Please elaborate in the light of reliable ahādith the following issues:
i.Invocation and supplications
ii.Oblation and Sacrifice
iii.Three divorces in a single instance
iv.Hudhud
v.Namlah
Answer
The Holy Prophet (sws) has frequently pointed out abhorrence of shirk, ascribing partners to God. This issue has been discussed repeatedly in the Holy Qur’an as well. All the three acts you have mentioned, when done to and for anyone other than God, are considered shirk. No need was felt to condemn these things in a prophetic narrative as they have been clearly defined in the Holy Qur’an in myriad styles. Their abhorrence might have been explicated in some narrative but most well known traditions only condemn the act of shirk.
Similarly, the assertions of some Companions of the Holy Prophet (sws) regarding Hudhud and Namlah have been given in historical narratives contained in books on Islamic history and exegetical literature but I could not find any sound narrative ascribed directly to the Prophet (sws) on this issue.
As regarding the three talaqs at the same time, they have been considered, at time, equal to one. It is basically a juridical issue. Evidence in support o this view has been summarized by Allama Ibn Rushd in his book ‘Bidāyah al-Mujtahid’. I am reproducing the relevant discussion below for you.
They plead to a narrative reported by Hazrat Ibn ‘Abbās included in major hādith corpuses by Imām Bukhāri and Imām Muslim. It has been claimed that during the life of the Holy Prophet (sws), the reign of Abū Bakr and the first two years of the reign of Caliph ‘Umar, triple talaq was considered to be a single one. However, Hazrat ‘Umar, later on, issued the administrative directive that a man issuing the triple talaq will have all his three rights to divorce exhausted. The upholders of the above mentioned view also plead to the report of Ibn Ishāq which he narrated on the authority of ‘Ikramah who reported on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbās (rta). He narrates that Rukānah gave triple talaq to his wife in one go. She was shocked to hear this. The Holy Prophet (sws) asked how he divorced his wife. He answered that he divorced her thrice at the same time. The Holy Prophet (sws) said: Only single divorce has occurred. You may reunite. (Abu Dā’ud No: 2206, Ibn Mājah No: 2051) The majority of the scholars (who take the triple talaq as final) assert that the narrative included in the two sahīhs reported on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbās has only Tā’us as a member of the chain of the narrators and the rest of his (Ibn Abbas’s) disciples including Sa’īd b. Jubayr, Mujāhid, ‘Atā’ and ‘Amr b. Dīnār along with a group o authorities have held the counter view (i.e. implementation of three divorces in the same time.) They that the report of Ibn Ishāq is an allusion (wahm). More reliable narrators assert that Rukānah had given divorce to his wife. There was no mentioning of the word ‘three’.
Evolution, the Nocturnal Journey and the Holy Qur’an
Is the theory of evolution in harmony with the Qur’an? If yes please mention the relevant verses. Also please explain which verse of the Holy Qur’an asserts that the Night of Ascension was a dream and not a physical journey?
Reply:
The theory of organic evolution claims that new species arise and prosper by natural selection. According to this theory, the first human being was not created from the clay but was begotten by parents that were not complete humans but were identical with human beings is some respects.
Contrarily, the Holy Qur’an clearly declares that Adam was the first human born on earth. Allah Almighty had created him with clay. He had no parents. Both these aspects have been joined in the following verse of Surah Āl ‘Imrān:
The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”. And he was. (Q 3:59)
The verse implies that the birth of Christ without father carries no peculiarity. Before him, Allah Almighty had created Adam from soil without father or mother. Because the main subject of the verse is the existence of parents, so it clarifies that Adam was created without a parent. Another important issue explicating the birth of mankind is in Surah al-Sajdah (32). It reads:
He Who has made everything which He has created most good: He began the creation of man with clay, and made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised: But He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit. And He gave you the faculties of hearing and sight and feeling: little thanks do you give!
This verse highlights stages development of human life. Mr. Javed Ahmad Ghamidi opines that the verse indicates that human beings have been created right from the earth for a significant time. Then they were enabled to reproduce. Then once, a couple that had the capability to reproduce was selected. Then the spirit was blown into it. All the human beings are the offspring of this couple. He is of the view that remnants discovered by the scientists belong to the human beings of ancient times. They express it as evaluation.
I do not agree with this view of his. However, I have presented his views before you so that you could get an answer to your question and know which verse of the Holy Qur’an explicates the issue of evaluation.
The story of Nocturnal Journey has been related in the initial verses of Surah Banī ‘Irā’īl (the Children of Isrā’īl) (17). Later, in the same Surah the event has been called a trial (fitna) for the contenders. The verse reads:
Behold! We told thee that thy Lord doth encompass mankind round about: We granted the vision which We showed thee, but as a trial for men. (Q 17:60)
In this verse, the word ru’yā (vision) has been used to connote the incident of ‘Mi’rāj‘ i.e. the Nocturnal Journey. It is agreed that this ru’yā reckons to the journey to Aqsā Mosque. However, the meanings of the word ru’yā have been interpreted differently. In our view, the word ru’yā carries only a single meaning, dream. But there is no similarity in our dreams and the dream of Holy Prophet (sws). Whatever the prophets visualize in their dreams is a sure reality as they are not interrupted by the Satan. Yet the verse conclusively demonstrates that the journey was not a physical one.
Mr Talib Mohsin was born in 1959 in the district Pakpattan of Punjab. He received elementary education in his native town. Later on he moved to Lahore and passed his matriculation from the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Lahore. He joined F.C College Lahore and graduated in 1981. He has his MA in Islamic Studies from the University of Punjab. He joined Mr Ghamidi to learn religious disciplines during the early years of his educational career. He is one of the senior students of Mr Ghamidi from whom he learnt Arabic Grammar and major religious disciplines.
He was a major contributor in the establishment of the institutes and other organizations by Mr Ghamidi including Anṣār al-Muslimūn and Al-Mawrid. He worked in Ishrāq, a monthly Urdu journal, from the beginning. He worked as assistant editor of the journal for many years. He has been engaged in research and writing under the auspice of Al-Mawrid and has also been teaching in the Institute.
