Clarifying Hadith Reports

Clarifying Hadith Reports saw his Lord has lied.” She then recited the verse: “No vision can grasp Him, but He grasps all vision; and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware.” (Quran, 6:103) After this, Aisha recited another verse of the Quran (42:51): “It is not granted to any human being that God should speak to him other than by revelation or from behind a veil.” (Sahih alBukhari, Hadith No. 4855) The clarification that Aisha al-Siddiqah made in this matter required extraordinary religious courage. Such courage could be found only in someone who had spent a long period in the company of the Prophet of Islam and, through intellectual exchange with him on such matters, had acquired deep insight into religion. When Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri was near death, he asked for new clothes and put them on. He explained that the Messenger of God had said: “A Muslim will be raised in the same clothing in which he dies.” When Aisha al-Siddiqah came to know of this, she said: “May God have mercy on Abu Sa‘id. By clothing, the Messenger of God meant a person’s deeds. Otherwise, the Prophet clearly stated that people will be raised on the Day of Resurrection barefoot, unclothed, and uncircumcised.” (‘Ayn al-Isabah by al-Suyuti, p. 49) This clarification by Aisha al-Siddiqah reveals an important principle: to understand a hadith correctly, it is sometimes necessary not to take a statement literally, but to understand it symbolically.