Saturday, May 09, 2009

Hadith on Muhammad as Savior

Sahih Muslim, Book 30, Number 5655:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: I shall be pre-eminent amongst the descendants of Adam on the Day of Resurrection and I will be the first intercessor and the first whose intercession will be accepted (by Allah).

5 comments:

Jeff said...

I think I get the point of your posting this hadith.

But what was the point of the taking up the baby hadith?

And is the point of the "cursing Christians" hadith that the Wahhabis are right and Muslims have betrayed Islam by worshipping at Mohammed's tomb in Medina?

Or that Mohammed's final word on "People of the Book" is not a friendly one?

Or both?

Umm Daoud said...

Jeff, I think it's the second one; there are contradicting remarks all throughout the Qu'ran and Hadith regarding Muslims and how they are to treat Christians, but it seems like most of the venomous remarks that Mohammamad made toward the Christians were after he took control of Medina and established himself as both the political and religious leader. Correct me if I'm wrong, Abu Daoud.

From the Middle East said...

In light of passages like this, I am still not sure why most of the Christian community continues to use the term وسيط rather than شافع for Jesus..... in my experience there is quite a difference in Islamic Arabic. Which term is used for mediator among Christians where you are?

Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East

Abu Daoud said...

Hi All,

Good questions! Jeff: I mention the baby hadith because it is important to keep an eye on the very real human element in Muhammad--that he would pick up a baby during prayers, thus making it permissible for all Muslims for all time.

And I think the other point goes both ways: that Muslims don't quite live up to their own aspirations, and also, that whatever nice things he said about Christians, those were certainly cancelled out and abbrogated by his later statements.

Abu Daoud said...

FTME: Yes, shaafi3 is indeed a better term. Not long ago I made th mistake of using the term 'wasta' in terms of influence (related of course to wasiit) and the guy got upset! Not even because of anything theological, but bc he is sick of wasta in Arab society and wishes people could just be judged on their merrits and work instead of their family name. Mistake on my part...