The following famous story which has no authentic chains is narrated as:

In the nineteenth year after the Hijrah, ‘Umar dispatched an army to fight against the Byzantines. In it was ‘Abdullah ibn Hudhafah As-Sahmi. News of the Muslim force reached the Byzantine emperor, Heraclius. He had heard of their sincerity of faith, and their willingness to sacrifice their lives in the way of Allah and His Prophet. He gave orders to his men to bring to him any Muslim captives they might take alive..
God willed that ‘Abdullah ibn Hudhafah should fall captive to the Byzantines and he was brought before the Emperor. The Emperor looked at ‘Abdullah for a long time. Suddenly he said, “I shall make a proposal to you.” “What is it?” asked Abdullah. “I suggest that you become a Christian. If you do this, you will be set free and I shall grant you a safe refuge.” The prisoner’s reaction was furious: “Death is preferable to me a thousand times to what you ask me to do.” “I see that you are a bold man. However, if you respond positively to what I propose to you, I will give you a share in my authority and swear you in as my aide.” The prisoner, shackled in his chains, smiled and said, “By Allah, if you give me all that you possess and all that the Arabs have in exchange for giving up the religion of Muhammad (sallaAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), I shall not do so.” “Then I shall kill you.” “Do what you want,” answered ‘Abdullah. The emperor then had him put on a cross and ordered his soldiers to throw spears at him, first near his hands and then near his feet, all the while telling him to accept Christianity or at least give up his religion. This he refused over and over again to do.
The emperor then had him taken down from the wooden cross. He called for a great pot to be brought. This was filled with oil which was then heated under a fierce fire. He then had two other Muslim prisoners brought and had one of them thrown into the boiling oil. The prisoner’s flesh sizzled and soon his bones could be seen. The emperor turned to ‘Abdullah and invited him to Christianity. This was the most terrible test that ‘Abdullah had had to face up till now. But he remained firm and the emperor gave up trying. He then ordered that ‘Abdullah too be thrown into the pot. As he was being taken away he began to shed tears. The emperor thought that he had at last been broken and had him brought back to him. He once more suggested that ‘Abdullah become a Christian but to his astonishment, Abdullah refused. “Damn you! Why did you weep then?” shouted the emperor. “I cried,” said Abdullah, “because I said to myself ‘You will now be thrown into this pot and your soul will depart’. What I really desired then was to have as many souls as the number of hairs on my body and to have all of them thrown into this pot for the sake of Allah.”
The tyrant then said, “Will you kiss my head? I will then set you free?” “And all the Muslim prisoners also?” asked ‘Abdullah. This the emperor agreed to do and ‘Abdullah said to himself, “One of the enemies of Allah! I shall kiss his head and he shall set me and all other Muslim prisoners free. There can be no blame on me for doing this.” He then went up to the emperor and kissed his forehead. All the Muslim prisoners were released and handed over to ‘Abdullah. ‘Abdullah ibn Hudhafah eventually came to ‘Umar ibn al Khattab and told him what had happened. ‘Umar was greatly pleased and when he looked at the prisoners he said, “Every Muslim has a duty to kiss the head of ‘Abdullah ibn Hudhafah and I shall start.” Umar then got up and kissed the head of ‘Abdullah ibn Hudhafah.

Source: “Companions of The Prophet”, Vol.1 by ‘Abdul Wahid Hamid

Taken from website: http://sahaba-stories.blogspot.com/2009/09/abdullah-ibn-hudhafah-al-sahmi-and.html?m=1

Below is a discussion on why this story is not authentically proven, from Shaikh Mashoor Hassan Aal-Salman and his Ustaz Allama Nasiruddin Al-Albani Rahimahullah which I got from an Arabic site.

Source in Arabic:

