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Poison Plants in the Gardens of the Righteous
A Report of traditional Islamic texts being radicalized by
wahhabi/salifi editing and commentary
What follows is an examination of two different English translations of a well-known and wonderful collection of holy hadith of our honorable Prophet Muhammad (saw) by the respected
Imam Abu Zakariya an-Nawawi.
This collection, known as Riyadh-as-Salihin, or “Gardens of the Righteous”, has been read and studied by Muslims for 700 years. The differences in the two translations into English are great and obvious and the intentions of those doing the work must be examined and reflected upon for they are as different and night and day.
Let us begin with the basic publishing information. This information is normally located on the inside cover, the configuration of which, in any worthwhile publication is governed by tradition and sound publishing practice. A legitimate book publisher will have the following:
- The name of the book.
- The author’s name.
- The name of the translator.
- The author of a forward or preface.
- The name of the publisher and his location.
On the reverse page, one will find
- The date and location of publication.
- The date and copyright mark for publisher or author.
- The ISBN numbers for the countries in which the book is distributed.
- The name of the printer and his city and country location.
There are obvious reasons for these conventions. It allows the reader to know who exactly produced his volume, and therefore, who may be held accountable for what it contains.
In the first case, we are looking at the translation of Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, published in 1975 by Curzon Press Ltd in London. Mr. Khan, a distinguished scholar in world religions, who died in 1985 at the age of 102, had been the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, President of the General Assembly of the U.N. and President of the International Court of Justice at the Hague, as well as being a world-renowned author and scholar.
All the pertinant information for this translation is present on the inside cover. The author of the Forward, C.E. Bosworth, was at the time, Professor of Arabic studies at the University of Manchester. The ISBN numbers and printers ID are there.
The second translation is titled a bit differently as “Commentary on the Riyadh-as-Saliheen”. Furthermore, it is two volumes, compared to Zafrulla Khan’s one volume for the same collection. The reason for that is immediately obvious; there is more commentary than translated text. The name of Imam Nawawi is there, along with the author of the commentary (Hafiz Salahuddin Yusuf), the name of the translator (Dr. Muhammad Amin Abu Usamah Al-Arabi bin Razduq) and one other odd notation, “Revised by M.R. Murad”. There is however, a publisher’s note after the Contents page by Abdul Malik Mujahid, General Manger Darussalam. No other information about the location or identification of the publisher seems to be available.
Now comes the interesting part. Nowhere can you find the name of a publisher, his location, the date of publication, any copyright logo, the name or location of the printer, or any reference to the identities of the commentator, translator or reviser. There are no ISBN numbers.
It is well known that only persons seeking to avoid accountability for their work would produce a book with these omissions. It is the kind of thing one sees when examining the underground publications of groups promoting radical political agendas or detailing encounters with extraterrestrials, not with the translation of a 700 year old religious text.
Now every story from the stories of man is told through the heart of its author. Whatever the intention of the author/translator/commentator is what gives the ‘flavor’ to that book. In Zafrulla Khan’s translation of The Gardens, the reader is inspired to contemplate his/her inner condition.
“Abu Hurairah has related that the Holy Prophet said:
Allah does not regard your bodies and
looks, but looks at your hearts (Muslim)”
Mr. Khan does not offer any commentary, because the Qur’anic quotes and hadith speak for themselves, or invite contemplation. Going through his small volume is rather like picking flowers from the Garden.
However, when reading the Hafiz Yusuf/Dr. Amin/Murad version one is struck by the additions of explanatory text inserted into numerous Qur’anic quotes. Every time there is reference to worshipping Allah (SWT), they seem to feel the need to explain what this means: “(abstaining from ascribing partners to Him” or “(i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah)”. There are so many of these directly inserted into the Qur’anic verses that one’s contemplation is shattered by all of the parenthesis and brackets. The phrase ‘dumbed-down’ also comes to mind when reading this version, as though the translator is giving us an Islam 101 course throughout the book.
Here’s a comparative example of this aspect. In a chapter on ‘Pointing out the Way of Good’, Mr. Khan’s version quotes:
“Allah, the Exalted, has said: ‘Call people to thy Lord’”. (28:88)
The Yusuf/Amin/Murad version feels the compulsion to overly explain as illustrated by their translation of this same Qur’anic quote:
“Allah, the Exalted, has said:
And invite (men) to (believe in) your Rubb
[i.e., in the Oneness (Tauhid) of Allah –
(1)Oneness of the Rububiyah of Allah;
(2)Oneness of the worship of Allah;
(3)Oneness of the Name and Qualities of Allah].
