Recently, a clip circulated by Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, has caused a lot of controversy. Some people understood it as the Sheikh denying any comparison between prophets and messages. However, this clip is part of a speech by the Sheikh at the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday, in which he spoke about the moral perfections of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and that Lady Aisha’s, may God be pleased with her, comparison between the Prophet’s morals and the morals of the Qur’an indicates that both morals are infinite in their beauty and perfection. Then the Sheikh concluded his speech by talking about the ethics of Islam in combat, and that they cannot be compared to the war taking place today, which has led to many massacres in full view of the civilized world, which has become like a killer walking in the funeral procession of the murdered. Finally, he called for the duty of supporting the people of Gaza and Sudan.
The issue of preference among prophets
But the speech of the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, which included high moral meanings and an indirect political stance, as he has accustomed us to in his successive speeches, was confused by some of the recipients who abandoned the pillar on which the Sheikh’s speech was based from beginning to end, and began to disagree about a general paragraph that came in the context of the speech, in which it says that the comparison between the divine messages is a matter left to God, and it is not permissible for us – the believers – to make a comparison between them on our own; despite the fact that the Sheikh followed that directly with an important restriction that the disagreers neglected, which is his statement explicitly: “O God, except in accordance with what is stated in the Noble Sharia.”
We find the gist of the Sheikh’s words in Islamic sources, as we find – for example – in Ibn Hubayrah (d. 560 AH) who commented on a hadith prohibiting differentiation between prophets by saying: “What I see in this meaning is: Do not make differentiations between prophets; the prophets of God, and leave that to the command of God – the Most High – as He said: (Those are the messengers, some of them We have preferred over others). So if we follow the words of God – the Almighty – regarding whom He has preferred, and the words of the Messenger of God – may God bless him and grant him peace – regarding that, then we would not have preferred him over Moses.” This is exactly what the Sheikh of Al-Azhar said – in summary.
On this occasion, I would like to clarify the issue of preference among prophets, away from the generality that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar presented and raised, although it was not the subject of his speech. Scholars have long researched this issue, and it is part of the subject of virtues according to the Islamic perspective, which differs from the philosophical perspective.
This research seeks – in my opinion – to build moral models that are emulated, especially since virtues indicate characteristics and actions, some of which are gifts and grants from God Almighty to the elite of His creation, and some of which are acquisitions, and both types achieve superiority and determine varying degrees. Indeed, scholars have begun to differentiate between one gender and another, such as the comparison between humans and angels, and the majority view is to prefer prophets over angels. Research into virtues and models that are emulated is connected to the research into perfections, and perfections lead to various types of happiness.
The basis of the discussion on preference is the statement of God Almighty and the statement of His Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, especially since preference only goes back to what is with God Almighty, who is the source of goodness, badness, and moral perfections.
The Holy Qur’an explicitly, but briefly, discussed the comparison between the prophets in two verses: “These are the messengers – We preferred some of them over others. Among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in degrees. And We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear proofs and supported him with the Holy Spirit.” (And your Lord is most knowing of those in the heavens and the earth. And We have preferred some of the prophets over others, and We gave David the Psalms.)
The first verse speaks about the messengers whose stories God told in Surat Al-Baqarah, and therefore He referred to the demonstrative pronoun “that” meaning the group, and they are: Moses, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, David, and others, each of whom God distinguished with a characteristic that the other did not have. He took Abraham as a friend, and distinguished David with the Psalms and the glorification of the mountains and birds, and distinguished Solomon with the control of the wind and the devils and the knowledge of the language of birds, and distinguished Jesus with the resurrection of the dead and the healing of the blind and the leper and that he creates birds from clay by God’s permission, and other things that refer to virtues that are degrees and characteristics of each prophet that distinguish him from the other.
As for the second verse, the address in it is to the Prophet Muhammad – may God bless him and grant him peace – as it begins by saying: (And your Lord), meaning O Muhammad, and it conveys the meaning of the first verse, which means that our Prophet Muhammad – may God bless him and grant him peace – is not included in both verses.
