. J '-Ɵ  (cont.)

rJi Jca Jw ;,থf Narrated Abu Huraira: One day while the Prophet (peace be upon him) was sitting in the company of some people, [the Angel] Gabriel came and asked, "What is faith?" Allah's Apostle replied "Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, [the] meeting with Him, His Messengers, and to believe in Resurrection." Then he further asked, "What is Islam?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) replied, "To worship Allah alone and none else, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay the compulsory charity (zakah) and to observe fasts during the month of Ramadhaan." Then he further asked, "What is ihsaan (excellence in worship)?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) replied, "To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion, then you must consider that He is seeing you." Then he further asked, "When will the Hour be established?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, "The one responding has no better knowledge than the questioner. But I will inform you about its portents: [1] When a slave (lady) gives birth to her master. [2] When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of taller buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah." The Prophet (peace be upon him) then recited, "Verily, with Allah (alone) is the knowledge of the Hour" (Luqmaan 34). Then that man [Gabriel] left and the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked his companions to call him back, but they could not see him. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "That was Gabriel, who came to teach the people their religion."' The scholars have pinpointed many major causes for different narrations or wordings of what is apparently one hadith or one incident. 2 The following are some of the major causes: ( 1) The incident narrated may only seem like one event or statement while, in reality, each narrator or narration is describing a different event or statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). (2) Sometimes the hadith is narrated according to its meaning only and the exact wording has not been preserved. Other narrators may narrate the same hadith while preserving the exact wording.1 1 For the most part, this translation was taken from Khan, Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. l , p. 43. 2 Cf., Sharf al-Qadhaah, Asbaab al-Taaddud al-Rawaayaat fl al-hadith al-Nabawi al-Shareef (Amman, Jordan: Daar al-Furqaan, 1985), passim. J j j ' j j Hadith #2: The Hadith of Jibreel (3) Narrators have different retentive strengths. Particularly if a hadith or anecdote is long, it is natural for a narrator to recall or to narrate more of an incident than others. Hence, one's version of the hadith may be longer than that of another narrator. (4) Narrators sometimes intentionally abridge the text of the hadith. This is considered permissible as long as the meaning is not distorted. Hence, one narrator may narrate a complete statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him) while another may only narrate what he feels is relevant at the time he is speaking. (5) Sometimes a narrator is present for only a portion of a statement or discussion while another person may have heard the entire statement or discussion. Hence, when the two narrate the same incident, the narrations may be quite different, especially in length. (6) The Prophet (peace be upon him) would sometimes put questions to the Companions and their responses in one setting would differ. When a narrator relates that particular event, he may relate the response that he heard while others may relate the response that they heard. (7) Narrators do commit mistakes, even very proficient narrators. This is an obvious reason for why one narration may differ from another. The scholars of hadith spent a great deal of time and effort weeding out such mistakes. (8) Finally, there is the problem of intentional fabrication and distortion. This obviously did not occur from the honest and trustworthy narrators. In any case, though, its existence did lead to differing narrations of the same hadith. Looking at the different narrations of this hadith of Gabriel, it seems that there are a number of the above factors at work here. In fact, al-Qadhaah used this particular hadith as an example of cause Number 3 above, where narrators have different retentive memories. He wrote, These numerous different narrations are not the result of the incident occurring more than once. This incident did not take place more than once. It is not a matter of narrating according to the meaning of the Prophet's words either. In these narrations, there are additions not just in wording but in meaning also. The most correct explanation for that, Allah knows best, is that some of the narrators memorized what the others did not and each of them narrated what he had remembered. This is particularly understandable given that the hadith is quite lengthy.