wikishia

Hadith al-Bad'a

Page Discussion


Ḥadīth al-Baḍʿa (Arabic: حديث البَضْعَة) is a prophetic hadith about Lady Fatima (a) in which the Prophet (s) describes her as "part of him," her anger and delight being his. The hadith is cited in Shia and Sunni sources. Hadith al-Bad'a is cited as evidence for the infallibility of Lady Fatima (a), her rightfulness in the story of Fadak, and the necessity of honouring and respecting Ahl al-Bayt (a).

Hadith al-Bad'a
A calligraphic piece of Hadith al-Bad'a, by Ghulamhusayn Amirkhani
A calligraphic piece of Hadith al-Bad'a, by Ghulamhusayn Amirkhani
SubjectVirtues of Lady Fatima (a)
Issued byProphet Muhammad (s)
Main narratorImam Ali (a) • Ibn 'Abbas • Abu Dharr al-Ghifari
Shi'a sourcesAl-Amali (by al-Saduq) • Al-Khisal • Kifayat al-athar
Sunni sourcesSahih al-Bukhari

According to some reports in Sunni sources, the hadith was issued by the Prophet (s) during Imam Ali's (a) proposal to Abu Jahl's daughter. Shiite scholars believe, however, that those reports are fake, and their transmitters are accused of fabricating hadiths and showing hostility toward Ahl al-Bayt (a).

The Text and Place

In Hadith al-Bad'a, the Prophet (s) is quoted as saying about his daughter Lady Fatima (a):

The same content appears in various Shiite and Sunni sources.[1] The hadith was transmitted by Imam Ali (a),[2] Ibn 'Abbas,[3] Abu Dharr al-Ghifari,[4] and Lady Fatima (a) herself.[5]

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, a Sunni exegete of the Quran, believes that there is an agreement between Shias and Sunnis about the authenticity of the hadith.[6] Fakhr al-Razi, another Sunni exegete of the Quran, cites the hadith in his interpretations of certain Quranic verses.[7]

"Bad'a" or "bid'a" means part of the body.[8] Thus, when it is said that "such and such a person is bad'a minni [part of my body]" it implies the intimacy or closeness of that person to the speaker as if he or she is part of his body.[9] The phrase "bad'a minni" appears in the words of the Prophet (s) about Imam 'Ali (a)[10] and Imam al-Rida (a) as well.[11]

Theological and Jurisprudential Applications

Hadith al-Bad'a is cited as evidence for certain theological theories:

  • Infallibility of Lady Fatima (a): theologians have cited this hadith as evidence for the infallibility of Lady Fatima (a).[12] According to Ayatollah Subhani, a Shiite scholar (b. 1929), these hadiths say that Fatima's (a) delight and anger are criteria for the delight and anger of God and His Apostle. Since God is not delighted except by righteous deeds and is never satisfied by sins and disobedience, then if Lady Fatima (a) sinned, she would then be delighted by what angered God, while Hadith al-Bad'a ties God's delight with her delight.[13]
  • Lady Fatima's (a) superiority over all women of the world: Shahab al-Din al-Alusi, a Sunni exegete of the Quran (d. 1270/1853-4), cites this hadith in his interpretation of the Quranic verse "And when the angels said, 'O Mary, Allah has chosen you and purified you, and He has chosen you above the world's women"[14] to show that Lady Fatima (a) was superior to all women, including Mary (a).[15]

Moreover, the hadith has been cited to show the necessity of honouring Ahl al-Bayt (a),[18] rejection of the testimony of a child for his or her father and vice versa,[19] prohibition of marriage with one's mother or daughter,[20] necessity of honoring one's parents,[21] and permissibility of graves being visited by women.[22]

Use of Hadith al-Bad'a against Imam Ali (a)

On some accounts, Hadith al-Bad'a was issued in the story of Imam Ali's (a) proposal to Abu Jahl’s daughter. According to Ibn al-Hanbal (d. 241/855-6), Abd Allah b. Zubayr said that Ali (a) expressed his interest in marriage with Abu Jahl’s daughter, but when the Prophet (s) heard about this, he said: "Verily, Fatima is part of me; whoever hurts her has hurt me."[23]

