Abu 'Afak
Encyclopedia
Abu 'Afak was a Jewish poet
who lived in the Hijaz region (today Saudi Arabia
). Abu 'Afak did not convert
to Islam
and was vocal about his opposition to Muhammad
. He became a significant political enemy of Muhammad.
As an elderly man, Abu 'Afak Arwan wrote a politically charged poem against Muhammad and his followers that is preserved in the Sira.The affair was recorded by Ibn Ishaq
in "Sirat Rasul Allah" (The Life of the Prophet of God), the oldest biography of Muhammad.
's translation of Ibn Ishaq's prophetic biography
, chapter "Salim b. Umayr's expedition to kill Abu Afak".
and Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
, both of which have pointed out the fact that there exists no isnad (chain of transmitters) for this story, and thus cannot be taken as reliable. The story has no mention in either Sahih al-Bukhari
or Sahih Muslim
.
The complete lack of an isnad cannot be disregarded lightly. Early Muslim scholars went to great lengths to separate, categorize and document the hadiths that have been floating around at the time, and even the simplest of hadiths trace an entire line of transmission from the source (usually Muhammad) to the documenter, e.g. Bukhari.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
who lived in the Hijaz region (today Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
). Abu 'Afak did not convert
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and was vocal about his opposition to Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. He became a significant political enemy of Muhammad.
As an elderly man, Abu 'Afak Arwan wrote a politically charged poem against Muhammad and his followers that is preserved in the Sira.The affair was recorded by Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥaq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār was an Arab Muslim historian and hagiographer...
in "Sirat Rasul Allah" (The Life of the Prophet of God), the oldest biography of Muhammad.
Ibn Ishaq's account
The following is an excerpt from Alfred GuillaumeAlfred Guillaume
Alfred Guillaume was an Arabist and Islamic scholar.-Career:Guillaume took up Arabic after studying Theology and Oriental Languages at the University of Oxford. In the First World War he served in France and then in the Arab Bureau in Cairo...
's translation of Ibn Ishaq's prophetic biography
Prophetic biography
The sīrat rasūl allāh or al-sīra al-nabawiyya or just al-sīra, is the Arabic term used for the various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad from which, in addition to the Qur'an and Hadith, most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived.-Etymology:In the...
, chapter "Salim b. Umayr's expedition to kill Abu Afak".
Abu Afak was one of the B. Amr b. Auf of the B. Ubayda clan. He showed his disaffection when the apostle [Muhammad] killed al-Harith b. Suwayd b. Samit and said:
- Long have I lived but never have I seen
- An assembly or collection of people
- More faithful to their undertaking
- And their allies when called upon
- Than the sons of Qayla when they assembled,
- Men who overthrew mountains and never submitted,
- A rider who came to them split them in two (saying)
- "Permitted", "Forbidden", of all sorts of things.
- Had you believed in glory or kingship
- You would have followed Tubba.
The apostle [Muhammad] said, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" Whereupon Salim b. Umayr, brother of B. Amr b. Auf, one of the "weepers", went forth and killed him. Umama b. Muzayriya said concerning that:
- You gave the lie to God's religion and the man Ahmad [the prophet]!
- By him who was your father, evil is the son he produced!
- A hanif
HanifHanif is a term that refers to those who maintain the pure monothestic Muslim beliefs of the patriarch Ibrahim. More specifically, in Islamic thought it refers to the people during the period known as the Age of Ignorance, who were seen to have rejected idolatry and retained some or all of the...
gave you a thrust in the night saying- Take that, Abu Afak, in spite of your age!
- Though I knew whether it was man or jinn
- Who slew you in the dead of night (I would say naught).
Ibn Sa'd's account
Another description of this story comes from The Major Classes by ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi, although this work is based on the former source:"Then occurred the "sariyyah" [raid] of Salim Ibn Umayr al-Amri against Abu Afak, the Jew, in [the month of] ShawwalShawwalShawwāl is the tenth month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Shawwāl means to ‘lift or carry’; so named because she-camels normally would be carrying a fetus at this time of year.-Fasting during Shawwāl:...
in the beginning of the twentieth month from the hijraIslamic calendarThe Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
, of the Apostle of Allah. Abu Afak, was from Banu Amr Ibn Awf, and was an old man who had attained the age of one hundred and twenty years. He was a Jew, and used to instigate the people against the Apostle of Allah, and composed (satirical) verses [about Muhammad].
Salim Ibn Umayr who was one of the great weepers and who had participated in Badr, said, "I take a vow that I shall either kill Abu Afak or die before him. He waited for an opportunity until a hot night came, and Abu Afak slept in an open place. Salim Ibn Umayr knew it, so he placed the sword on his liver and pressed it till it reached his bed. The enemy of Allah screamed and the people who were his followers, rushed to him, took him to his house and interred him."
Hadith scholars view
The authenticity of this incident is doubtful at best. While ibn Ishaq's book is considered the first biography of Muhammad, it is far from authoritative. Ibn Ishaq is regarded as an author, not a scholar, and none of his original work remains. The only fragments available are through recensions by ibn HishamIbn Hisham
Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Malik bin Hisham , or Ibn Hisham edited the biography of Muhammad written by Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Ishaq's work is lost and is now only known in the recensions of Ibn Hisham and al-Tabari. Ibn Hisham grew up in Basra, Iraq, but moved afterwards to Egypt, where he gained a name...
and Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
, both of which have pointed out the fact that there exists no isnad (chain of transmitters) for this story, and thus cannot be taken as reliable. The story has no mention in either Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...
or Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...
.
The complete lack of an isnad cannot be disregarded lightly. Early Muslim scholars went to great lengths to separate, categorize and document the hadiths that have been floating around at the time, and even the simplest of hadiths trace an entire line of transmission from the source (usually Muhammad) to the documenter, e.g. Bukhari.
From an early date Muslim scholars recognized the danger of false testimony and hence false doctrine, and developed an elaborate science for criticizing tradition. "Traditional science", as it was called, differed in many respects from modern historical source criticism, and modern scholarship has always disagreed with evaluations of traditional scientists about the authenticity and accuracy of ancient narratives. But their careful scrutiny of the chains of transmission and their meticulous collection and preservation of variants in the transmitted narratives give to medieval Arabic historiography a professionalism and sophistication without precedent in antiquity and without parallel in the contemporary medieval West. By comparison, the historiography of Latin Christendom seems poor and meagre, and even the more advanced and complex historiography of Greek Christendom still falls short of the historical literature of Islam in volume, variety and analytical depth.