وَسَلَّمَ
[106–103]. (Dar al-Salam 0108) Qutaybah ibn Sa[id narrated: [Abd al-[Aziz (meaning al-Darawardi) narrated; from al-[Ala’ ibn [Abd al-Rahman; from his father; from Abu Hurayrah; from the Prophet: All these narrated the same hadith as al-Zuhri, except that al-[Ala’ and Safwan ibn Sulaym do not include in their narration, ‘Which people normally appreciate’. Hammam’s narration mentions ‘While believers are looking on, and he is a believer as he robs it’. He further adds: ‘None of you is a believer when he unlawfully appropriates something. Therefore, beware! Beware’.
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْعَزِيزِ - يَعْنِي الدَّرَاوَرْدِيَّ - عَنِ الْعَلاَءِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: كُلُّ هَؤُلاَءِ بِمِثْلِ حَدِيثِ الزُّهْرِيِّ غَيْرَ أَنَّ الْعَلاَءَ وَصَفْوَانَ بْنَ سُلَيْمٍ لَيْسَ فِي حَدِيثِهِمَا: «يَرْفَعُ النَّاسُ إِلَيْهِ فِيهَا أَبْصَارَهُمْ». وَفِي حَدِيثِ هَمَّامٍ: «يَرْفَعُ إِلَيْهِ الْـمُؤْمِنُونَ أَعْيُنَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُوَ حِينَ يَنْتَهِبُهَا مُؤْمِنٌ». وَزَادَ: «وَلاَ يَغُلُّ أَحَدُكُمْ حِينَ يَغُلُّ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ، فَإِيَّاكُمْ، إِيَّاكُمْ».
[107–104]. (Dar al-Salam 0109) Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to me:i Ibn Abi [Adi narrated; from Shu[bah; from Sulayman; from Dhakwan; from Abu Hurayrah: ‘The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “An adulterer is not a believer when he commits adultery; a person is not a believer when he steals; a person is not a believer when he drinks intoxicants. Yet repentance is available [to all]”.’
حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْـمُثَنَّى، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ أَبِي عَدِيٍّ، عَنْ شُعْبَةَ، عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ، عَنْ ذَكْوَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «لاَ يَزْنِي الزَّانِي حِينَ يَزْنِي وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ، وَلاَ يَسْرِقُ حِينَ يَسْرِقُ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ، وَلاَ يَشْرَبُ الْخَمْرَ حِينَ يَشْرَبُهَا وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ، وَالتَّوْبَةُ مَعْرُوضَةٌ بَعْدُ
[108–105]. (Dar al-Salam 0110) Muhammad ibn Rafi[ narrated to me: [Abd al-Razzaq narrated; Sufyan reported; from al-A[mash; from Dhakwan; from Abu Hurayrah; from the Prophet: ‘An adulterer …’, the same as Shu[bah’s narration.7
حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ رَافِعٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّزَّاقِ، أَخْبَرَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ ذَكْوَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، رَفَعَهُ قَالَ: «لاَ يَزْنِي الزَّانِي». ثُمَّ ذَكَرَ بِمِثْلِ حَدِيثِ شُعْبَةَ.
Text Explanation
7. The Prophet is quoted as saying: ‘An adulterer is not a believer when he commits adultery; a thief is not a believer when he steals; a drunkard is not a believer when he drinks intoxicants’. In another version: ‘None of you is a believer when he unlawfully appropriates something’. And yet in another: ‘Yet repentance is available to all’. Scholars differ as to the meaning of this hadith. The correct view stated by scrupulous scholars is that a person who commits any such sinful action does not do so when he is in a state of complete faith. Thus it is a case of negating the existence of something when the intention is to negate its full, complete or perfect meaning. It is like saying: ‘Nothing is knowledge except what is useful’, or ‘Nothing is property except camels’, or ‘There is no life except the life hereafter’. We interpret it in this way because of the hadith narrated by Abu Dharr and others, quoting the Prophet: ‘Whoever says, “There is no deity other than God” will be admitted into Heaven, even if he commits adultery and steals’. Moreover, [Ubadah ibn al-Samit reported an oft-narrated hadith stating the Ansar’s pledge, whereby they committed themselves not to ‘steal, commit adultery or indulge in disobedience of God …’. The Prophet said to them: ‘Whoever of you honours his pledges, God will give him his reward, and whoever commits any such thing and is punished for it in this present life, he has atoned for it, but anyone who commits something but is not punished, his case is determined by God: He may pardon him if He so wills, or He may punish him if He so wills’. These two hadiths and similar ones in authentic anthologies, and God’s own statement: ‘For a certainty, God does not forgive that partners are associated with Him. He forgives any lesser sin to whomever He wills’, (4: 48) are the basis of this view. Indeed, the people of the truth, i.e. Islam, are unanimous that adulterers, thieves, murderers, and those who commit grave sins, other than associating partners with God, are not considered unbelievers as a result of their sins. They are believers but their faith is deficient. If they repent and desist, their punishment is waived, but if they die persisting in their grave sins, they are left to God to determine their fate: He may wish to admit them to Heaven directly or He may punish them first then admit them into Heaven.
All this evidence makes it necessary to interpret this hadith and similar ones as we have done. Moreover, such interpretation is perfectly admissible from a linguistic point of view, and is frequently used. When two hadiths appear to be at variance, we must reconcile them, and this is a case where reconciliation is necessary; this is what we have actually done. Some scholars interpret this hadith as referring to a person who does any of these sins considering it lawful, despite the fact that he is aware that Islam forbids it. Al-Hasan and Abu Ja[far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari said: ‘The hadith means that such a person is deprived of the good name which applies to God’s devout servants, the believers, and given instead a bad name, such as “thief”, “adulterer”, “transgressor”, etc.’. Ibn [Abbas is reported to have said that the hadith means that God removes from him the light of faith; another hadith also mentions this. Al-Muhallab said: ‘Such a person is deprived of insight into obeying God’. Al-Zuhri, on the other hand, said that ‘this hadith and similar ones should be accepted fully and taken as they are, without trying to fathom their meaning. We certainly do not know their meaning’. He is also quoted as saying: ‘Take them as they were taken by your predecessors’.
Other views are expressed on the meaning of this hadith, but some of them are clearly wrong. Therefore, I have left them out. What I have mentioned of scholarly views are all possible,
