As salaamu aleykum Abdul_Karim, I have a few questions regarding your assertion that the Muwatta and the "two sahihs" are equally authentic. I am a non-Muslim and very much want to convert to Islam, however, am having some intellectual hang-ups. I hope that you can help me sort them out.
You say that, "Every Hadith in the Muwatta is authentic, as is also the case with al-Bukhari. This makes them equally Sahih. Arguing otherwise is either semantics or anti-Maliki bias." I disagree. I think that Malikis are very interesting and am not trying to sway either way, I am simply trying to find the truth so I can be convinced of Islam and practice the correct sunnah.
Although I only started researching different madhabs a few weeks ago, I have come across some things I would like clarification on. For instance, the Muwatta narrates the following story:
Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had wanted to take two pieces of wood to strike them together to gather people for the prayer, and Abdullah ibn Zayd al-Ansari, then of the tribe of Harith ibn al-Khazraj, was shown two pieces of wood in his sleep. He said, 'These are close to what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wants.' Then it was said, 'Do you not call to the prayer?', so when he woke up he went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and mentioned the dream to him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered the adhan." Book 3, Number 3.1.1.
However, this is the version recorded in Sahih Bukhari:
Narrated Ibn 'Umar: When the Muslims arrived at Medina, they used to assemble for the prayer, and used to guess the time for it. During those days, the practice of adhan for the prayers had not been introduced yet. Once they discussed this problem regarding the call for prayer. Some people suggested the use of a bell like the Christians, others proposed a trumpet like the horn used by the Jews, but 'Umar was the first to suggest that a man should call (the people) for the prayer; so Allah's Apostle ordered Bilal to get up and pronounce the adhan for prayers. Book #11, Hadith #578
So, although it doesn't have any impact on fiqh, the two stories do not line up. I personally think it sounds a bit insulting to the Prophet to think that his original idea for the adhan was hitting wood together. One has to not be correct.
Although I agree that in some aspects of the deen there is room for minor disagreement, what concerns me the most between all the madhabs is the wide divergence on critical laws, for instance, whether sodomy requires a hadd punishment or not. The following tradition is recorded in the Muwatta:
Malik related to me that he had heard that Uthman ibn Affan was brought a woman who had given birth after six months and he ordered her to be stoned. Ali ibn Abi Talib said to him, "She does not deserve that. Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, says in His Book, 'Their carrying and weaning is thirty months,' (Sura 46 ayat 15) and he said, 'Mothers suckle their children for two full years for whoever wishes to complete the suckling.' (Sura 2 ayat 233) Pregnancy can then be six months, so she does not deserve to be stoned." Uthman ibn Affan sent for her and found that she had already been stoned. Malik related to me that he asked Ibn Shihab about someone who committed sodomy. Ibn Shihab said, "He is to be stoned, whether or not he is muhsan." Muwatta Book #41, Hadith #41.1.11
Noticeably, however, the two sahihs do not contain anything about a punishment for sodomy. However, there is the following tradition, narrated in both Bukhari and Muslim:
Narrated 'Abdullah: Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshiped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims." Sahih Bukhari Book #83, Hadith #17
This hadith, in addition to some Qur'anic interpretation, led Abu Hanifa to completely abandon any hadd in the case of sodomy in favor of a ta3zir, and led Shafi'i to declare that sodomy was synonymous with zina, thus a muhsan would receive stoning while a ghayr muhsan received lashes, in contrast to the Maliki view that muhsans and ghayr muhsans are both put to death. The hadith sounds pretty unequivocal that these are the only times the blood of a Muslim can be shed. Obviously this has led to divergence on the issue of liwat.
Additionally, there is the narration in the Muwatta about Umar adding a new phrase to the fajr adhan:
Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that the muadhdhin came to Umar ibn al-Khattab to call him to the subh prayer and found him sleeping, so he said, "Prayer is better than sleep," and Umar ordered him to put that in the adhan for subh. 3.1.8
Shafi'i rejected this and as narrated in his Kitab al Umm, (Pages 73-74 in my Arabic edition) he favored leaving out "prayer is better than sleep" and deemed it an innovation, however, later, according to the commentary by al-Muzani, accepted it based on the hadith now narrated in Sunan Abu Dawud (Book #2, #504), Tahhawi, Ahmad, and Tirmidhi, and rejected the story about Umar:
ألقى علي رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم الأذان حرفا حرفا الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله أشهد...
...أن لا إله إلا الله أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله حي على الصلاة حي على الصلاة حي على الفلاح حي على الفلاح قال وكان يقول في الفجر الصلاة خير من النوم الراوي: أبو محذورة - المحدث: أبو داود - المصدر:
سنن أبي داود - الصفحة أو الرقم
Re: Imam Jafar on Imam Malik (ra)
