The Disco Mullah And The A'isha Controversy

Introduction

The month of November witnessed a phenomenal out pouring of hatred and venom spewed against Junaid Jumshaid; a Pakistani pop singer turned T.V Deobandi pseudo-scholar. The vented anger related to a lecture delivered by him in a private gathering wherein he highlighted a characteristic of A'isha, quoted a tradition on it and thereafter offered an analysis of the said tradition.

The subtitled "offensive" lecture in question can be found here:

The response of Sunni Mullahs was to attack Jumshaid via various social media outlets, suggesting the manner in which Jumshaid spoke was an act of blasphemy for which he needed to seek repentance, not before Allah (swt) but for the Mullahs that were baying for his blood!

The propaganda against the former Pop idol was such that public anger spread all over social media, radio, newspapers as well as TV screens, amongst other channels.

Now, we ask the following questions:

• Did Jumshaid say anything that may have contradicted Sunni texts?

• Was A'isha an attention seeker?

• Is it correct to say that benefiting from the company of Prophet (saw) in no way guarantees a change in behaviour?

We shall go on to address each point:


Did Jumshaid say anything that may have contradicted Sunni texts?

The narration in question that the Sunni masses came out to express their anger towards, has not been concocted from Jumshaid's own pocket. To locate it, one needs to look no further than Saheeh Bukhari.

Narrated Al-Qasim bin Muhammad: A'isha, (complaining of headache) said, "Oh, my head!" Allah's Apostle (saw) said, "I wish that had happened while I was still living, for then I would ask Allah's (swt) Forgiveness for you and invoke Allah (swt) for you." A'isha said, "Wa thuklayah! By Allah (swt)! I think you want me to die; and if this should happen, you would spend the last part of the day sleeping with one of your wives!" The Prophet (saw) said, "Nay, I should say, 'Oh my head!' I felt like sending for Aboo Bakr and his son, and appoint him as my successor lest some people claimed something or some others wished something, but then I said (to myself), 'Allah (swt) would not allow it to be otherwise, and the Muslims would prevent it to be otherwise.'" 

Source: Saheeh Bukhari. Vol. 7, Book 70, H. # 570.

Our Questions:

The narration begins with a conversation between A'isha and the Prophet (saw) on her headache, and concludes with his desire to appoint her father as his Khalifah, what is the connection between the two topics?  

• Do they have any flow when you analyse this narration?

• Did the discussion occur whilst on a journey or was it at home?

• What was the precise time / date when this discussion took place?

• What was the sin of A'isha that Prophet (saw) would seek forgiveness for?

• How did A'isha know that Prophet (saw) wished that she died?

• If A'isha was indeed the best and most beloved wife of Prophet (saw) then why (as per her admission) would he happily have slept with another wife on the same day that she died?

• Why did Prophet (saw) want to call Aboo Bakr and his son and what was the Prophet (saw) intending to appoint the father and/or son as?

• If the intention was merely that the son and daughter were to witness the appointment of their father, then does this not mean that offspring can testify to a matter in favour of their parent? 

• If so, then why were the testimonies of the sons of Sayeda Faatima (s.a) rejected in her Fadak claim before Aboo Bakr?

• Why did the Prophet (saw) want to make the appointment a private affair, would it not have been better to have made it a public declaration in the Masjid to clarify this issue once and for all?

• Who were these people that were opposed to appointment of Aboo Bakr, and who did they revert to when the Prophet (saw) passed away?

If the Prophet (saw) intended on appointing Aboo Bakr as his Khalifah: 

• Why didn't A'isha advance this fact to the masses at any point? Surely doing so would have avoided the shenanigans at Saqifah?

• How does this marry up with the majority Sunni opinion that the Prophet (saw) neither appointed a Khalifah nor left a system of succession?

Was A'isha an attention seeker?

If by attention seeker, Jumshaid was alluding to the fact that A'isha was desirous of the fact that Prophet (saw) focused on her rather than the other wives, then that is a fact located in Sunni sources. There is no doubt whatsoever, that A'isha was a jealous individual, who could not take the fact that the Prophet (saw) had other wives and spent time with them. Such was her jealousy that she mocked Sayeda Khadijah (s.a) the deceased, who continued to remain the favourite wife of the Prophet (saw) that caused his ire (Saheeh Bukhari. Vol. 5, Tradition 166) and responded when she discovered that Allah (swt) had given women the right to propose to the Prophet (saw) by saying, "O Allah’s Apostle (saw)! I do not see, but, that your Lord hurries in pleasing you." (Saheeh Bukhari. Vol. 7, Book 62, Number 48).

Is it correct to say that benefiting from the company of the Prophet (saw) in no way guarantees a change in behaviour?

