayor,, ordered the ICE not to move any of the remaining detainees and to give them access to lawyers. The judge also ordered DSS and ICE to work together

One of the town locals commented that the people arrested for immigration violations were, in reality, victims of this country's lack of a viable immigration policy, adding "All of them were working and working hard. Some of them had been here for 13 or 14 years..... Whose fault is it that 13 or 14 years have gone by and there is no comprehensive immigration reform yet?"

The workers' children were another issue. Many of them, born here in the US, are automatically US citizens. What of their future if one or both parents are deported? Many of the immigrants were forced to borrow heavily, often mortgaging their homes in their native country, just to get here from countries such as Guatemala or El Salvador. The Bush Administration has repeated the same mistake made prior to the New Orleans catastrophe, when FEMA, which had been a well-functioning federal program since it was initiated during the Carter Administration, was placed under the control of Homeland Security. As a result, officials of these two behemoths struggled for power, as no one understood who was in charge, and operations which should have been simple got tangled in such red tape as the world observed during the New Orleans tragedy.

Bush repeated the previous mistake by placing our Immigration Service, which had always been a division of the Justice Department, under Michael Chertoff's Homeland Security, and as a result, Chertoff, who spots a terrorist under every bush, now runs Immigration like his private militia. The ACLU has just filed a lawsuit against Chertoff for holding children of undocumented workers with their parents in converted prisons.

Over the past two years, a campaign of racism, laced with terrorism threats has been spawned in Washington and its compliant media regarding the millions of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border. This brouhaha has also been encouraged by those Republicans who, upset over Bush's poor showing in the polls, are eager to get their failed Afghan and Iraqi wars off the headlines. Responding to this non-crisis, and to the millions who marched in American cities supporting the immigrants, our President on May 15, 2006 in a rare Oval Office address to the American people outlined "four proposals" he would welcome included in forthcoming congressional bills (then being debated in both House and Senate). (San Francisco Chronicle 16 May 2006)

Though both the Senate and House passed their own immigration bills, no consensus has been reached. Senator Dianne Feinstein has been most outspoken on the senate side but Senator Kennedy is coming out with his own version, which Feinstein may or may not approve. Meanwhile Bush has militarized our southern border with 6,000 members of a much-overworked National Guard, while a 700-mile fence is under construction along the California-Arizona border with México since the Senate passed the Secure Fence Act on Oct. 12, 2006. The controversial fence will divide approximately one third of the southern border and is mightily disliked by our Mexican friends. On Bush's recent visit to México, President Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in his public comments pointed out gently, that for the expense of one mile of the Bush wall, his Mexicans could construct 9 miles of badly needed Mexican highway.

Fences, border police, ICE raids, Homeland Security personnel, and volunteer militias will not solve our immigrant problem. We Americans might well learn from our European friends, who, before the wealthier EU nations admitted economically-disadvantaged Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland to their Union, invested hundreds of billions of EU dollars to raise the living standards of these poorer four, so that with their EU open border policy, the richer nations would not be inundated with economic refugees. It worked!

Just as the EU countries helped their poorer friends, we should invest in the basic economic structure of México. The only thing keeping the wolf from México's door today is the migration safety net, by which in 2005 Mexicans in the U.S. remitted home some $20 billion dollars. We must also either destroy or rewrite NAFTA, which undercuts tens of thousands of Mexican farmers whose livelihood depends on selling their own crops at local markets. Impoverished, they immigrate north to the US. Arthur Daniel Midlands, Inc., which receives 40 percent of its income from US federal subsidies, now accounts for 25 percent of corn consumed in México.

When J.B. Penn, US Under Secretary for agriculture, visited India two years ago, he was given a message by India's trade minister, Kamala Nath that Washington should heed.

Kamala warned that: "Importing food was as good as importing unemployment," adding: "We can open up markets as requested by Penn, provided the US is willing to provide a visa to every farmer displaced as a consequence of the import of cheaper and highly subsidized food,''(Dec. 13, 2005 NEW DELHI) In addition to taking our Agri-Business millionaires off corporate welfare, we should offer México a Marshall Plan with a government-enforced "living wage" for Maquiladora workers. Socially sensitive foreign investment would, in the long run, prove less expensive in terms of dollars, human lives, and flawed relationships with our southern neighbors, than our hunkering down behind an expensive and failing Maginot Line, supported by voluntary militias and now, a National Guard.

The Golden Rule is not only a moral but an economic statement. Americans should turn off the light in Miss Liberty's torch and inscribe in large letters on her base: "I've got mine, to hell with you," until we relearn our lesson.


From our archives
Reprinted because it appears that W.D. Muhammad's people are also publicizing against Hadith

Is It True That Hadith Was Not Written in the time of the Prophet, pbuh?
Were Qur'an and Hadith transmitted by same people or different ones?


Question from Sis. N. in Detroit [From a long letter]:

I am originally from Iran, moving to real Islam, Qur'an and Hadith. I read a good book by Fazlur Rahman (Chicago University) but it confused me on some points. He writes, Hadith was written in third century after the Prophet. New Trend's web site says follow Qur'an and Hadith. I am confused please explain why Hadith was not written in time of the Prophet ?

ANSWER by Kaukab Siddique:

Dr. Fazlur Rahman was influenced by Christian missionaries and Jewish orientalists. He tried to confuse the Muslims of Pakistan, with the support of the military government, but was defeated and fled to America where he was immediately given a senior position at Chicago University to teach Islam.

