040 - The Battle of Badr 5

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We are still discussing the incidents during the Battle of Badr. The next is a tafsir of something Allah says in the Quran:

Iblis on the Day of Badr

وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ وَقَالَ لَا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ ٱلْيَوْمَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَإِنِّى جَارٌۭ لَّكُمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا تَرَآءَتِ ٱلْفِئَتَانِ نَكَصَ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ وَقَالَ إِنِّى بَرِىٓءٌۭ مِّنكُمْ إِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰ مَا لَا تَرَوْنَ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ ٱللَّهَ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ شَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ

"And [remember] when satan made their [evil] deeds appealing to them, and said, 'No one can overcome you today. I am surely by your side.' But when the two forces faced off, he cowered and said, 'I have absolutely nothing to do with you. I certainly see what you do not see. I truly fear Allah, for Allah is severe in punishment'" [Quran, 8:48].

What is this a reference to? We already mentioned the first half of the story: When the Quraysh were leaving Makkah, they almost turned back out of paranoia that another tribe might attack Makkah while they were away — but shaytan came to them in the form of Suraqa ibn Malik (a nobleman from the Banu Kinana), guaranteeing that they won't be attacked, so much so that he said, "I will accompany you, so you can be sure that if anything happens, you can kill me." But what happened? When the Muslim and mushrik armies met one another, and when shaytan saw the angels come down, he turned around and began running away. So al-Harith ibn Hisham (الحارث بن هشام) said, "Where are you running away, O Suraqa?" And shaytan pushed him so severely that al-Harith flew upwards and fell on his back. And shaytan said, "I see what you don't, and I fear Allah" [as recorded in the Quran, 8:48]. And it's narrated in Imam Malik's Muwatta that the Prophet PBUH said, "Shaytan was never more humiliated than he was on the Day of Badr" — because of what he saw of the blessings and mercy of Allah, and he saw Jibril AS inciting the angels, "Go forth!" So shaytan felt the lowest ever in his life on the Day of Badr. And in this manifestation, we see the trickery of shaytan — how he offered them promises, but at the last minute, he literally ran away. And this is shaytan's ways — he promises everything, but he is a fraudster and trickster; he does not feel ashamed to lie.

Also, look at the significance of how Iblis himself is getting involved. We know from our texts that Iblis does not get involved except in very evil matters. As the Prophet PBUH says in a hadith, Iblis has a throne somewhere over the water, and he sends shayatin to do his bidding. So for Iblis to physically come to Badr, it's clear how desperate he was.

Also, look at the picture: On the one side, you have that very same entity who refused to do sajdah to Adam AS —Iblis, the worst of all shayatin— and you have Abu Jahal, Uqba, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and Utbah. And 100m away, you have Jibril AS —the best of all angels— and the Prophet PBUH, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Ali. Indeed, this is truly the Yawm al-Furqan (يوم الفرقان - the Day of Decision/Criterion/Separation) [see Quran, 8:41]. What was separated? Truth from falsehood. Correctness from evil. Jibril vs. Iblis. The Prophet PBUH vs. Abu Jahal. And so on. This type of battle has never taken place since Allah created mankind, up until the Day of Judgment. And this is why the Day of Badr was indeed the greatest victory given to the Prophet PBUH in terms of actual military expeditions.

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The Defeat of the Quraysh

So eventually, the Quraysh turned on their backs and fled back to Makkah.

Some modern military analysts, when they looked at the map of Badr, noticed that there was one clear passageway back to Makkah that the Prophet PBUH could have blocked if he wanted to but he didn't do so. So it is as if the Prophet PBUH allowed one escape passage back for the Quraysh (this is a theory, as we don't know what is in the mind of the Prophet PBUH). Modern military analysts theorize that the Prophet PBUH did this to leave a pressure valve outlet — that is, he left a very clear area for the Quraysh to retreat because when a group knows that they are fighting to death, they will fight much more eagerly in desperation; but when there is a pressure valve outlet, their resolve will go down very fast — "I can always run away." And that passageway is exactly where the Quraysh retreated from.

