Attribute Correctly!

In the recent past, I have come across many statements being attributed to people, when in reality the statements were made by others.

In fact, this has been and remains an issue in every field, and is not acceptable in any. It combines the major sins of lying and stealing; stealing the intellectual property of another, and lying in attributing it to another. The person guilty of committing such an act intentionally is sinful. Obviously, if done in error and unintentionally, the person is excused, and an apology is in order.

My primary concern however, is the marked increase of this issue amongst Islamic circles. There are many who merely share anything with an Islamic theme to it which they find beneficial; whilst not being privy to the science of taking from the correct sources. This post is not intended for them, for they are not to blame.

What is much more concerning is when these erroneous attributions come from the platform of seemingly reputable institutions, with a background in propagating beneficial material. It is sad to see ahādīth being passed off as the saying of a great Imām from the salaf, or any other living Shaykh for that matter. Similarly, the sayings of the salaf are sometimes also passed off as sayings of others.

It has to be remembered that when ‘Ulamā give speeches or lectures, their speech will be based on the Qur’ān and ahādīth. Sometimes, they will quote an āyah or hadīth, specifying that it is such; and sometimes their statements will have the meaning of the āyah or hadīth embedded within them. They may not specify that it is so, because they may not recall that particular āyah or hadīth at the time. This is where mistakes in attribution occur. A listener, unaware of the hadīth or āyah carrying the same meaning, will note that statement down, thinking it worthy of being written in gold, because of the meaning held within it. He/she will then attribute it to the speaker.

What’s the Fuss?

You may say, ‘Well, that’s hardly the fault of the speaker, nor the listener, so what’s the fuss?’ In the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم, the Sahābah رضي الله عنهم were prevented by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم from writing any of his statements. Abū Sa‘īd Al-Khudrīy رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said, “Do not write [any of the statements you hear] from me; whoever has written anything from me except the Qur’ān, should erase it. You may relate from me, and there is no harm in that; but whoever falsely attributes to me – intentionally – should book his place in the Fire.” (Muslim)[1]

Imām An-Nawawī رحمه الله, whilst explaining this hadīth writes that the prohibition of writing the aḥādīth in the early stages of Islām was so that they would not get mixed up with the Qur’ān. After people had become familiar with the Qur’ān, this prohibition was abrogated.

This hadīth proves to an extent that there should be a decent level of knowledge on both sides; on part of the writer and the audience, for taking or writing down the statements of a speaker. This is to avoid confusion between two different categories and levels of statements.

Unfortunately nowadays, people are unfamiliar with the Qur’ān and ahādīth, and therefore cannot differentiate between them and any other statements. Therefore, it is all the more important that the statements of ‘Ulamā are clearly distinguished from the āyāt of the Qur’ān and ahādīth, and attributed correctly. If this cannot be done, then it should be avoided, and left to the people who have the capability and credentials to carry out such tasks.

Another point I find worthy of making here is that for some reason or another, people seem to be infatuated with quoting some Imām or Shaykh. Personally, I find no harm in quoting any of the great Imāms or ‘Ulamā, from any era. Why should I, when books upon books are written, and have been written throughout history, based on the saying of the pious? I’ll go as far to say that even in the Qur’ān, Allāh quotes Luqmān and many others, even an ant! The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمalso quoted people; Labīd, a great poet of the time comes to mind, and many others. Why then should I be against such practice?

What I do find strange however, is that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has stated clearly, “Propagate from me, even if it be only an āyah…” (Al-Bukhārī)[2] Likewise, there are many more virtues of narrating ahādīth. Why do people prefer to attribute and propagate the sayings of an Imām or Shaykh, when they could be sharing āyahs and aḥādīth themselves? To be clear, I am only referring to those āyāt and aḥādīth that are clear in their meaning and need no further explanation; those that are related to virtues or good character and morals; not deep, Fiqhī or ‘Aqīdah related ones. When there are such virtues and instructions from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم himself, why go onto something comparatively inferior?

You may argue that there are severe warnings for those who attribute falsely to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as has been quoted above. The answer to that is, there are many authentic books of hadīth that are now available that one can take cover of in quoting the types of ahādīth I’m referring to. There is no excuse not to. If you do not have access to that, or have exhausted all your sources, then yes, by all means go ahead and quote others, no problem. If you are balanced in quoting, no one will point a finger at you either, myself included. If you do quote however, be sure to attribute the right statement to the right person. Not doing so, when not being qualified enough to do so, is blameworthy in itself.

Great Minds Think Alike

Upon raising an issue of this sort previously, the answer I was given in defence was, ‘Great minds think alike’. This actually made me laugh; for two reasons:

1. The statements I was referring to, I had heard from the speaker myself, with him having attributed them to their rightful owners. The mistake was on behalf of the one who had transcribed the statements.
2. If the statements were originally aḥādīth, would you say that the level of the words of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was the same as the speaker? Bearing in mind that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمreceived revelation from Allāh and spoke due to it; is the level of the speaker that of revelation? Please take some time to reflect upon this claim of yours! Again, its not the speaker that’s erred, like I pointed out previously, the speaker must have come across this hadīth whilst studying, but not recalled it at the time, and based his words on it. How does that become his statement?!

May Allāh grant us the correct understanding. Āmīn

 

[1]روى مسلم في صحيحه قال: حَدَّثَنَا هَدَّابُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ الْأَزْدِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، عَنْ زَيْدِ بْنِ أَسْلَمَ، عَنْ عَطَاءِ بْنِ يَسَارٍ، عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: ” لَا تَكْتُبُوا عَنِّي، وَمَنْ كَتَبَ عَنِّي غَيْرَ الْقُرْآنِ فَلْيَمْحُهُ، وَحَدِّثُوا عَنِّي، وَلَا حَرَجَ، وَمَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ – قَالَ هَمَّامٌ: أَحْسِبُهُ قَالَ – مُتَعَمِّدًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ “

[2]رواه البخاري قال: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ الضَّحَّاكُ بْنُ مَخْلَدٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا الأَوْزَاعِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا حَسَّانُ بْنُ عَطِيَّةَ، عَنْ أَبِي كَبْشَةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، قَالَ: «بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةً، وَحَدِّثُوا عَنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَلاَ حَرَجَ، وَمَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا، فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ»