This excerpt is taken from A Research Review of Mirza Muhammad Ali Engineer's Objections and Issues, authored by Haroon bin Shabbir Ahmad, may Allah preserve him, and revised by Fazilat al-Sheikh Maulana Muhammad Rafiq Tahir, may Allah preserve him.
Argument Number: 2
Mirza Sahib narrates two chains of this tradition, one from Sahih Bukhari and the other from Sahih Muslim. The narration from Sahih Bukhari is as follows: Janab Abu Hazim, may Allah have mercy on him, states:
أَنَّ رَجُلًا جَاءَ إِلَى سَهْلِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ، فَقَالَ هَذَا فُلَانٌ- لِأَمِيرِ الْمَدِينَةِ- يَدْعُو عَلِيًّا عِنْدَ الْمِنْبَرِ- قَالَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَا؟ قَالَ يَقُولُ لَهُ: أَبُو تُرَابٍ، فَضَحِكَ، قَالَ: وَاللهِ، مَا سَمَّاهُ إِلَّا النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَمَا كَانَ لَهُ اسْمٌ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ مِنْهُ، فَاسْتَطْعَمْتُ الْحَدِيثَ سَهْلًا، وَقُلْتُ: يَا أَبَا عَبَّاسٍ، كَيْفَ ذَلِكَ ؟ قَالَ: دَخَلَ عَلِيٌّ عَلَى فَاطِمَةَ، ثُمَّ خَرَجَ، فَاضْطَجَعَ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ، فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: ”أَيْنَ ابْنُ عَمِّكِ؟“ قَالَتْ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ، فَخَرَجَ إِلَيْهِ، فَوَجَدَ رِدَاءَهُ قَدْ سَقَطَ عَنْ ظَهْرِهِ، وَخَلَصَ التُّرَابُ إِلَى ظَهْرِهِ، فَجَعَلَ يَمْسَحُ التُّرَابَ عَنْ ظَهْرِهِ، فَيَقُولُ: ”اجْلِسْ يَا أَبَا تُرَابٍ“. مَرَّتَيْنِ۔
"A man came to Hazrat Suhail bin Saad, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: This so-and-so person—the governor of Medina—mentions Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, from the pulpit. Hazrat Suhail bin Saad asked what he says. The man replied: He calls Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, 'Abu Turab.' Hazrat Suhail bin Saad smiled and said: By Allah, this name of Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, was given by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, himself, and there was no name more beloved to Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, than this name." (The man says) I expressed my desire to know the full incident from Suhail, may Allah be pleased with him, and asked: O Abu Abbas! How exactly did this happen? He narrated that once Sayyiduna Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, came to Sayyida Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, and then (due to displeasure) went out and lay down in the mosque. Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, asked (Sayyida Fatimah), "Where is your uncle's son?" She said he was in the mosque. The Prophet, peace be upon him, went to the mosque and saw that his cloak had slipped from his back and there was dust on his back. The Prophet, peace be upon him, began to wipe the dust from his back and said: "Arise, O Abu Turab, arise!" He said this twice."
Reference: (Sahih Bukhari:3703)
Now you might wonder what is significant about this narration? The point is that although the narration itself does not indicate anything, Mirza Sahib, with his keen observation, argued that the Banu Umayyah used to call Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab" with contempt. And what is the evidence? The evidence is the brackets inserted by Mirza Sahib. He writes this narration in his research paper under the same title with these words:
"In Sahih Bukhari's hadith, Sayyiduna Abu Hazim Tabi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, narrates that a man came to Sayyiduna Suhail bin Saad al-Saadi, may Allah be pleased with him, and reported that a certain person (belonging to Banu Umayyah), who was the governor of Medina, spoke ill of Sayyiduna Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, from his pulpit. Sayyiduna Suhail bin Saad al-Saadi, may Allah be pleased with him, asked what he said. He replied that he (with contempt) called him Abu Turab (meaning 'man of dust')."
Who this disrespectful person was is of no concern to us, but it is necessary to clarify here that there is no indication in this narration that this person was calling Sayyiduna Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab" with contempt. This is revealed only from Mirza Sahib's brackets. In fact, the person who came to Hazrat Suhail, may Allah be pleased with him, to report this incident was unaware of this kunya of Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, and the incident behind it. That is why he was surprised that this governor was calling Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab," meaning "man of dust." Later, he came to know that this kunya was given to Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Therefore, it is Mirza Sahib's deception to claim that Banu Umayyah used to call Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab" with contempt. This clarification was necessary because Mirza Sahib makes the same accusation against Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, on the same basis. He has created a principle that whenever Banu Umayyah say "Abu Turab," understand that it is said with contempt. And wherever Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, has mentioned Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, by this kunya, Mirza Sahib raises the objection that Banu Umayyah used to call Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab" with contempt. And the evidence for this claim is before you. If this governor called Sayyiduna Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab" with contempt, what relation does that have with Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him? And how can it be said that he also, God forbid, called Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, "Abu Turab" with contempt?
The narration from Sahih Muslim: عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ قَالَ: اسْتُعْمِلَ عَلَى الْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ مِنْ آلِ مَرْوَانَ قَالَ: فَدَعَا سَهْلَ بْنَ سَعْدٍ، فَأَمَرَهُ أَنْ يَشْتِمَ عَلِيًّا قَالَ فَأَبَى سَهْلٌ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَمَّا إِذْ أَبَيْتَ فَقُلْ لَعَنَ اللهُ أَبَا التُّرَابِ فَقَالَ سَهْلٌ: مَا كَانَ لِعَلِيٍّ اسْمٌ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ أَبِي التُّرَابِ، وَإِنْ كَانَ لَيَفْرَحُ إِذَا دُعِيَ بِهَا، فَقَالَ لَهُ: أَخْبِرْنَا عَنْ قِصَّتِهِ، لِمَ سُمِّيَ أَبَا تُرَابٍ؟ قَالَ: جَاءَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَيْتَ فَاطِمَةَ، فَلَمْ يَجِدْ عَلِيًّا فِي الْبَيْتِ، فَقَالَ أَيْنَ ابْنُ عَمِّكِ؟ فَقَالَتْ: كَانَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهُ شَيْءٌ، فَغَاضَبَنِي فَخَرَجَ، فَلَمْ يَقِلْ عِنْدِي، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لِإِنْسَانٍ انْظُرْ، أَيْنَ هُوَ؟ فَجَاءَ فَقَالَ: يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ هُوَ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ رَاقِدٌ، فَجَاءَهُ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَهُوَ مُضْطَجِعٌ، قَدْ سَقَطَ رِدَاؤُهُ عَنْ شِقِّهِ، فَأَصَابَهُ تُرَابٌ، فَجَعَلَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَمْسَحُهُ عَنْهُ وَيَقُولُ قُمْ أَبَا التُّرَابِ قُمْ أَبَا التُّرَابِ۔
"It is narrated from Sayyiduna Suhail bin Saad, may Allah be pleased with him, that a person from the family of Marwan was appointed governor of Medina. He summoned Hazrat Suhail bin Saad, may Allah be pleased with him, and ordered him to insult Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him. Hazrat Suhail bin Saad refused. He said: If you refuse, then say: May Allah curse Abu Turab. Hazrat Suhail bin Saad said: There was no name more beloved to Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, than Abu Turab. When he was called by this name, he was very happy. Then this (governor) said to Hazrat Suhail bin Saad: Tell me the story of how he got the name Abu Turab. He said: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, came to the house of Hazrat Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, but did not find Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, there. The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked: Where is your uncle's son? She said: We had a disagreement, and he went out angry with me, and he did not take his midday nap at my place. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, asked someone: Look, where is he? He returned and said: O Messenger of Allah! He is lying in the mosque. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, went to him; he was lying down, his upper cloak had slipped from his side, and dust had settled on his body. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, wiped the dust off with his blessed hand and said: Arise, Abu Turab! Arise, Abu Turab!"
Reference: (Sahih Muslim:2409)
So this is the argument presented by Mirza Sahib, that Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, ordered Sayyiduna Saad bin Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, to curse Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him. And they say that "sab" (insult) means "curse," because Imam Muslim, may Allah have mercy on him, translated it as "curse." Sometimes they say "sab" means to curse because in the other hadith the word "curse" is used instead of "sab," where the person says: Curse Abu Turab.
However, all this is false. Neither did Imam Muslim, may Allah have mercy on him, translate "sab" as curse, nor does this curse narration have any connection with the earlier narration (about Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him). Since these are two separate incidents, how can they be combined?
It is clear from this narration that this disrespectful person was from Banu Marwan, not from Banu Muawiyah. Now, where is the lineage of Marwan and where is Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him? Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, was a companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. So how can the blame for this unknown person's disrespect be attributed to Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him? Mirza Sahib claims that all this (cursing and insults) was done on the orders of Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him. But neither does this narration say that all this happened on his orders, nor is there any explicit statement that this incident is related to the incident involving Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, and Sayyiduna Saad, may Allah be pleased with him! So when there is no such thing, this is a blatant slander against the companion of the Messenger of Allah, Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, that he ordered Sayyiduna Saad, may Allah be pleased with him, to curse Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him (God forbid). Neither did Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, ever do such a thing in his entire life, nor did he ever order it. Mirza Sahib has made a huge claim that what Maududi Sahib said from history, he has proven from the books of hadith, but we see that the engineer's arguments are even more baseless than Maududi Sahib's evidence.