The net result at the end of the battle: 70 of the Quraysh had been killed and around 73-74 were taken prisoners of war out of more than 1,000. So around 15% of their army was either killed or taken prisoners of war. And from the Muslim side, there were no prisoners of war, and 15 were martyred. And this is less than 5% of the Muslims.

When the army of the Quraysh fled, the Prophet PBUH regrouped the sahaba and told them that they would remain at Badr for 3 days. Why?

1. To bury the shaheed. (Note this is the first time the shariah of shaheed came down, of what do you do for a shaheed: [i] You don't pray salat al-janazah. [ii] You don't wash the body — the shaheed's wounds are not washed because the Prophet PBUH said when a shaheed is resurrected, the scent of his blood will be the scent of musk. [iii] The shaheed is buried where he dies — this is the sunnah for the shaheed, so all those who died in Badr were buried at Badr. [iv] You bury a shaheed in the clothes he was wearing.)

2. To recover and recuperate.

3. To ensure the Quraysh don't launch a counterattack.

4. Most importantly, to clarify who is the winner and who is the loser. The Prophet PBUH and the sahaba camped at the battlefield for 3 days and the Quraysh didn't have the audacity or galls to return back and fight — so clearly, the Prophet PBUH was the victor of this battle.

The 15 sahaba who died each got their own grave. As for the Quraysh, the 70+ who died, they were all 'interred' collectively in a well: their bodies were thrown in one of the abandoned wells, and the well was then filled with sand. This shows us that in our shariah, we show respect even to the bodies of those whom the Muslim army has killed. We don't just let them rot in the sun — even though, we don't give them the same funeral procedure as we do for Muslim martyrs. (This is the custom of the world — your dead are treated a million times better than your opponent's. So the mushriks who died, they were given a different type of burial.) There was only one body that could not be buried, and that was Umayyah ibn Khalaf's, as we mentioned last week.

On the third day, as the Prophet PBUH was departing away from Badr, he diverted the caravan from the way back to Madinah and stopped at the well where all of those bodies had been buried. And he called them out by name one by one, "O Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, O al-Walid ibn Utbah, O Abu Jahal," et al., and said, "Have you found what your lord has promised you to be true? As for me, I have found the promise of Allah to be true." He PBUH mentioned all the leaders of the Quraysh one by one and gave this rhetorical question. And Umar RA said to him PBUH, "Ya Rasulullah, how can you speak to bodies that have no soul?" The Prophet PBUH said, "I swear by the One in whose Hands is my soul, you are not able to hear me now any better than they can. But they cannot respond to me" (i.e., they can hear me very clearly) — this hadith is in Sahih Muslim. One of the narrators, Qatada the Student of Ibn Abbas, explained this hadith by saying, "Allah brought them back to life in order that they could hear the Prophet PBUH speak, and in order that they could be humiliated and insulted upon their injuries, and they could be a source of regret and guilt for them."

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Tangent: Can the Dead in the Grave Hear the Speech of the Living?

Q: Can the dead in the grave hear or not? Can he know a visitor is at his grave? This is a huge theological question that even the sahaba differed over. And this incident of Badr is one of the most important evidences used by both sides — it's an authentic evidence; everybody knows it is there; the interpretation is the issue.

One camp says the dead can hear, the other says they cannot. And both opinions have sahaba, tabi'un, and great scholars supporting them.

It is said that Ibn Umar RA would say the person in the grave can hear the one visiting him. (And he even went further to say that that [dead] person will be punished by hearing his [living] relatives wail over him.)

But Aisha RA believed the dead cannot hear the person outside.

Quranic Verses

1. Aisha RA quotes the Quran, "You will not be able to make the one in the grave hear you" [Quran, 35:22].
2. And there are other Quranic evidences as well: "You cannot make the mawta (موتى - the dead) hear. Nor can you make the deaf person hear the call when they turn their backs and walk away" [Quran, 30:52].
3. Also in another verse, Allah says, "You certainly cannot make the dead hear. Nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs and walk away" [Quran, 27:80].

