A Glance at the Early History of Islam

A Glance at the Early History of Islam

By: Abdullah al-Khunayzi
I am now before a man's biography, which the fancies played a great role to distort. The mercenary pens deviated from the way of rightfulness and threw a thick cover over the truth, exactly like what they did to every clear and shiny truth, just to defame and distort this great personality.
I am before a man, whose biography left prominent lines in history. He was one of the mujahidin, who stood in the first front. He was one of those, who supported the true principles and supported the prophets and the guides of the humanity.
A man, who supported the straight belief while all the hearts turned aside from him and all the eyes looked askance at him. Those hearts and eyes scattered grudge, quivered with serious enmity, warned of resistance and disobedience to put out this fresh burning torch ... some hands stretched to do away with this (new prophet), whose light had cured the sore-eyes.
But this strong fort (Abu Talib) stood up to them towering, showing his powerfulness and challenging their reckless will. And then they turned back empty-handed. The grudge increased in the hearts against this supporter but it was as the grudge of the horses against the bridles.
A man, who watered Islam when it was a seed in a barren land, guarded it against the wind when it was soft and tender and then took care of it when it was young. It grew and became strong. The light spread from it. No enemy could achieve an aim until the loyal guard of this flowing spring left to the better world and until the flowing spring dried.
He was a man, who had a standing in Islam and left a fine impression and an eternal virtue. But the fancies wanted the eyes to be away from him or to look at him with a wrongful look. They tried their best to fabricate lies against him in order to distort the truth and to cover the virtue.
The age of the caliphate elapsed and it was full of the virtues of Abu Talib; the great man of Islam. The age recorded the exploits of this man and the benevolent hands of him to give him some of his due.
Then the age of monarchy and tyranny came. This illegal authority wouldn't last except by defaming the hero of Islam, Imam Ali, because the tyrants had extorted the legal right of Ali and his sons and so the biography of his father was one side among others the authority tried the best to destroy thinking that it might destroy the personality of Imam Ali and attempting to turn the people's attention away from the matter of extorting his right of the caliphate.
The rulers began to hire those of the filthy consciences and the opportunist hearts, who didn't know a meaning of a virtue nor an end of vice. They would sell their consciences, break the covenants and promises, change the truth into falsehood, show the falsehood as true and sell their religion for a stolen dinar or an extorted property just to achieve their low intents, to satisfy their filthy consciences and to obtain the contentment of the rulers.
Such people wouldn't be able to live except under the darkness because the bat wouldn't fly during the brightness of the daylight. They wished the night to be so long so that the stage would be free for them alone.
The fancies played the role, changed the course of history and wanted to overthrow the present situation so they exploited the mercenaries to fabricate traditions according to the wishes of the rulers until fabricating traditions became salable in the market of the state at those days. Many fabricators, whose hearts were full of aftermaths of the pre-Islamic age, began their attempts to destroy the religion in order to satisfy the rulers.
This black market was based upon three things; hiding the virtues of Imam Ali, fabricating traditions against him and turning the Quranic verses concerning him to the others and turning the others to him and thirdly ascribing fabricated virtues to the other companions.
The (merchant) Mo'awiya encouraged this market to work for the benefit of him. It was the cornerstone of his rule. He followed every means to strengthen his rule especially when he saw the people believe whatever he fabricated for their faith was flickering and the religion didn't reach farther than their tongues. Their old party spirit didn't accept the new religion yet, the fancies were still ready in the chests, the personal hopes prepared to leap and the gold of Mo'awiya reigned in the hearts.
Those of the black aims and bad fancies followed this way because they found that it satisfied their greed.
The opportunist Mo'awiya found them as a tractable mount so he put those heavy loads upon their backs. They obeyed whatever he wanted and when he didn't want, they themselves tried to flatter him.
He wrote to his governors: (We will never forgive anyone, who narrates something about the virtues of Abu Turab or any of his family).
The orators hurried to respond. They began to curse Ali (s) on every minbar throughout the state. They declared their quittance from him and began to defame him and his family. The minbars, upon which Imam Ali was cursed, were more than seventy thousand ones.