The reader feels slightly assaulted by the wordiness and the insult to his/her intelligence.
If this were the only problem with this version, it would be enough to warrant just not buying it and searching elsewhere. However, there is a disturbing nature to this book and that is the noticeable and prevalent use of the word ‘Jihad’ in the second book which does not appear at all in Mr. Khan’s book.
Here on the very first page of The Gardens, in Mr. Khan’s version:
Ayesha has related that the Holy Prophet said:
After the fall of Mecca emigration is no longer obligatory;
but striving in the cause of Allah and yearning for it continue obligatory;
when you are called you should go forth. (Bukhari and Muslim).
The same hadith from Yusuf/Amin/Murad reads as follows:
Aishah narrated that the Prophet said:
There is no emigration after the conquest (of Makkah)
but only Jihad [(striving and fighting in the cause of Allah)
will continue] and intention.*
So if you are summoned to fight, go forth.
Then to emphasize Jihad, Imam Yusuf tells us that “intention according to An-Nawawi: It means that goodness which ceased to continue by the cessation of emigration can still be obtained by Jihad.”
Lest we have any doubts that Imam Yusuf might be referring to the Greater Jihad of inner work, he goes on: “When a country or a region is regarded as Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam), it is not necessary to migrate from it to some other place. It is, however, obligatory to emigrate from such regions which are Dar-ul-Kufr (land of infidels) and where it is difficult to adhere to Islamic injunctions. It is also evident from this Hadith that when it is not necessary to migrate from one Islamic country to another then it is also not permitted by the Shariah to leave an Islamic country to settle permanently in Dar-ul-Kufr only for the reason that the latter has plenty of wealth and social welfare.
But he doesn’t stop there, Imam Yusuf’s advise continues: “Another highly important reason for the prohibition of migration of Muslims to Dar-ul-Kufr is that it goes against the spirit as well as their readiness for Jihad fi sabillillah (striving and fighting in the way of Allah). This spirit and readiness must be kept always alive so that the Muslims may respond at once to the call of Jihad whenever the need for it arises anywhere.” The Gardens have been poisoned by this militant, corrupted translation.
Inadvertently, this version of the Gardens of the Righteous was ordered by an Islamic Sunday school teacher for the students’ library. She was familiar with the 1975 edition and noticed the differences immediately. But if someone was not familiar with the uncorrupted version, they most likely would not be aware that book has been tampered with. This and other similarly edited versions are easily available through the major Islamic book distributors; they have slick 4-color catalogs and are commonly used by Muslims for personal and for educational use. When ordering, the translator information is usually not available and even if they were, the names are not exactly household words.
Mr. Zafrulla Khan’s edition is not being distributed in the same way.
There is another edition, also easily available, translated by S. M. Madni Abbasi, which is equally deceptive. He translates the same Hadith above as:
Hazrat Ayesha has related that the Holy Prophet (saw) said:
Since Mecca had fallen migration by Muslim,
is no longer necessary; but jihad (striving and fighting)
in the cause of Allah and a longing for it remains incumbent
whenever you are called upon to do so (by the Imam), you should respond.”
Ignoring the awkward grammar, the original advise to strive in seeking and yearning for Allah, has now become a call to arms. The insertion of ‘by the Imam’ is particularly disturbing. What Imam? Just who are they listening to?
[point: the number of times Jihad is used]
Skipping ahead to Chapter 11 “On Striving”, contains 6 Qur’anic quotes and approximately 17 hadith relating to the worship and remembrance of Allah and His attributes, One famous Hadith says:
Abu Hurairah relates that the Holy Prophet said: Allah says:
Whoever is at enmity with one whom I befriend
should beware of having to do battle with Me.
When a Servant of Mine seeks to approach Me
through that which I like best out of what I have made obligatory upon him,
and continues to advance towards Me by dint of voluntary effort
beyond that prescribed then I begin to love him.
When I love him I become his ears by which he hears,
and his eyes with which he sees,
and his hands with which he grasps,
and his feet with which he walks.
When he ask Me I bestow upon him and
when he seeks My protection I protect him (Bokhari).
The Yusuf/Amin/Murad version calls this Chapter: “The Struggle in the Cause of Allah” and interprets the above Hadith as:
“Abu Hurairah reported: Messenger of Allah said,
Allah the Exalted has said:
‘I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of Mine.
And the most beloved thing with which My slave comes nearer to Me
is what I have enjoined upon him;
and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing Nawafil
(prayer or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him.