So one can say it seems very explicit from the Quran that the dead cannot hear.

Ahadith

What about the hadith? A number of ahadith seem to suggest that the dead can hear — hence the conflict and controversy.

1. There is a long hadith in Sahih Bukhari wherein the Prophet PBUH mentions what happens to the soul when it dies. One phrase in it is of relevance to us. He PBUH said, "The person in the grave hears the footsteps of those who have come to bury him as they return." Pretty clear and explicit.
2. Another evidence that is used is the famous hadith in Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet PBUH visited Baqi' al-Gharqad and he said salam to the people of the grave, "Assalamu'alaykum."
3. Another evidence that is used is the mutawatir hadith wherein the Prophet PBUH said, "Whoever sends salam upon me, Allah will send an angel to tell me that they have given salam."
4. Another hadith, "Whoever passes by the grave of anyone they knew and says salam, the person in the grave shall recognize who said salam and he shall return his salam." But this is a weak hadith — it's not mentioned in the Six Books; rather, it's mentioned in some of the more obscure books, e.g., Ibn Hibban (ابن حبان), Ibn Asakir's (ابن عساكر) Tarikh Dimashq (تاريخ دمشق).

And there is another evidence that is used, which is NOT a hadith, but rather, what Amr ibn al-As said to his children when he was on his deathbed: "When you bury me, stay at my grave for the length of time it takes to slaughter an animal and distribute the meat (i.e., a fixed unit of time)." Why? He said, "Your presence will calm me down, and then I will be able to answer the messengers of my Lord (i.e., منكر ونكير‎ - Munkar and Nakir)." (Side note: Amr ibn al-As is one of the last three sahaba to make Hijrah before the Conquest of Makkah [see episode 72].)

Opinion 1: The Dead Can Hear

Taking all of the above into account, the majority position, including of al-Nawawi (النووي), Ibn Kathir (ابن كثير), Ibn Taymiyyah (ابن تيمية), Ibn Hazm (ابن حزم), Ibn al-Qayyim (ابن قيم), al-Suyuti (السيوطي), and Allama al-Shanqiti (الشنقيطي), is that the dead CAN hear those who visit their grave (note: ONLY those who visit, NOT anybody in the world). According to this group, if you say salam to the grave, the person in the grave will be aware that so-and-so is sending salam. Their main evidence is the incident of Badr where the Prophet PBUH said, "They can hear me just as well as you can" — this is the most explicit evidence that all these scholars use. How does this camp interpret verses in the Quran that say the dead cannot hear?

1. They say the meaning of 'hear' [in those verses] is not a physical hearing, but rather, a hearing that will benefit. And they have an evidence for this: They quote the verse where Allah SWT says, "The only people that you can make to hear are those who will believe in Our Signs" [see Quran, 27:81]. What is the 'hearing' here? Those who follow Islam. Not the physical hearing.
2. They say 'the dead' mentioned in the Quran is not a physical death, but rather, a spiritual death. "Al-mawta" in verses [27:80] [30:52] refers to one who is a kafir. And they have evidence for this as well: They quote the verse where Allah SWT says, "Can those who had been dead —to whom We gave life and a light with which they can walk among people— be compared to those in complete darkness from which they can never emerge?" [Quran, 6:122]. The meaning of death and life here is kufr and Islam. Allah calls the kafir 'mayyit.' So this camp interprets this verse as, "You cannot make the kafir hear you." (But the problem that comes with this interpretation is that in verse [35:22], Allah SWT very explicitly says, "You [O Prophet] can never make those in the GRAVES hear [your call].")