The public responded to the orators and believed them. You may estimate how many men sitting before each minbar of those seventy thousands and how many women and children were behind each one of those men, who certainly would listen to his sayings as he listened to the orator's sayings. Their flesh would grow with those fabrications and their blood would flow in the veins with them.
Then Mo'awiya wrote to his governors: (Don't accept any witness of the followers of Ali or his family)(Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.15) to tighten the grip around the Shia, to disgrace them and to let them be liable to the oppressions of their enemies and to be a target for their arrows. Then Mo'awiya assigned great gifts and high positions for whomever narrated traditions ascribing virtues to Othman and his companions.
Once again he wrote to his governors: (Criticizing Othman increased and spread in every country and every side. When this book reaches you, invite people to narrate traditions talking about the virtues of the companions and the first caliphs. Don't let any tradition narrated by any Muslim about the virtues of Abu Turab unless you fabricated same virtues to be ascribed to the companions. This will make me delighted and will refute the virtues of Abu Turab and will be harder to them (the Shia) than to mention the virtues and favors of Othman).(Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.15).
As soon as the book reached the hearings, the imaginations flew to invent news and to create traditions, some of which ascribed untrue virtues to the companions and the others defamed Ali (s) and this was the main aim of the fabricated traditions.
We are not in need of saying or referring to the value of this muchness of traditions whether those that ascribed untrue virtues to the companions or those that defamed Ali (s). They were full of excessiveness, ridiculous ignorance, deadly grudge and malicious enmity. Neither these traditions nor those had any value and they wouldn't resist the hammer of criticism for a moment. They were born illegally and built upon a base of salt so as soon as moisture reached it, it melted.
But the situation of the ruling authority at that time and the decrees issued by the (merchant) Mo'awiya were the active cause of activating this market, whose goods didn't face any recession. Mo'awiya looked forward to gain target (material) benefits from this market at the expense of the religious and moral principles. Those fabricated traditions were lectured from upon the minbars and were given to the teachers to be learnt by the children, who memorized them as they memorized the verses of the holy Quran or better.
Hence those traditions became more spreading, more current and more effective and on the other side the profit would be more inclusive that each of the factory keeper, the exporter and the importer would get his share according to the commercial language. So the creator of the tradition, the speaker, the teacher and whoever surrounded them would share in the profit.
The (great merchant) Mo'awiya wrote to his governors throughout the state: (See if it is proved that someone loves Ali then you are to remove his name from the register of the treasury and to omit his livelihood).( Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.16).
He wasn't satisfied with this severe pursuit, flagrant challenge and this economical war until he wrote another book saying: (You are to torture whomever you accuse of supporting those people (Ali and his family) and to tear down his house).( 1 Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.16).
And thus he passed the blockade much more than before. He threatened every one showing a bit of love to this man and his family. Merely showing a bit of affection to these people by anyone would make that one face a bitter war. He would never be forgiven. He would be liable to every kind of aggression. His name would be omitted from the register of the divan. He would be prevented from his livelihood. He wouldn't be equal to the other people. He had no right of option. He didn't have to think with his mind. He would have to be unfree puppet driven without will or thinking. He would live without dignity or sense of honor, surrounded with danger, waiting for torture or for his house to be demolished upon his head at any moment.
Mo'awiya wouldn't be satisfied with issuing those unjust orders, which killed the social justice, but he chose the ones, who would carry out those unjust orders. He appointed his illegitimate brother Ziyad bin Abeeh as the governor of Iraq to increase the pressure against the Shia because Ziyad knew them well for he had been near them before the grudge reigned in his heart.
Mo'awiya used every means to sell and buy these goods. He was that opportunist dealer, who didn't leave any opportunity unless he would exploit it for his private interest selfishly.
Bribes, gifts and positions were insignificant prices to buy with them many consciences put forward in that black market! So it was easy for him to conclude a deal every day to buy a conscience, to sell a covenant and to do away with a belief.
