Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T17:15:15.037Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Al-taḥannuth: an inquiry into the meaning of a term

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

The expression taḥannuth mentioned in some traditions in connexion with the first revelation of the Prophet was variously interpreted by Muslim philologists and commentators of ḥadīth. Several meanings have been attached to it by modern scholars. A re-examination of the material seems to give us a clue for elucidation of the meaning of taḥannuth and the ideas connected with it. This may also be helpful towards understanding the circumstances of the ‘Call to Prophecy’ of Muḥammad.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ibn, Hishām. al-sī al-nabawiyya, al-Saqqā, al-AbyārīShalabī Cairo 1936, 1 251Google Scholar; see Guillaume, A.(tr.), The life Muhammad, London, 1955, 105.Google Scholar

2 See Ibn, Hajar, Tahdhī, 7, 71(died A.H.67; he was the Qā of the people of Mecca)Google Scholar; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirat al-huffāz, 1, 50(records that he died A.H. 74);Idem, , AL-Islām, Cairo, 1368/1948–9,, 3, 190.Google Scholar The date of his death given by Buhl, F., Leben Muhammeds, second ed., transl., H. H. Schaeder, Heidelberg, 1955, 134, 24 as A.H. 98 Seems to be an error; seeGoogle ScholarSprenger, A., Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, zweite Auflage, Berlin, 1869, 1, 339.Google Scholar

3 seeIbn, Hajar, Tahdhī, 11, 166 (died A.H. 126 or 129)Google Scholar; al-Suyūtī, Is'āf al–mubatta Cairo, n.d., 41 (gives the date of his death as A.H. 127).Google Scholar

4 For the location of the place see Muhammad, HamīdullāhLe Prophète de 'Islam, Paris, 1959, 1, 64:‘situé à un kilom00E9;te⃛,: and see‘Arrām, b.al-AşbaghAsmā, jibālTihā ed. ‘bdal-Sal‘m, Hār;ān, Cairo, 1956, (Nawādiral-makhtūyāt, 8, 4198; al-FāsĪ, , Shifā al-gharām, Cairo, 1956, 1, 280–1.Google Scholar

5 In the translation of Guillaume: ‘⃛the apostle would pray in seclusion and give food to the poor⃛,.

6 Seeal-HalabīInsān, al-‘uyūn, 1, 272the discussion as to whether it happened in Ramadān, or in the month of Rabī, or in the month of Rajab, ). And see Ibn, al-Jauzī, Sifat, al-safwa, 31. 2.Google Scholar

7 Al-Bukhārī, , Sahīh, Cairo, n.d., 1, 5Bāb kayfa kāna bad'u,.wahyi ilā rasūli, llāhi.Google Scholar

8 In fact Yahyā b. ‘Abdullāh b. Bukayr: see Ibn, Hajar, Tahdhīb, 11, 237; al-Dhahabī, , Tadhkirat a.huffā, 2, 420; al-‘Aynī, , ‘mdat a.qāri, Cairo,1308/1890–1, 1, 56.Google Scholar

9 Seeal-Bajāwī, , Ta–Arīkh Baghdād, 8, 314Google Scholar; al-Dhahabī, , , Mīzān a.i‘tidāl ed. ‘Alī Muh. al-Bajāwī, Cairo, 1963, 3, 423, 6998Google Scholar; Ibn, Hajar, Tahdh73X012Bb, 8, 459Google Scholar; al-aynī, , op.cit., 1, 56.Google Scholar

10 Seeal-Sam‘ānī, , al-Ansāb, ed. al-Mu‘allamī, ‘Abd al-rahmān, 1962, 1, 410Google Scholar; Ibn, Hajar, Tahdhīb, 7, 255.Google Scholar

11 See the rendering of the tradition in Richard, Bell, Mohammed, s Call,, Moslem World, 24, 1934, 13.Google Scholar

12 In the tradition of Ibn, Sa‘d, Tabaqāt, Beirut, 1960, 1, 194, 1.6, ‘till Truth came upon him suddenly,. LikewiseGoogle ScholarIbn, Sayyid al-NāS, ‘Uyūn al-athar, Cairo1356/1337–8, 1, 84, 1Google Scholar. 4 from bottom;al-Balādhurī, , Ansāb al-ashrāf, ed. Muhammad, Hamīdullāh, Cairo, 1959, 1, 105, 16Google Scholar; al-‘Aynī, op cit., 1, 63, 1. 4 from bottomGoogle Scholar; al-Majlisī, , Bihār al-anwār., Tehran, 1380/1960–1,18, 227, 6Google Scholar; a;-Zurqānā, , Sharh., 1, 211, 1.4Google Scholar; Ibn, al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, Cairo, 1357/1938–9, 2, 31; etc. The importance of this expression may be stressed as it is opposed by the expression fa-zannantuhāfaj, ata, l-jinniGoogle Scholar. SeeAbū, Nu‘aym, Dalā, il al-nubuwwa, Hyderabad, 1950, 171, 1. 5Google Scholar; al-Suyūtī, , a;-Khasā, is al-kubrā, Hyderabad, 1319/1901–2,1, 96, 16 from bottomGoogle Scholar; idem, al-Durral, anthū, hattā faji, ahu, l-haqqu Cairo, 1314/1896, 4, 369, 1. 6.Google Scholar