Opinion 2: The Dead Cannot Hear

On the other camp, we have Aisha RA, Umar RA, Qatada the Student of Ibn Abbas, al-Bayhaqi (البيهقي), al-Shawkani (الشوكاني), al-Albani (الألباني), Ibn Atiyyah (ابن عطية), Ibn al-Jawzi (ابن الجوزي), Ibn Qudama (ابن قدامة), al-Suhayli (السهيلي), al-Qadi Abu Ya'la al-Hanbali (القاضي أبو يعلى الحنبلي), et al., who said Allah *brought them back to life* so they could hear. How do you reinterpret all of the ahadith that seem to suggest the dead can hear?

1. They say while it is true that 'mawta' can refer to the kafir, in these verses it refers to the dead, because of verse [35:22] that mentions "graves."
2. As for the other camp's point of saying the Quran talks about hearing of benefit, this can be refuted through verse [35:14], "When you call them (i.e., the false gods) they can't even hear you; even if they could, they don't have the power to respond." (Side note: Recall all the false gods that the Arabs used to worship in the times of Jahiliyyah were humans in the beginning. E.g., al-Lat, al-Uzza, Manat.)
3. As for the incident of Badr, they say this is the strongest evidence against the other camp. How so? They say Umar RA questioned, "How can these people hear when they are dead?" And the Prophet PBUH did not correct him, but rather, made an exception. He PBUH said, "O Umar, *right now* *this group* can hear me just as well as you can." — An exception in time, place, and people. He didn't say, "O Umar, why are you asking? Don't you know the dead can hear?" This clearly shows Umar RA understood the Quran correctly — and the Prophet PBUH is not correcting the 'misunderstanding'; because it is not a misunderstanding.
4. The issue of the footsteps: Once again, the Prophet PBUH is making an exception in time and place. This is NOT any person who visits him. This is at the time of burial. We know from authentic ahadith that the ruh (soul) reunites in the body to respond to Munkar and Nakir. So the Prophet PBUH is basically telling us that: at that point in time, the footsteps of those who walk back will be heard. Not conversations, but rather, the footsteps only.
5. As for the issue of the Prophet PBUH going to Baqi' and saying salam, they say it's a salam of du'a, and not a salam of greeting. In our daily lives, we use the phrase "may peace be upon you" as both a du'a and a greeting. But in this particular case —this camp of scholars say— it's only a du'a and not a greeting. So according to them, this hadith doesn't seem to suggest at all that the dead can hear.
6. As for the hadith of the dead recognizing the one who says salam to him, it is a weak hadith, and pretty much every scholar of hadith says it is weak.
7. As for Amr ibn al-As's wasiyyah (وصية - will) to his children, it is *his* interpretation; the Prophet PBUH did not tell him to do it.
8. As for the ahadith of the Prophet PBUH that say the angels come and give him PBUH salams (the angels deliver his ummah's salams to him in his grave PBUH), the very fact that an angel must convey the salam indicates that he PBUH cannot hear [the speech of the living anymore]. If the Prophet PBUH could hear directly, he wouldn't need the angels to go tell him.

Sh. YQ's Opinion

2012: It does seem to be that the dead CANNOT hear. And Allah knows best. But we shouldn't be too strict about this issue because some of the sahaba held the other opinion. And it's true to say that many scholars held the position that the dead can hear the one who visits them.

2019 (Sh. YQ changed his opinion - https://youtu.be/4I5Go8S--Q4?t=2831): I find myself very sympathetic to Ibn Taymiyyah's position overall, because the Quran does not negate the hearing of the dead unequivocally. If you look at the verses of the Quran (when they talk about how the dead cannot hear), they are dealing with hidayah (هداية - guidance). So it does appear that when Allah is saying the dead cannot hear, what He is negating is the hearing that is beneficial (i.e., hearing of the qalb/قلب - hearing of the heart). And all of these evidences put together, the message that we are getting is, as Ibn Taymiyyah says in Majmu' al-Fatawa (مجموع الفتاوى), Volume 5, page 366: "All of these traditions and other than them indicate that the mayyit (ميت - the dead) CAN hear the speech of the living. But this doesn't mean every mayyit hears every speech of the visitor that comes to him. (Just like in this world where sometimes the living don't hear the speech of the other living.) For it is possible that Allah can allow some of them to hear in some circumstances, and not in others. It is possible that the mayyit might be busy with something else (either good or bad), so that when the visitor comes, he is unaware." So there is no guarantee that when the living visit the mayyit, they will be noticed and heard every single time. But overall, it is clear that it does happen (i.e., the dead can sometimes hear). [The incident of] Badr is not an exception. Therefore, argument can be made that the dead are aware of the visitations of the living (to the vicinity of their grave), and they can hear the salam, and are aware of the salam if Allah wills (i.e., not every single time). And Allah knows best.