Since the aim of all that was to fight Imam Ali to extort his right and to sit on the throne, so he would direct his action towards Ali himself. He would commit everything in order to achieve him aim even incredible things. He wouldn't refrain from announcing among the people of Sham, (1) who didn't differentiate between the she-camel and the he-camel, that Imam Ali didn't offer prayer and that it was he, who shed Othman's blood and that they (the people of Sham) had to revenge Othman on this bloodshedder.
No faith, no morals and no human qualities would make this man (Mo'awiya), who was free from all those good qualities, refrain from following his prevailing fancy. He gave free reign to his fancy and let it play its unruly role, diversify in committing abominable actions and no one to restraint, exceed in fabricating and no one to deny, exaggerate in lying and no one to prevent and pride upon unrightfulness and no one to be angry!
If someone was impudent, he would do whatever he liked!
He called for Samara bin Jundub, who was one of the
traders of Hadith, and gave him one hundred thousand dirhams in order to fabricate a tradition showing that the following Quranic verses referred to Ali: (And among men is he whose speech about the life of this world causes you to wonder, and he calls on Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the most violent of adversaries. And when he turns back, he runs along in the land that he may cause mischief in it and destroy the tilth and the stock, and Allah does not love mischief-making. Quran 2:204-5) and that the following verse referred to Abdur Rahman bin Muljam: (1) (And among men is he who sells himself to seek the pleasure of Allah. Quran 2:207)
Samara might find that this price was not enough for distorting one verse so how about two verses! Mo'awiya began to bargain with him. He offered him another hundred thousand dirhams... but all that was just a price for distorting one verse. They went on bargaining until they agreed upon four hundred thousand dirhams and then Samara narrated this tradition. (1)
And thus with the wealth of Allah the saints of Allah were fought, with the wealth of Islam, Islam was attacked and with the wealth of the Muslims, the sanctity of their high belief was distorted.
Mo'awiya thought of hiring some people to fabricate traditions defaming Ali so he chose some of the Prophet's companions and some of their successors, who were respected by the public and had sanctity because of their companionship with the Prophet (s), in order to be believed when fabricating traditions.
Among those, with whom he concluded a bargain, were Abu Hurayra, Amr bin al-Aass, the adulterer al-Mugheera bin Shu'ba and Orwa bin az-Zubayr. They created odious news to defame Imam Ali (s) and to declare acquittance from him in return for bribes given to them by Mo'awiya to satisfy their greed and to encourage the others to do the same as ibn Abul Hadeed, the author of Sharh Nahjol Balagha said.
Every one of them tried his best to fabricate traditions. Az-Zuhri mentioned a tradition narrated by Orwa bin Zubayr saying: "Aa'isha (the Prophet's wife) said to me: "Once I was with the Prophet when al-Abbas and Ali came. The Prophet said: O Aa'isha, these two men will die unbelievingly."
There was another tradition narrated by him also saying that the Prophet had said to Aa'isha: "If you like to look at two men of Hell, look at these coming men." Aa'isha said: I looked and found that they were al-Abbas and Ali!"
Amr bin al-Aass, who was Mo'awiya's friend and partner in his doings, narrated a tradition that he had heard the Prophet (s) saying: "The family of Abu Talib are not my guardians but my guardian is Allah and the good believers."
When Abu Hurayra came to Iraq with Mo'awiya in the year of aj-jama'a (the unity), he came to the mosque of Kuffa and was surprised with the great crowd of people, who had come to meet him. He knelt on his knees and hit his bald head many times saying: "O people of Iraq, do you pretend that I ascribe lies to Allah and his apostle to burn myself in Hell? By Allah, I had heard the Prophet (s) saying: "Every prophet had a sanctum and my sanctum is in Medina; from Eer to Thour. Whoever corrupts in it, a curse of Allah, the angels and all the people will be upon him." And I swear by Allah that Ali had done corruption in it." When this saying reached Mo'awiya, he gifted Abu Hurayra and appointed him as the wali of Medina.
