Qadi Yusuf al-Nabahani said: First of all, you should know that knowledge of the unseen is the prevledge of Allah Most High, and that its appearance on the tongue of the Messenger of Allah and others comes from Allah either through revelation or through inspiration. The Prophet said in the hadith: I swear it by Allah! Truly I know nothing except what my Lord taught me.1 So everything that came to us from him consisting in news of the unseen is nothing other than the Divine disclosure to him as a proof for the actuality of his Prophet-hood and its truth. In other words, as expounded at length by Shaykh Ahmad Rida Khan, the Prophets `ilm al-ghayb is partial (juzi), non-exhaustive (ghayr ihati), bestowed (`atai) and not independent (ghayr istiqlali) as established once and for all by the Quranic verse the knower of the Unseen, and He reveals unto none His secret save unto every messenger whom He has chosen (72:26-27). Al-Nabahani said: The listing of the miracles in this chapter cannot be exhausted because of their large number and the fact that they took place at his hands in most of his states, whether they asked him questions or not, whatever circumstances dictated. These are the most numerous of his stunning miracles Al-Qad.i `Iyad. said in al-Shifa: His knowledge of the unseen counts among those miracles of his that are known categorically and definitely, coming to us through mass transmissions with a vast number of narrators and congruent meanings. The Prophets familiarity with and knowledge of the unseen was a well-known and universally recognized fact among both the believers and the unbelievers to the point that one of them would say to the other, Hush! By Allah, even if there is none among us to tell him, the very stones and pebbles would tell him.3 Al-Bukhari narrated from Ibn `Umar (ra): We kept away from conversation and leisurely talk to our women lest some revelation come down concerning us. After the Prophet died we spoke more freely.4 Al-Bayhaqi narrated from Sahl ibn Sa`d al-Sa`idi (ra): I swear by Allah that some of us would refrain from doing something with his wife as he and she lay together under the same sheet for fear some Quranic revelation should come down concerning them. Abd Allah ibn Rawah said (ra): Among us is the Messenger of Allah reciting His Book As the radiant light cleaves the true dawns sky. He showed us guidance after blindness and our hearts Now firmly know that all he says will take place. and Hassan Ibn Thabit said (ra): A Prophet who sees around him what others do not And recites the Book of Allah in every assembly! If he says something of a day which he has not yet seen What he says is confirmed on the morrow or the next day. The above two quatrains put to rest the odd claim of the author of Taqwiyat al-Iman that the Prophet did not know what would happen on the next day on the grounds that he said, Avoid saying this to the slave-girl reciting poetry when she said, Among us is a Prophet (pbuh) that knows what happens tomorrow. The reason for this order is not because he did not know - since it is established that Allah (swt) is the Knower of the Unseen, and He reveals unto none His secret save unto every messenger whom He has chosen (72:26-27) and that He revealed to the Prophet knowledge of the future until the Day of Judgment and much of the Hereafter as well - but because knowledge of the unseen was attributed to him in absolute terms when only Allah knows the unseen in absolute terms.9 Coming from the mouth of a child not yet qualified to pray,10 such an assertion was reminiscent of the popular belief unbecoming of a Prophet but typical of the false claims of seers, oracles, astrologers etc. that they could, of their own devices, know the future, to which Allah (swt) said No soul knoweth what it will earn tomorrow (31:34). Hence, the Prophet , in one version, added by way of explanation, Only Allah knows what happens tomorrow11 i.e. independently of anyone and with an absolute knowledge. Ibn Mas`ud similarly narrates:He has received the keys to everything (unseen) except the Five (which Allah alone knows). Narrated from Ibn Mas`ud by Ahmad and Ibn `Adi. Haythami in Majma` al-zawaid (8:263) says: The sub-narrators in both chains are the men of sound (sahih) narration. Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani also cites, without weakening them, two very similar hadiths in Fath al-Bari (Dar al-Fikr ed. 1:124 and 8:514): Utiya nabiyyukum `ilmu kulli shayin siwa hadhihi al-khams. Utiytu mafatih al-ghayb. Your Prophet has received everything except these Five. I have received the keys of the Unseen. And on the next page (3:110): A man from Banu `Amir, after asking the Prophet certain questions, said: Is there any knowledge left which you do not know? whereupon the Prophet said: Allah knows better than that, and there is a kind of Unseen knowledge which Allah alone knows: With Him is knowledge of the Hour. He sends down the rain, He knows what is in the wombs, no soul knows what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die (31:34). Ahmad narrated it and Ibn Kathir mentions it in his Tafsir for Sura Luqman. Al-Haythami said in Majma` al-zawaid (#116): Abu Dawud narrates part of it, and all of the sub-narrators in Ahmads chain are trustworthy and they are Imams. And also: It is confirmed by Ibn Mardawayhs narration from `Ali cited in the chapter of Sura Luqman in Kanz al-`ummal, as a commentary for the verse 28:66 in Sura al-Qasas, On that day tidings will be darkened for them, whereby `Ali said: Nothing was darkened for your Prophet except five matters from the secrets of the Unseen. (lam yu`ma `ala nabiyyikum shayun illa khamsun min sarair al-ghayb.) And also: My Lord came to me in the best form - the narrator said: I think he said: `in my sleep - and asked me over what did the Highest Assembly (al-malau al-a`la) vie [I.e. the angels brought near according to Ibn al-Athir in al-Nihaya and others]; I said I did not know, so He put His hand between my shoulders, and I felt its coolness in my innermost, and knowledge of all things between the East and the West came to me. I.e. He himself stressed he knows all but the five things and it was confirmed by the major Companions for the benefit of the Umma. This is the Nass, to deny which is impermissible. In his discussion al-Kattani cites al-Qadi `Iyads statement in al-Shifa that to know that the Prophet knew ghayb is part of obligatory knowledge in Islam i.e. the one who ignores it is not excused. Calling the mu`jiza of his knowledge of ghayb - except for the Five Things - a wild claim is kufr because that mu`jiza is mutawatir as established by al-Hafiz al-Kattani in Nazm al-Mutanathir (#249). Note that demanding scholars opinions after a hukm is unambiguously established by the Nass is also fisq or kufr. Al-Shafi`i compared the person who insists on enquiring what the scholars think after being told the clear and explicit words of the Messenger of Allah, to a kitabee.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 20:08:30 +0000
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