Discussing Some Narrations of Abu Huraira (r.a)

​Narration of Musa (alaihi salaam) Death

The Angel of Death was sent to Moses, when he came to Moses, Moses slapped him on the eye. The angel returned to his Lord and said, "You have sent me to a Slave who does not want to die." Allah ﷻ said, "Return to him and tell him to put his hand on the back of an ox and for every hair that will come under it, he will be granted one year of life." Moses said, "O Lord! What will happen after that?" Allah ﷻ replied, "Then death." Moses said, "Let it come now." Moses then requested Allah ﷻ to let him die close to the Sacred Land (Sahih al-Bukhari 3407) 

The angels did and can appear in the form of a man. This is true not only from the above hadith but several ahadith and even the Quran. Angels like Angel Gabriel (alaihi Salaam) did appear to the Prophet in the form of a man not once but several times. In fact the companion also witnessed him such as in the famous ​hadith e Jibreel and one time even Bibi Fatima (alaihi Salaam) saw Azraeel (alaihi salaam), the angel of death, when he knocked on the door of their house. When they appear with human body then their appearance will carry the characteristics of human nature which includes being hurt but that doesn’t hurt their actual self. It was the apparent form of the angel that got hurt by Musa (alaihi salaam) and not their original spiritual form. Angels appeared to Ibrahim (alaihi Salaam) in the human form to give him good news of the birth of Ishaac (alaihi salaam) and he even cooked food for them: (Al Quran 11:69) "And certainly Our messengers came to Ibrahim with good news. They said: Peace. Peace, said he, and he made no delay in bringing a roasted calf."

Narration of Musa (alaihi salaam) Bathing

Narrated Abu Huraira (r.a) Allah's Messenger ﷺ said, "(The Prophet) Moses was a shy person and used to cover his body completely because of his extensive shyness. One of the children of Israel hurt him by saying, "He covers his body in this way only because of some defect in his skin, either leprosy or scrotal hernia, or he has some other defect." Allah wished to clear Moses of what they said about him, so one day while Moses was in seclusion, he took off his clothes and put them on a stone and started taking a bath. When he had finished the bath, he moved towards his clothes so as to take them, but the stone took his clothes and fled; Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying, "O stone! Give me my garment!" Till he reached a group of Bani Israel who saw him naked then, and found him the best of what Allah had created, and Allah cleared him of what they had accused him of. The stone stopped there and Moses took and put his garment on and started hitting the stone with his stick. By Allah, the stone still has some traces of the hitting, three, four or five marks. This was what Allah refers to in His Saying:-- "O you who believe! Be you not like those Who annoyed Moses, But Allah proved his innocence of that which they alleged, And he was honorable In Allah's Sight." (Al Quran 33:69) (Sahih Bukhari 3404)

The verse of the Quran (33:69) pertains to the above mentioned incident as recorded by many Quran commentators such as Imam Suyuti, Imam ibn Kathir etc. The sick rumors being spread by Bani Israel about Musa (alaihi Salaam) private parts being defected, could not be cleared had they demanded him to take off his clothes and show them his body. Naturally he would be shy and a believer will always be shy to show his private parts. Therefore Allah ﷻ made this incident take place to clear him from this allegation. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ narrated the above incident of Musa (alaihi Salaam) when he himself was angered by one of the companions who gave him trouble. While dividing up the spoils a man said to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ "This is a division that is not to please God!" hearing this the Prophet ﷺ became angered and said "May God have mercy upon Moses for truly he was hurt with worse than this but endured." (Tafsir Ibn Kathir- Surah 33. Al-Ahzab, Ayah 69)

Narration about a Prophet Burning Ants 

I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying: "An ant bit a Prophet amongst the Prophets, and he ordered that the place of the ants be burnt. So, Allah inspired to him, '"It is because one ant bit you that you burnt a nation amongst the nations that glorify Allah?" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3019) This tradition explains about an event narrated by the Prophet ﷺ to his companions to teach them about prohibition of unnecessarily killing creatures such as ants, bees, birds such as sparrows etc. This teaching is echoed in another narration from Ibn Abbas (r.a) that the Prophet ﷺ prohibited to kill four creatures: "ants, bees, hoopoes, and sparrow-hawks." (Sunan Abi Dawud 5267) 

Narration of Prophet Suleiman (alaihi salaam) & His Wives

Narrated Abu Huraira (r.a) Allah's Prophet Solomon who had sixty wives, once said: "Tonight I will have intercourse (sleep) with all my wives so that each of them will become pregnant and bring forth (a boy who will grow into) a cavalier and will fight in Allah's Cause." So he slept with his wives and none of them (conceived and) delivered (a child) except one who brought a half (body) boy (deformed). Allah's Prophet said, "If Solomon had said; 'If Allah Will,' then each of those women would have delivered a (would-be) cavalier to fight in Allah's Cause." (Sahih al-Bukhari 7469) This is an intention which Prophet Suleiman (alaihi Salaam) made for a good cause but he did not say the word "InshA’Allah i.e. If Allah Wills". This tradition is to teach the believers to always say InshA’Allah (If Allah Wills) for we, including the prophets, cannot succeed without the will of Allah ﷻ, even though we might be fully determined. The following Verse of the Quran was revealed to guide Prophet Muhammad ﷺ when he promised to answer questions to disbelievers of Makkah but forgot to say the words ‘InshA’Allah’ i.e. If Allah Wills: (Al Quran 18:23–24) "And never say of anything, "I shall do such and such thing tomorrow." Except (with the saying), "If Allah wills!"