When Hurayz bin Othman was dying he mentioned Ali to end his life with this saying: "It was he, who violated the sanctum of the Prophet until it was about to collapse." It was not strange of him after his saying: "The Prophet, when he was about to die, ordered that Ali's hand was to be cut." We don't know! Perhaps Ali was, according to Hurayz's opinion, one of the nightly thieves as the dissolute king al-Waleed bin Abdul Melik said when he mentioned Ali: "Allah may curse him. He was a thief and a son of a thief." The people became astonished at him grammatical mistakes and his ascribing thieving to Imam Ali (s) and said: "We don't know which of them is more astonishing." (1)
And thus those people tried to diminish those high tops to the lowest slopes!
We may ask Hurayz about his thought of Abu Bakr, the first caliph of the Muslims after the Prophet (s), when he didn't carry out the order of the Prophet to cut Ali's hand!
That war was kindled by Mo'awiya. He supplied its fuel with the monies of Islam and the Muslims. He extorted the monies from their possessors and gave them to others in return for a tradition they fabricated, a virtue they created and ascribed to so and so, a true virtue they hid or a Quranic verse they distorted (... to alter the words from their places...).
Besides this war there was another war. It was the pursuit of everyone, whose heart had a bit of love to Ali or his tongue murmured in praising him or mentioning him favorably. Whoever was found to be of those would be given the option to choose between the sword and the acquittance from Ali.
Hujr bin Adiy and his companions had showed the great example of sacrifice for the sake of the deep-rooted belief and the true faith, which would never be bent before the wind or be frightened by the assaulting sword.
Mo'awiya, who bought the rule of the Muslims and changed the caliphate into a hereditary monarchy, was not of that kind that his excessiveness of abusing Ali would be prevented by anything. He wanted it to be a lasting heresy recorded by the time every day with dark letters to be fixed in the history of this perfidious tyrant.
It was mentioned that some of the Umayyads advised Mo'awiya and said to him: "You have got what you want. Don't you stop cursing this man (Ali)?" He said: "No, by Allah, until the child grows and the adult becomes old with it and until no one will mention a virtue of him." (1)
Mo'awiya wasn't satisfied with cursing Ali but he exceeded to degrade the sanctity of the Prophet and his prophecy.
Mutrif bin al-Mugheera bin Shu'ba said: "I came with my father to Mo'awiya. My father talked with Mo'awiya and then he came to tell about him. He became astonished about him. One night he came and refused to have his dinner. I found that he was very sad. I thought that something might have happened to us or to our business. I wait for a moment and then I asked him: Why are you unhappy tonight? He said: O my son! I came from the most malicious and the most unfaithful one. I said: What happened? He said: I said to him (Mo'awiya) when we were alone: "O amirul mo'mineen, you have achieved you aims. Why don't you do justice and good? You have become so old. You may pay attention to your brothers of the Hashemites and take care of them. By Allah, they have nothing today that you may fear!" He said to me: "How far! The man of Taym (2) ruled and wronged and did what he did. By Allah, as soon as he died, his mention died with him. People may remember him and just say Abu Bakr. Then the man of Adiy ruled for ten years. As soon as he died, his mention died with him. People may remember him and say Omar. Then our brother Othman ruled. No one had lineage like him. He did what he did and people did to him what they did. As soon as he died, his mention and what happened to him died with him. But the man of Hashem; (1) everyday his name is announced five times (I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). So which thing will last after this? May be buried their mention!" (2)
Could we say anything after this saying of Mo'awiya, whom the mention of the great Prophet (s) on the minarets hurt him bitterly and pierced his mind like the arrow whereas he controlled the affairs of the Muslims and extorted their rights under the name of the Islamic caliphate, which he changed into unjust monarchy?
How could we be astonished at a man or a saying that made al-Mugheera, who was an adultere and perfidious, (3) so angry to a degree that his son noticed the signs of his anger as if something important happened to them or to their business although that nothing would affect al-Mugheera other than deposing him from a position or losing some money? But in spite of his wickedness he couldn't tolerate the blasphemy of Mo'awiya and his defaming the Prophet (s).
