The Ghazwa-e-Hind Claims Of Pakistani Jihadi Militants: Does Authentic Hadith Literature Actually Enjoin Jihad Against India - A Comprehensive Study (Part 1)

By Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam 23 November 2022 -------------------------------------------------------------------- The very first battle fought under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)—the battle of Badr—was against the Makkans. The Prophet (PBUH) taught that all the believers who fought against the Makkans in the battle of Badr were forgiven by Allah for all their sins after that battle. Great merits were promised at Badr, Uhad and Khandaq to fight the Makkans. What can one say about someone who thinks that, in view of these promises in Quran and Hadith, attacking Makkah even today would bring those same rewards, as all verses in Quran and all instructions in Hadith, considered akin to revelation, are immutable, universal and applicable for all time to come? … Would anyone in his right senses think that these promises are valid even today and so one should create an army to attack Makka? -------------------------------------------------------------------- Posts 'establishing' the Prophet's (PBUH) order to fight against India, quoting certain Ahadith, are now rampant on social media. The Jihadi militants are mainly spearheading this propaganda work with the intention of making Indian Muslims believe that it is their religious duty to join the various terrorist movements that are engaged in anti-India military preparations. If you see the speeches of some radical elements in South India, particularly in Kerala, you will notice that they too are supporting these canards. These radical Muslims in South India do not seem to realise that this amounts to intellectual violence against a great man who lived almost a millennium and a half ago and whom all Muslims claim to love. These canards, spread by Islamophobes and Jihadi militants alike, are based on some quotations scraped from the Quran and Hadith books without scholarly honesty, as the context has been torn away for all to see if you look closely. Muslims know that Quranic verses of war or related sayings of the Prophet are no longer applicable to them over 1400 years after these wars were fought. The claims of both radicalised Muslims and Islamophobes are misplaced and contorted out of context. This article examines this issue at length. Let us examine the Ahadith claimed by fanatical Islamophobes and radicalised Muslims to show that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught Muslims to see India as an enemy and indulge in efforts to destroy India. 1. "Some of my community will conquer India and bind its kings; As a reward for doing so, Allah will grant forgiveness to those Muslims.” It is pointed out in a narration in the relatively unpopular and less authentic Hadith collection Kitabul Fitan by the scholar Nu'aim Ibn Hammad that he heard the Prophet (PBUH) say that the Prophet (PBUH) heard his disciple Abu Huraira saying, "Then they will return to Syria, there they will meet Isa Ibn Maryam". 2. In another Hadith in this same collection, Abu Huraira is said to have heard almost the same idea from the Prophet (PBUH). It is said that if he were alive at the time of the said battle, he would sell all his possessions and join the army and expressed his hope in front of the Prophet that he would meet Prophet Jesus when he returned. But these two Ahadith (plural of Hadith) have such a weak chain of narrators that it is not even possible to indicate who heard this information from Abu Huraira. In short, these Ahadith, which are clearly unacceptable, do not prove that such a conversation took place between the Prophet (PBUH) and Abu Huraira. 3. Another Hadith is in the Musnad, a large collection of Imam Ahmad. "My honest friend - the Prophet of Allah - has told me that a military move to Sindh and Hind will be from this community. If I am martyred in it, that is good for me; It is in the Hadith that the disciple Abu Huraira said, "If I come back alive, I can become a new person with all my sins forgiven". From the fact that this Hadith is not recorded, it is clear that it is not reliable. In addition to this, there is a weak person in the chain of Hadith called Bara' bin Abdullah. 4. The same concept is also quoted in another Hadith from Abu Huraira in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad itself. "The Messenger of Allah promised us the war against India. If I become a martyr in it, I can become the best of martyrs; Abu Huraira said that if he returns victorious and does not die, he can continue his life as a person who escaped from Hell. The chain of narrators in this Hadith is also unacceptable to Muhaddithin (experts in Hadith). Because it is narrated from Abu Huraira by an unknown person named Jabr Ibn Abeedah. Because of this, the scholars have pointed out that the Hadith in question is weak. It is worth noting that none of the best 'India-related Ahadith' in the collections of Ahmad and Ibn Abi Azwim are authentic narrations from the Prophet (PBUH). 5. Another source to which the Ahadith are pointed on this subject is the Sunan of Imam Ahmad Nasai, which is famous for its authenticity as a compilation. There are two Ahadith recorded by Nasai in the chapter 'Ghazwatul Hind' (War against India). One of these is the same Hadith, with minor change in wording, beginning with 'The Messenger of Allah promised us the war on India' found in Musnad Ahmad above. An-Nasa'i records this Hadith on the authority of Abu Huraira through two different chains of narrators. But the person immediately after Abu Huraira in these two chains of narrators is Jabrubn Abidah as seen in the Musnad. Because of this, Shaykh Naswiruddin al-Albani has pointed out that both of them are weak. 6. The second Hadith in Nasai is not from Abu Huraira but from another disciple of the Prophet, Thawban. It is in the Hadith that Thawban heard the Prophet (PBUH) say: "Allah has saved two groups of my community from Hell - the group that conquers India and the group that comes with Eesa ibn Maryam Prophet Jesus Christ)." The same Hadith can be found in Ahmad's Musnad from Thawban himself. Some scholars have opined that the chain from Thawban, as recorded by Nasai and