501. Can we be guided by our ancestors?
Verse 9:100 says to be guided by those who outrode others in emigration (from Mecca to Madina) and those who assisted them. People who believe we are to be guided also by the sayings and deeds of comrades of Prophet Muhammad cite this verse to substantiate their argument, and try to misguide people
This verse does not give the meaning these people allude to. To understand the correct meaning of this verse, we need to comprehend the fundamentals of Islam.
Anything in the name of Islam should either be ordered by Allah or his prophet through divine messages conveyed to him.
Any contradiction of Allah and the messenger of Allah needs to be summarily treated as no connection with Islam. Similarly, any message in the name of Islam not from Allah or the messenger of Allah is not at all in any way connected with Islam.
This is the basic ideology of Islam.
And any message in Islam not from Allah or Allah’s messenger, even if it is said to originate from the comrades of the messenger or from those who are recognized as renowned scholars of Islam does not have any validity.
Guidance to the right path to humans is the sole prerogative of the Almighty, is the first commandment from Him.
Adam (AS) is the first to be directly created by the Almighty, and who had personally witnessed the power of the Creator
A person such as Adam (AS) and his female partner Hawwa (AS) with the above cited special privileges violated the commandments of the Creator, and were ordered to exit the garden they were in. They were commanded to leave the garden with the following message,
‘Exit everyone, and those who follow the right guidance from Me need not fear and neither will they have concerns.
The Quran: 2:38
‘Exit, you both altogether some of you will be antagonizing others, ‘You will receive the right guidance from Me, and those who follow the right guidance will not go astray and will not be the unfortunate ones’. ‘And for those who reject My instructions is a life of torment and will raise them as blinded persons on the day of judgement.
The Quran: 20:122, 123, 124
There is no need for the Almighty to convey this message if people are to find the right path on their own.
The Almighty could have conveyed saying ‘I have provided you with awesome knowledge, find the right path on your own and live accordingly’. But the Almighty has said in the Quran the right guidance would come from him and, leading a life accordingly would be victorious for them.
When it is said, a genius among the whole humankind like Adam (AS) himself has been instructed to learn the right path from the Creator, we need not consider anyone else’s actions and sayings as edicts of Islam, other than that of Allah and His prophet.
When Adam (AS) himself was required to follow only the divine messages to follow the right guidance from Allah, do the comrades of Prophet Muhammad or others rank higher than him?
Allah has made it clearer this ideology in verses, 2:170, 3:103, 5:3, 5:48,49 5:87, 6:140, 6:106, 6:114,115, 7:3, 7:32, 9:29, 9:37, 10:15, 10:59, 16:116, 24:51,52, 33:2, 39:3, 39:58, 42:21, 46:9, 49:16, of the Quran.
Let’s investigate the message of verse 9:100 of the Quran.
This verse (9:100) talks of people who quit Makkah and emigrated to Madina for the sake of Islam. In addition to praising those who emigrated, it also talks highly of people who helped them at Madina on their arrival, and again praises those who followed their example. It says Allah was contended with them and had made ready the paradise for their entry.
The argument by these people is, since Allah has commanded us to follow the comrades of Prophet Muhammad we need to obey Him.
Since a proper approach in understanding of this verse by these people was not ensured, they cite this as a bad precedent. The word ‘follow’ can be interpreted to give a meaning according to the context it is used.
When it is used to refer to a particular by name to be followed by all, it would mean he should be a guide to us in all respects.
If a person’s job or post is referred to and been asked to follow him regarding the post he holds, it would mean he has to follow in matters pertaining to the post he holds.
If a police officer has been asked to be followed in matters concerning law of the land, it would not mean that he has to be followed in matters concerning business, marriage, worship etc.,
If for example a magnanimous person by the name of Ibrahim a is asked to be followed in matters of magnanimity, it need not be taken as to follow him in all matters. In this verse it is not said to follow any particular person, but to surpass others in following those who emigrated in matters of emigration for Islam’s sake, and follow those who surpassed others in helping them.
Here the message conveyed is that some were slow to emigrate in the footsteps of those who emigrated, and the meaning of ‘they surpassed others in following those who helped the emigrates’ is they followed them in a helping attitude.
We need to take notice of another issue here
Though Allah refers to the sahaba as Muhajir and Ansar, there is no commandment here to follow them in all matters. Allah does not use the phrase ‘those who would follow’ in future tense and but ‘those who followed’ in the past tense.
If the phrase was in future tense as ‘Those who would follow’ it would mean ‘those who follow even now’, and it needs to be noticed ‘those who followed’ would refer to people before the revelation of this verse.
Hence, the words Muhajir and Ansar refer to the comrades of Prophet Muhammad, it would mean following them is following the comrades of Prophet Muhammad.
This verse refers to the Muhajirs and Ansars of the initial period of Islam, and all of them are comrades of Prophet Muhammad. This phrase in the verse does not at all refer to non-comrades of Prophet Muhammad.
This phrase that talks about the those who migrated and those who welcome them does not generally refer to those who normally follow he religion of Islam.
Allah uses the phrase ‘those who followed’ to point out mistakes that may have taken place during the initial period of emigration by those that emigrated.
And this the apt way of understanding this verse and other verses that do not go against the tenets of Islam.
If whatever uttered by the Muhajirs and Ansars in the name of Islam is considered to be followed by others, then a situation would arise, where verses saying only ‘Wahee’ needs to be followed is rejected, or the notion that comrades of Prophet Muhammad also received divine messages. Both the concepts are wrong. Hence, these verses do not convey the message that words and deeds of the comrades are grounds for Islam
People who have explanations countering this can be proved wrong by citing another verse.
‘Whoever believed in the Almighty, and the descendants who followed them in the same belief, We will bring them together, and none of their deeds will go unpaid. Each one is held ransom to his acts’.
The Quran: 52:21
If this verse is to be understood the way verse 9:100 was done by those having a different opinion from us, it would mean to be guided by sincere parents, in addition to following the comrades of Prophet Muhammad.
The message conveyed in this verse is ‘if the faithful children follow their faithful parents, they are to be rewarded without any shortage.
They agree it does not mean to follow the parents in every aspect.
It could be understood they are wrong; from the way their two different explanations for two verses of the Quran conveying a similar message.
Prophet Muhammad said ‘The best of you are those of my period, followed by those of the next generation, and those of the generation next to them. The generation following them will be people without integrity, deceivers, and those who will present themselves without being called for as witnesses, and those who do not fulfill their promises, and vanity can be seen exhibited by them.
Hadith Book Bukhari:2651, 3650, 6428, 6695
These people argue that since the prophet had declared the people of his time and those following in the next generation as the best, following their footsteps is justified.
No doubt this an authentic hadith, but we do not find any words in it saying to follow the comrades of Propet Muhammad. The meaning of this hadith can be seen conveyed by the prophet himself towards the end of this hadith.
The message conveyed in this hadith is, the community at this period will consist of people with integrity, honesty, who live up to promises given by them, and not interfering in others affairs.
If it is was declared by Prophet Muhammad the thinking, verdicts, conclusions, and analysis by his comrades are flawless, and hence they are the best among men, then it merits they being followed by others. But the prophet declared them as the best among men because of their integrity, and honesty. A person with integrity and honesty can never be said to be always right in his thinking.
If we attempt to understand this hadith against the several evidences we have provided, about only the wahee needs to be followed, then a dangerous situation would arise into believing that the comrades of Prophet Muhmmad also received divine messages or wahee.