We don't have to waste the time in tracking Mo'awiya's sayings and doings, with which he resisted the Prophet (s) and contradicted him intendedly and that would make Mo'awiya out of the sphere of Islam. Islam is belief, saying and doing. Mo'awiya contradicted the all without being satisfied with one side away from the others.
If we follow the pen to track everything, we will go far away from the subject but we think it is better to let the reader refer to al-Ghadeer vol.10, which has a wonderful conclusive discussion. It mentions many of Mo'awiya's breaches, which he committed intendedly and insistingly with bitter challenge and sarcastic mockery. The reasons behind that were latent spite, inherited polytheism, opportunist policy and barefaced enmity that he had inherited from the Umayyad house and from the polluted pre-Islamic environment against the honored Hashemite house with its great guiding leaders and chiefs.
That dark age passed to be replaced with a darker one. An age came and cursing Ali became a rubric, which the fancies tried the best to made firm in the hearts. If once the public speaker forgot to curse Ali (s), he would be taken from every side by shouting and crying of people: The Sunna! He would know then what a mistake he did and what a Sunna he left!
Mo'awiya had engraved in every heart of every Umayyad, whether in lineage or in tendency, this word, which would make the mountains crack and the heavens split, with which the speakers had to end their speeches of the Fridays: "O Allah, Abu Turab unbeliever in Your religion and kept people away from You way, so curse him with lethal curses and torture him with painful torture!"
It was not removed from the hearts or forgotten by the mouths except during the reign of Omar bin Abdul Aziz, the ascetic caliph.
But between the two ages there were many shameful sins and crimes and dark events that left bad consequences, changed the history and darkened the bright face of rightfulness.
The age of the perfidious tyrant, al-Hajjaj-the student of Mo'awiya-would never be forgotten at all. It was full of incredible crimes and calamities. He supported the oppressive construction of Mo'awiya and added to it many bricks that raised it high. Al-Hajjaj let his sword exceed with the necks of the Shia. He killed so many people patiently. He killed people without any guilt but just for suspicion and accusation. He committed crimes that were like the legends!
It was but a pray of Imam Ali when he prayed to Allah against the people of Iraq.
Al-Hajjaj was full of grudge against Imam Ali and he satisfied his filthy conscience, fury grudge and serious spite by cursing Ali and ordering people to curse him as his teacher Mo'awiya did before.
One day a man met al-Hajjaj in his way and said to him: "O emir, my parents had wronged me when they named me Ali. I am poor and needy. I am in need of your help." This begging provoked al-Hajjaj's latent spite and the dregs of his mean soul. He changed the man's name and gave him a job.
Al-Hajjaj wanted to reward Abdullah bin Hani for he had participated in his battles. He decided to marry him to the daughter of Asma' bin Kharija, the chief of the tribe Fazara and to the daughter of Sa'eed bin Qayss al-Hamadani. He threatened the first with the whip and the second with the sword if they refused so they obeyed and married their daughters to Abdullah bin Hani unwillingly. What a legal marriage the emir of the Muslims performed!
After that al-Hajjaj began to remind Abdullah of what favors he did him. And suddenly this man stood up in front of al-Hajjaj to defend his favors by saying: "O emir! Don't say that. We also have virtues that no one of the Arabs has." Al-Hajjaj said: "What are they?" He said: "Amirul mo'mineen Abdul Melik was never abused among us at all." Al-Hajjaj said: "By Allah, it is a virtue." He said: "Seventy men of us participated with Mo'awiya in the battle of Siffeen and no one of us supported Ali except one and he was, as I know, a bad man." Al-Hajjaj said: "By Allah, it is a virtue." He said: "No one of us was asked to abuse and to curse Ali unless he did and added to Ali Hassan, Husayn and their mother Fatima." Al-Hajjaj said: "By Allah, it is a virtue." He said: "No one of the Arabs has beauty and prettiness like us." But al-Hajjaj didn't consider this as a virtue because the sayer had so an ugly smallpoxed face, a swollen head, a slant mouth and a squint in his eye. (1) This face was an opposite evidence for the virtue that al-Hajjaj stained to offer. He laughed and said: "O Abu Hani, as for this, please let it aside!"(Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.1 p.357 and ad-Da'wa, vol.1 p.210).
