Blindspot!
From Issue: 666 [Read full issue]
Hadith Forgery
[continued from previous issue]
History and Context
3. Heretics
The Kharijites are on the whole considered to have avoided fabricating hadith, which is due mainly to their belief that the perpetrator of a grave sin is no longer a Muslim. Since they saw the fabrication of hadith in this light, they avoided indulgence in forgery as a matter of principle and a requirement of their doctrine.
The heretic faction known as al-Zanadiqa, owing to their hatred of Islam, fabricated hadith which discredited Islam in the view of its followers. Included among such are: "eggplants are a cure for every illness"; and "beholding a good-looking face is a form of worship".
4. Fanaticism
Racial, tribal and linguistic fanaticism is yet another context in which hadith has been fabricated. Ahadith were thus fabricated on the superiority of Arabs over non-Arabs, which were then reciprocated by forgeries on the superiority of Persians and Romans, Abyssinians and Turks over the Arabs. Note for example the following: "Whenever God was angry, He sent down the revelation in Arabic but when contented, He chose Persian for this purpose." The Arab fanatic too matched this abomination by claiming that "Whenever God was angry, He sent down the revelation in Persian, but when contented He chose to speak in Arabic." These and similar other forgeries relating to the virtues or superiority of certain tribes, cities and periods of time over others have been isolated by the scholars of hadith and placed under the category of forged ahadith.
[to be continued ...]
Compiled From:
"A Texbook of Hadith Studies" - Mohammad Hashim Kamali, pp. 68, 69