A Ḥadīth and Its Indication Problem within the Context of Relationship between Faith and Deeds

Abstract

The ḥadīth on the importance of ṣalāh, namely, “Whoever performs five daily prayers (ṣalāh) is guaranteed heaven by Allah. Whoever does not fulfil it, however, shall have no guarantee in the presence of Allah; Allah, at His will, may torment him or put him in His Heaven,” has been considered by numerous scholars as evidence that a person who abandons ṣalāh partially or completely with no reasonable excuse may still be forgiven by Allah. The followers of this approach construe the phrase “whoever does not fulfil it” as “whoever does not perform five daily prayers.” Nevertheless, the indication “whoever performs five daily prayers” in the initial section of the ḥadīth is reinforced by expressions such as “without missing any rule,” “without undervaluing it,” and “paying attention to its time, bows (rukūʿ), and prostration (sujūd)” in various narratives of the same ḥadīth. Given this fact, the phrase “whoever does not fulfil it” in the second part of the ḥadīth may be pointing at the essentials of ṣalāh and not at ṣalāh itself. In addition, the latter approach is supported by the general attitude of Islam about forgiving sins, conveniences with regard to the performance of ṣalāh, as well as various Qurʾān verses and ḥadīths that concretely outline the punishment for abandoning ṣalāh. In light of the foregoing, it seems inappropriate to consider the abovementioned ḥadīth as evidence with regard to the relationship between faith and deeds, and particularly “punishment of abandoning ṣalāh;” rather, the ḥadīth may concern the complete fulfillment of the essentials of ṣalāh.

Keywords

• Five times of ṣalāh
• abandoning of ṣalāh
• faith and deeds

References

1. ʿAbd al-Bāqī, Muḥammad Fuʾād. al-Muʿjam al-mufahras li-alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah, 1364.
2. ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd ibn Naṣr al-Kissī. al-Muntakhab min Musnad ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd. Edited by Ṣubḥī al-Badrī al-Sāmarrāʾī and Maḥmūd Muḥammad Khalīl al-Ṣaʿīdī. Cairo: Maktabat al-Sunnah, 1988.
3. Abū Dāwūd, Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath al-Sijistānī. Sunan Abī Dāwūd. 4 vols. Edited by Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. Beirut: al-Maktabah al-ʿAṣriyyah, 2011.
4. Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Shaybānī. Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. 50 vols. Edited by Shuʿayb al-Arnāʾūṭ, ʿĀdil Murshid, Muḥammad Naʿīm al-ʿIrqsūsī, Ibrāhīm al-Zaybaq, Muḥammad Riḍwān al-ʿIrqsūsī, and Kāmil al-Kharrāṭ. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 2001.
5. al-ʿAsqalānī, Abū l-Faḍl Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī. Kitāb Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb. 12 vols. Hyderabad: Maṭbaʿat Majlis Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyyah, 1326.
6. al-ʿAsqalānī, Abū l-Faḍl Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī Fatḥ al-bārī bi-sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Imām Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Bukhārī. 13 vols. Edited by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bāz, Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī, and Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Khaṭīb. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, 1959.
7. Aydınlı, Abdullah. Hadis Istılahları Sözlüğü. Istanbul: Hadisevi, 2006.
8. al-ʿAynī, Abū Muḥammad Badr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad. Sharḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd. 7 vols. Edited by Abū l-Mundhir Khālid ibn Ibrāhīm al-Miṣrī. Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 1999.

9. al-ʿAynī, Abū Muḥammad Badr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad. ʿUmdat al-qārī fī sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. 25 vols. Beirut: n.p., 2006.
10. al-ʿAẓīmābādī, Abū l-Ṭayyib Muḥammad Shams al-Ḥaqq ibn Amīr ʿAlī. ʿAwn al-maʿbūd sharḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd. 24 vols. Edited by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad ʿUthmān. 2nd ed. Medina: al-Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1968.
11. al-Bājī, Abū l-Walīd Sulaymān ibn Khalaf. al-Muntaqá sharḥ al-Muwaṭṭaʾ. 7 vols. Cairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Saʿādah, 1332.
12. al-Bayhaqī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn. al-Sunan al-kubrā. 10 vols. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿAṭā. Mecca: Maktabat Dār al-Bāz, 1994.
13. al-Bayhaqī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn. Shuʿab al-īmān. 7 vols. Edited by Abū Hājar Muḥammad al-Saʿīd ibn Basyūnī Zaghlūl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2000.
14. al-Bukhārī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Juʿfī. al-Tārīkh al-kabīr. 9 vols. Edited by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyá al-Muʿallimī. Hyderabad: Dār al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyyah, 1360.
15. al-Bukhārī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Juʿfī. Ṣaḥīh al-Imām al-Bukhārī al-musammá al-Jāmiʿ al-musnad al-ṣaḥīḥ al-mukhtaṣar min umūr Rasūl Allāh ṣallá llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam wa-sunanihī wa-ayyāmihī. 9 vols. Edited by Muḥammad Zuhayr ibn Nāṣir al-Nāṣir. Beirut: Dār Ṭawq al-Najāt, 2011.
16. al-Dārimī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Musnad al-Dārimī al-maʿrūf bi-Sunan al-Dārimī. 4. vols. Edited by Ḥusayn Salīm Asad al-Dārānī. Riyadh: Dār al-Mughnī, 2000.
17. al-Dhahabī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. Mīzān al-iʿtidāl fī naqd al-rijāl. 4 vols. Edited by ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Bijāwī. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1963.
18. al-Dhahabī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. Kitāb al-kabāʾir. Beirut: Dār al-Nadwah al-Jadīdah, 2010.
19. al-Ḥumaydī, Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr. Musnad al-Imām Abī Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr al-Qurashī al-Ḥumaydī. 2 vols. Edited by Ḥusayn Salīm Asad al-Dārānī. Damascus: Dār al-Saqā, 1996.
20. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Abū ʿUmar Jamāl al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Namarī. al-Tamhīd li-mā fī l-Muwaṭṭaʾ min al-maʿānī wa-l-asānīd. 24 vols. Edited by Muṣṭafá ibn Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī, Muḥammad al-Tāʾib al-Saʿīdī, Saʿīd Aḥmad Aʿrāb, Muḥammad al-Fallāḥ, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣiddīq, and ʿUmar al-Jīdī. Rabat: Wizārat ʿUmūm al-Awqāf wa-l-Shuʾūn al-Islāmiyyah, 1967.
21. Ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad. Kitāb al-jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl. 3 vols. Edited by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yaḥyá al-Muʿallimī. Hyderabad: Maṭbaʿat Majlis Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyyah, 1941-1953.
22. Ibn Abī Shaybah, Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAbsī. al-Kitāb al-muṣannaf fī l-aḥādīth wa-l-āthār. 7 vols. Edited by Kamāl Yūsuf al-Ḥūt. Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 1989.
23. Ibn ʿAdī, Abū Aḥmad ʿAbd Allāh al-Jurjānī. al-Kāmil fī ḍuʿafāʾ al-rijāl. 7 vols. Edited by Yaḥyá Mukhtār Ghazzāwī. 3rd ed. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1988.
24. Ibn al-ʿArabī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Maʿāfirī. Kitāb al-ʿawāṣim min al-qawāṣim. Edited by ʿAmmār Ṭālibī. Cairo: Maktabat Dār al-Turāth, n.d.
25. Ibn Baṭṭāl, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Khalaf al-Qurṭubī, Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ed. Abū Tamīm Yāsir ibn Ibrāhīm. 2nd ed. Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 2003.
26. Ibn Ḥibbān, Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad al-Bustī. Kitāb al-thiqāt. 9 vols. Edited by al-Sayyid Sharaf al-Dīn Aḥmad. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1975.
27. Ibn Kathīr, Abū l-Fidāʾ ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm. 8 vols. Edited by Sāmī ibn Muḥammad al-Salāmah. Riyadh: Dār Ṭībah li-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzīʿ, 1999.
28. Ibn Mājah, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Qazwīnī. Sunan al-Ḥāfiẓ Abī ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Qazwīnī Ibn Mājah. 2 vols. Edited by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Cairo: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah, 1952-1953.
29. Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī, Abū l-Faraj Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad. Fatḥ al-bārī fī sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. 6 vols. Edited by Abū Muʿādh Ṭāriq ibn ʿIwaḍ Allāh ibn Muḥammad. Jeddah: Dār Ibn al-Jawzī, 1422.
30. Mālik ibn Anas, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Aṣbaḥī. al-Muwaṭṭaʾ. 5 vols. Edited by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1985.
31. al-Mubārakfūrī, Abū l-ʿUlā Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī bi-sharḥ Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī. 5 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2010.
32. al-Munāwī, Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raʾūf. al-Taysīr bi-sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaghīr. 2 vols. 3rd ed. Riyadh: Maktabat al-Imām al-Shāfiʿī, 1988.
33. al-Munāwī, Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raʾūf. Fayḍ al-qadīr Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaghīr min aḥādīth al-bashīr al-nadhīr. 6 vols. Edited by Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Salām. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1994.
34. Muslim, Abū l-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjāj al-Qushayrī al-Nīsābūrī. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. 5 vols. Edited by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al- ʿArabī, 1965.
35. al-Nasāʾī, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb. Sunan al-Nasāʾī bi-Sharḥ al-Ḥāfiẓ Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī wa-Ḥāshiyat al-Imām al-Sindī. 9 vols. Edited by ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah. 2nd ed. Aleppo: Maktabat al-Maṭbūʿāt al-Islāmiyyah, 1986.
36. al-Ṣanʿānī, Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-Razzāq ibn Ḥammām ibn Nafiʿ al-Ḥimyarī. al-Muṣannaf (along with Maʿmar ibn Rāshid’s Kitāb al-jāmiʿ). 11 vols. Edited by Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān al-Aʿẓamī. Johannesburg: al-Majlis al-ʿIlmī, 1983.
37. al-Ṭabarānī, Abū l-Qāsim Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad. al-Muʿjam al-kabīr. 25 vols. Edited by Ḥamdī ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Salafī. Cairo: Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah, 1983.
38. al-Ṭabarānī, Abū l-Qāsim Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad. al-Muʿjam al-awsaṭ. 10 vols. Edited by Abū Muʿādh Ṭāriq ibn ʿIwaḍ Allāh ibn Muḥammad and Abū l-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Muḥsin ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥusaynī. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥaramayn, 1995.
39. al-Ṭabarī, Abū Jaʾfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī taʾwīl al-Qurʾān al-maʿrūf bi-Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī. 24 vols. Edited by Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir. Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 2000.
40. al-Ṭaḥāwī, Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. Sharḥ Mushkil al-āthār. 26 vols. Edited by Shuʿayb al-Arnāʾūṭ. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1987.
41. al-Tirmidhī, Abū ʿĪsá Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsá ibn Thawrah. al-Jāmiʿ al-kabīr. 6 vols. Edited by Bashshār ʿAwwād Maʿrūf. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1998.
42. al-Zurqānī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Sharḥ al-Zurqānī ʿalá Muwaṭṭaʾ al-Imām Mālik. 4 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1411.