Elucidation of Objectives — Page 9
Tau di h-e-Mar a m 9 permissible for the Messiah. It amounts, to rank disre- spect that we, with respect to the Holy Prophet sa , regard a merit as impossible for him to have, and about the same merit we believe that it is possible for the Messiah to have it. Can a true believer be guilty of such insolence? Absolutely not! It may also be pointed out that this sort of thinking, which has become endemic among the Muslims for quite some time, is conspicuous by its absence in the entire range of basic Islamic literature. The truth of the matter is that it is the failure to understand A ha d i th that has led to this mis- taken belief, to which quite a few unwarranted details have been appended. To invest it with plausibility, some baseless decorative material has been added in utter disregard of the facts which would otherwise have shown the way to truth. In this regard, the most clear and crucial H ad i th 15 of the Holy Prophet sa is the one recorded by Hadrat Muhammad Ism a ‘ i l Bukh a r i in his collection the S a hih Bukh a r i. Hadrat Ab u Huraira ra 16 reports that the Holy Prophet sa said: 17 i. e. , (the Holy Prophet says:) how will it fare with you 15 A saying of the Holy Prophet as , The singular of A ha dith. [Translator] 16 ‘ ra ’ short for 'Ra di All a h ‘anhu', may All a h be pleased with him. [Transla- tor] 17 Bukh ari , Kit a bul Anbiy a’ , B a bu Nuz u li ‘ I sabni Maryama, H ad i th No. 3449, published by D a rus Sal a m, Ri yad , 1997. [Translator]