Ahmad, is dominant in contrast to the chain from Abu Huraira in various texts regarding the 'Indian War'. Shaykh Naswiruddin al-Albani, the most prominent of modern Hadith scholars, has judged this Hadith to be 'Sahih' or authentic. The Hadith claims that the Prophet said: "Allah has saved two groups of my community from Hell - the group that conquers India and the group that comes with Ibn Maryam (Prophet Jesus Christ Alaihis Salam)." What does Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mean when he is supposed to have said: 'From my community, the group that makes India subject to military action is exempted from hell'? It is very easy for anyone with even a basic knowledge of Islamic history to understand this, if at all this Hadith is authentic. To understand the purpose of a statement made one and a half millennia ago, it is necessary to know its historical context, only then can one advance the discussion on such issues. It is well known that during the last years of his life Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) became the head of an administrative system based in Madina, Hijaz, Arabia. The Islamic city-state of Madina came into being under the rule of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It was a small city-state based on an ideal of pluralism and brotherhood of human beings as against the tribal Hijazian social practices of exclusion and dominance prevalent all over Arabian desert then. The polytheistic Arab tribes in various regions of Hijaz were naturally unhappy. They could not allow this new religion to take further roots. They were thus constantly plotting to uproot the Islamic creed preached by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and its followers. They determined that the practical way to do so was the destruction of Madina through wars and thus were constantly engaged in war-related efforts. In the past centuries, the brave disciples of the Prophet (PBUH) fought on the side of the Prophet (PBUH) with limited preparations against the enemies of Islam. They put up a brave fight against enemies armed with heavy weapons in those wars and contributed with sacrificing their own lives and limbs. This effort was not only for the protection of a city-state called Madina but for the survival of a holy ideal, for the humanity. It is enough to remember that it was their sacrificial efforts that instituted Islam on earth. Therefore, participation in these wars was clearly a pious act. Various Arab tribes or regions of the Hijaz itself were on the enemy side of Madina. There are thus many famous sayings of the Prophet (PBUH) promising great rewards for martyrdom/participation in these holy wars to defend Madina and protect the nascent religion of Islam. Anyone with good sense will have to agree that Islam does not have permanent and absolute enmity towards the various tribes of Arabia, and that fighting against them will not remain a virtuous act, deserving heavenly rewards, until the end of the world. Clearly instructions for war against them became obsolete as soon as the war was over. The very first battle fought under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)—the battle of Badr—was against the Makkans. The Prophet (PBUH) taught that all the believers who fought against the Makkans in the battle of Badr were forgiven by Allah for all their sins after that battle. Great merits were promised at Badr, Uhad and Khandaq to fight the Makkans. What can one say about someone who thinks that, in view of these promises in Quran and Hadith, attacking Makkah even today would bring those same rewards, as all verses in Quran and all instructions in Hadith, considered akin to revelation, are immutable, universal and applicable for all time to come? The famous peace treaty between the two sides at Hudaybiyyah was a crucial and famous turning point in the history of the war between the Islamic state of Madina and the polytheistic Quraish tribe of Makkah. When the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions went to Makka from Madina in the sixth year of Hijra with no intention of war and without any necessary preparations, only to perform Umrah peacefully, the stage was set for the Hudaybiya truce. The Prophet (PBUH) sent his eminent disciple Uthman Ibn Affan, who later became the third righteous Khalifa, to the Quraish to negotiate truce after the Makkans denied them entry. But at the first stage, a news reached the Muslim side that the people of Makka had brutally killed Uthman, the messenger officially appointed by the Prophet for dialogue. At that time, more than a thousand disciples assured the Prophet (PBUH) under a tree that if the news was true, they were ready to fight the people of Makka immediately - regardless of the fact that they came without mental or physical preparation for war. Allah also assures them that they will be able to conquer Makkah very soon. Would any one in his right senses think that these promises are valid even today and so one should create an army to attack Makka? Clearly it is the context and circumstances that give meaning to the letters of any holy book. The same has to be the case with the Hadith about the 'Indian war'. Let us examine its context. Islam can be accused of being more 'anti-Makka' than 'anti-India' if war-time verses of Quran and Hadith are taken out of context, as there is only one seemingly authentic Sahih Hadith that speaks of India, and many verses and Ahadith calling for war against Makka. In any case authenticity of any particular Hadith will always remain doubtful in view of the circumstances in which they were recorded decades and centuries after the demise of the Prophet. Their pruning and authentication were also done by human beings who were not receiving revelations from God. Nearly six lakh Ahadith were rejected and only up to 11,000 Ahadith were included in different collections by the revered Muhaddithin like Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim and other four collections which are together called Sihah-e-Sitta. (To be continued) ----- A regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Mubashir V.P is a PhD scholar in Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia and freelance journalist. 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