13 According to the tradition of al-Bukhārī the Prophet returned to his wife Khadīja, his heart fluttering, asked her to wrap him up, Naufal, her cousin, and he assured the Prophet that the revelation had been a true one and that it had been the Nāmīs sent down upon Moses. According to a tradition reported on the authority orf MīSā b. ‘Uqba and Sulaymān al-Taymī al-Suyūtā, ,2B;, al-Khasā, is al-kubrā, 18, 228Google Scholar Khadīja went with the Prophet to ‘Addās, a servant (ghulām) of ‘Utba b. Rabi‘a. He was a Christian from the people of Niniveh and she asked him about JibrīL. He shouted Quddūs, quddūs, quddūS. He asked her: ‘O, Lady of the women of Quraysh, how is Jibril mentioned in this country of the worshippers of idols?, She urged him to tell her about JibrīL and he stated that Jibrīl was the trustee (amīn) of Allāh over the Prophets. He is the angel-guardian (sāhib) of Mūsā and ‘Isā. And cf. al-Balādhurī, , Ansāb, 1Google Scholar, 111.According to a version recorded by al-Balā, , Ansāb, 1, 105–6Google Scholar Khadīja asked Abū Bakr to go withthe Prophet to Waraqa. The tradition is reported on the authority of Ibn Ishāq- Abū Mayasara (‘ B. Shurahbī al-Kū-see Ibn, Hajar, Tajdjīb, 8, 47).Google Scholar This tradition is reported also by:al-Suhaylī, , al-Raud al-unuf, Cairo, 1914, 1, 157 (on the authority of Yūuns b. BukayrIbn Ishāq)Google Scholar; al-Diyārbakrī, , Ta, rīs, 1, 282Google Scholar; al-Halabī, , Insān al-‘Uyūn al-athar, 1, 83. It is evident that this tradition is of importance: it states that the first bheliever was Abū Bakr.Google Scholar

14 The expression hubbiba ilayhi al-khalā, etc. is explained by Ibn, Hazm, Jawāmi‘ al-Sīra ed. Ihsān, ‘Abbās, Nāsir, al-Dīn al-Asad, Shākir, A. M., Cairo, n.d., 44, that nobody did order him to do it, nor did he see anybody do it whom he could imitate; it was merely Allāh who wanted him to do it and he remained there (i.e. in the cave) for days and nights.Google Scholar

15 See the combined tradition in al-Maqrīzī, , Imtā‘ al-asmā‘, ed. Mahmūd, Muhammad Shākir, Cairo, 1941, 1, 12,1.10: wa-hubbiba ilayhi, Hirā, a kamā kāna yaf‘alu dhālu dhā ahlihi fa-yatazawwadu li-mithlihā yatahannathu bi-Hirā’a wa-ma‘adad thumma yarji‘u ilā ahlihi fa-yatazawwadu li-mithlihā yatahannathu bi-Hirā, ahu Khadījatu. But see the discussion of the contradictory traditions inGoogle Scholar, al-HalabīsInsān al-‘uyūn,1, 274.Google Scholar

16 On these periods see e.g. al-Zurqānī, , Sharh al-mawāhib, 1, 211.Google Scholar

17 On the kinds ofr provisions see al-Halabī, ,Sharh al-mawāhib op. cit., 1, 271; and see Mutahhar b. TāhirGoogle Scholar

18 According to Ibn, Hajar, Fath al-bārī, Cairo, 1348/1929-, 1, 18., the word tahannuth was glossed ta‘abbud by al-Zuhrī.Google Scholar

19 Abū Dharr considers this explanation as unnecessary. See his commentary, Brōnnle, , Fath-al-bā Cairo, 1911, 75.Google Scholar

