What A Reform Rabbi Learns From Prophet Muhammad – OpEd
Ahadith are narrative accounts by Prophet Muhammad’s companions of situations involving God’s messenger and rulings or statements that Muhammad made. Since Prophet Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be an excellent exemplar, Ahadith have had a major impact on Islam’s worldview.
There are six major collections of Ahadith. The most influential one is by al-Bukhari (who died about 240 years after Muhammad). Bukhari claims to have examined almost six hundred thousand Ahadith. He only accepted seventy-four hundred of them (1.2%) as being undeniably authentic.
The other five collections also didn’t include the vast majority of Ahadith they examined, but they do overlap considerably in the ones that they do consider authentic. I have selected six Ahadith to gloss from my perspective as a Reform Rabbi. Seven are from Bukhari, and one Hadith (singular) is an apocryphal one I heard from an Imam in Cairo several years ago.
Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded. (Volume 1, Book 2, Number 38)
Gloss: Unlike Christianity, both Islam and Judaism teach the importance of sacred slaughter of meat, and the avoidance of certain animals for food. In Islam the rules are simpler and fewer than in Orthodox Judaism.
Most Reform Rabbis would regard the increasingly restrictive developments in kashrut, especially for Passover, as a counterproductive, overburdening of the people. The expansion of restrictions on Shabbat activities is also seen by most Reform Rabbis as a counterproductive, overburdening of the joy of Shabbat.
Muhammad wisely differentiates between extremism and striving to be near perfect (no one is perfect) which involves a rejection of extremism. Just trying to do well will be rewarded.
Narrated ‘Aisha and Ibn’ Abbas: On his deathbed Allah’s Apostle put a sheet over his-face and when he felt hot, he would remove it from his face. When in that state (of putting and removing the sheet) he said, “May Allah’s Curse be on the Jews and the Christians for they build places of worship at the graves of their prophets.” He intended to warn (the Muslim) from what they (i.e. Jews and Christians) had done. (Volume 4, Book 56, Number 660)
Gloss: Allah’s apostle strongly opposed any diversion of reverence or worship to anyone other than God. Christians, and even some Jews, had started worshipping at the graves of holy men, saints and prophets. Although they claimed to be only worshipping God, their feeling that prayer was better or more effective at such sites was cursed by Muhammad.
In later centuries, Muslims also began worshipping at the tombs of holy men and building places of worship near their graves. Reform Rabbis would agree that such activity at gravesites should be condemned and could be seen as a curse. Allah’s apostle must also have realized that even the Muslim community would produce people whose piety would lead to such errors for a Hadith on the same page says,
Narrated Abu Said: The Prophet said: “You will follow the wrong ways of your predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into the hole of an animal, you too will go there.” We said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?” He replied, “Whom else?” (Volume 4, Book 56, Number 662)
Gloss: Muhammad criticized the failings of many in the Jewish and Christian communities (as did the prophets of Israel) but he realized that people are human, and most do not seem to learn from the failings of others.
Muhammad hoped that Muslims would retain their original purity, but he foresaw that decay and falsification were inevitable. Allah’s apostle would certainly attack female genital mutilation in Africa today as sharply as he attacked female infanticide in Arabia in his day. It is a shame that most Muslim leaders in Africa today do not condemn it.
The doctrine of abrogation of one Quran verse by another provides Islam with the flexibility to stress the verse that is best applied to current circumstances and situations, It also applies to exceptions to general rules that should not be applied uniformly to everyone or every situation,
For example: Narrated Nafi: Ibn ‘Umar recited: “They had a choice, either fast or feed a poor (person) for every day..” and added, “This Verse is abrogated.” Volume 6, Book 60, Number 33But Ibn ‘Abbas said, “This Verse is not abrogated, but it is meant for old men and old women who have no strength to fast, so they should feed one poor person for each day of fasting (that they do not fast during the month of Ramadan).” Volume 6, Book 60, Number 32:
Narrated Salama: When the Divine Revelation: “For those who can fast, they had a choice either fast, or feed a poor (person) for every day,” (Qur’an 2.184) was revealed, it was permissible for one to give a ransom and give up fasting, till the Verse succeeding it was revealed and abrogated it. Volume 6, Book 60, Number 34
Gloss: Rabbis also understood that sometimes verses seemed to contradict other verses but they were loath to openly say that. They preferred to say that some laws no longer applied because historical circumstances had changed. For example; the Holy Temple in Jerusalem that had been destroyed or the nations referred to in the Torah were no longer in existence.
In other cases, They limited the law’s application so that it almost never occurred, as in the case of a stubborn and rebellious son. Islam usually avoids this legal hair splitting with the doctrine of abrogation.
Abu Huraira related: Two men, a Muslim and a Jew, abused each other. The Muslim said , “By Him Who gave superiority to Muhammad over all the people.” At that, the Jew said, “By Him Who gave superiority to Moses over all the people.” The Muslim became furious at that and slapped the Jew in the face.
The Jew went to Allah’s Apostle and informed him of what had happened between him and the Muslim. Allah’s Apostle said, “Don’t give me superiority over Prophet Moses, for people will fall unconscious on the Day of Resurrection and I will be the first to gain consciousness, and behold Prophet Moses will be there holding the side of Allah’s Throne. I will not know whether Moses has been among those people who have become unconscious and then has regained consciousness before me, or has been among those exempted by Allah from falling unconscious.” (Volume 8, Book 76, #524)
Gloss: Allah’s messenger is so well known for his sense of justice that a Jew can appeal to him even in a conflict with a Muslim who has attacked a Jew. It is only natural for Jews to think that Prophet Moses is the best, and for Muslims to think that Prophet Muhammad is the best.
Prophet Muhammad rebukes the Muslim, telling him not to claim that Muhammad is superior to Moses because even on the day of Resurrection, Muhammad himself will not know their relative merit, for although Muhammad will be the first to be revived, Moses will already be there holding the side of God’s throne.
Prophet Muhammad teaches us comparisons of religious superiority are wrong, for no one in this world, and perhaps even in the world to come, will know who is the best.
“The prophets are brothers, sons of one father by co-wives. Their mothers are different but their religion is one.”. (Bukhari and Muslim).
Abu Huraira reported many Ahadith from Allah’s Messenger, and one of them is that Allah’s Messenger said: I am most close to Jesus, son of Mary, among the whole of mankind in this worldly life and the next life. They said: Allah’s Messenger, how is it? Thereupon he said: prophets are brothers in faith, having different mothers. Their religion is, however, one and there is no Apostle between us (between I and Jesus). (Muslim, Book #030, Hadith #5836)
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.” ( Bukhari, Book #55, Hadith #652)
There is also a Hadith that speaks of a time in the future when Prophet Jesus will return and transform Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Abu Hurairah reported Allah’s Messenger as saying,” By Him in whose hand my soul is, the son of Mary will soon descend among you as a judge.
He will break crosses, (change Christian teaching about the resurrection), kill swine (change Jewish teachings about the laws of Kosher food) and abolish the jizya (a tax payable by a monotheistic community which accepts the protection of a Muslim ruler and whose members do not embrace Islam), (changing Islamic understanding of the Jihad to proclaim human equality) and wealth will pour forth to such an extent that no one will need to accept charity.”
