Question
Did our prophet (saw) pray for his non Muslim parents? please provide references and source.
Answer
- Every Muslim (including the Prophet – pbuh) is allowed to pray for any one, Muslim or not Muslim,unless the person has been from among those who arrogantly rejected the message of Tohid despite knowing that it was the truth. This is why in the Qur’an the Prophet (pbuh) is advised not to pray for Mushrekeen (of his time who rejected him despite knowing the truth). Verse 9:113 of the Qur’an refers to this.
- There is no clear evidence that the parents of the Prophet (pbuh) were Mushrek. Although majority of the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’a have the view that the parents of the prophet (pbuh) were Mushrek, we cannot say that there is absolute agreement on this. For example al-Zarqani in his explanation (Sharh) on Suyuty’s al-Mawahib ul-Danya bi al-Manih al-Muhammadya, volume 1, page 312 argues that Amina the mother of the Prophet (pbuh) was in fact monotheist and a follower of religion of Ibrahim.
- There is often a Hadith that is referred to in order to prove that the Prophet (pbuh) was not allowed to pray for his mother. The hadith is as follows:
Abu Hurayra says: “The prophet (pbuh) went to the grave of his mother and wept and so those around him also wept. So the prophet (pbuh) said: “I asked permission from my Lord to ask for forgiveness for her but the permission was not given to me, so I asked permission to visit her grave and this permission was given to me, so visit graves since it is a reminder of death.”
This Hadith cannot be trusted from both the content and the narrator’s points of view:
- From the content point of view:
Based on point 1 above there is no logic behind such forbidding. Even if we agree that the Prophet’s (pbuh) mother was a Mushrek, in the absence of an active prophet of God at her time, she was not in a position to be convinced about the message of Tohid and therefore her (supposedly) denial of Tohid would be out of ignorance and not arrogance.
- From the narrators point of view:
All the versions of this Hadith that are narrated in the more reliable books of Hadith like Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud and Sunan Nasayee include Yazid ibn Kaysaan who (as written in the chains of narrators of this Hadith) has narrated it from Abi Hazim who has narrated it from Abu Huraira.
Although many scholars of Rijal have approved Yazid ibn Kaysaan, there are in fact some serious comments about him in the books of Rijal that make his position as a narrator of Hadith (specially when he is the only person who has narrated this from Abu Huraira) very problematic:
- al-Jurjani has included him in his book al-Kamil fi Zu’afa al-Rijal (Collection of weak narrators), entry 2180. He narrates from Yaheya and Marwan that Yazid ibn Kaysaan is not one that could be trusted.
- ibn al-Juzi has included him in his book al-Zu’afa wa al-Matrukin (Weak and abandoned), entry 3801.
- Some of the above are also reported in the book al-Tahzeeb al-Kamaal by a-Mazi (no. 7041). In addition we read:
Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hatam reports that his father (Abi Hatam) considered the Ahadith of Yazid ibn Kaysaan to be worth of writing and did not consider him weak however when he asks Abi Hatam “(so) can we reason using his Hadith”, Abi Hatam replies: “No!”. He further writes that Bukhari has in deed added his name in his book of Zu’afa – i.e. weak narrators (although he also writes that his father was of the opinion that he should have not listed as weak).
Note that the direct addressees of this verse are the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions, many of whom, like the Prophet (pbuh), had lost their parents before the advent of Islam.
Abdullah Rahim