Al-Sayyid al-Murtada, a prominent Shiite theologian (d. 436/1044), believes that such reports are fake.[24] According to a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), the story was fabricated.[25] Abu Hurayra, a transmitter of this hadith, is accused of fabricating hadiths.[26] Furthermore, Husayn al-Karabisi and Miswar b. Makhrama al-Zuhari, other transmitters of the hadith, are described as unreliable transmitters whose hadiths have been rejected.[27] Al-Sayyid al-Murtada believes that al-Karabisi was a Nasibi who showed hostility toward Ahl al-Bayt (a).[28] In his view, if the story were authentic, Imam Ali's (a) enemies, including Banu Umayya and their supporters, would use it to damage his reputation.[29]

Ja'far Murtada al-'Amili (d. 1441/2019), a researcher of Islamic history, believes that reports about Imam Ali's (a) proposal to Abu Jahl's daughter are contradictory. In addition, he presents thirteen arguments against the authenticity of the story.[30]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Iʿtiqādāt, p. 105; Mufīd, Kitāb al-amālī, p. 260; Ibn Maghāzīlī, Manāqib ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, p. 289; Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 24; Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, vol. 4, p. 210, 219.
  2. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, p. 573; Fattāl al-Nayshābūrī, Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn, p. 149.
  3. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 175, 575.
  4. ↑ Khazzāz al-Qummī, Kifāyat al-athar, p. 37.
  5. ↑ Khazzāz al-Qummī, Kifāyat al-athar, p. 64; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 36, p, 308.
  6. ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Thughūr al-bāsima, p. 67.
  7. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 9, p. 160, under the Qur'an 7:189; vol. 30, p. 126, under the 43:15 and the Qur'an 7:19.
  8. ↑ Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, vol. 8, p. 12; Ibn Athīr, al-Nihāya fī gharīb al-ḥadīth, vol. 1, p. 133.
  9. ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān, p. 129.
  10. ↑ Baḥrānī, al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 261.
  11. ↑ Fattāl al-Nayshābūrī, Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn, p. 233; Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 583, 588.
  12. ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā, al-Shāfī fī al-imāma, vol. 4, p. 95; Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 16, p. 273; ʿĪjī, al-Mawāqif fī ʿilm al-kalām, vol. 3, p. 597.
  13. ↑ Subḥānī, Pazhūhishī dar shinākht wa ʾiṣmat-i Imām, p. 27.
  14. ↑ Qur'an 3:42.
  15. ↑ Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-maʿānī, vol. 3, p. 155.
  16. ↑ Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 16, p. 278; ʿĪjī, al-Mawāqif fī ʿilm al-kalām, vol. 3, p. 597, 607.
  17. ↑ Khazzāz al-Qummī, Kifāyat al-athar, p. 65.
  18. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 27, p. 166.
  19. ↑ Ibn ʿArabī, Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 638; Ibn Qadāma, al-Mughnī, vol. 12, p. 66.
  20. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 10, p. 26.
  21. ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 20, p. 185.
  22. ↑ Shahīd al-Awwal, al-Dhikrā al-Shīa, vol. 2, p. 63.
  23. ↑ Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 4, p. 5.
  24. ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbīyā, p. 167.
  25. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 165.
  26. ↑ Tustarī, Qāmūs al-rijāl, vol. 9, p. 111.
  27. ↑ Faḍlī, Uṣūl al-ḥadīth, p. 139.
  28. ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbīyā, p. 167-168.
  29. ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbīyā, p. 169.
  30. ↑ ʿĀmilī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat Imām ʿAlī (a), vol. 3, p. 61-74.

