Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- PART I INTRODUCTORY
- 1 THE GOLDSMITH OF MARW
- 2 KORAN AND KORANIC EXEGESIS
- 3 TRADITION
- 4 BIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE ABOUT EARLY MUSLIMS
- PART II THE ḤANBALITES
- PART III THE MU'TAZILITES AND SHĪ'ITES
- PART IV OTHER SECTS AND SCHOOLS
- PART V BEYOND CLASSICAL ISLAM
- APPENDIX 1 Key Koranic verses and traditions
- APPENDIX 2 Barhebraeus on forbidding wrong
- Bibliography
- Postscript
- Index
3 - TRADITION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- PART I INTRODUCTORY
- 1 THE GOLDSMITH OF MARW
- 2 KORAN AND KORANIC EXEGESIS
- 3 TRADITION
- 4 BIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE ABOUT EARLY MUSLIMS
- PART II THE ḤANBALITES
- PART III THE MU'TAZILITES AND SHĪ'ITES
- PART IV OTHER SECTS AND SCHOOLS
- PART V BEYOND CLASSICAL ISLAM
- APPENDIX 1 Key Koranic verses and traditions
- APPENDIX 2 Barhebraeus on forbidding wrong
- Bibliography
- Postscript
- Index
Summary
THE ‘THREE MODES’ TRADITION
There are numerous Prophetic and other traditions on the subject of forbidding wrong, several of them well known; but one, a Kūfan tradition, is far more prominent in our sources than any of the others. For reasons that will appear, I shall call it the ‘three modes’ tradition. It is encountered in two main forms. Either the Prophetic core of the tradition occurs on its own, or it is found within the framework of an anecdote relating to a later period. We can best begin with the anecdote.
The scene is set on a feast-day in Medina during the governorship of the future Umayyad caliph Marwān ibn al-Hakam (r. 64–5/684–5). Marwān, presiding over the congregation in his role of governor, commits two ritual improprieties: he brings out the pulpit (minbar) on a feast-day, and he begins with the sermon (khutba) before the prayer (salāt). A man then arises and rebukes him: ‘Marwān, you've gone against the proper custom (sunna)! You've brought out the pulpit on a feast-day, when it used not to be, and you've started with the sermon before the prayer!' At this point the Companion Abū Sad al-Khudrī (d. 74/693) intervenes: he inquires the identity of the author of the rebuke, and pronounces that the man has done his duty. Here, then, we have a concrete example of the practice of rebuke within the community. Somebody had done something wrong – something quite specific – and someone else thereupon took it upon himself to upbraid him for it.
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- Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought , pp. 32 - 45Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001