Neither did Mirza Sahib prove who this oppressive person was, who appointed him governor, or when this incident took place. When there are so many ambiguities, attributing it to Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, and criticizing him on this basis is a great injustice. You are deceiving people in the name of evidence. You attribute to him things he neither said nor did, and claim that every statement is made with reference. These references of Mirza Sahib are before you.
That is, according to you, since Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, is from the Banu Umayyah family, then even if someone from the seventh generation of Banu Umayyah commits a wrong deed, Hazrat Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, is responsible for it, and the blame for that wrong deed will be attributed to him? May Allah have mercy on us! Have some fear of Allah!
A simple and straightforward rebuttal by an anchor to Mirza Sahab's argument:
While interviewing Engineer Sahib, an anchor asked a question on this issue:
"And on this, you talk about 4230, in which the word 'proper sab' is present, it is found in Sahih Muslim."
To this, Mirza Sahib corrected the reference, saying "6229."
The anchor said: "Now here, Irfan Shah Mashhadi Sahib explains this hadith and says that the meaning of 'sab' here is something else, it has a different sense. You pick up a hadith from there or from other books and try to match it."
To this, Engineer Sahib said: "There is no need to match, my brother, open Sahih Muslim hadith 6229, the translation of 'sab' is there itself, Imam Muslim narrated it, they said: Curse upon Abut-Turab Ali ibn Abi Talib, when the word 'curse' is present, then!"
The anchor asked: "Who gave the curse?"
Engineer Sahib replied:
"Banu Marwan, Banu Umayyah!"
The anchor responded: "So Banu Marwan became responsible, right? So here the discussion is about Hazrat Muawiyah!"
Immediately, Mirza Sahib started to talk evasively: "No, those are separate hadiths about Hazrat Muawiyah!"
(Then Mirza Sahib, instead of answering the anchor's question, diverted the conversation).
Hazrat Ali R. A par LANAT kon karwata Tha-1:15/ 3:29
Now it is clear that the arguments presented by Mirza Sahib are so weak that an anchor left him speechless and answered your baseless reasoning. And due to his same scholarly ignorance, Mirza Sahib does not sit and talk in front of any scholar, otherwise the reality of your references would come to light. Your useless arguments may work in front of ignorant people sitting before you but not in front of any intelligent person.
In response to the anchor's objection that "You pick a narration from somewhere and try to match it with the narration about Hazrat Muawiyah (RA)," Mirza Sahib said: "Brother, there is no need to match!" Although they are so deceptive and fraudulent that they are mixing the narration about the ruler of Medina with the narration about Hazrat Muawiyah (RA). Whereas both events have no relation to each other. And at the same time, they say there is no need to match and yet they are matching.
Then he says Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that they said: Curse upon Abut-Turab Ali ibn Abi Talib, when the word 'curse' is present............ Although this is also a big lie by Engineer Sahib. There is nothing like this in Sahih Muslim, neither did Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) explain the word 'sab' nor did he combine these two separate narrations. You can open Sahih Muslim and observe yourself. In fact, there is a gap of five narrations between the hadith related to Hazrat Muawiyah (RA) and the other hadith which Mirza Sahib tries to match with the first narration. So from where is Mirza Sahib taking one narration and joining it with another narration present elsewhere, and the injustice upon injustice is that this is then attributed to Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him), saying that he explained that 'sab' means curse. Now listen to a joke! Engineer Sahib says:
"I believe that today our platform, by the grace of Allah, is serving the knowledge of hadith, and if Imam Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) were alive today, he would certainly give first place in grading to our platform because we have delivered Imam Muslim's methodology, which he compiled from the methodology of the muhaddithin in one place, to the common Muslims."
Imam Muslim became Shiah?8:35
He further says: "The way truthfulness is being demonstrated from our platform, it is perhaps impossible to give an example of it; if you find any example, please do tell me."
Imam Hassan ka qatil kon-1:07
Anyway, when the anchor said to Mirza Sahib: "No, those are separate hadiths about Hazrat Muawiyah (RA)!" then brother, if they are separate, present them. You are also attributing them to Hazrat Muawiyah (RA). So it is proven that this narration has no relation to the narration about Hazrat Muawiyah (RA), that event is different, and this narration is another. Mirza Sahib claims that curses and abuses were given on the orders of Hazrat Muawiyah (RA), so where in this narration is it said that Hazrat Muawiyah (RA) cursed or abused or ordered it? Or that this event is from the time of Hazrat Muawiyah (RA)? Therefore, the blame for this heinous act lies on that Amir, Hazrat Muawiyah (RA) is innocent of it. Hazrat Muawiyah (RA) never gave such an order, and as for the narration in which the words 'sab' are present, we have proven that its meaning is by no means abuse or curse.
After the anchor's accusatory reply, Mirza Sahib said that no, there are separate hadiths about Hazrat Muawiyah (RA), so it is proven that this narration has no relation to Hazrat Muawiyah (RA), so look at the separate narrations about Hazrat Muawiyah (RA) as well:
