Update:
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Volume
7, Book 62, Number 38: (Sahih Bukhari)
Narrated
'Ursa; Thuwaiba
was the freed slave girl of Abu
Lahb whom
he had manumitted, and then she suckled the Prophet. When Abu
Lahb died,
one of his relatives saw him in a dream in
a very bad state and
asked him, "What
have you encountered?" Abu
Lahb said, "I
have not found any rest since I left you, except
that I have been given water to drink in
this (the space between his thumb and other fingers) and that is
because of my manumitting Thuwaiba."
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The claim that
the torture of Abu Lahab decreases
every week by him sucking his
thumb and getting a drink, because he
set a slave woman free out of delight
of the birth of his nephew Muhammad- and
they use this as proof for the Mawlid- is
a grave mistake, although
*Note that:
*the Mawlid is valid:
1. Abu
Lahab did not know that Muhammad would
be a Prophet when Muhammad was born, so
his happiness was not due
to the birth of the Messenger, but due
to the birth of
his nephew, only. But when he
knew about the Message of
Muhammad he became one of his
greatest arch-enemies. He was such a blasphemer that he
was the only blasphemer who had an entire
surah revealed about him.
2. The reference for
this claim in Al-Bukhariyy is
merely the report of someone's
dream- and someone other
than the Prophet.
There
is no evidence in dreams of other than the Prophets according to
Ahlus-Sunnah- especially in the Aqeedah.
So
merely being in Bukhariyy doesn't make it evidence.
3. It contradicts the
what is known in the Religion by necessity, that the
torture of the kafir in the
Afterlife is unending and relentless. It never lessens or
decreases.
Allah said:
“(لَا
يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ)
The
torture upon them does not decrease.”
This verse
is not to be restricted by
someone's dream; Abu
Lahab is not excluded
because someone saw a dream. However,
be mindful- there
is a detail:
A. Whoever
ignorantly believes that his torture is decreased in his GRAVE- but
WITHOUT him receiving any relief does not blaspheme,
but he is mistaken.
B. Believing that the torture is
decreased for him in the Afterlife is blasphemy, and
is against the consensus, and is against the saying of Allah:
“(لَا
يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْدًا وَلَا
شَرَابًا (24) إِلَّا
حَمِيمًا وَغَسَّاقًا)”
They
will not taste in Hell anything cool, nor any drink, except water at
the extremity of boiling, and secreted puss”.
The torture of Abu
Lahab will never decrease.
This
relative lessening of the torture of Abu
Talib is because he
used to defend the Prophet sallallahu
^alayhi wa sallam and protect him, but he
did not believe, he
did not become
a Muslim, this is why he does not escape
the torture of Hellfire.
The
Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam told Abu
Talib before he died, say laa
`ilaaha `illallaah and I
will intercede for you on
the Day of judgement.
Abu
Talib refused. He
said, I am worried that the people
of the Quraysh are going to talk bad about me. Thus I
am going to remain following the religion of my father. Hence,
despite the fact that his torture is less than other blasphemers, he
is in Hellfire tortured forever [1].
We
said that the torture of the blasphemer does not decrease in
Hellfire, because Allah told us that in the Qur`an.
Allah revealed
in Surah Fatir
(S35) ayah 36:
وَلَا
يُـخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمْ مِّنْ عَذَابِهَا
Which
means: the torture of
the blasphemers does not decrease
in Hellfire, and
in another verse which has the same meaning:
لَا
يُـخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ
Surah
Al-Baqarah (S2) ayah 162 [2].
*This
is why it is not permissible
to believe that Abu
Lahab the other
uncle of the Prophet sallallahu
^alayhi wa sallam that his
torture decreases in Hellfire every Monday.
Some
people say that it is narrated in Bukhariyy that every
Monday his torture decreases.
We
say first of all, the hadeeth narrated in Bukhariyy about that issue
in its chain of narrators there
is discontinuity.
In
this hadeeth, which is narrated from Az-Zuhriyy he
said it reached me that such and such happened, so he doesn’t
say who told him etc, we don’t know
the route, it is disconnected.
The
second point is that Az-Zuhriyy said it reached
me that ^Abbas saw a dream
about Abu Lahab etc. Then all the issue is a
dream and it is not the
dream of the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, rather
it was a dream that ^Abbas radiyallaahu
^anhu saw, and it
is not confirmed
from him.
In
this dream ^Abbas saw his
brother Abu Lahab who was a blasphemer, sucking
from a little hole in between his thumb and the index finger, sucking
every Monday a little amount from there.
Even
in this dream it
does not say
that it was in Hellfire. In this dream it
was said that this was the case because
when the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam was born, Abu Lahab set
free a female slave that he had, because he was glad about the birth
of the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.
However,
such a matter is not reliable, it
is not a proof to say
a statement that contradicts al-Qur`an, wal
^iyaadhu billaah.
An
ignorant person who claimed to be knowledgeable, once
he said that the torture of Abu Talib decreases
in Hellfire.
He
said, yes, it is permissible with the intercession of
the Prophet sallallahu
^alayhi wa sallam as it happened with Abu Talib, he
did not know that the torture
of Abu Talib will not decrease
in Hellfire.
As
rather, the torture of
Abu Talib will be less than other
blasphemers, because he protected the
Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam. And once he
enters Hellfire, his
torture does not decrease.
*[If
a person commits one enormous sin, then
he deserves to enter Hellfire because
of it, regardless of how many good acts he did].
**[Imam
Badr-ud-Deen Al-^Ayniyy Al-Hanafiyy in
his book ^Umdatul Qaaree (29:241) said:
وَمَذْهَب
الْمُحَقِّقِيْن أَنَّ الْكَافِر لاَ
يُخَفف عَنْهُ الْعَذَاب بِسَبَب حَسَنَاته
فِي الدُّنْيَا، بَل يُوسع عَلَيْهِ
بِهَا فِيْ دُنْيَاهُ. وَقَالَ
القَاضِي عِيَاض: انْعَقَدَ
الإِجْمَاعُ عَلَى أَنَّ الْكُفَّارَ
لاَ تَنْفَعُهُمْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ وَلاَ
يُثَابُوْنَ عَلَيْهَا بِنَعِيْمٍ وَلاَ
تَخْفِيْفِ عَذَابٍ، وَلَكِن بَعْضَهُمْ
أَشَدُّ عَذَابًا بِحَسَبِ
جَرَائِمِهِمْ. وَقَالَ
الْكرْمَانِي: لاَ
ينفع الْكَافِر الْعَمَل الصَّالح. إِذْ
الرُّؤْيَا لَيست بِدَلِيل
Which
means: the
madh-hab of the people of truth is that the punishment of the kaafir
is not lessened
as a result of the good deeds he does in this life, rather he will be
compensated for those good deeds in this life.
**And Qaadee
^Iyaad said, the ijmaa^ is
established on the fact that the kaafirs are not benefitted
by their deeds and they are not rewarded
by being granted any enjoyment for them or a lessening of his
punishment.
**However,
some of the kaafirs will be
punished more than others dependent upon their sins. And
Al-Karmaaniyy said, the kaafir is not benefitted
by the good deeds.
The dream is not taken
as a proof.
----------------------------------------------
[1] Fataawaa
Rizwiyyah Volume 29, pg 741, Ahmad Raza states that Abu Bakr, ^Umar,
^Aliyy and others explicitly stated that Abu Taalib was a
kafir.
[2] Verses
161-162 of Surah Al-Baqarah (S2):
إِنَّ
الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ
كُفَّارٌ أُولَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَعْنَةُ
اللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالنَّاسِ
أَجْمَعِينَ (161) خَالِدِينَ
فِيهَا لَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ
وَلَا هُمْ يُنْظَرُونَ (162)
------------------------------------------
Now Note Once
Again: It
was ONLY a dream: AbuLahab
seen in a dream to have torture lessened on him on
Mondays.
Accepting
stories and narrations is not about
emotions, but
its about going back to the rules of the religion confirmed in Quran,
Hadith and Consensus
(Ijma^) of scholars.
*This
is a story that
we hear a lot in Mawlids and
unfortunately few explain how
we should we deal with it. Lets first see what has been narrated and
see if it fits within the rules of Islam.