When I love him I become his hearing with which he hears,
his seeing with which he sees,
his hand with which he strikes,
and his leg with which he walks:
and if he ask (something) from Me, I give him,
and if he ask My Protection (refuge), I protect him.’”
After the translator redirects the reader from desiring to ‘draw near to Allah’ for his/her own personal growth, to expecting thunder and lightning towards anyone who offends him (assuming he/she is praying all the extra prayers) and changing a few pertinent words towards the more militaristic (from ‘grasp’ to ‘strike’), the Imam decides to further pollute this beautiful Hadith in his commentary.
He attacks the spiritual nature of Man. This is a wahhabi/salafi specialty. And this is how it is done:
First, he refers to those who belief in “the indwelling light in the soul of man” in condescending and negative terms by the juxtapositioning it with invalid beliefs (such as those who believe in the physical form of Allah and pagans who worship other than Allah).
He also goes on to include a watered-down definition of ‘saint’. “A saint is not one who has a peculiar attire and appearance, or who occupies the seat of a righteous as his successor, or a person who is lost in meditation, or a half-mad, or one who has invented his own style of remembrance and worship of Allah, but it is one who strictly fulfills the obligations imposed by Islam, is fond of voluntary prayers and adheres to Divine injunctions in every walk of life.”
For wahhabis, Islam is just about following all the rules inside a straight-jacket: Islam-in-a-box. Where Z. Khan informs us that the ‘five prayers are like a great canal running at your door’, invoking images of cooling water that you may dip into regularly throughout the day…images that refresh the spirit, Imam Yusuf interprets this same hadith to extolling the ‘merits of performing the prayers punctually’. Where Zafrulla Khan compares men’s souls like ‘assembled hosts’, Imam Yusuf compares them to ‘recruited soldiers’. Where Z. Khan evokes images of Mercy, Imam Yusuf evokes images of Mercilessness.
The spiritual nature of man cannot be controlled as easily as the mind, so they vilify it as though man’s own soul is the enemy of Islam.
References to Jihad are made in the most peculiar places. Abu Hurairah related that the Holy Prophet said: ‘Shall I tell you something whereby Allah would wipe out your sins and raise your status?” His reply included: “performing the ablution carefully even in difficulty, frequent walking to the mosque and waiting eagerly for the next salat after one is finished. This is your striving in the cause of Allah.” (#131)Imam Yusuf’s commentary on this hadith states that: “‘Ribat’ means staying on the frontier of an Islamic country, for security and defense purposes.Thus, it is a continuous process of Jihad.”
Ibn Umar relates that the Holy Prophet said: I have been commanded that I should continue to fight till the enemy bear witness that there is none worthy of worship save Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger, and observe Prayer and pray the Zakat……..(#393)
Imam Yusuf especially liked this Hadith and wrote almost 1 ½ pages on Jihad. One notable passage: “There is a third form of Jihad which is waged against countries where Muslims are victims of aggression, suppression and cruelties of the non-Muslims. It is incumbent upon Muslims to liberate their brethren in Faith from the clutches of the non-Muslims by means of Jihad. So long Muslims performed this obligation with a sense of duty, Islam and it followers were dominant in the world and ever since they have ignored this obligation, both are in subjugation and disgrace. In other words, the secret of power and stability of Muslims lies in Jihad. Muslims need to understand this secret like their ancestors.”
In a little chapter called, Excellence of Weeping for Fear of Allah, Abu Hurairah relates that the Holy Prophet said:
‘One who weeps out of fear of Allah will not enter the Fire
till the milk recedes into the breasts
and the dust endured in striving in the cause of Allah and the steam of hell
will never subsist together.”
What is Imam Yusuf’s commentary on this Hadith? “Jihad is a highly meritorious act for a Muslim. A Mujahid, who fights for the sake of Allah, is perfectly safe from Hell because the dust that falls on this way on him, cannot mix with the smoke of Hell.”
The corrupted texts speak for themselves. In the older Zafrulla Khan edition, the word ‘jihad’ never appears, and ‘striving in the way of Allah’ is never interpreted as a political directive.
Why is there any surprise that those who are reading and studying these new toxic editions, which mask themselves as sources of knowledge for Muslims, end up in radical, political, militant groups ready to die. These books are no longer obscure texts that we’ve heard about in Islamic schools overseas. They have been imported to the U.S.and in a big way.
What is surprising is that there seems to be no reaction or objections to these books from within the Muslim community.
(First report in a series.)
(Second report) Islamic children’s books in the U.S. and results of a letter of complaint to one book distributor.