His Infallibility From Touching Idols
His protection from touching idols, and explaining the meaning of what appears to be the opposite:
On the authority of Zaid bin Haritha, may God be pleased with him, who said: “There was an idol made of copper called Asaf or Na’ilah that the polytheists would touch when they circumambulated. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, circumambulated and I circumambulated with him. When I passed by, I touched it, and the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘Do not touch it.’ Zaid said: So we circumambulated. I said to myself, ‘I will touch it so I can see what it says!’ So I touched it, and the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘Did you not forbid it?’ Zaid said: ‘By the One Who honored him and sent down the Book upon him, I did not touch an idol until God honored it with that which honored him and sent down the Book upon him… the hadith.” ( )
As for what was narrated, the apparent meaning of his, may God bless him and grant him peace, touching idols is not what is apparent, assuming the narration is sound, especially since the narration in that regard is not sound.
On the authority of Jabir bin Abdullah, may God be pleased with him, he said: “The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, He said: He heard two angels behind him, and one of them said to his companion: Let us go so that we can stand behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). He said: How can we stand behind him, when his covenant with touching the idols was only before? He said: After that, he did not attend with the polytheists their scenes ( ) meaning that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not attend with the polytheists their scenes that contained something of idolatry, otherwise he would have attended the scenes of the oath and the like, not the scenes of touching the idols.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in Al-Matalib Al-Aliyah: “The people rejected this hadith from Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah, so they exaggerated. What is rejected from it is his statement about the angel, ‘his covenant with touching the idols,’ because it appears that he directly touched them, and that is not what is meant. Rather, what is meant is that he directly witnessed the polytheists touching their idols” ( ).
This opinion was adopted by the imams: Al-Suyuti in Al-Khasais Al-Kubra ( ), Ibn Kathir in Al-Bidayah
wa Al-Nihayah ( ), Al-Bayhaqi in Dalail Al-Nubuwwah ( ), and Al-Haythami in Majma’ Al-Zawa’id ( ) saying: “It was narrated by Abu Yala and in it is Abdullah bin Muhammad bin `Aqil, and this is not possible from someone like him, unless the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) witnessed those scenes before the prophethood in order to denounce it, and this is correct, and it is explained and confirmed by the previous narration of Zayd bin Haritha.” End quote, with some modifications.
I said: I agree with the imams in what they went to in their denial of the hadith, and their interpretation of the apparent meaning of his (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) touching the idols, that what is meant by it is his (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) witnessing the scenes of the polytheists and their touching their idols, and this interpretation is confirmed by his fragrant conduct before the prophethood, in which his Lord, the Almighty and Majestic, protected him from what the polytheists were doing, such as eating what was slaughtered on the altars, or swearing by the names of idols, and likewise his protection from the manifestations of the amusement of the Jahiliyyah, and if there had been something like that from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), they would have used it as evidence in rejecting his call after the mission, but that was not reported, so it indicates his (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) protection from it.
“Whatever the case, the hadith of Jabir is rejected, Ahmad bin Hanbal strongly denied it, and he said: A topic, or similar to the topic, and Al-Daraqutni said: It is said that Uthman bin Abi Shaybah made a mistake in its chain of transmission, and Judge Iyad said: The hadith as a whole is strange and its chain of transmission is not agreed upon, so no attention should be paid to it. ( ) Despite the ruling of the Sunni imams on Jabir’s narration as strange, you will find some Shiites trying to make their readers believe that the Sunni scholars authenticate it. ( )
As for what “Dur Mangham” claimed about his (peace and blessings of God be upon him) approaching Al-Uzza with a white sheep ( ) and what Dr. Heikal mentioned following him, that he (peace and blessings of God be upon him) wiped himself with a yellow sheep ( ), both of them are false claims and fabrications from the imagination of a sick person, since what they claimed was not mentioned at all in any of the books of Sunnah, biography, history, or others. How can they prove that?! Why choose the white sheep? Or the yellow idol specifically? If the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, kept his tongue from even mentioning idols, how could he offer sacrifices to them and worship them? Glory be to You, this is a great slander.