تنتشر كثير من القصص للسلف عن الصحابة ومَنْ بعدهم، على أنها كالجبال الراسيات، لا ينبغي النقاش فيها، وتسمع من خطباء الجمعة أو بعض الوعاظ يرددونها دون سؤال أو نقاش عن صحتها أو ضعفها. فلو قلت له: القصة ضعيفة، قال لك: لكنها مشهورة وقالها العالم الفلاني في الكتاب الفلاني، وهنا يكمن الخلل فيقال له: أثبت العرش ثم انقش، بمعنى أثبت للموضوع أصلا ثم ناقش. ولا بد من تأصيل مسألة مهمة ألا وهي: شهرة قصة أو حديث لا يلزم منه الصحة، فقد تشتهر ولكن بعد عرضها على ميزان النقد الحديثي تجدها ضعيفة أو موضوعة أو لا أصل لها، وربما تكون صحيحة السند لكن منكرة المتن. ومن القصص المشهورة قصة الصحابي الجليل عبدالله بن حذافة السهمي مع ملك الروم ونص القصة: عن أبي رافع، قال: وجه عمر جيشا إلى الروم، فأسروا عبدالله بن حذافة، فذهبوا به إلى ملكهم، فقالوا: إن هذا من أصحاب محمد، فقال: هل لك أن تَتَنَصَّرَ وأعطيك نصف ملكي؟ قال: لو أعطيتني جميع ما تملك، وجميع ما تملك، وجميع ملك العرب، ما رجعت عن دين محمد طرفة عين. قال: إذا أقتلك. قال: أنت وذاك، فأمر به، فصلب، وقال للرماة: ارموه قريبا من بدنه، وهو يعرض عليه، ويأبى، فأنزله. ودعا بقدر، فصب فيها ماء حتى احترقت، ودعا بأسيرين من المسلمين، فأمر بأحدهما، فألقي فيها، وهو يعرض عليه النصرانية، وهو يأبى. ثم بكى، فقيل للملك: إنه بكى، فظن أنه قد جزع، فقال: ردوه. ما أبكاك؟ قال: قلت: هي نفس واحدة تلقى الساعة فتذهب، فكنت أشتهي أن يكون بعدد شعري أنفس تلقى في النار في الله. فقال له الطاغية: هل لك أن تقبل رأسي وأخلي عنك؟. فقال له عبدالله: وعن جميع الأسارى؟ قال: نعم، فقبل رأسه. وقدم بالأسارى على عمر، فأخبره خبره، فقال عمر: حق على كل مسلم أن يقبل رأس ابن حذافة، وأنا أبدأ، فقبل رأسه.

ومن أفضل من حقق أسانيد القصة الشيخ مشهور حسن سلمان في سلسلة كتب «قصص لا تثبت» الجزء الثالث (ص 74 – 75) وخلص إلى ضعف أسانيدها، ثم قال بعد ذكره للطرق وبيان عللها (ص 86): «فهذه الأسانيد جميعها ضعيفة لا تنهض بالقصة ولا تقوى على عدّها حقيقة تاريخية لا شك فيها، فهي شديدة الضعف، ولذا لما سمع بعض العلماء راويا يحدث بها استغربها» .ا.هـ.

وختم تحقيقه للقصة بملاحظات مهمة قائلا: «وأخيرا نلفت نظر القارىء إلى الملاحظات التالية: أولا: نص شيخنا الألباني – رحمه الله – على ضعف القصة في كتابه القيم «إرواء الغليل» ولم يعزها إلا لابن عساكر. ثانيا: لا يستلزم من ضعف القصة عد أسر عبدالله بن حذافة من قبل الروم فقد ذكر ذلك خليفة في «تاريخه»، وعنه الذهبي في «تاريخ الإسلام» قال في أحداث سنة تسع عشرة: وفيها أسرت الروم عبدالله بن حذافة السهمي. وأسند ذلك الحاكم في المستدرك عقب حديث أبي سعيد الخدري قال: وكان الروم قد أسروه في زمن عمر بن الخطاب -رضي الله عنه- فأرادوه على الكفر فعصمه الله -عز وجل- حتى أنجاه الله تبارك وتعالى منهم. وقال ابن سعد في الطبقات الكبرى (4/190) قال محمد بن عمر -الواقدي-: وكانت الروم قد أسرت عبدالله بن حذافة فكتب فيه عمر بن الخطاب إلى قسطنطين فخلى عنه، ومات عبدالله بن حذافة في خلافة عثمان بن عفان. ثالثا: في مقولة الواقدي الأخيرة إضعاف ضمني لهذه القصة، إذ فيها أن فكاك عبدالله بن حذافة من الأسر كان هو سبب كتابة عمر إلى ملك الروم، وعبارة البلاذري في أنساب الأشراف أوضح من ذلك قال: عن عمر بن الخطاب كتب إلى قسطنطين ملك الروم لما أسرته بشأنه فأطلق سراحه. اللهم إلا أن يُتكلف فيقال: ولعل امتحانه من قبل الروم وتخويفه واختبار إيمانه جاء عقب كتاب عمر ليرى ذلك ملك الروم! ويغنينا عن كل ما قدمنا، أن هذه القصة لو كانت ثابتة لوردت بأسانيد نظيفة، فإن همم العدول والثقات تتداعى على حمل مثلها، وحينئذ لا تفوت الحفاظ الكبار والأئمة العظام كأبي حاتم وغيره، ولا يبعد أن مراد البخاري في التاريخ الكبير (ترجمة عبدالله بن حذافة) في قوله: لا يصح حديثه مرسل. هذه القصة .

https://www.alyaum.com/articles/978993/العدد-الاسبوعي/قصة-عبدالله-بن-حذافة-مع-ملك-الروم!