The main point is that this is a theoretical issue. No action is derived from this. By unanimous consensus, you DON'T ask the person in the grave for your needs.

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The Spoils of War

Back to the Battle of Badr. Another thing that took place in these 3 days before the Muslims returned to Madinah was the issue of ghanima (غنيمة - spoils of war). And we know from the Quran and sunnah that the previous ummahs were not allowed to keep ghanima; they had to give it up. Allah has not made ghanima halal for any ummah except for our ummah. (In fact, in the Old Testament —and the hadith affirms this— it is said that when the army of Bani Israel captured the items from war and whatnot, they would make a big pile, and Allah AWJ would send down a lightning bolt to burn the whole pile in front of them to affirm that it has been accepted from them.) When the Muslims finished the Battle of Badr, there was a lot of ghanima, and they wondered what to do. Some discussion broke up amongst the sahaba — because in the course of the battle, the sahaba had split up into a number of groups, and each group was claiming some privilege over the other group. One group said, "We were the ones who collected the booty from the battlefield, so we should get it." Another group said, "We were the ones who pursued the Quraysh as they ran away to make sure they wouldn't come back. And had we not been pursuing, you couldn't have collected." A third group said, "We were surrounding the Prophet PBUH as a precaution that they wouldn't attack. And the only reason we stayed next to him was to protect him. So how could you deprive us? Rather, we deserve it as well." Note this wasn't a fight or a debate — it was a discussion. And it's said Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas came with a beautiful sword he had taken from the person he had killed, and said to the Prophet PBUH, "O Messenger of Allah, give this sword to me, for by Allah, I used it in the battle."

And so Allah revealed the first verses of Surah al-Anfal, literally on the battlefield:

يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْأَنفَالِ ۖ قُلِ ٱلْأَنفَالُ لِلَّهِ وَٱلرَّسُولِ ۖ فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَصْلِحُوا۟ ذَاتَ بَيْنِكُمْ ۖ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥٓ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

"They ask you [O Prophet] regarding the spoils of war. Say, 'Their distribution is decided by Allah and His Messenger. So be mindful of Allah, settle your affairs, and obey Allah and His Messenger if you are [true] believers'" [Quran, 8:1].

So Allah is reminding them that greed should not be the primary incentive. Don't break up your brotherhood. Allah's pleasure is more important than this wealth.

Then the Quran goes on and says the war booty can indeed be distributed. The details of fiqh of distribution are complicated and beyond the scope of this halaqa, but in a nutshell, we learn from verse [8:41] that:

⅕ of it is put aside; and this ⅕ is divided into 5 shares:

1. The Prophet PBUH — This was unique for him in his lifetime. After his death, then obviously, this is not there.
2. The Ahl al-Bayt — In Sunni fiqh, we respect them and even give them this ⅕ of the ⅕. (Note the Sunni's definition of Ahl al-Bayt is broader than the Shia's definition of Ahl al-Bayt.)
3. Orphans.
4. Poor people.
5. Travelers and wayfarers who don't have any money.

So 4% each — and this gives a total of 20%. The rest of the 80% is given back to the army. And in the Battle of Badr, every single person was given an equal share. This was early Islam. (Later on, in the Battle of Khandaq onwards, the Prophet PBUH changed this. He gave the one with an animal [horse/camel] three times the amount than those who didn't have an animal. The infantry and cavalry were differentiated in their share of ghanima. [See also: episode 61.])