Mo'awiya reached what he had hoped. Abusing and cursing Ali continued as a heresy, with which the child grew up and the adult became old, but he couldn't distort the essence of the truth as he wished for. (Allah will perfect His light, though the unbelievers may be averse).
The sinful successors of those wicked ancestors came and diversified in creating heresies as their mean consciences wished.
Khalid bin Abdullah al-Qissri ascended the minbar in Iraq, when he was the emir during the reign of Hisham bin Abdul Melik, and cursed Ali by saying: "O Allah, curse Ali bin Abu Talib bin Abdul Muttalib bin Hashem, the son-in-law of the messenger of Allah and the father of Hassan and Husayn." Then he came to people drunkenly, where he created a new heresy when he cursed Ali in a way that couldn't be interpreted to refer to other than him because he used full names and he asked people: "Did I surnamed?" (1)
Another time he repeated the same odious image of Mo'awiya when he dared to defame the great Prophet (s). He followed the same heresies of Mo'awiya, walked after his deviation and in that vicious soil, in which the cursed tree-the Umayyads-grew, he was brought up and was enslaved.
Another time, after cursing Ali in his speech to the people in one Friday and when he wasn't satisfied with that unless he would prejudice the Prophet, he said: "By Allah, the Prophet employed him (Ali) and he knew well what kind of man he was but because he was his companions!"
Do you see how he dared to criticize the Prophet, the holiness of the mission and the infallibility of the prophecy? He considered the Prophet as an ordinary man acting according to his passion and fancy without caring
for rightfulness and truthfulness. This was enough to drive the sayer out of the sphere of Islam. He defamed the Prophet (s) just like what Mo'awiya had done before. Sa'eed bin al-Mussayab, who was famous of his deviation from Ali, was present. He felt sleepy for a moment when Kahlid said his saying. He opened his eyes and he was terrified. He asked: "Woe unto you! What did this malicious say? I saw the tomb split and the Prophet said: "You are lying, o you the enemy of Allah!")
With these ignominious deeds and with this obscene style, which was far away from morals and humanity, they resisted the rightness, which they saw that it would prevent them from achieving their mean pleasures and would prevent them from the seats of the rule but definitely they would hold the seats of Hell!
History is full of such shameful deeds and if one wants to track the, he will be tried. But it is painful when you find that the leaders of the umma, who were called amirul mo'mineen or the caliphs of the Prophet sometimes, were either freed captives, hypocrites, stealers, adulteres, drunkard, deviator or dissolute...to the end of this empty circle of the corruption og those mean walis.
Mo'awiya the feed captive was amirul mo'mineen, Yazeed the drunkard was the caliph of the Prophet, Marwan the deviant and the son of the deviant was the caliph of the Muslims...until the turn of the tyrant Abdul Melik, Yazeed the deficient and Marwan the donkey.
Then we come back to find that these false sayings, fabricated traditions, distorted speeches and biases interpretations come out from lips saying: (We heard the messenger of Allah saying...).
We searched for those of that falseness and fabrication and what a painful thing it was! We found that it was them, who were called the Prophet's companions. This companionship was considered as an impregnable fence surrounding this falseness and guarding that fabrication and a a protector covering those bad deeds and denied doings!
Whoever tried to cross this fence or to remove that cover would be accused of trespassing the rightness, talking about the Prophet's companions with what was impermissible, being envious trying to deny their right of sacred companionship, whereas the truth was that those people had lowered themselves to the level of the stupid beats and they demolished with their own hands that high structure, destroyed with their picks the fence, which was constructed to protect them and tore with their fingers those ragged covers, behind which they had committed crimes and treasons away from the eyes thinking that the eyes were sleepy and inattentive.
They did whatever they could and received in return for their doings their fees from the wealth of the Muslims and the umma. Didn't they know that their graves would be set to fire, their foreheads and sides would be branded and their skins would be changed into others after being burnt?
