Hadith About the Prophet Contemplating Suicide

[فداء الرسول]

How do we respond to this?
Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
To the Sunnis, there are six books of Hadith which are referred to as the “as-Sihah as-Sittah” which translates to the “six authentic books.” However, this does not mean that each and every single one of these books is 100% accurate to the Sunnis. For example, Sunan al-Tirmidhi is part of as-Sihah as-Sittah, but it is not considered 100% Sahih. In other words, yes Sunan al-Tirmidhi is referred to as part of as-Sihah as-Sittah but this is merely Islamic parlance. Likewise, with the Sahihayn (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim), then it should be known that not every single letter in them is Sahih. Yes, they are referred to as “100% Sahih” in Islamic parlance, but by this the scholars do not mean that every single letter is authentic.


To give another example of how Islamic parlance can get a bit confusing: we hear many Sunni scholars saying that the Prophet was “infallible.” However, when a Sunni says that the Prophet was “infallible”, he does not mean this in the same manner that a Shia does. A Sunni means that the Prophet was infallible when it comes to delivering the message, not that the Prophet was infallible when it comes to agriculture, or to mathematics, or other things! So we see that in Islamic parlance, a Sunni will say that the Prophet was “100% infallible”, but in reality this does not mean that the Prophet was 100% infallible in all aspects. Likewise, when a Sunni scholar says that Sahih Bukhari is 100% Sahih, then this does not mean that it is 100% Sahih in all aspects.


For a non-scholar, this ambiguity in terminology is a bit confusing, but this is something that is well-known amongst the scholars and there is no doubt in it. Shaykh GF Haddad said:


This conclusion [that Bukhari is 100% Sahih] excludes the chainless, broken-chained reports, or unattributed reports sometimes adduced by al-Bukhari in his chapter-titles or appended to certain narrations. An example of the latter is the so-called “suicide hadith” — one of al-Zuhri’s unattributive narrations (balaghat) which is actually broken-chained and therefore weak. It does not meet the criteria of hadith authenticity used by the lesser and greater hadith Masters, much less that of al-Bukhari who mentioned it only to show its discrepancy with two other chains whose versions omit the attempted suicide story, and Allah knows best.


The above conclusion is proof that the position that everything that is found in the two Sahihs is rigorously sound refers only to full-chained reports positively attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.
(source: Shaykh GF Haddad,

http://www.livingislam.org/k/whb_e.html)

If we look at the Hadith in question, it says:
…the Prophet became so sad as we have heard (fi ma balaghana) that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains…

The narrator says “fi ma balaghana” which translates to “as we have heard”; a better translation is actually “from what has reached us.”
Dr. SHM Jaffri, the renowned Shia author and lecturer, said:
The phrase “fi ma balaghani” was used by the Seerah authors to denote a degree of doubt. To denote an even higher degree of doubt, they would use the term “za’ama” (he alleged).

(Dr. SHM Jaffri, Islamic Pakistan Studies, Lecture 2)
Alfred Guillaume, the translator of Ibn Ishaq’s “Seerah Rasool-Allah”, writes:
A word that very frequently precedes a statement is za’ama or za’amu, ‘he (they) alleged’. It carries with it more than a hint that the statement may not be true, though on the other hand it may be sound…Another indication of reserve if not skepticism underlies the expression fi ma dhukira li, as in the story of the jinn who listened to Muhammad as he prayed…An expression of similar import is fi ma balaghani.


(source: The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Seerah Rasool-Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth impression 1995], pp. xix)


Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari that because this phrase “fi ma balaghana” was used in the Hadith, that we do not take that part to be authentic. This phrase “fi ma balaghana” (from what has reached us) is well-known amongst scholars of Hadith and Seerah: a narrator would use this phrase when there was some doubt in what he was narrating; it is classified as hearsay only. In other words, the narrator simply heard it and he himself does not say whether it is true or not. For example, we can say: “From what has reached us, Iceland is cold.” We ourselves have never been to Iceland but others have told us that it is cold; this may or may not be true, and it depends on the truthfulness of he who narrated it to us. The phrase “fi ma balaghana” is used as a disclaimer by the narrator, whereby he seeks to distance himself from the statement and take no responsibility as to its authenticity.