And in the Battle of Badr, there were 9 people who got a share of the booty even though they were not on the battlefield. Every one of them had a legitimate excuse. The main person being Uthman ibn Affan RA. He got the same amount as all of the other Badriyun, and he is considered a Badri even though he didn't participate in the Battle of Badr. Why? Because his wife Ruqayyah (رقية) (i.e., the daughter of the Prophet PBUH) had fallen severely sick. In fact —they didn't know this at the time, but— she was going to die. Uthman wanted to participate in the battle, but the Prophet PBUH told him to take care of Ruqayyah. So he remained behind. And she passed away the day the Prophet PBUH returned back from Badr (as we will discuss later). She was buried on the same day the Prophet PBUH returned back from Badr.

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The Prisoners of War

Another issue that took place in those three days they stayed at Badr was about the prisoners of war (POWs). What exactly is to be done with the 73-74 prisoners? Once again, this is the first time the Muslims have taken prisoners, and they don't know what is to be done. In Sahih Bukhari, we learn that the Prophet PBUH surveyed all of the prisoners and said, "If Mut'im ibn Adi were alive right now (he just died a few months ago) and he spoke to me to free all of these natna (نتنى - filthy/dirty people), I would have freed them all for him." Now they are about to collect a fortune from these 70+ people — literally, it would be millions of dollars [in our time]— yet the Prophet PBUH was willing to let them go had Mut'im was alive and asked him to free them. This is a statement that has truly profound implications.

Why did the Prophet PBUH utter this phrase?

Mut'im is already dead. But recall Mut'im was one of those who fed the Banu Hashim when they were boycotted, he helped break the Boycott, and he gave protection to the Prophet PBUH when Abu Lahab revoked his protection. And so with this statement at Badr, the Prophet PBUH is repaying the favor, even though Mut'im was a kafir. (This is like the 21-gun salute in our times.)

We learn here that there are those who are not Muslims but they have good hearts. They don't have good hearts in tawhid, but they have good hearts in mercy, in humanity, in tribalism, and in standing for truth. Mut'im did not approve of Islam as a religion, but he did not approve of the zulm of the Quraysh against the Muslims either. So the Prophet PBUH took advantage of this, appreciated it, and repaid him back. Similarly in our times, there are those non-Muslims who don't agree with Islam theologically, but they stand for truth and freedom, and they don't want the Islamophobes — so it is our job to honor them, to respect them, to reach out to them to work together for a better society — just as the Prophet PBUH did.

Now the issue came what is to be done with the prisoners of war. This was a very traumatic issue because, on the one hand, these very people have just tried to kill them. So the Prophet PBUH asked the sahaba, and in particular, he asked his two wazirs (وزير - vizier[s]): Abu Bakr and Umar. And Abu Bakr RA said, "They are our relatives and blood [after all], so show mercy." Umar RA said, "As for me, I think you should give Aqil to Ali and he will execute him, and so-and-so to me and I will do my job, so we don't leave any of them. They tried to kill us; we should do the same to them." At this, the Prophet PBUH said, "Verily, Allah makes some hearts so soft they are softer than milk, and others He makes them so hard they are harder than stones. As for you, O Abu Bakr, you have a resemblance of Ibrahim and Isa AS. Ibrahim said (to Allah SWT), 'If they follow me, they are of me; and if they disobey me, then O Allah, You are Forgiving and Merciful' [see Quran, 14:36]. Isa said, 'If You punish them, they are Your servants, but if You forgive them, You are the Almighty, the All-Wise' [see Quran, 5:118]. And O Umar, you are like Nuh and Musa AS. Nuh said, 'Don't leave a single house of kafirs on earth'  [see Quran, 71:26]. And Musa said, 'Make their hearts hard so that they never have Iman until they see the Punishment come down on them' [see Quran, 10:88]." And the Prophet PBUH agreed to the suggestion of Abu Bakr.