The irony is that Jumshaid said that which the Shi'ee of Alee (a.s) have been stating for the past 1400 years, merely benefiting from the company of Prophet (saw) is no guarantee of success in the next world, the role of Prophet (saw) was to convey his teachings to the masses, whether they were receptive and applied them in their lives, and behaved in a manner pursuant to the Holy Qur'aan and Sunnah was down to them, whether they did or did not was purely based on the level of faith in their hearts. If merely sitting in the midst of the Prophet (saw) guaranteed Paradise, then why will the majority of the companions perish in Hellfire on the Day of Judgment?


The same applies to the wives of the Prophet (saw), A'isha of all wives was fully aware of this since an entire verse of the Holy Qur'aan descended to expose her conduct in Surah Tahreem:

1. O Prophet! Why holdest thou to be forbidden that which Allah has made lawful to thee? Thou seekest to please thy consorts. But Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. 

2. Allah has already ordained for you, (O men), the dissolution of your oaths (in some cases): and Allah is your Protector, and He is Full of Knowledge and Wisdom. 

3. When the Prophet disclosed a matter in confidence to one of his consorts, and she then divulged it (to another), and Allah made it known to him, he confirmed part thereof and repudiated a part. Then when he told her thereof, she said, "Who told thee this? "He said, "He told me Who knows and is well-acquainted (with all things)." 

4. If ye two (A'isha and Hafsah) turn in repentance to Him, your hearts are indeed so inclined; But if ye back up each other against him, truly Allah is his Protector, and Gabriel, and (every) righteous one among those who believe - and furthermore, the angels - will back (him) up.

5. It may be, if he divorced you (all), that Allah will give him in exchange consorts better than you (Ai'sha and Hafsah) - who submit (their wills), who believe, who are devout, who turn to Allah in repentance, who worship (in humility), who travel (for Faith) and fast- previously married or virgins. 

6. O ye who believe! save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do (precisely) what they are commanded. 

7. (They will say), "O ye Unbelievers! Make no excuses this Day! Ye are being but requited  for all that ye did!" 

8. O ye who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance: In the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow - the Day that Allah will not permit to be humiliated the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their Light will run forward before them and by their right hands, while they say, "Our Lord! Perfect our Light for us, and grant us Forgiveness: for Thou hast power over all things." 

9. O Prophet! Strive hard against the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell - an evil refuge (indeed). 

10. Allah sets forth, for an example to the Unbelievers, the wife of Noah and the wife of Lut: they were (respectively) under two of our righteous servants, but they were false to their (husbands), and they profited nothing before Allah on their account, but were told: "Enter ye the Fire along with (others) that enter!" 

And this is what we read in Saheeh Bukhari.

Narrated A'isha: Allah's Apostle (saw) used to drink honey in the house of Zainab, the daughter of Jahsh, and would stay there with her. So Hafsa and I agreed secretly that, if he come to either of us, she would say to him. "It seems you have eaten Maghafir (a kind of bad-smelling resin), for I smell in you the smell of Maghafir." (We did so) and he replied. "No, but I was drinking honey in the house of Zainab, the daughter of Jahsh, and I shall never take it again. I have taken an oath as to that, and you should not tell anybody about it."

Source: Saheeh Bukhari. Vol. 6, Book 60, Number 434.


So A'isha admits:

• Both her and Hafsah entered in to a secret plot in an effort to keep Prophet (saw) away from the house of Ummul Mo'mineen Zainab (s.a).

• To achieve this objective they both lied to the Prophet (saw).

• Allah (swt) exposed the two wives in this verse, so much so that in Surah Tahreem verse 4, He (swt) says: "If ye two turn in repentance to Him, your hearts are indeed so inclined; But if ye back up each other against him, truly Allah is his Protector, and Gabriel, and (every) righteous one among those who believe - and furthermore, the angels – will back (him) up."

With regards to who was being referred to in this verse, we have the admission of none other Umar:

Narrated ibn Abbas: I intended to ask Umar about those two ladies who back each other against Allah's Apostle (saw). For one year I was seeking the opportunity to ask this question, but in vain, until once when I accompanied him for Hajj. While we were in Zahran, Umar went to answer the call of nature and told me to follow him with some water for ablution. So I followed him with a container of water and started pouring water for him. I found it a good opportunity to ask him, so I said, "O chief of the Believers! Who were those two ladies who had backed each other (against the Prophet (saw))?" Before I could complete my question, he replied, "They were A'isha and Hafsah." 

Source: Saheeh Bukhari. Vol. 6, Book 60, Number 437.


Conclusion

Whilst we are at a loss with regards to the precise issue, the "Disco mullah" caused such public outrage that we are curious as to why appropriate legal sanctions have not been applied to him (as per Sunnite Fiqh) in regards to the law of blasphemy which is so often used against the Shi'a Muslims in Pakistan? It seems that the matter has so easily been 'put to bed' because the "blasphemer" issued a grovelling apology. We question, is there such a provision in Pakistani Shari'ah Law? It is ironic that the very Sunni clergy that are happy to lock up and kill innocent Christians and Shi'a Muslims on absurd trumped up charges of blasphemy have adopted silence on this matter.