Narration of the Prophet's Prayer

Salim, the freed slave of Nasriyyin, said: I heard Abu Huraira (r.a) as saying that he heard Allah's Messenger ﷺ as saying: "O Allah, Muhammad is a human being. I lose my temper just as human beings lose temper, and I have held a covenant with You which You would not break for a believer whom I give any trouble or invoke curse or beat, make that an expiation (of his sins and a source of) his nearness to Thee on the Day of Resurrection." (Sahih Muslim 2601 e) Prophet Muhammad ﷺ made this dua to teach the entire Ummah that if they may have done any of the above listed acts such as cursed or hurt someone and if they feel guilty about it but cannot find them to ask their pardon then they should express in these words to Allah ﷻ for them. This dua will do good for that person whom they had hurt by forgiving their sins.

Narration of shaytaan whispering 

Narrated Abu Huraira (r.a) Allah's Messenger ﷺ said, "When the Adhan is pronounced Satan takes to his heels and passes wind with noise during his flight in order not to hear the Adhan. When the Adhan is completed he comes back and again takes to his heels when the Iqama is pronounced and after its completion he returns again till he whispers into the heart of the person (to divert his attention from his prayer) and makes him remember things which he does not recall to his mind before the prayer and that causes him to forget how much he has prayed." (Sahih al-Bukhari 608) Any Muslim who prays or has prayed will agree that several thoughts come in to one’s mind when concentration in prayers. Such thoughts that occur are referred to as the whispering of shayateen (pl of shaytan i.e. devils). The whisperings of the devils are mentioned in other prophetic traditions narrated from other companions such as in dreams: “If anyone of you sees a dream that he dislikes, let him spit dryly (blow) to his left three times and seek refuge with Allah from Satan three times, and turn over onto his other side.” (Sunan Ibn Majah) The Prophet ﷺ has been given knowledge of Unseen by Allah ﷻ therefore he knows how devils act and how to protect oneself from their acts. Quran mentions these satanic whispering and how to protect oneself from them: (Al Quran 23:97) And say: "My Lord! I seek refuge with You from the whisperings (suggestions) of the shayateen (devils). (Al Quran 114:1–6) Say: “I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind….. from who whispers in the hearts of people; whether he be from the jinn or humans."  Do devils eat, drink, sleep, talk, etc? There are several Verses of the Quran and the prophetic traditions that talk about their food and drinking and other habits. Therefore "passing wind" act should not be a surprise for those who believe.

Narration of the Khaibar Conquest

Narrated Abu Huraira (r.a) "When we conquered Khaibar, we gained neither gold nor silver as booty, but we gained cows, camels, goods and gardens..." (Sahih al-Bukhari 4234) The word used by Abu Huraira (r.a) "we" does not include him but "we" means us, the Muslims when they conquered Khaibar. By saying "we", he is narrating the event but not including himself. The purpose of the above narration is to tell as to what happened when wealth fell in to the hands of the Muslims after Khaibar was conquered. They did not get any gold, silver or lands. Another companion Abdullah ibn Abbas (r.a) also confirms the above narration of Abu Huraira when he says that Muslims did not get any silver or gold : "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) conquered Khaibar, and stipulated that all the land, gold and silver would belong to him." (Sunan Abi Dawud 3410)

Why was Abu Huraira’s governorship taken away?

During the caliphate of Umar (r.a), Abu Huraira (r.a) was appointed as governor of Bakrain. Umar (r.a) was very scrupulous about the type of persons whom he appointed as governors. He was always concerned that his governors should live simply and frugally and not acquire much wealth even if it was through lawful means. In Bahrain, Abu Huraira (r.a) became quite rich. Umar (r.a) heard of this and recalled him to Madinah. Umar (r.a) doubted  that he had acquired his wealth through unlawful means and questioned him about where and how he had acquired such a fortune. Abu Huraira (r.a) replied: "From breeding horses and gifts which I received." "Hand it over to the treasury of the Muslims," ordered Umar (r.a). Abu Huraira (r.a) did as he was told and raised his hands to the heavens and prayed: "O Lord, forgive the Amir al-Muminin!" Subsequently, Umar (r.a) asked him to become governor once again but he declined. Umar (r.a) asked him why he refused and he said: "So that my honor would not be besmirched, my wealth taken and my back beaten." Source: Abu Hurayrah http://www.sunnah.org/history/Sahaba/hurayrah.html - If Abu Huraira (r.a) was considered a liar by Umar (r.a) then he would not ask him to become governor again. Umar was very strict as compared to other companions of the Prophet ﷺ therefore he had beaten Abu Huraira (r.a) not because the latter was a liar.

Did Aisha (r.a) consider Abu Huraira (r.a) a liar?

I believe one tradition would be sufficient to prove that she considered his testimony and narrations from the Prophet ﷺ as truthful. Abu Huraira (r.a) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever performs the funeral prayer then he will get a reward equal to a Qirat. Whoever follows it until it is buried then he will get a reward equal to two Qirat, one of them, or the least of them, is similar to Uhud (mountain)." This was mentioned to Ibn Umar, so he sent a message to Aisha (r.a) to ask her about that, and she said: "Abu Hurairah has told the truth." So Ibn Umar said: "We have missed many Qirat." (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1040) In case of doubt that the above tradition was only narrated by Abu Huraira (r.a) then a similar tradition mentions the reward of 2 Qirats for a funeral prayer narrated by Ubay Ibn Ka’ab (r.a) that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Whoever offers the funeral prayer will have one Qirat; and whoever attends until the burial is over, will have two Qirat. By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad! The Qirat is greater than this (mountain of) Uhud.” (Sunan ibn Majah - Vol. 1, Book 6, Hadith 1541)