> Wisdom behind hadith!

[optimist]

Salam,

Bukhari (ref: 9.38A) narrated by Anas Ibn Malik: A man peeped into one of the dwelling places of the Prophet. The Prophet got up and aimed a sharp-edged arrowhead (or wooden stick) at him to poke him stealthily.

Can anyone tell me the wisdom behind this hadith? I believe that it is tantamount to insulting the prophet to say that the prophet tried to poke the eyes of the person who peeped into his room. It would be assumed that the Prophet would go to this man who had peeped into his room and would teach him Islamic conduct and make him understand that what he did was forbidden, not to take an arrowhead and attempt to stab him and poke his eyes stealthily. Is there any other wisdom behind this hadith?

The question especially to my dearest brother, Al-boriqee.

Wassalam

[al-boriqee]

firstly, Islam came with the attribute of distinguishing between justice and oppression

the meaning of justice in Islam is
"to put in place what demands to be there"

and it has no extreme, it only has an opposite, and the opposite is oppression.

The meaning of oppression is
"To NOT put in place what demands to be there

When a person begins to understand the reality of these two by fulfilling the obligation of putting into place what demands to be there and by making sure he does not oppress people by not putting in place what needs to be there, then he develops the attribute called "al-Hikmah". Wisdom, as defined by Islam is to know how to place things in its proper place

PART of doing this, meaning from the attributes of wisdom is that in some situations, if a situation demands an easy response, then the person with wisdom understand and realizes that there needs to be an easy response. If the situation demand no response, then the person with wisdom understands and realizes that there needs to be no response at all. If There is a situation that demands an extreme response, then the person of wisdom understands and realizes that there needs to be an extreme response to the situation

That is why the same prophet who was the most merciful of all the Muslims to the man who urinated on the masjid grounds was the same one who understood the necessity to issue the harsh punishment of the execution of Bani Quraida which resulted in the mass execution of 700 or 900 jews, all of whom were executed under the prophets command.

Now, as it pertains to this particular hadeeth, the same contemplative explanation applies and a most fruitful reflection reveals that the hadeeth in question is showing and teaching us that privacy is of utmost importance to man and that it is teaching Muslims to regard with sanctity the value of privacy. That is why we Muslims are the most respectful of the privacy of others, and the situation demanded such a reaction of the prophet as an "emphasis" of this matter. So it was not merely just to prove the importance of it, but the emphasis of it. In the shariah this is called "t'akeed" and when your preforming a mu'akada of something, it is to show emphasis on a matter.

lets correlate the manner of the prophet in this hadeeth with other narrations. It is naturally known that all the sahaba viewed their prophet as the most gentle with them.
However, after a battle, one of the companions was severely wounded with injuries to the head. this man asked the companions how to purify himself to offer the salaah. So the companions told him to wash himself normally (wudoo). Due to the man's wudoo the man died. SO when the news got back to the prophet alaihi salatu salaam, he told those same sahaba
"you killed that man, May Allah fight you"

Now why would such a harsh statement be demanded by the prophet.

The scholars extract that he had to emphasis the severity and nature of legislating and speaking about the dos and don'ts of the religion. Secondly, it was to emphasis the severity of what happens when people speak without knowledge which is why the prophet ended this narration with stating that "all you had to do was to come to me and ask me, he could have made tayyamun".

Lastly, there is another hadeeth that you should keep in mind optmist.

The prophet alaihi salatu salaam said in a hadeeth

"the reality of your affair is like a fire where flies are attracted and flying straight to it. My affair with you all is like the one who is swatting away the flies (us humans) from the fire so as not to get burned in the fire"

In the hadeeth, the flies were human kind, and he was the sole person getting the flies to go away from the fire.

every action of the prophet and every word of the prophet has to be looked in that context, that whatever is narrated from the already established ahadeeth, then it has to be understood that such an action is overall repelling us from the fire and the non observance of his act or command is in actuality the success of a fly to be able to resist the prophet's sway of protection and managed to go to the light of the fire.

[salman]

wa'alaykum as-salam

brohter optimist, can you please tell us your intention for asking such a question. Is it that you want to learn the fiqh of this hadith? Or is it that you want to start another debate on "we should not accept ahadith"? Because if your intention is not clear and your are not sincere then there is no point of answering you for two reasons: 1) you will reject whatever we us because you have already made up your mind and 2) we are already discussing this accepting ahadith in other threads so why open another one.

may Allah Ta'ala guide us all and keep us on haqq, ameen

[al-boriqee]

Originally Posted by salman

wa'alaykum as-salam

brohter optimist, can you please tell us your intention for asking such a question. Is it that you want to learn the fiqh of this hadith? Or is it that you want to start another debate on "we should not accept ahadith"? Because if your intention is not clear and your are not sincere then there is no point of answering you for two reasons: 1) you will reject whatever we us because you have already made up your mind and 2) we are already discussing this accepting ahadith in other threads so why open another one.

may Allah Ta'ala guide us all and keep us on haqq, ameen

both

he doesn't seem to understand the logic of it and wants to know it because he thinks that the general wording is not befitting prophethood and thus is doubtful of the hadeeth, hence in some ways, both reasons but with a less sinister viewpoint in mind and Allah knows best.

[Assad]

@optimist: you think that Prophet would have opened the lights and welcomed this guy in and told him not to peep in his house?

It is just like If some guy comes to your home from window at night, would you go and start teaching him that what he is doing is bad! ?

[salman]

^and let us not forget about their situations: enemies looking for an opportunity to attack

[optimist]

Originally Posted by salman

wa'alaykum as-salam

brohter optimist, can you please tell us your intention for asking such a question. Is it that you want to learn the fiqh of this hadith? Or is it that you want to start another debate on "we should not accept ahadith"? Because if your intention is not clear and your are not sincere then there is no point of answering you for two reasons: 1) you will reject whatever we us because you have already made up your mind and 2) we are already discussing this accepting ahadith in other threads so why open another one.

may Allah Ta'ala guide us all and keep us on haqq, ameen

Salam,

Brother boriqee had explained in another thread that there may be hadiths which may look like contradicting to us, but it could be that we can not understand the actual intent, which is the reason why I posed this question specially to boriqee. I doubted the truthfulness of the hadith.

if you want, you may delete this thread or merge the same with any relevant thread.

thank you boriqee for the explanation

wassalam

[salman]

^wa'alayka as-salam brother

1 - Asking the fiqh of hadith is not put forward by asserting that it is insulting the Prophet when you do not have any reasonable explanation for your assertion. Still I was giving you the benefit of doubt and just wanted to clarify that you have sincere intention.

2 - Brother, a hadith is not rejected or doubted because it does not work with our intellect or seems contradictory due to our lack of knowledge - this is not how we authenticate the historical accounts.

3 - Please kindly remember this, only the promotion of un-Islamic content or beliefs is banned on this forum.

[optimist]

Originally Posted by salman

^wa'alayka as-salam brother

Originally Posted by salman

1 - Asking the fiqh of hadith is not put forward by asserting that it is insulting the Prophet when you do not have any reasonable explanation for your assertion. Still I was giving you the benefit of doubt and just wanted to clarify that you have sincere intention.

2 - Brother, a hadith is not rejected or doubted because it does not work with our intellect or seems contradictory due to our lack of knowledge - this is not how we authenticate the historical accounts.

3 - Please kindly remember this, only the promotion of un-Islamic content or beliefs is banned on this forum.

Salam,

It is a fact that I did not provide too much of explanation.

According to me, each and every Muslim must be prepared to answer such questions in case any non muslim at any point of time come with my such arguement. We can not simply say to a non muslim that it just because of their lack of knowledge they feel so and so hadith (or whatever it is) contradictory. We have to explain to them with logical deductions.

You said I had no reasonable explanation for your assertion. You already know the qualities of the prophet as mentioned in the Quran and other hadiths?

“You who believe! Do not go into the Prophet's rooms except when you are invited to come and eat. Do not wait there while the food is being cooked. However, when you are called, go in, and when you have eaten, disperse, not remaining there to chat with one another. Doing that causes annoyance to the Prophet though he is too reticent to tell you so. But Allah is not reticent with the truth... (33: 53)

“It is part of the Mercy of Allah that thou dost deal gently with them. Wert thou severe or harsh-hearted they would have broken away from about thee; so pass over (their faults) and ask for (Allah's) forgiveness for them…”(3:159)

“Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent role model for him who hopes in Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah much”. (33: 21).

It is a mercy from Allah that you were gentle with them. If you had been rough or hard of heart, they would have scattered from around you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them… (3: 159)

"Anas bin Malik (ra) says: 'I remained in the service of the Rasulullah (saas) for ten years. He never once told me 'Oof.' When I did something, he never asked me why did you do so? When I did not do a certain task, he never asked me why I did not do it'." (Tirmidhi )

"The Prophet sent Mu'adh and Abu Musa to Yemen telling them. 'Treat the people with ease and don't be hard on them; give them glad tidings and don't fill them with aversion; and love each other, and don't differ'."(Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 275)

The prophet also said; "My Cherisher has ordered me nine things: To reverence Him, externally and internally; to speak true, and with propriety, in prosperity and adversity; moderation in affluence and poverty; to benefit my relations and kindred who do not benefit me; to give alms to him who refuses me; to forgive him who injures me; that my silence should be in attaining knowledge of Allah; that when I speak, I should mention Him; that when I look on Allah's creatures, it should be as an example for them."

A Jewish neighbor who used to throw garbage in the path way of the The Prophet. Then, one day, the garbage stopped appearing.The Prophet wondered why and asked people about what had happened to his neighbor. He was told that the neighbor was sick, in bed. So, the Prophet went and visited his Jewish neighbor to wish well.

We also know that while the prophet was at Taif, he was praying for forgiveness for the people who pelted stones at him and injured him.

I hope you know now I had some reasonable explanation for my assertion

wassalam