This excerpt is taken from the book by Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
Hadith 40: Pharaoh's Acceptance of Faith
Parvez Sahib has explained the meaning of a hadith from Tirmidhi and raised objections. It is as follows: Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Gabriel says that when Pharaoh began to drown, he wanted to believe. O Muhammad! I wish you had seen me at that time, stuffing the mud of the sea into his mouth so that he would not utter the Kalima and Allah's mercy would not come upon him."
Reference: Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Tafsir al-Quran, Chapter: And from Surah Yunus, Hadith: 3107, and (Translation by Parvez) Maqam al-Hadith, p. 170
Objections:
➊ It is not the task of Jibreel to stuff dirt into the mouth of anyone who wants to believe and block God's mercy.
➋ Since angels are bound by God's command, it is understood that Jibreel performed this task according to God's order.
➌ Despite God's command and Jibreel's action, Pharaoh recited the Kalima and said:
آمَنتُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
"I believe that there is no true deity except the One whom the Children of Israel believed in. And I am among the obedient."
Reference: (10-Yunus:90)
And thus, God forbid, God's plan was thwarted. You can even imagine that this interpretation was conveyed by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
Reference: Maqam al-Hadith bil-Ikhtisar, pp. 170-171
Answer:
Parvez Sahib's method of distortion is that he creates some meanings and some alterations on his own and derives incorrect conclusions from them, paving the way to deny the hadith. He is an example of the couplet:
When the architect lays the first brick crooked,
The wall will go crooked up to the Pleiades.
Here, Parvez Sahib has altered the meaning of the hadith he explained. The original hadith is as follows. It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
لما أغرق الله فرعون قال آمنت أنه لا إله إلا الذى آمنت به بنو إسرائيل فقال جبريل يا محمد لو رأيتني وأنا آخذ من حال البحر وأدسه فى فيه مخافة أن تدركه الرحمة
"When Allah drowned Pharaoh, he said: I believe that there is no true god except the One whom the Children of Israel believe in. Then Gabriel said: O Muhammad (peace be upon him)! I wish you could see me as I was taking mud from the sea and stuffing it into his mouth so that the mercy of Allah would not cover him."
Reference: Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Tafsir al-Qur'an, Chapter: From Surah Yunus, Hadith: 3107
According to Parvez's meaning, Gabriel's act of stuffing mud into Pharaoh's mouth happened before he recited the Kalima, whereas the hadith clearly states that Pharaoh had already declared the Kalima, and later Gabriel stuffed mud into his mouth. Pharaoh's acceptance of faith at that moment is not valid according to divine law, because Allah says:
يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لَا يَنفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِن قَبْلُ
"The Day when some of the signs of your Lord will come, no soul will benefit from its faith if it had not believed before or had earned righteousness through its faith."
Reference: (6-Al-An'am:158)
Also, He said:
فَلَمْ يَكُ يَنفَعُهُمْ إِيمَانُهُمْ لَمَّا رَأَوْا بَأْسَنَا
"So their faith did not benefit them when they saw Our punishment with their own eyes."
Reference: (40-Al-Mu’min:85)
From these two verses, it is understood that when a person is in the throes of death, faith at that moment is not accepted. Therefore, Gabriel (peace be upon him) did this act by the permission of Allah. When Pharaoh recited the Kalima, he was responded thus:
آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
"(Now) he believes, but before that he disobeyed; and he was among the corrupters."
Reference: (10-Yunus:91)
Meaning, Allah Almighty approved Gabriel's action. Hence, it is established that these words were spoken by the revelation of Allah.
So far, answers to these forty hadiths have been given, which the people of Tolu-e-Islam and other hadith deniers have objected to due to their misunderstanding, although there are other hadiths which these people are not ready to accept. Especially those hadiths related to the signs of the Day of Judgment, such as: the Dajjal, Imam Mahdi, the Beast of the Earth, the rising of the sun from the west, and the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him), etc. But currently, the hadith deniers are corrupting the belief of Muslims by using debate and distortion regarding the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him). Therefore, I want to explain this issue in detail under a separate heading.