Umar RA narrated this hadith: The next day (i.e., the second day of camping at Badr after the battle) he found the Prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr RA crying under a tree. So he asked, "What is causing you to cry, O Messenger of Allah? For by Allah, if I understand, then I will cry with you. And if I don't understand, I will force myself to cry just to be with you." And so the Prophet PBUH recited those verses of Surah al-Anfal in which Allah says, "It is not desirable for a Messenger to have prisoners of war until he establishes power in the land" [Quran, 8:67]. And Allah mentioned that one of the reasons why some of the sahaba (not Abu Bakr, but some other sahaba) wanted to take ransom was for worldly gain — He SWT said, "You wanted the dunya, but Allah wants the akhira [for you]" [Quran, 8:67]. And then Allah said, "Were it not for the fact that Allah had already allowed this to happen, a Punishment would have come down on you" [see Quran, 8:68]. So this is what caused the Prophet PBUH to cry.

Of course, as we know, later on, the shariah came down to give the khalifa the choice of what to do (with POWs). But at this time, for the Battle of Badr, Allah said it was not the best decision to keep prisoners of war — but now that you have done it, then let it go. And this leads us to a very deep theological and Usul al-Fiqh issue which we really don't have the time to discuss in a lot of detail but one of our brethren insisted that we talk about this in some details, so let us spend a few minutes on this issue. And that is the issue of does the Prophet PBUH have independent ijtihad (اجتهاد‎ - independent reasoning)?

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Is the Prophet PBUH Allowed to Exercise His Own Opinion?

Is the Prophet PBUH able to exercise his own opinion? Or does everything he says emanate directly from Allah SWT? This is an issue that the scholars of Usul al-Fiqh have been discussing from the earliest of Islam. There are obviously, as usual, more than 2 opinions. But there are 2 primary opinions:

1. The first opinion (minority) is that everything the Prophet PBUH says is directly wahy. And the scholars who hold this opinion mention that Allah says in the Quran, "Everything he (the Prophet PBUH) says is wahy that comes to him" [see Quran, 53:3-4].

2. The vast majority of Sunni scholars say it's very clear that Allah gave the Prophet PBUH the right to do ijtihad (اجتهاد‎). And Allah would sometimes correct it and sometimes let it pass. And in both cases, his ijtihad was binding for the sahaba to follow. Thus, the key point is whatever the Prophet PBUH commanded, the sahaba had to follow. Regardless of whether you say it came from Allah or it came from him, all scholars unanimously agree that whatever he commands you to do, you must follow it. As for verse [53:3-4], even by the context, it is very clear that the word 'wahy' in the verse is a reference to the Quran. It's very clear that the Prophet PBUH was a human being — for the 40 years before the wahy, he spoke as a human, and even after the wahy began, he still remained a human being. He said in an authentic hadith, "I am a human being, I forget as you forget." In another hadith, he said, "I get angry sometimes" — showing his humanity. So it's clear that, at times, he can make ijtihad regarding an issue, and this issue later on is sometimes corrected by Allah, or he himself corrects it.

i) Of them the example is given of the incident of Badr where he made an ijtihad regarding what to do with the prisoners of war. And this is not a purely secular matter. This is a semi-religious/semi-secular matter. And Allah told him it wasn't the best decision.

ii) Also the example of cross-pollination as recorded in Sahih Muslim. The Prophet PBUH made such-and-such a suggestion to the farmers, and they followed the advice. But then, the result did not turn out as expected. To which, the Prophet PBUH said, "If I tell you something from the matter of the deen, then I am the Messenger of Allah. But if I tell you something from the matter of this world, then you know your worldly affairs better than I do." And this clearly shows that the Prophet PBUH sometimes spoke from his own ijtihad.

