لطفا منتظر باشید ...
A Study of Its Tawatur
Preface:
The Messenger of Allah -
may Allah bestow peace and benedictions upon him and his Progeny - said: "Verily, I
am leaving behind two precious things (thaqalayn) among you: the Book of God and my
kindred (itrah), my household (Ahl alBayt), for indeed, the two will never separate
until they come back to me by the Pond (of alKawthar on the Judgement's Day)."
Imam Khumayni - ridwan Allah alayh - began his
wasiyyah or will with the mention of this tradition of the Prophet (S), known as Hadith
alThaqalayn. In the prologue to his wasiyyah he pointed out that whatever tragedies and
disasters befell the Muslim world during the last fourteen centuries have been mainly due
to its estrangement from the Thaqalayn, the twofold legacy of the Prophet (S) in the form
of the Qur'an and the Ahl alBayt (A).The extent of the estrangement of the Qur'an will be
obvious to anyone who closely examines its teachings and contrasts them with the popular
religion of the masses and the prevailing religious ethos, even among the scholars and the
intelligentsia. There is certainly a wide gulf that lies between the message and spirit of
the Glorious Qur'an and the way Islam has come to be practised in Muslim society, a gulf
which has never been so wide as it became in recent centuries under the influence of the
West and the tyrannical regimes that have been ruling over Muslims. The extent of the estrangement suffered by the
Prophet's Household will be obvious to anyone who studies the history of the Imams of the
Ahl alBayt (A), who were isolated from the Muslim masses by despots and left without
support in their struggle against the tyrannical regimes of Banu Umayyah and Banu Abbas.
The result was that the most authentic exponents and defenders of the Qur'an - whom the
tides of time will never separate from the Qur'an until the Day of Judgement, as stated by
the Noble Prophet (S) - were put under severe surveillance, exiled, imprisoned, poisoned
and martyred, and the masses were deprived of their guidance and leadership.Having removed the Ahl alBayt (A) from their way,
the road was opened by the selfseeking tyrants for making the Holy Qur'an itself an
instrument for the justification of their antiQur'anic rule. "They forced," as
Imam Khumayni says, "the true exponents of the Qur'an... off the stage with various
ploys and systematic plans. In this way, they in fact, eliminated the Qur'an itself, the
Qur'an which was the greatest programme for organizing man's material and spiritual life,
and rejected its plan of government based on Divine justice, which was and remains one of
the ideals of this sacred scripture. Thus they laid the foundations of deviation from the
Din and the Book of God, bringing things ultimately to an indescribable extreme."If today the custodians of American Islam with their
petrodollars conspire against the aspirations of the Muslim masses inspired by the genuine
Islam, so did once the Umayyad and Abbasid tyrants stand in the way of Islam and seek to
isolate and destroy its exponents, the Imams of the Ahl alBayt (A), and promote a
counterfeit version of Islam. But no matter how much they tried they could not extirpate
the Prophet's exhortations regarding the Ahl alBayt and conceal the unbreakable link
between the Book of God and the Prophet's Itrah, in the form of Hadith alThaqalayn and
scores of other traditions similar to it.This hadith has continued to be narrated by each
generation of authentic Shii and Sunni traditionists and scholars throughout the last
fourteen centuries. Reliable and trustworthy narrators of each generation, from the days
of the Prophet's committed Companions - may God be pleased with them - to the present,
including many or rather most of the greatest and leading figures in the history of
Islamic scholarship have narrated this hadith. It is in view of this undeniable fact that
Imam Khumayni declared in his wasiyyah:
It is essential to point out that Hadith
alThaqalayn is a mutawatir tradition amongst all Muslims. It has been narrated in Sunni
sources - including the Six Sihah as well as other books - from the Holy Prophet (S) in
different wordings, and as having been spoken by him on repeated occasions. This tradition
is a definite proof (hujjah) for all mankind, in particular for the Muslims, regardless of
sect. And all Muslims are answerable (before God) concerning it. For it leaves no room for
any excuse for any one. And should there be room for an excuse for the ignorant and the
uninformed, there isn't any for the scholars of various schools.
The Meaning of Tawatur:
As we know, the tradition or ahadith of the Holy
Prophet (S) recorded in the books of Muslim traditionists begin with chains of
transmitters on whose authority the traditionist reports the Prophet's acts or statements.
Experts of hadith amongst Muslims have developed certain criteria for assessing the
reliability of different chains of transmission and ascertaining the authenticity of the
contents of traditions. They have developed a terminology with terms denoting various
classifications of hadith depending on the character, strength or weakness of narrators
and other factors, such as mutawatir, ahad, sahih, hasan, qawi, daif, etc. By tawatur is meant the multiplicity of the sources
of a certain report that leads to certitude in the listener that the report is indeed
true. One's knowledge of the existence of distant countries and towns and such historical
figures as Cyrus or Napolean may be said to be based on the tawatur of reports that one
hears about them. So also is one's knowledge of the contemporary events not witnessed by
him.A mutawatir hadith is one which has been reported by
so many different chains of transmission and such a number of narrators in every
generation as normally could not agree to fabricate a tradition without the fact of its
fabrication becoming known. Although some jurisprudents have specified a particular
minimum for the number of narrators, such as five, seven, ten or even hundred, it is
generally held that no particular number can be specified and the number capable of
producing certitude depends on the experience of the listener. Islamic jurisprudents have set forth certain
conditions for a tradition to be mutawatir. AlGhazali in alMustasfa min ilm al'usul
[1] mentions the following conditions.(1) That the transmitters should report on the basis
of knowledge (ilm) and not conjecture (zann). (2) Their knowledge should have been acquired
through the senses.(3) That the number of narrators should be
sufficient to produce certitude.(4) That all the links in the chains of transmission
of a report should fulfil the first two conditions and their number in every stage of
transmission must fulfil the third condition. AlShaykh alHasan ibn Zayn alDin, the Shii
author of Maalim al'usul, mentions similar conditions for a report to be mutawatir. As
can be seen, the legal condition of adalah (justice) is not required for the narrators
nor are they required to be thiqah when the conditions of tawatur are fulfilled. Rather,
alGhazali states explicitly that in such cases knowledge is attained even if the
narrators should be fasiq. The author of Maalim states two conditions in order for a
mutawatir report to produce knowledge in the listener:(1) The listener should not have previous knowledge
of the matter, for it is not possible to know something that one already knows.(2) The listener should not be inhibited by doubt or
imitation (taqlid) in his belief, for then the report will fail to make any impression
upon him.
