BUT IFYOU DESIRE GOD AND HIS MESSENGER STUDIA ORIENTALIA PUBLISHED BY THE FINNISH ORIENTAL SOCIETY t02 But if You Desire God and His Messenger The Concept of Choice in Sahih al-Bukhari by Sylvia Akar HELSINKI 2006 Sylvia Akar But if You Desire God and His Messenger. The Concept of Choice in Sahih al-Bukhâri. Studia Orientalia, Yol. 102.2006. Copyright @ ZOO0 by the Finnish Oriental Society, Societas Orientalis Fennica, c/o lnstitute for Asian and African Studies P.O.Box 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B) 00014 University of Helsinki FINLAND Editorial Board: Jqakko Hdmeen-Anttila (Arabic and Islamic Studies) Tapani Hamiainen (Semitic Studies) Ami Hurskainen (African Studies) Juha Janhunen (Altaic and East Asian Studies) Juha Laulainen (Publication Secretary) Kaj Ohrnberg (Librarian) Heikki Palva (Arabic Linguistics) Asko Parpola (South Asian Studies) Simo Parpola (Assyriology) Rein Raud (Japanese Studies) rssN 0039-3282 rsBN 951-9380-66-3 Yliopistopaino Helsinki 2006 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study is a result of years of work at the Institute for Asian and African Studies at the University of Helsinki.In 1999-2001 I had the privilege of working on my thesis at the Graduate School of the Institute, between 2001-2005 I con- tinued writing while working as assistant of Arabic language and Islamic studies, and since 2005 as amanuensis of the Institute. I wish to express my thanks to my teacher, professor emeritus Heikki Palva, whose fatherly encouragement and cheerful laughter has emboldened me since the 80's. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Professor Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila for his guidance. In the course of writing this study, he has always been there for me, giving me his valuable criticism, correcting my mistakes and, best of all, always giving his full support to me and to my project. I wish to thank my reviewers, Professor Barbara Stowasser from Georgetown University and Professor Claude Gilliot from l'Université de Provence for their constructive criticism and encouragement. My colleagues and dear friends, Dr. Helena Hallenberg, Dr. Irmeli Perho, Dr. Hannu Juusola, Dr. Maaria Ylänkö, Dr. Lotta Harjula, Dr. Susar¡ne Dahlgren, Dr. Marko Juntunen, Dr. Riina Isotalo, Dr. Petri Hautaniemi, prof. Ulla Vuorela, Dr. Minna Torniainen, Dr. Mofeza Alamolhoda, Lic. Phil. Volker Rybatzki, and M.A. Minna Saarnivaara, I wish to thank for making these years of work full of laughter. My dear friends Riitta Vuori-Youssef, Yousri Yousset and Kirsi Pohjonen-Laiho I thank for their support, encouragement, and fidelity. I wish to thank Lic. Phil. Kaj Öhrnberg for his friendship and encouragement, especially during the past year. I thank Kaj also for reading my manuscript and accepting it to be published in the Studia Orientalia. Juha Laulainen, the editor of this volume, made a wonderful book of my manuscript and I wish to thank him for that. My last thanks go to the most inrportant men of my life, Ali El Kaddioui, Yousef El Kaddioui, and Jacques Akar. Without these three, my nearest and dear- est, none of this would have been possible, because without these three, I would not have survived. In Helsinki, May Day 2006. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I AIU nno scopr TenN{n ¡oLocy nNo TReNSLITERATIoN 2 AL-BUKHÃRI: Mnr.¡ rNo MUHADDITH 5 The Beginning of his interest in hadiths 6 His literary work 7 His life, characteristics, frugality and virtues t2 Legends about the capacity of his memory and intellect l4 His way of working l5 The dispute about created and uncreated acts l7 The death of al-Bukhãri 20 PART I 21 THe CoNcBproF SLINNA 23 HADITH,qS e RnpnessNTATroN oF THE PRopHet 28 CoLLecr¡oN oFHADITH 30 The six books 34 Khorasan in the ninth century 38 Classihcation of the hadiths.. ..40 Isnãd analysis vs. math criticism 4t al-Bukhãrl's criteria of selection 45 DlscussroN oF THE AUTHENTICITY oF HADITH LITERATURE 47 The question of historicity 47 Hadith research and European Orientalism 50 Selection of authentic hadiths 53 The concensus principle 54 METHoDoLOCY 56 Rhetorical tum, half-turn, or two tums 57 My approach 58 Vernon Robbins' socio-rhetorical method 63 Inner texture 63 Intertexture 65 The audience, 66 Universal audience 68 Elite audience 69 CoNcI-uslotrs 7l THr Cor.¡c¡pT oF CHOICE IN AL-BUKHÃRÏ 75 Theme clusters ...'....'.' 75 l. The cluster of choice '.'......'....,... 78 a. Ikhtiyãr 78 b. Taþim 87 c. Qiwãma 9t 2. Cluster of the Prophets ................. 96 a. The Prophet and Abu Bakr 96 b. The Prophet and'Ã'isha 97 The thigh as a topos 98 3. Cluster of wine and milk .....'.... l0l 4. Cluster of the spouse .... 104 a. Section of the wives 104 b. Section ofhusbands 108 c. Section of Banïa .... 109 5. Cluster of the retaliahon lll a. Section of the victim. 1ll b. Section of the hostile tribe tt4 c. Section of the chief of pagans .......'