20 Al-Dhahabī, , Ta, rīKH al-Islām, 1, 74; wa-kāna yakhruju ilā Hirā' fīkulli ‘āmin shahran min al-sanati yansuku fīhiGoogle Scholar; Ibn, Kathīr, al-SīRA al-nabawiyya, ed. Mustafā, Abd al-Wāhid, Cairo, 1964, 1, 390; wa-kāna yakhruju ilā Hirā, a fīkulli ‘ānin shahran min al-sanati yatanassaku fīhi, wa-kāna nin nusuk qurayshin fi, l-jāhiliyyati, yut‘imu man jā, ahu min al-masākīn. This expression is used as well in the MS of the Sīra in the MS of the Sīra in the Qarawīyūn library at Fez, no. 727, as mentioned byGoogle ScholarGuillaume, A., New light on the life of Muhammad (Journal of Semitic Studies. Monograph No. 1), (1960), 29, 2.5-; ‘The word used of Muhammad, devotions, is nasak, and it is said that members of Quraysh who practised such devotions in the pagan era used to feed any of the poor who came to themGoogle Scholar And see al-Suyūtī, , al-Khasā, is al-kubrā,., 1, 94, kāna rasūlu,llāhi sallā, llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallama yakhruju ilā, a Hirāmin shahran min al-sanati yatanassaku fīHI⃛(but feeding the poor is not mentioned here)Google Scholar.

21 Ansāb, al-ashrāf, ed. Muhammad, Hamīdullāh, Cairo, 1959, 1, 105, 191:⃛ fa-yatahan-nathu fīhi wa-yamkuthu al-layāliya qabla an⃛; in the Sahīh of MuslimGoogle Scholar, Cairon, 1334/1915–16, 1, 97⃛al-layāliya ulāt al--‘adad.; the Tafsīr of al-Tabarī, BūLāq, 1329/1911, 30, 161, and the Musannaf of ĨAbd al-Razzāq, MS Murād Molla, 604, f. 67a, inf., have(like al-Bukhārī)dhawāt al-‘adad. A version recorded by ĨAbd al-Razzāq deserves mention; the Prophet started to practise tahannuth and he was made to like solitude after some of his daughters were born (wa-tafiqa rasūlu Īllāhi sallā Īllahu ‘alayhi wa-sallama baĨda mā wulidat lahu ba‘du banātihi yatahannathu wa-hubbiba ilayhi, l-khalāuɝop. cit., f. 67a, 1.6 from bottom).Google Scholar

22 Ibn, Sa‘d, Tabaqāt, Beirut, 1960, 1, 194, records a tradition on the authority of ĨĀ, isha, but does not, however, gloss the term tahannuth.Google Scholar

23 Al-Kirmānī, , Sharh SahīH al-Bukhārī., Cairo., 1932, 1, 32; Abū ‘Amr read the word yatahannafuGoogle Scholar (ibid.); al-‘Aynī, , ‘Umdat al-qāri,, 1, 58.Google Scholar

24 Rāghib, al-Isfahānī, al-Mufradāt, Cairo, 1324/1906–7, 132, s.v. hnthGoogle Scholar; Ibn, Hajar, Fath al-bārī., 1, 18Google Scholar; al-Kirmānī, , op cit., 1, 32Google Scholar; al-Zarkashī, , Sharh Sahīh al-Bukhārī, 1, 6Google Scholar; al-Zamakh-sharī, , al-Fā, iq, ed. al-Bajāwī, and Abu, I-Fadl Ibrāhīm, Cairo, 1945, 1, 250Google Scholar; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Nihāya, s.v. hnth; l‘A and T‘, s.v. hnth. It is noteworthy that beside the definition ‘removing sim from oneself, keeping away from sin, there is also a definition ‘acting so (yaf‘alu fi‘lan) as to cause sin to be removed, (al-Nihāya, T‘, L‘, etc.). And see al-‘Ayn‛, , ‘Umdat al-qāri,, 1, 58Google Scholar. (Tahannatha means as well ‘to commit a sin, and belongs to the addād. See Ibn al-Dahhān al-Nahwī, ‘al-Addād,, in Nafāis al-makhtūtāt, ed. Muhammad Hasan Āl Yāsīn, Baghdād, 1964,96; and seeal-Zurqānī, , Sharh al-mawāhib, 1, 210,1.20.)Google Scholar

25 Al-Qastallānī, ., Irshād al-sārī., Cairo., 1326/1908–9, 1, 172Google Scholar; and see Ibn, Zahīra, al-JāmiĨ al-latīf fī fadli Makkata wa-ahlihā wa-binā, l-bayti, l-sharīf, Cario, 1921, 34274.Google Scholar

26 Abၫ, Nu‘aym, Dalā, il al-nubuwwa, 171, 1.3, anna rasၫla, llāhi nadhara an ya, takifa shahran huwa wa-Khad‛jatu bi-Hirā, a.Google Scholar