And it appears that sometimes, even in matters of shariah, he PBUH made his own ijtihad. And Allah gave him the right to do that.

iii) For example, the issue of the prohibition of going to the graves. He himself said later on, "I used to forbid you from visiting graves, but now, go ahead and visit them." And there does not seem to be any wahy from Allah to change this. Rather, it seems he himself felt that this was now okay to go visit graves.

iv) Another example that is even more explicit: He said, "I was about to forbid you al-ghila (الغيلة - being intimate with your wife when she is in the period of breastfeeding a child, i.e., for a year or so after delivery), but then I saw the Romans and Persians do it and it does not affect their child. Therefore, go ahead and do it."

v) Also, the issue of hypocrites during Tabuk [9 AH] in which he forgave the hypocrites. But then Allah revealed in Surah al-Tawbah, "May Allah pardon you [O Prophet]! Why did you give them permission?" [Quran, 9:43].

vi) The hadith of Fatima bint Qays (فاطمة بنت قيس). She was a young lady that many people were interested in marrying after her husband died a shaheed. And she didn't have a house to live, so the Prophet PBUH said, "Go to Ummi Sharik (أم شريك)'s house, wait until your iddah (عدة) finishes, then I will see who you should marry." But then, later, he sent her another message, "A lot of my young sahaba visit Ummi Sharik's house. [Side note: Maybe every few days she would have a feast or something; we don't know the whole story.] So don't be in her house. Because maybe my young sahaba will see you when they shouldn't see you. So go to your cousin Ibn Ummi Maktum (ابن أم مكتوم) as he is blind."

vii) Also, in Hajj, he PBUH did Hajj Qiran (قران), and later, he said if he knew better, he would have done Hajj Tamattu' (تمتع) [see episode 100].

viii) Also, in the incident of Uhud [3 AH], when he was severely injured, he said, "How can Allah ever forgive you (mushriks)?" [see episode 49]. And what did Allah reveal in the Quran in response to this phrase? This is a very strict verse:

لَيْسَ لَكَ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ شَيْءٌ أَوْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْ أَوْ يُعَذِّبَهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ

وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ يَغْفِرُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

"You [O Prophet] have no say in the matter. It is up to Allah to turn to them in mercy or punish them, for indeed, they are wrongdoers. Everything in the heavens and earth belongs to God. He forgives whoever He will and punishes whoever He will: God is Most Forgiving and Merciful" [Quran, 3:128-129].

ix) Also, he PBUH made a du'a about Muawiyah (which we cannot get into now because it is going to be too long).

x) A very explicit shar'i ruling, mutawatir, Bukhari and Muslim: When the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah [8 AH], he said, "Every single tree in Makkah is Haram. Nobody should pluck a leaf from Makkah" — but right then and there, his uncle said, "Please make an exception for idhkhir (إذخر - lemongrass), because we use it for spices" — and so, the Prophet PBUH made an exception, "Okay, except for idhkhir." We can say this is an honor that Allah gave to the Prophet PBUH — that He granted the Prophet PBUH the right to do tashri' (تشريع - legislation). Some say this is disrespectful, but we say it's the exact opposite. The Prophet PBUH is human, but he is the Messenger of Allah, so he is allowed to right then and there say, "Except for idhkhir." And to this day, every book of fiqh says you cannot pluck any leaf in Makkah except for idhkhir.

And there are 50 or more examples of the Prophet PBUH exercising ijtihad — some of them secular, some of them somewhat secular-religious, some of them purely religious, and some of them even theological. He is a human being, but Allah made obedience to him obligatory. So whatever he says about the matters of our religion, we are obliged to obey. If he makes an exception etc., it's completely permitted for him to do so, and it is our obligation to hear-and-obey.

Very simplistically: Every ijtihad of the Prophet PBUH is binding upon us, except when Allah sent down wahy to correct/change his ijtihad. And we follow his ijtihad because there are over 60 verses in the Quran that tell us to do so.

Sh. YQ's note: "This is a seerah class. Don't derive laws from anything I say."

[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan, Faizan & MAR]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, January 2024]