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: May Allah show mercy to a man who prays four rak’ahs before the afternoon prayer. (Translation from sunnah.com)

1. Imam Ahmad Shakir Rahimahullah: A Saheeh Chain.
[عن عبدالله بن عمر:] رحِم اللهُ امرأً صلى قبلَالعصرِ أربعًا

Why don’t we celebrate the mourning of Hussain bin Ali (عليه السلام )?

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله و على آله و صحبه أجمعين،

Hussain bin Ali (عليه السلام ) was brutally martyred by the army of Ubaidullah bin Ziyad and betrayed by the people of Kufa who didn’t come out to assist him.

Muslims whenever they are faced with a calamity are instructed by Allah and His Noble Prophet ﷺ to say [إن لله وإن إليه راجعون ].

When Hussain bin Ali was martyred (10th Muharram 61 AH / 680 CE), there were many Sahaba who were alive.

The Sahaba never thought of commemorating 10th Muharram as the day of mourning for Hussain bin Ali(رضي الله عنه) ,and they never took it as a day to come closer to Allah by mourning. The day of Ashoora (10th Muharram) is virtuous because Prophet Moosa (عليه السلام ) and the Bani Israeel were saved from Firaun.

Thus if a Muslim makes this day or month particular to mourn the martyrdom of Hussain bin Ali (رضي الله عنه) then he is innovating in the religion, and that is a Bidah and an opposition to the Sahaba and Tabaiin(students of the Sahaba) who were present and alive when the martyrdom of Hussain (رضي الله عنه) happened.

There were many more tragic incidents before the sad martyrdom of Hussain (رضي الله عنه). The greatest grief for the Ummah was the death of the Prophet ﷺ. Some other incidents were the defeat at Uhud, martyrdom of around seventy Sahaba who were Qurra (Quran rexiters) in Bir Ruma by the disbelievers, and then the martyrdom of Umar (رضي الله عنه) by Abu Lulu, Uthman bin Affan (رضي الله عنه) by the rebels, and martyrdom of Ali bin Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) by one of the Khawarij. The three Sahaba from the Khulafa Ar-Rashidoon mentioned above were greater in status than Hussain bin Ali (رضي الله عنه), yet the Sahaba didn’t mourn them on specific days and months.

Thus such a mourning is a Bidah in the Deen since the best generation did not do it.

As for mourning these events to remind the Muslims of the sacrifices of the pious predecessors – this is not required – we don’t need to invent a Bidah for this.

What is required is that all the Muslims take out some quality time and study the Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ and Islamic History under a teacher who has proper Aqeedah (beliefs) and Manhaj (Methodology).

Wallahu Alam.

•●•●•●•

Appendix:

1. Sahaba who lived after the death of Hussain bin Ali (رضي الله عنه):

Abdullah bin Umar (رضي الله عنه) died in 693 CE.
Abdullah ibn Zubair (رضي الله عنه) 692 CE.
Anas ibn Malik (رضي الله عنه) 712 CE.
Abu at Tufayl, ‘Aamir ibn Waathilah al-Laythee. He died in the year 106 AH.

((For more info read: Shaikh Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on him said, “The last of all of the Companions to die was ’Aamir ibn Waathilah al-Laithi in the year 110 AH. The last of them to die in Medinah was Mahmood ibn ar-Rabi’ in 99 AH. In Damascus, Syria, the last of them to die was Waathilah ibn al-Asqa’ in 86 AH. The last of them to pass away in Basrah was Anas ibn Maalik in 93 AH. In Homs it was ’Abdullaah ibn Busr al-Maazini in 98 AH; in Kufah, ’Abdullaah ibn Abi Awfaa al-Aslami in 87 AH and the last of them to pass away in Egypt was ’Abdullaah ibn al-Haarith in 89 AH.” [May Allaah be pleased with them all]

Mustalah al-Hadith, p. 55.))

2. Prohibition of wailing and excessive mourning as done by the Rafidi Shiites whilst mourning for Hussain bin Ali (رضي الله عنه):

Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “He who slaps his cheeks, tears his clothes and follows the ways and traditions of the Days of Ignorance is not one of us.” (Al-Bukhari, 1294)

3. Virtue of 10th Muharram:

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came to Madinah, he found them fasting on one day, i.e., ‘Aashoora’. They said: This is a great day; it is the day on which Allah saved Moosa and drowned the people of Pharaoh, so Moosa fasted in gratitude to Allah. He (the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)) said: “I am closer to Moosa than they are.” So he fasted on that day and issued instructions to fast on that day.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3216.
(Translation from Islamqa.info #128633)

4. What to say when affected by a calamity?

Quran:

Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: “Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return.”

