Title:
A Narrative about Four Chances of Repentance Granted to an Apostate
Article:
A Narrative about Four Chances of Repentance Granted to an
Apostate
Subject Matter of the Narrative:
According to Bayhaqiy's narrative no. 16610 it is
reported:
روي
أن رسول الله
استتاب نبهان أربع مرات وكان نبهان ارتد.
It is narrated
that the Prophet asked Nabhan to repent four times. Nabhan was
guilty of apostasy.
Similar narratives are also reported in Abu Ya`laa's
narrative no. 1785 and Abd al-Razzaq's narrative no. 18699. Besides these
narratives, opinions of the companions on the issue have also been narrated in
Bayhaqiy's narrative no. 16666, 16667, 16668 and 16669 and the opinion of
Ibrahim Al-Nakha`iy has been reported in Abd al-Razzaq's 18697.
Comment on the Narrative
None of the cited narratives has been reported with a reliable and unbroken
chain of narrators.
As for Bayhaqiy's narrative no. 16610 and Abd al-Razzaq's
narrative no. 18699, their chain not only includes an unspecified person, but is
also broken, as it is narrated as an act of the Prophet (pbuh) by Abd Allah
ibn Ubaid ibn Umair
(عبد الله بن عبيد بن عمير), while he
had never seen the Prophet (pbuh).
As for Abu Ya`laa's narrative no. 1785, it includes
Ismail ibn Zakariya Al-Khalqaniy, who, although is considered acceptable by
some experts, is considered to be weak by Al-`ajaliy
(العجلي) in his book Ma`rifah al-Thiqaat
(معرفة الثقات). Ibn Mu`een is
also reported to have said that he is a weak narrator (see: Tehzib al-Kamal,
Vol. 3, Pg. 94). This narrative further includes Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn
Aqeel, who has been considered to be one of unreliable memory by some
experts,
and careless in reporting by other experts.
Ibn Sa`d is reported to have said that he reports strange (Munkar)
narratives. It is also reported that Imam Malik and Yahya ibn Sa`eed
did not accept his narratives; Ya`qoob is reported to have said that he
was a truthful person but his narratives are weak; (Tehzib al-Tehzib vol.
6, pg. 13). In short, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Aqeel is generally
considered to be unreliable in reporting sayings of the Prophet (pbuh).
Conclusion
In view of the fact that the narration has not been reported by a chain that
can safely be termed as reliable, we do not consider it prudent to accept the
incident as correctly reported. It is possible that it may have been the
practice of some of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) to ask a person to
repent for his apostasy a few times before subjecting him to the punishment of
death.
This practice and/or opinion of some of the companions may erroneously have been
reported as the practice of the Prophet (pbuh).
(This write-up is prepared by the Hadith Cell of
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi)
***************
See:
Al-Majruheen vol. 2, pg. 3.
See:
Al-Kaashif vol. 1, pg. 594.
According to the Qur'an, as a result of the advent of the Messenger of God
in the Banu Ishmael, those who rejected faith from amongst the
polytheists were subject to the death penalty, under the provisions of the
Divine Law relating to the advent of God's messengers. If any of these
polytheists had accepted Islam at the hands of the Messenger and later
decides to return to his previous beliefs, then he too should be grouped
with those who had rejected the call of the messenger and, thus, also be
subjected to the same punishment. If seen in this perspective, the narrative
under consideration actually means that those people who were to be
punished, according to the law of God, had they not accepted Islam, would
face the same punishment, if at any time during their lives they leave the
folds of Islam and return to their previous beliefs.