The narration is Sahih in the sense that it is true that the narrator did in fact hear that from others; but it might not be Sahih from the angle that despite him hearing it, we don’t know if who he heard it from was saying something accurate or not. As such, Imam Bukhari made no mistake when he included this addition, because this is really what the narrator did hear. But because it is hearsay, we do not necessarily accept the actual content. What is Sahih is that this information reached the narrator (fi ma balaghana); wether what reached was Sahih or not, that is a differen story.


The inclusion of “fi ma balaghana”–and the addition of the Prophet attempting to throw himself off the mountain–are from the mouth of Zuhri, not Aisha. Zuhri was one of the narrators of the Hadith. If we look at the Isnad of the Hadith, it reads as follows:


Az-Zuhri said: “Urwah told me on the authority of Aisha…”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar explained in Fath al-Bari that this means that the addition of “fi ma balaghana” was an addition to the narration and it would be referred to as “Balaghaat az-Zuhri” only; Zuhri added it to Aisha’s narration based on what he had heard from other sources. Such an addition is considered Dhaeef (weak) because of the large gap between Zuhri and Aisha. Furthermore, this story is found in other sources but without Zuhri’s addition. Zuhri’s narration is graded as Mursal; Mursal means that the chain is “hurried” and incomplete, so we are in doubt of its authenticity. Everything Mursal by az-Zuhri is considered Dhaeef (weak) by the scholars of Hadith. Imam Yahya ibn Saeed al-Qattaan said: “Mursal az-Zuhri is worse than the Mursal of any other!”


It should be noted that if we read the entire Hadith from beginning to end, we will not find any other place where the phrase “fi ma balaghana” (from what has reached us)–or a similar wording of doubt–is used. These are the words of the narrator, not of Aisha. They denote a level of skepticism at that part of the narration. Az-Zuhri heard it but did not affirm its authenticity or lack thereof; he merely reported it as hearsay. The fact that Zuhri specifically mentioned it at this particular place shows that this addition was of a different value than the rest of the narration.


What is most likely is that this is one of the legends attributed to the Prophet. The masses attributed these legends to great events in history. To give an example dear to the Shia, we refer the reader to the event of Karbala which took on legendary attributes in the Shia mind. Ibn Katheer said:
“Al-Tabarani mentioned in this chapter very strange reports indeed and the Shia went overboard concerning the day of Ashoora, forging many hadiths that are gross lies such as the sun being eclipsed on that day until the stars appeared, no stone was lifted except blood was seen under it, the celestial region became red, the sun and its rays seemed like blood, the sky seemed like a blood clot, the stars were hurling against one another, the sky rained red blood, there was never redness in the sky before that day, and the like… among other lies and forgeries of which not one report is sound.”
(source: al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 8:201-202)


These types of phrases–such as the “sun being eclipsed”, “no stone was lifted except blood was seen”, and the “stars were hurling against one another”–are all examples of a real event taking on a legendary aspect. Likewise, the Prophet was indeed worried at the start of his mission, but the phrase “throw himself from the tops of high mountains” is part of the legendary lore. The commoners adored Imam Husayn and so they attributed these legends to him; likewise, the people adored the Prophet and so they too attributed legends to him. The Shia professor Dr. SHM Jaffri said:


It became difficult to differentiate between Muhammad the man and Muhammad the legend. But even the legends have importance insomuch as they give us insight as to what was going on in the minds of the people at that time. Therefore, modern historians do not doubt the historicity of such legends in determining the popular culture and folklore at the time if not the actual veracity of said event…


(Dr. SHM Jaffri, Islamic Pakistan Studies, Lecture 2)
Today, many Muslims tell their children stories about the Prophet before putting them to bed. Likewise, back then the people used to tell stories about the Prophet and unfortunately the commoners are not careful about accuracy and are known to exaggerate. This can be seen even today: many people from the Indian subcontinent, for example, are known to narrate stories without care for authenticity. This problem is prevalent on the internet as well, and we all have seen the email about the legend of how some janitor in Mecca had a dream, etc etc.