The doctrine of the majority of the people of Hadith and jurisprudence
As for the hadiths of the Prophet – may God bless him and grant him peace – they are both consistent and contradictory at the same time, despite their authenticity. He forbade choosing between prophets on several occasions, and at other times he explained his superiority over all prophets in general without singling out one of them in particular. Because of the texts forbidding choosing between prophets, scholars have historically found this issue problematic. In fact, Imam Al-Qurtubi (d. 671 AH) said regarding the first verse above: “This is a problematic verse, and the hadiths are proven that the Prophet – may God bless him and grant him peace – said: (Do not choose between prophets), (and do not prefer between the prophets of God) narrated by trustworthy imams.”
Imam Abu Ja`far al-Tahawi (d. 321 AH) narrated a list of hadiths that forbid preference, because he saw it as problematic. Among them is that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) and said: O best of creation. The Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said to him: “That is my father Abraham (peace be upon him).” There are other hadiths with multiple narrations that have been combined to forbid preference, either as a general prohibition or as a prohibition against preferring the Prophet Muhammad over a specific prophet such as Moses and Jonah, son of Matta. For this reason, al-Tahawi, the hadith scholar and Hanafi jurist, concluded that there are two opinions on preference:
the first: There is nothing wrong with choosing between the prophets based on what each one of them was unique in. Imam Badr al-Din al-Ayni (d. 855 AH) explained that this is the doctrine of a group of the people of hadith.
the second: Hatred of choosing between the prophets, i.e. in a specific manner. Al-Ayni explained that this is the doctrine of the majority of the people of hadith and jurisprudence; they hate choosing between the prophets in a manner that leads to disparagement of the one being chosen. These people have cited as evidence the many hadiths of prohibition, including the hadith: “Do not choose between the prophets of God,” the hadith: “Do not choose me over Moses,” the hadith: “No one should say: I am better than Jonah, son of Matta,” and others.
However, the masses believed in the superiority of the Prophet – Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace – over all the other prophets and angels as well, and they responded to the hadiths of prohibition with different and scattered answers, the sum of which I can formulate in four theoretical concepts from which I can form a methodology for interpreting the hadith and clarifying the issue of preference, and they are as follows:
First: Distinguishing between preference and preference. The superiority of some prophets over others is established by the text of the Qur’an, as some prophets were distinguished by an advantage that was not found in others. The hadiths that were mentioned about the prohibition do not address superiority, but rather they address preference, i.e. engaging in comparison, because that leads to fanaticism among the followers of the prophets and the outbreak of strife, as happened in the time of the Prophet himself between a Muslim and a Jew. Therefore, he forbade them from that for the sake of corruption and to appease the feelings of the Jew who was slapped by the Muslim in the context of that comparison.
It appears to me that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, with his awareness of the sensitivity of his position and that it is a position of composition, followed this prophetic approach in general; especially since his speech was not to clarify the preference between the prophets, but to clarify the perfection of our Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and this is one of the objectives that the Prophet and scholars in general took into consideration, unlike those who follow the approach of Sayyid Qutb in separating and building dams and imagining giving inferiority in religion.
Second: Distinguishing between general preference and specific preference. The prohibition mentioned in the hadiths is a prohibition against preferring one prophet over another, for the following reasons: First: The one who is being preferred must be knowledgeable about the aspects of preference and its degrees, and these aspects are not known except by the text and not by ijtihad.
The difference is in the conditions and characteristics.
The texts on this are general in their regard to all prophets, and some of them Allah told about to His final prophet, and some of them He did not tell about to him. The second: The prohibition of preferring a specific person over another is to prevent disparagement of one of the prophets; for if that occurs, it is a path to disbelief, because it is obligatory to respect and honor all prophets. And preferring one in particular over another in particular suggests deficiency in the one who is preferred, and we have been commanded to (make no distinction between any of His messengers) in terms of belief in him and honoring him.