27 Al-Suyၫtī, , al-Durr al-manthūr, 6, 369Google Scholar,1.5.

28 See al-Zurqānī, , Sharh al-mawāhib, 1, 210Google Scholar; al-Jāhiz, , al-‘Uthmāniyya, 305, ult. (al-Iskāfī);al-Māwardī, , A‘lām al-nubuwwa, Cario, 1935, 173–4; al-‘Umdat al-qāri, 1, 72.Google Scholar

29 Al-Halabī, , Insān al-‘uyūn, 1, 271Google Scholar; on al-Sirāj, al-Bulqaynī see al-Sam‘ānī, Ansāb., 2, 317, 7Google Scholar

30 A. Sprenger, Dsa Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, zweite Auflage, 1, 330–49.

31 ibid., 330: ‘ In Traditionen kommen nicht selten KraftausdrÜcke und obsolete Worte vor, und diese werden gewŐhnlich in allen, dem Sinne nach auch so versionen einer und derselben Erzx0102;hlung festgehalten: die Kraftausdrüke, weil sie den Ueberlieferern gefielen, die obsoleten, unverstăndlichen Worte, weil sie sie nicht verdauen konnten und darunter etwas mysterix0150;ses suchten, und auch weil sie sich darauf etwas einbildeten, mit solchen gelehrten Brocken um sich werfen zu kŐnnen. Ein solcher unverdaulicher Ausdruck ist in dieser Tradition tahannothĪ.

32 ibid., 295–6.

33 Tg. Nöldeke, Geschichte des Qorans, bearbeitet von F.Schwally, Leipzig, 1909, 1, 84x003A;‘x20DB;als er noch in den Bergen ein einsames Leben fÜhrte (tahannatha),.

34 O. Pautz, Muhammeds Lehre von der Offenbarung, Leipzig, 1989, 16; and see ibid., 17, ‘yatahannathu, “ andächtig war”,.

35 Grimme, H., Mohammed, MÜnster/ 1892, 10, 1.Google Scholar

36 Tor Andrae, Mohammed, sein Leben und Glaube, Göttingen, 1932, 34˥

37 Buhl, F., Das Leben Muhammeds, 134; ‘um sich AndachtsÜbungen hinzugeben⃛Google Scholar, see ibid., p.68, n.167.

38 ibid., p.88 n. 244.

39 Hirschfeld, H., New researches into the composition and exegesis of the Qoran, London, 1902, 19Google Scholar

40 Ch. J. Lyall, ‘The words Hanīf and Muslim,, JRAS, 1903, 780.

41 Caetani, L., Annali dell Islam, Milano, 1905, 1, 222, ‘Introduzione,‘, n.2.Google Scholar

42 W. M. Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, London, 1953, 44; this opinion of Watt, is reminiscent of the proposition of Sprenger mentioned above, which is not, however, referred to by Watt.

43 op. cit., 44. There seems to be some connexion between the proposition of Tor Andrae and the opinion of Watt; Tor Andrae is not mentioned.

44 op. cit., 44; Watt quotes in a note the contrasting opinion of Caetani.

45 El, second ed., s.v. hanīf.

46 Bell, R.Mohammed's CallMoslem World, xxiv, 1, 1934, p. 13 n.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 ibid., 16; and see idem, Introduction to the Qur, an, Edinburgh, 1953, 104-: ‘it was apparently some sort of pious exercise expressing repentance or doing penance for sin,.

48 Chelhod, J., Introduction á la sociologie del, Island, Paris, 1958, 137.Google Scholar

49 Caetani, op. cit., ‘Introduzione,‘208, n.1.

50 See Bell, art, cit., 16 (quoted in n. 46 above).

51 Goitein, S. D., Studies in Islamic history and institutions, Leiden, 1966, 93, 2.Google Scholar

52 Blachère, R., Le problè de Mahomet, paris, 1952,37Google Scholar.

53 See H. A. R. Gibb, ‘pre-Islamic monotheism in Arabia, Harvard Theological Review, Lv, 4, 1962, 269–80.

54 A. Guillaume (tr.), The life of Muhammed,105Google Scholar

56 See HabīB, Muhammad b., ed. Ilse, Lichtenstaedter, pre-Islamic monotheism in Arabia Hyderabad, 1942, 178Google Scholar(al-Hārith b. ‘Abd Manāt b. KINāna were included in the organization of the Hums),267;al-Balādhurī, aNSāb al-ashrāf, MS, f. 959a; Ibn al-Kalbī, Jamharat al-nasab, MS, f. 48b et seq.; Caskel, W., Ǧamharat an-nasab, Leiden, 1966, 2, 145Google Scholar; Watt,Muhammed at Mecca154 et seq.; al-‘Iṣāmī, , Simṭ al-nujūm al-, awālī, Cairo, 1380/1960-, 1, 192inf.Google Scholar