-Sura Al-Baqarah, Ayah 156

Hadith:

It was narrated from Umm Salamah that Abu Salamah told her that he heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say:

“There is no Muslim who is stricken with a calamity and reacts by saying as Allah has commanded: ‘Inna lillahi, wa inna ilayhi raji’un. Allahumma indakah-tasabtu musibati, fajurni iha, wa ‘awwidni minha (Truly, to Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return. O Allah, with You I seek reward for my calamity, so reward me for it and compensate me),’ but Allah will reward him for that and compensate him with something better than it.” She said: “When Abu Salamah died, I remembered what he had told me from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and I said: ‘Inna lillahi, wa inna ilayhi raji’un. Allahumma indakah-tasabtu musibati, fajurni ihaiha (Truly, to Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return. O Allah, with You I seek reward for my calamity, so reward me for it).’ But when I wanted to say wa ‘awwidni minha (and compensate me with better), I said to myself: ‘How can I be compensated with something better than Abu Salamah?’ Then I said it, and Allah compensated me with Muhammad (ﷺ) and rewarded me for my calamity.” (Ibn Majah, 1598, Hasan Hadith)

5. Site from where I copied the information (point 1) on the last Sahaba to die:

Wikipedia and https://the-finalrevelation.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-last-sahabi-to-die-may-allah-be.html?m=1

6. Hadith Translations taken from sunnah.com .

•●•●•●•●

-Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna,
17th June 2019 ||14th Shawwal 1440.
mannaforpeace17@gmail.com

[عن عائشة أم المؤمنين:] بينا رأسُ النبيِّ – ﷺ – في حجري في ليلةٍ ضاحيةٍ؛ إذ قلتُ: يا رسولَ اللهِ ! هل يكون لأحدٍ من الحسنات عددُ نجومِ السماءِ؟ ! قال: نعم،عمرُ، قلت: فأين حسناتُ أبي بكرٍ؟ ! قال: إنما جميعُحسناتِ عمرَ كحسنةٍ واحدةٍ من حسناتِ أبي بكرٍ.

Do you think that the glorious past of the Muslim ummah in the field of education was without any compromise with the Islamic beliefs and values?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الحمد الله و الصلاة والسلام على رسول و على آله وصحبه أجمعين أما بعد

When we as Muslims speak of the ‘glorious scientific past’ of the Muslims we carefully try to forget that this so called glorious past didn’t come about in the times of the Khulafa Ar-Rashidoon and it hardly did show up in the times of the Umayyad Caliphate. It began during the Abbasid period (750 CE | 132 AH), that is almost 120 years or so after the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

This should also remind us that with the Abbasid period began the downward spiral of the political unity of the Muslims, and with regards to the religious creedal unity, it deteriorated further from what began since the turmoil of the murder of Uthman bin Affan (Radiallahuanhu), the third amongst the Khulafa Ar-Rashidoon.

The Abbasid Caliphs patronised and introduced to the Muslim Ummah science, math and philosophy from the ancient Greek texts.

“(Abbasid) Caliphs like al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun directly encouraged a translation movement, a formal translation of scholarly works from Greek into Arabic. The Abbasid rulers wanted to make Greek texts, such as Aristotle’s works, available to the Arab world. Their goal was to translate as many of these famous works as possible in order to have a comprehensive library of knowledge and to preserve the philosophies and scholarship of Greece. The Abbasids aimed to have philosophy, science, and medicine texts translated. In addition to Arab Muslim scholars, Syrian Christians translated Syriac texts into Arabic as well.”*

(From *https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/cross-cultural-diffusion-of-knowledge/a/the-golden-age-of-islam)

So with this knowledge of science and math, Greek philosophy and reasoning entered the minds of the Muslim intellectuals. Which lead to many Muslims seeking out the knowledge of ‘Greek Philosophy and Logic’ which focusses more on seeking out logical answers and questioning anything that contradicts general logic. There were a host of intellectuals with Muslim names who started rejecting matters of ‘Al-Ghaib’ (the unseen) and many sects sprang up which rejected what appeared ‘illogical’ to them (ex. The Jahmiyyah and the Mutazilah).

Many famed ‘scientists’ of our ‘glorious scientific past’ were hardly Muslim anymore and a few of them were called disbelievers by the scholars of Creed(Aqeedah).

Let me give some examples of famed Muslim scientists who went on to speak heresy, these may be from or after the Abbasid knowledge renaissance period.

(#1) Avicenna, or Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), known and praised in Muslim circles for his contribution to medicine, astronomy and chemistry was severely criticised by the Muslim scholars for his heretical views.

(Imam)Ibn Hajr quotes an early Shaafi’ee scholar, Ibn Abid-Damm al-Hamawee, as saying:

All the scholars have agreed that Ibn Sina held that the universe was infinite and there would be no physical resurrection, while he did not reject (the concept of) a spiritual resurrection, and that he is reported to have said that Allaah does not know every detailed piece of knowledge, rather He knows things in general.

Thus, the scholars of his time and those after him whose statements are relied upon in all matters have spoken decisively about his disbelief and the disbelief of Aboo Nasr al-Farabi as well, due to their positions on these matters in contradiction to the beliefs of the Muslims. [Lisaan al-Meezaan (2/293)]*

(*Read the article The Reality of Ibn Sina on https://www.bakkah.net/en/the-reality-of-ibn-sina-avicenna-famous-scientist-and-philosopher.htm)

(#2) And then we have Abul Waleed Muhammad bin Ahmad [1128-1198 CE], popularly called Avverhoes or Ibn Rushd, who was known for his contributions to ‘The Islamic Golden Era’. As summarized by the Annals of Saudi Medicine*:

‘Ibn Rushd was a true polymath, with knowledge, expertise and genuine contributions to philosophy, islamic law (jurisprudence), medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics and geography. Not surprisingly, he became known as the “Prince of Science”.’End quote.

(*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6074522/)

On a question on the very ‘Averrhoes’, Shaikh Muhammad ibn Saleh Al Munajjid replied* (*https://islamqa.info/en/answers/130484/some-criticisms-of-the-belief-of-ibn-rushd-averroes) that- “Hence Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote at length refuting the views of Ibn Rushd in this book and explaining that esoteric interpretation of Islamic texts is flawed. These discussions appear in his two significant books, Bayaan Talbees al-Jahamiyyah and Dar’u Ta‘aarud al-‘Aql wa’n-Naql.” End quote.

From the Fatwa above we realize that Averrhoes or Ibn Rush, was a believer in Aristotlean principles and tried to interpret Islam according to them. And that lead to him having strange and deviant beliefs, and thus he was refuted by the classical scholars.

(#3) A third example I would like to give is that of Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, ‘Farabi contributed considerably to science, philosophy, logic, sociology, medicine, mathematics and music. His major contributions were in philosophy, logic and sociology and for which he stands out as an Encyclopedist.’End Quote from famousscientists.org.

He too wasn’t free from the diseases which were faces by the philosophers and Muslim scientists above.

“Ibn Katheer, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said about him: ‘Abu Nasr Al-Faraabi, the Turkish philosopher was the most knowledgeable person about Music and he was very proficient in philosophy. Ibn Seenah learned from Al-Faraabi’s books of philosophy. Al-Faraabi used to hold the view that it is only our souls that will be resurrected and not our bodies. Moreover, not all the souls will be resurrected (in his view) but only those who are knowledgeable. His methodology differed from the methodology of the Muslims and that of other philosophers from his predecessors. If he died on this, then may the curse of Allaah be on him. He died in Damascus according to the statement of Ibn Al-Atheer. Ibn Al-‘Asaakir did not mention Al-Faraabi in his book entitled ”The Biography” because the latter was evil and disgraceful, Allaah Knows best.’

When Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy upon him, spoke about some philosophers, he said about him: ‘….The philosophers took knowledge from their second teacher Abu Nasr Al-Faraabi…He was upon the methodology of his predecessors [i.e other philosophers] in disbelieving in Allaah, His Angels, His Books, His Prophets and the Last Day.’

‘*End Quote.

(*https://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/PrintFatwa.php?lang=E&Id=92329)

Sadly most of the people of scientific knowledge of that era were diseased with Aristotelian principals and other corrupt philosophies. A brief reading of Talbees-Iblees of Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi shows us how these scholars of science and philosophy tore into the beliefs of the Ummah like termites and weakened them from the inside.

Islam can be upheld only by returning to The Quran and The Sunnah, though we do not disagree that science has an important role to play. What is being aimed here is to convey that science and Muslim scientists needs to be on guard against being overwhelmed by scientific principles contrary to the Islamic scriptures. Wallahu Alam.

-Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna

22nd Ramadan 1440

Added later:

Muslims will succeed only if they adhere to The Quran and The Sunnah like the Sahaba did in beliefs and in actions. We will not succeed if we try out or attempt at other ways to rejuvenate the Ummah.