Both the Qur'an and the Hadith were written down in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Qur'an is the word of Allah revealed to Muhammad (peace be on him). The Hadith is the commentary, explanation, implementation of the Qur'an by Muhammad (pbuh). Both are interlinked and essential to each other. No authentic Islamic scholar has ever tried to say that Hadith is not necessary or was written later.

The people who wrote down the Qur'an, on bits and pieces of materials, were the SAHABA or companions of the Prophet (pbuh). Paper and printing were not available at that time. So, people could not go around with printed and bound copies of the Qur'an. Even the collation and putting together of the Qur'an was done by the SAHABA so that the Qur'an became a BOOK between two covers after the Prophet (pbuh) passed away. This great work was done under the supervision of Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them all) who were the first four rightly guided Caliphs of Islam.

The same SAHABA also wrote and transmitted the Hadith and made sure that nothing was falsely attributed to the Prophet (pbuh).

The QUR'AN was also MEMORIZED by the Sahaba. In fact few of them had it in writing but many of them knew it from memory. The cross checking of memory with writing was carried out to make sure that the Qur'an as revealed to the Prophet, pbuh, was transmitted to future generations.

The HADITH was also memorized by the SAHABA and transmitted to future generations. Any scholar of Hadith had to MEMORIZE the HADITH from the written collections of the Sahaba and then RECITE IT FROM MEMORY to his/her teacher. Thus an accurate record of the Prophet's, pbuh, life and teachings was enshrined in the scholarship of the Muslim world.

In the era after the SAHABA various kinds of sects arose which tried to disseminate their own versions of the Qur'an. Some of them claimed that Hazrat Ali (r.a.) had received suras of the Qur'an from the Prophet, pbuh, which no one else had. The scholars of the line of Ali (r.a.) and Fatima (r.a.), such as Imam Jafar and Imam Baqir, were able to repudiate these claims because they had the Qur'an both by memory and in writing.

Similarly attempts were made to invent "Hadith." This was a very serious effort by Kings and emperors who wanted religion to justify their tyranny and to create a "tame Islam." The problem was aggravated by the fact that various SAHABA had migrated to various cities, and after they passed away, various people could claim that they had heard Hadith from them.

It was in that context that great scholars like Imam Bukhari stepped forward to ENSURE that fabrications did not enter the corpus of Hadith. I think that these scholars were a bit too strict and as a result they sometimes designated as "weak" even those Hadith which were authentic but which would not pass the test of extremely severe scrutiny.

Imam Bukhari and other imams are the ones Dr. Fazlur Rahman was abusing when he claimed that Hadith was written in the third century after the Prophet. Fazlur Rahman really was quite ignorant of Hadith and hence recklessly fell into the trap set for him by Christian missionaries and Jewish orientalists.

WAS HADITH WRITTEN in the TIME OF THE PROPHET (pbuh)? Yes, the evidence is overwhelming. Here is one sample from a prominent companion of the Prophet, pbuh, Abdullah ibn Umru ibn al-Aas. It is authenticated by two distinct and separate compilers of Hadith, Abu Dawud in his Sunan (chapter Kitabut al-Ilm) and Darimi in his Musnad (chapter on Rukhs fi kitabut al-Ilm):

"Whatever I heard from the messenger of Allah, peace be on him, I would write it down so as to be able to memorize it. Then some in the Quraish (tribe) said to me: You write down whatever you hear though the messenger of Allah is a human being and speaks both in anger and in joy. On hearing that I stopped writing and then I mentioned this to the messenger of Allah. He pointed with his finger to his mouth and said: Write on! By Him in whose Hand is my being, no word comes out of this mouth but the Truth."

Abdullah ibn Umru (r.a.) collected the Hadith he had written in the presence of the Prophet (pbuh) in a book titled Al-Sadiqa. Abdullah said: "There are two things I love in life: Al-Sadiqa and al-Wahat." He explained: "Al-Sadiqa is that manuscript which I heard and wrote from the messenger of Allah and Wahat is that land which (my father) Umru ibn al-Aas donated to the cause of Allah and which I take care of." [Darimi's Sunan.]

The compendium Tahzeeb al-Tahzeeb tells us that on the death of Abdullah, r.a, the manuscript of Al-Sadiqa was secured by his grandson Shuaib bin Muhammad and then transmitted to the next generation by his son also named Umru. THE HADITH WRITTEN BY Abdullah, r.a., DIRECTLY FROM THE PROPHET, pbuh, AND AT HIS COMMAND, are to be found in the collections of Hadith which we have under this chain of narration:

"From Umru son of Shuaib from his father from his grandfather." As Hadith is a very strict discipline, some classical scholars wanted to classify the collection as Mursal because they thought the grandson should have SAT DOWN IN FRONT OF THE GRANDFATHER AND RECITED THE WHOLE COLLECTION TO HIM FROM MEMORY! However, some of the greatest scholars of Hadith, like Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, accept the authenticity of Al-Sadiqa.

What makes Al-Sadiqa's authenticity irrefutable is that it was also transmitted by OTHER STUDENTS of Abdullah (r.a.) who had nothing to do with his grandson.

So, don't let anyone tell you that Hadith was not written in the time of the Prophet, pbuh.

FINALLY, spend a couple of months in trying to understand this verse of the Qur'an. It will help you to understand why the Hadith is essential and ALWAYS goes with the Qur'an:

"The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers. [33:6]

2007-04-11 Wed 18:03:54 cdt
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