57 Ḥirā, Muammad b., a fa-ta‘abbada tilka, l-thalātha fīra, sihi thumma nazala.Google Scholar

58 Ibn, Hishām, al-Sīra, 1, 29Google Scholar,1.9; al-SĪr, , al-SĪra al-nabawiyya, 1, 154Google Scholar–5 but the words fa,1.3 from bottom; al--Dhahabī, , Siyar a'lām al-nubalā, ed. Salāh, al-Din al-Munajjid, Cairo, 1956, 1, 8690.Google Scholar

59 Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, MS, f.867b; and see Ibn, Sa'Sad, Ṫabaqāt, Beirut, 1957, 3, 381: he was buried inside Ḥirā‘.Google Scholar

60 Al-Munammaq, 532, 1.30

61 Abū, 'Ubayd, Gharīb al-ḥadīth, ed. M.'Abd, al-Mu'īd Khān, Hyderabad, 1965, 2, 21Google Scholar; and see the explanation of taḥawaub on the authority of Abū 'Ubayd in L'A s.v. ḥwb, where the story of Zayd b. 'Amr is not, howeyer, recorded.

62 Al-Balādhurī, , Ansāb, 1, 84Google Scholar; seeDaḥlān, , Sīra, 1, 20Google Scholar sup. (on margin of the Sīra Ḥalabiyya); al-zurqānī, , Shrḥ al-mawāhib, 1, 71Google Scholar: ⃛idhā dakhala shahru ramaḍāna ṣa'idahu wa-aṭama‘l-masākīna⃜

63 Al-Balādhurī, , Ansālb, 1, 105Google Scholar

64 Al-Bukhārī, , al-Adab al-mufrad, ed. Muḥ, , Cairo, 1379/1959–60, 38, 70, under the heading Bāb man waṣala raḥimahu fi ‘jāhiliyyati thumma aslama (and see the references given by the editor)Google Scholar; Bakkār, al-Zubayr b., Jamharat nasab Quraysh, ed. Maḥmūd, Muḥ Shākir; Cairo, 1381/1961–2, 1, 362 367Google Scholar, (see the parallels recorded by the editor); L'A, T'A and Ibn al-Athīr, Nihāya s.v. ḥnth, with a comment ay ataqarrabu ila ‘llāhi ta'ālā and see Abū, 'Awāna,Musnad, Hyderabad, 1362/1943, 1, 72Google Scholar–3 (taḥ annuth is glossed by ta'abbud, p.72); ina variant of this tradition Ḥakīm, assured by the Prophet that he would receive the reward for his taḥannuth in the period of the Jāhiliyya, Promises to do as a muslim these deeds which he did as a pagan. These deeds in the Jāhiliyya are explained as freeing 100 slaves and driving 100 victims for sacrifice at Mecca (sci. to feed the people; another version, ibid.: and providing 100 men with camels).

65 Bakkār, Al-Zubayr b., op cit, 1, 371, 645.Google Scholar

66 Al-Zubayr, b. Bakkār, op cit, 1, 367; and see Ibn 'Asākir, Tahdhīb ta‘rīkh, 4, 414Google Scholar; al-Dhahabā, , Siyar a'lām al-nubalā, ved. , As'ad Ṫalas, Cairo, 1962, 3, 32, 1.1–2.Google Scholar

67 Sprenger, , op cit, 1, 331, 11. 16–20.Google Scholar

68 Al-BaD‘ WA‘l-ta‘rīkh, ed. Huart, 4, 141.

69 Gibb, H. A. R.: Studies on the civilizations of Islam, ed. S. J. Shaw and W. R.Polk, Boston, 1962, 191Google Scholar-2; and see the significant traditions about a peculiar kind of birr of the Jāhiliyya versus tuqā of Islam; Ibn, Qutayba, Tafsīr gharīB AL-qUR‘ān, ed. Aḥmad, Saqr, Cairo, 1958, 76Google Scholar; al-Suyūtī, , al-Durr al-manthūr, 1959, 210-12.Google Scholar

70 In text, min nsl; this is an error–read min nusuk.

71 Al-ḤALABቛ, , InsānGoogle Scholar

72 See Birkeland, H., The Lord guideth, 'uyūn, 1, 271, inf., 272 sup.slo, 1956, 40 -1; 'About 100 H. no Muslim doubted that Muhammad was a pagan before he was called by Allah at the age of 40‘.Google Scholar