They got that money, which was scattered by the rulers, who didn't care but for their thrones. In order to save their thrones, they used every means and spent every thing indifferently without paying any attention except to the results whatever the means was as long as the purpose would justify the means. But in spite of all that, they were considered as the leaders of the Muslims and the caliphs of the Prophet (s)!
In this way they brought the umma to the abyss of deviation, finishing off the live conscience, mocking at the justice, opposing the rightness, devouring what was forbidden listening to lying and caring for nothing but their selfishness and greed. This one told lies, fabricated and distorted just to take in return for his (business) stolen gold or extorted silver as shameful bribes and that one paid openhandedly and it was not but a mean bait in order to control the rule and to humiliate the umma with all kinds of torture, disgrace and punishment.
Between this and that there were shed bloods, extorted rights, violated dignities, spread injustice, open sins and extreme poverty. All that was an inevitable result of that unjust dark age.
They passed away after they had foisted into the religion what they liked and ravaged and corrupted according to their mean fancies, obscene desires and beastly greed.
They passed away but the people, who came after them, accepted what was left and considered it as true but if they pondered a little and used their minds to search for the truth, they would discover the defects and the disadvantages of those ones, which might not trouble the clearness of thw sphere and might not blacken the bright face of the religion.
They passed away after soiling the face of life and blackening the history. They passed away to be succeeded with others, who complicated the situation and added to the sins what firmed their structure. Among those successors were some, who weren't satisfied with that falsehood but they exceeded in error and fabrication for there was no deterrent of religion, no watch of conscience, no restrainer from violating the rightness and no fear from punishment.
I expected to find much many lies and fabrications against Imam Ali (s) since the age of Mo'awiya and throughout the ages of the kings of the cursed tree (the Umayyads) as it was called by the Quran and the fabrications created by the mercenaries and those, who followed the Umayyads or held the same Umayyad tendency but I did never expect that as-Sayooti might tell of such a fabrication when he talked about the reason of the revelation of the following Quranic verse: (O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated until you know (well) what you say) 4:43.
He mentioned this fabricated lie and he doubled his error by ascribing it to Imam Ali himself. He pretended that Imam Ali, Allah forbid, had said: "One day Abdur Rahman bin Ouff invited us. He served us some food and then he served us some wine. The wine affected our minds. When the time of the prayer came, they advanced me to lead them in offering the prayer. I recited (the sura wrongly): (Say: O unbelievers! I do not worship that which you worship and we worship what you worship) then Allah revealed: (O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated until you know (well) what you say)" (1)
We don't want to argue with as-Sayooti about the source of the tradition he mentioned or about the fabrication itself, which had contradiction in the different ways of the narration or about distorting the name of that who offered the prayer and inserting the name of Imam Ali in this shameful way in spite of that some of those, who mentioned the tradition, ignored the name and didn't mention Ali and some others mentioned names of other companions...
We don't want to argue about this fabrication in any way but we just want to refer to its apparent collapse and contradiction to the clear Quranic verses and prophetic traditions talking about Imam Ali.
Drinking wine was contradictory to the verse of purification (Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying. Quran 33:33) which there was no any doubt or suspicion that Imam Ali was included in, in fact he was the first, to whom the verse was applied. Drinking wine was also contradictory to the verse of supplication (say: Come let us call our sons and your sons and our women and your women and our selves and your selves, then let us be earnest in prayer, and pray for the curse of Allah on the liars. Quran 3:61) that made Imam Ali as the same as the Prophet himself.
On the other hand it contradicted the certain facts of Imam Ali's conduct, which no two would disagree upon. He had never been a polytheist since he had come out to existence so how would it be possible that he distorted the verse by reciting (We worship what you worship) whereas it addressed the unbelievers?
We don't have to discuss such a shameful collapse with more than to point to it remotely because if we want to track and detail, it won't be possible to get to the aim through this book.
But we have to point out that someone mentioned the reason of the revelation of this verse and mentioned a person, who had offered the prayer with the drunken people but someone