Reference

  • Abū Dāwūd, Sulaymān b. Ashʿth. Sunan Abū Dāwūd. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1410 AH.
  • ʿĀmilī, al-Sayyid Jaʿfar al-Murtaḍā al-. Al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat Imām ʿAlī (a). Qom: Wilā al-Murtaḍā, 1430 AH.
  • Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, [n.d].
  • Baḥrānī, Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Bunyād-i Biʿthat, [n.d].
  • Fattāl al-Nayshābūrī, Muḥammad b. al-Aḥmad al-. Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn. Qom: Manshūrāt al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, [n.d].
  • Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. al-ʿUmar al-. Al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, [n.d].
  • Faḍlī, ʿAbd al-Hādī. Uṣūl al-ḥadīth. 3rd edition. Beirut: Muʾassisat Umm al-Qurā li al-Taḥqīq wa al-Nashr, 1421 AH.
  • Ibn Shāhin, ʿUmar. Faḍāʾil Sayyidat al-Nisāʾ. Edited by Abū Isḥāq. Cairo: Maktabat al-Tarbiyyat al-Islāmiyya, 1411 AH.
  • Ibn ʿArabī, Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allah. Aḥkām al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, [n.d].
  • Ibn Qadāma, ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad. Al-Mughnī. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
  • Ibn Māja, Muḥammad ibn Yazīd . Sunan Ibn Māja. Edited by Muḥammad fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī . [n.p]: Dār al-Fikr, [n.d].
  • Ibn Maghāzīlī, Abū l-Hasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. Manāqib ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. [n.p]: Intishārāt-i Sibṭ al-Nabī, 1426 AH.
  • Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, [n.d].
  • Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Hibat Allāh. Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Muḥammad Abu l-faḍl Ibrāhīm. [n.p]: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabīyya, [n.d].
  • Ibn Athīr, Majd al-Dīn Mubārak. Al-Nihāya fī gharīb al-ḥadīth wa al-athar. 4th edition. Edited by Maḥmūd Muḥammad Ṭanāhī. Qom: Ismāʿīlīyān, 1364 Sh.
  • Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib. Edited by Ḥāshim Rasūlī. 1st edition. Qom: Nashr-i ʿAllāma, 1379 SH.
  • Ibn Baṭrīq, Yaḥya b. Ḥasan. ʿUmdat ʿuyūn ṣiḥāḥ al-akhbār fī manāqib Imām al-abrār. Qom: Muʾassisa Nashr-i Islāmī, 1407 AH.
  • Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Al-Musnad. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, [n.d].
  • ʿĪjī, ʿAḍud al-Dīn. Al-Mawāqif fī ʿilm al-kalām. Edited by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿUmayra. Beirut: Dār al-Jalīl, 1417 AH.
  • Khazzāz al-Qummī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Kifāyat al-athar fī l-naṣṣ ʿalā l-aʾimmat al-ithnā ʿashar. Edited by ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Ḥusaynī Kūhkamaraʾī Khoeī. Qom: Bīdār, 1401 AH.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Kitāb al-amālī. Beirut: Dār al-Mufīd, 1414 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Wafāʾ, 1403 AH.
  • Nīshābūrī, Faḍl b. Shādān. Al-Iḍāḥ. Edited by Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Armawī. Tehran: Muʾassisa Intishārāt, 1351 Sh.
  • Nayshābūrī, Muslim b. Ḥajjāj. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, [n.d].
  • Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad al-. Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. Edited by Ṣafwān ʿAdnān Dāwūdī. [n.p]: Ṭalīʿat al-Nūr, 1426 AH.
  • Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. Pazhūhishī dar shinākht wa ʾiṣmat-i Imām. Mashhad: Bunyād-i Pazhūhishha-yi Islāmī, 1389 SH.
  • Sayyid Murtaḍā. Al-Shāfī fī al-imāma. Edited by Sayyid ʿAbd al-Zahrāʾ Ḥusaynī. 2nd edition. Tehran: Muʾassisa al-Ṣādiq, 1410 AH.
  • Sayyid Murtaḍā. Tanzīh al-anbīyā'. Qom: al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, 1250 AH.
  • Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. Al-Thughūr al-bāsima fī manāqib al-Sayyida Fāṭima. 1st edition. [n.p]: Jamʾiyyat al-Āl wa al-Aṣḥāb, 1431 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Awwal, Muḥammad b. Makkī. Al-Dhikrā al-shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa. Edited by Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1419 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Iʿtiqādāt. Edited by ʿUṣām ʿAbd al-Sayyid. 2nd edition. Beirut: Dār al-Mufīd, 1414 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Biʿtha, 1417 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Khiṣāl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. [n.p]: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya, [n.d].
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. 2nd edition. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 1404 AH.
  • Tustarī, Muḥammad Taqī. Qāmūs al-rijāl. Edited by Muʾassisat al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1417 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Amālī. Qom: Dār al-Thiqāfa, 1414 AH.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Hadith_al-Bad%27a&oldid=188260"