10. Tijani distorts the hadith of the Bedouin urinating in the Masjid

Tijani says:

Allow me to tell you the story of the man who urinated in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and in his presence, and some of his Companions drew their swords to kill him, but he stopped them and said: Let him go and do not harm him, and pour some water on the place where he urinated. We are sent to make things easy and not difficult. We are sent to spread the good words and not to make people keep away from us.

The Companions obeyed his orders, and the Messenger of Allah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam asked that man to come and sit next to him and spoke to him nicely. He explained to him that the place was the House of Allah and should not be dirtied, and the man seemed to have understood the point, for he later was seen in the mosque wearing his best and cleanest clothes.^{^[1]} Allah speaks the truth when he says:

وَلَوْ كُنْتَ فَظًّا غَلِيْظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانْفَضُّوْا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ

And if you had been rude (in speech) and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from you.^{^[2]}

Our comment:

The hadith he cites is not narrated with the above wording. The correct wording, as narrated in Sahih al Bukhari from Abu Hurairah, is as follows:

قال قام أعرابي فبال في المسجد فتناوله الناس فقال لهم النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم‏ دعوه وهريقوا على بوله سجلا من ماء أو ذنوبا من ماء فإنما بعثتم ميسرين ولم تبعثوا معسرين

A Bedouin stood up and urinated in the Masjid. The people reproached him and the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Leave him and pour a bucket of water over his urine. You were sent as facilitators of ease, and not to make things difficult.”^{^[3]}

Tijani’s imagination was activated as he needed to somewhat soften his blows against the Sahabah. To accomplish this task he resorted to distortion when he said, “When the Sahabah stood up towards him with swords unsheathed in order to kill him.” All the variations of this hadith show this to be a lie. Despite the numerous variation of wordings for this narration, “Some people stood up towards him,” and “The people yelled out,” and “The people rushed towards him,” and “The people reproached him,” and “The Companions of the Messenger salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘Be quiet! Be quiet!’” none of these narrations impressed Tijani. His task could only be accomplished by distorting the wording of the hadith in a meagre attempt to display the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum as savages with no other concern but killing and dishonouring people.

Tijani’s imaginary version states that the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam spoke kindly to the Bedouin who later accepted Islam, and was only seen after that wearing his best clothes when attending the Masjid. Was the Bedouin an unbeliever that he needed to accept Islam? The narration appearing in Abu Dawood, from Abu Hurairah confirms that he was a believer prior to this incident:

أن أعرابيا دخل المسجد ورسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم جالس فصلى قال ابن عبدة ركعتين ثم قال اللهم ارحمنى ومحمدا ولا ترحم معنا أحدا فقال النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم لقد تحجرت واسعا ثم لم يلبث أن بال فى ناحية المسجد فأسرع الناس إليه فنهاهم النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم وقال إنما بعثتم ميسرين ولم تبعثوا معسرين صبوا عليه سجلا من ماء أو قال ذنوبا من ماء

A Bedouin entered the Masjid while the Messenger salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was seated. Then he performed salah (Ibn ‘Abdah says, two rak’ahs) and said, “O Allah! Have mercy on me and Muhammad and do not show mercy to anyone with us!”

The Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “You have narrowed down something vast.”

Shortly thereafter he urinated in the corner of the Masjid and the people rushed towards him but the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam stopped them and said, “You have been sent as facilitators of ease, you have not been sent to make things difficult. Pour a bucket of water over it!”^{^[4]}

This is the version narrated in Musnad Ahmed:

The Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam went to him and said, “This house has been built for the remembrance of Allah, and for salah, and we do not urinate in it.”

Then he called for a bucket of water and he poured (the water) over it. The Bedouin, after he understood (what the Prophet had taught him), said, “The Prophet approached, by my mother and my father, and he did not curse me or reprimand me or beat me.”^{^[5]}^{^[6]}

Did Tijani even look at this hadith in the books of hadith or was he cautiously led to this false account of the hadith?

NEXT ⇒ 11. Tijani’s criticism of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar

^{^[1]} Then I was guided, p. 56-57.

^{^[2]} Surah Al ‘Imran: 159.

^{^[3]} Sahih al Bukhari, Kitab al Wudu, Sabb al Ma’ ‘ala al Bawl fi al Masjid, Hadith: 217.

^{^[4]} Sunan Abu Dawood, vo. 1, Kitab al Taharah, Bab al Ard Yusibuha al Bawl, Hadith: 380; Refer also to Sahih Abu Dawood, Hadith: 366; Narrated also by al Tirmidhi, Hadith: 147.

^{^[5]} He did not say kill.

^{^[6]} Musnad Ahmed, vol. 3, Hadith: 10538, p. 572, Musnad Abu Hurairah.

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