**It
was narrated in Sahih Al Bukhari:
" قَالَ
عُرْوَةُ : وثُوَيْبَةُ
مَوْلاةٌ لأبِي لَهَبٍ كَانَ أَبُو لَهَبٍ
أَعْتَقَهَا فَأَرْضَعَتْ النَّبِيَّ
صلى الله عليه وسلم فَلَمَّا مَاتَ أَبُو
لَهَبٍ أُرِيَهُ بَعْضُ أَهْلِهِ بِشَرِّ
حِيبَةٍ قَالَ لَهُ مَاذَا لَقِيتَ قَالَ
أَبُو لَهَبٍ لَمْ أَلْقَ بَعْدَكُمْ
غَيْرَ أَنّي سُقِيتُ فِي هَذِهِ
بِعَتَاقَتِي ثُوَيْبَةَ ".اهـ
من البخاري.
Here
is the translation of the incident:
"Al
Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet peace be upon him, may Allah be
pleased with him, saw in a DREAM his brother AbuLahab after his
death. He asked him about his state and Abu Lahab told him that he
was given water on Mondays because he set Thoyawbah free when the
Prophet was born because she gave him the good news of the birth of
Prophet Mohammad"
**Things
to note about this story:
1- It
was only a dream so religious ruling/evidence cannot be taken from
it.
2- It
was seen by Al Abbas before he became Muslim.
3- The
apparent meaning is that torture is lessened on AbuLahab on Mondays,
this apparent meaning contradicts many verses in the Quran and
contradicts Consensus (Ijma^).
It was clearly stated in
the Quran through out many verses that the torture of the Blasphemers
(Kuffar) in hell fire will not lessened at all. Allah the exalted
said in the Holy Quran:
: [وَالَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا لَهُمْ نَارُ جَهَنَّمَ لا
يُقْضَى عَلَيْهِمْ فَيَمُوتُوا وَلا
يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمْ مِنْ عَذَابِهَا
كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي كُلَّ كَفُورٍ]
{فاطر:36}
[وَإِنْ
يَسْتَغِيثُوا يُغَاثُوا بِمَاءٍ
كَالمُهْلِ يَشْوِي الوُجُوهَ بِئْسَ
الشَّرَابُ وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقًا]
{الكهف:29}
"لا
يخفَّفُ عنهُمُ العذابُ ولا هُمْ يُنْظرون"
(سورة
البقرة / ءاية:
162)
**Al
Hafith ibin Hajar Rejected the apparent
meaning of
this dream as
he said in his Fath' Volume 9, Chapter of Al Nikah:
في
شرح البخاري في المجلد التاسع كتاب النكاح
باب الرضاع حيث يقول:
"(لكنه
مخالف لظاهر القرءان) قال
الله تعالى:
"وَقَدِمْنَا
إلى مَا عَمِلوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ
هَبَاءً مَنْثُورًا"
(سورة
الفرقان / ءاية:
23)،
وأجيب أولا بأن الخبر مرسل أرسله عروة
ولم يذكر من حدثه به وعلى تقدير أن يكون
موصولا فالذي في الخبر رؤيا منام فلا حجة
فيه ولعل الذي رآها لم يكن إذ ذاك أسلم
بعدُ فلا يحتج به" إ.هـ،
ثم نقل عن القاضي عياض:
"الإجماع
على أن أعمال الكفار لا تنفعهم ولا يثابون
عليها بنعيم ولا تخفيف عذاب وإن كان بعضهم
أشد عذابًا من بعض" إ.هـ.
Which
means "It contradicts Quran"
and then he narrated the consensus mentioned by Qadi ^Iyad Al Maliki
that "The consensus that the deeds of the Kuffar do not benefit
them and they do not get
rewarded for it by enjoyment nor lessening
torture"
This
is how we should go about these things. We apply Islamic
Rules.
Here
is a PERFECT example:
The Prophet
peace be upon told us that Al
Dajjal will never
enter Makkah or Madinah. Right?
It
was also narrated that the Prophet peace be upon him saw a dream in
which Al Dajjal was
making Tawaf around Ka^bah!
Whats
the meaning of this dream?
Allah
knows best BUT its definitely not on
the apparent meaning because
the Prophet had told us that Dajjal will not
enter Makah. PERIOD!
**How
about a dream that
was seen by his uncle even before him becoming Muslim?
Allah
knows best. (Posted by A.Qalib )
----------------------------------------
**Note:
If he was not a Muslim at the time of the dream, he was a Muslim when he reported it! 