..'.'....'. I 16 6. Cluster of trade lt8 7. Cluster of Ançãr and the Muhãjirän 120 8. .Ã'isha's choice 126 9. Cluster of the funeral prayer .... 127 La tukhayyirüni................. ....... 130 10. Moses and the Angel of Death .................. ........................132 Krrns AL-QADAR N $AHIH AL-BUKHÃRI- r36 Tue PurlosopHy oF Cnorce ¡No FRee WILL 142 The doctrine of qadar .........'......... 143 The doctrine ofjabr t44 The doctrine of kasb 145 The Prophet as a mediator '..........' 147 CoNcr-usroNs ts2 Eplr-ocus: H¡,urr¡ n¡¡o PnesrNr DAy MusLrMS 156 Chronology 159 Vocabulary 163 Classification of Isnâds/hadiths 167 Bibliography t69 ,1 INTRODUCTION AIM AND SCOPE The aim of this work is to study the concept of choice in the Sahîh al-Bukhdrl. The question of choice is very intimately linked with the problematic of predesti- nation and free will, which is one of the most fundamental discussions in early Islamic theology. It is debatable, however, whether the concept of free will is relevant in Muslim discourse or whether we should rather speak about our power to act and make independent choices in our lives, about the relationship of God's divine power and human power. But, then, we should also not speak about predes- tination, but the power of God to determine everything that happens in this world and the hereafter, the relationship of God's absolute sovereignty and human responsibility. The Islamic concept of qadør, which is usually translated as pre- destination or destiny, is central to Islamic discourse. Perhaps it is even more central than the concept of ikhtiyãr, choice or free will. But does it mean predesti- nation? The focus of this book is on the concept of choice in hadith literature, and especially in the collection of al-BukhãrÏ. My aim is to discuss ikhtiyar in al- Bukhâri as such. I am not interested in looking at different possible tendencies in the collection. It might be that by comparing various transmitters by going through the available biographical material of each of them, comparing isnads, and the possible common links in them and the overall distribution and develop- ment of the texts, we might be able to determine certain trends in the development of the collection. However, this is not the aim of my study. I read hadiths as pieces of reality, not as statements about reality. My starting point is the collection of texts as it exists now in its normative, established form; I am not going to evaluate the hadith reports in any comparative way. The isnads are not the focus of attention, either with the purpose of determining which of the transmitters are the most or the less inclined to determinism, or to argue anything about the validity of the transmission or the authenticity of the text. Since the historical accuracy ofthe texts is not relevant in this analysis, it is left aside' I have a special interest in gender studies, and my original concern when I started to do research for this work was to find out different images of women in the hadiths and the ways the concept of female is constituted in the texts. I I my analysis, and, in I Gradually, the concept of choice became more important in i l 1 \ 2 SYLVIA AKAR the end, is has become the main focus of this study. Nevertheless, gender has much to do with choice; one might assume that the choices men and women do and did have in their lives were quite different, and one might also assume that these differences would be present and distinguishable in hadith literature. This is one of the questions I shall deal with. In order to have theoretical tools to base my reading on I studied the methodology of rhetorical analysis. My aim was to develop rhetorical analysis as a tool in the study of Islamic texts and I have made use of some of the termino- logy developed by the pioneers of rhetorical analysis, such as sensitisation and audience, inner texture and intertexture. To give the reader who is not familiar with'ilm al-þadîth, the science of tradition, the necessary background about al-Bukhärï and hadith literature I shall sketch out the life and work of the author and I shall provide a short history of the development of hadith literature during the early history of Islam. A short outline of the development of the concept of sunna and its identification with the Prophet Muhammad will be presented and I shall briefly discuss the collection and classi- fication of hadiths and present a sketch of the geographical area where the most important collectors and compilators of the hadith collections lived and worked. As already mentioned, the historicity of the texts is not evaluated, but I will shortly examine the discussion about the general criteria of selecting hadiths and the personal criteria al-BukhãrÎ used while determining which of the hadiths he knew fulfilled the conditions, shurÌi¡, of a sound or saþtþ transmission.