ABU HURAYRAH A LIAR?

By

Yusuf K. Sanni

I stumbled on one of the blurtings of mudeerul markaz a couple of weeks ago. My head could not but twist itself left, right in pity for the hardened strayer and his gullible hailers.

Sometimes, I rebuke myself for listening to such a contractible, murderous virus. But why won't I, when the blurter is hell bent on confusedly ruining people who tap from the little that qualify us as learners? 

Mudeer said the hadeeth by Abu Hurairah concerning the cleansing of a utensil (such as a bowl) if the inside was lapped by a dog was a null. He posed so authoritatively that the sahabi fabricated the hadeeth because he personally hated dogs. He spiced up his falsification of the revered ally of the Prophet that he (Abu Hurairah) lied as such so as to cast the minds of Muslims to his personal love for cats which earned him the sobriquet - Abu Hurairah (father of female cat) - from the Prophet. 

Do we need any research to lash a rebuttal on mudeer? I don't think so, because the issue is as apparent as the riches of Sulaiman ('aleihis-salaam). But for the sake of the doubting Thomases and the confused public, here is a rejoinder to the tantrum. 

Truly, Abu Hurairah narrated that a utensil be washed seven times if it is lapped by a dog - the start or the end with sand. But the hadeeth that says cats may be kept as pets was rather narrated by Abu Qataadah, not Abu Hurairah. He said the Prophet said of cats thus: إنها ليست بنجس، إنما هي من الطوافين عليكم (It (cat) is not impure; it is one of those (animals) that live among you - as pets). 

So, what has Abu Hurairah's personal love for cats (as pets) got to do with his hadeeth on dogs? Why has mudeer not got ridden of the haven of shaytan in his heart? 

No one is more astray than one who deals abuses on the companions of the Prophet. Such an act is symptomatic of the shee'ah.