Third: Distinguishing between prophecy itself and the conditions of the prophets. All prophets are equal in the right to prophethood and messengership, and we do not prefer some of them over others in this sense. Rather, the difference is only in what is in addition to prophethood, which is the conditions and characteristics that each one of them was distinguished by. This is the meaning of (We make no distinction between any of His messengers).
Based on these conditions, there were absolute messengers, and the messengers of resolve, and those who were raised to a high position, and those who were given judgment as children, and those who were given the scrolls, and those who were given the Psalms, and those who were given the Book, and those to whom God spoke directly, and other things that God – the Most High – expressed in a general expression when He said: (And He raised some of them in degrees) after He established that He preferred some messengers over others in the same verse.
Fourth: Distinguishing between facial preference (or from one aspect) and general preference (or in the sentence). Here comes the rule that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar referred to in his speech about the distinction between privacy and preference. Privacy (or advantage) does not require preference, and it is a correct rule – in my opinion – that applies to many examples of prophets and others.
We have made the prophets equal in terms of prophethood, in which there is no difference; because they are all chosen and have attained aspects of perfection and virtues, even though their degrees in that are not equal in the explicit Qur’an as mentioned above. Rather, the hadiths also came to clarify their differences, such as the hadith of the Ascension, which clarifies that some prophets are of a higher degree than others, and that they are distributed among the heavens, and that although some of them were distinguished by some characteristics and not others, it does not necessitate that one person be preferred over another in a particular characteristic that he be better than him in all characteristics, that is, in the collective or comprehensive image.
Thus, our Prophet Muhammad – may God bless him and grant him peace – was singled out, and he was the best of them all, in general, not specifically, and in the collective image, even though some of the prophets had characteristics that he did not have. A literature has emerged that lists his noble characteristics that indicate his superiority, both in type and in total, and they have been proven in numerous hadiths. One scholar has brought the number of his characteristics – may God bless him and grant him peace – to sixty, which is not found for anyone else.
There are meanings and interpretations in the books of explanations of the hadith that I have ignored, due to their remoteness in my opinion, such as saying, for example, that there is abrogation and that the many hadiths of prohibition were before he received revelation to prove his preference. Abrogation is only proven by knowing history, and the fragility of this interpretation is evident from the previous meanings that I have mentioned, such as saying, for example, that he, may God bless him and grant him peace, forbade them from preferring him over others as a way of humility, self-abasement, and righteousness towards other prophets. This is weak in my opinion, because there are other hadiths in which he proves for himself many of the virtues and characteristics that he was distinguished by, the most prominent of which is that he said, “I am the master of the children of Adam, and I do not boast.”
The status of prophethood is the status of eloquence, in addition to the fact that his special characteristics – may God bless him and grant him peace – are gifts from God – Glory be to Him – and are not acquired by himself so that he would be proud of them. Therefore, he said in the hadith: “And there is no pride,” and he – may God bless him and grant him peace – despite that – reached the highest level of humility.
These four concepts not only provide a theoretical framework for unraveling the question of preference among the prophets, but also provide a methodological framework for understanding what has been classified as problematic in the hadith, because they move us from individual (or partial) hadiths to an understanding of the prophetic discourse that is consistent with the Qur’anic discourse on the one hand, and in which the different hadiths, despite their different contexts and times, come together to convey a coherent meaning that is part of the fabric of the prophetic discourse on the other hand.
These concepts also show how the moral perspective dominated this issue, and that it accommodates the theoretical belief in the complete equality of the prophets in terms of prophethood and the difference in perfections and virtues in their diversity, and that their diversity also provides us with models to be emulated that together constitute human perfection as God – Glory be to Him – intended, who chose all of them from among all other human beings, and made them models to be followed throughout the succession of nations and history. And God knows best.
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