The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 268
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 268 not alluded to these incidents; whereas if incidents of this nature had actually taken place, there was no reason for the books of Aḥādīth and various books of history to be empty of their mention. At this instance, it cannot be speculated that since an allegation fell upon the Holy Prophet sa and his Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them), the Muḥaddithīn and various historians probably omitted these occurrences. The reason being that firstly, the circumstances in which these occurrences took place are not objectionable. Secondly, any individual who possesses even an elementary study of the Aḥādīth and history cannot be oblivious to the fact that the Muslim Muḥaddithīn and historians have never omitted a narration merely on the basis that it may apparently seem to raise an objection against Islām or the Founder of Islām. Their sure practice was that they would never be reluctant at all in relating whatever they found to be authentic in terms of Riwāyat , merely due to its subject matter. As a matter of fact, the practice of some Muḥaddithīn and most historians was that they would honestly include within their collections any narration at all which reached them regarding the Holy Prophet sa and his Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them), even if it was weak and unreliable, both in terms of Riwāyat and Dirāyat. They would then leave it to the judgement of theologians and research scholars of later times to distinguish between authentic and weak narrations for themselves. Moreover, in doing so their intention was that anything at all which was attributed to the Holy Prophet sa and his Companions, whether it seemed to be true or false, should not be omitted from inclusion. It is for this reason that all kinds of reliable and unreliable narrations have been gathered in the early works of history. However, this does not mean that all of it is acceptable, rather, now it is our work to differentiate between the weak and authentic. In any case, there is not even an iota of doubt that any Muslim Muḥaddīth or historian ever disregarded a narration merely on the basis that apparently it seemed at odds with the greatness of the Holy Prophet sa or his Companions, or because an allegation fell upon the Holy Prophet sa or Islām as a result. As such, the executions of Ka‘b bin Ashraf and Abū Rafi‘, the Jew, which completely resemble the so-called incidents of ‘Aṣmā’ and Abū ‘Afak, and which shall be mentioned ahead at their appropriate places, have been mentioned in all the books of Aḥādīth and history with full clarity and detail, and no Muslim narrator, Muḥaddīth or historian has neglected to mention them. In these circumstances, since the execution of ‘Aṣmā’ and Abū ‘Afak, the Jew, have not been mentioned in any Ḥadīth , and then, the various historians from among the