Hadhir & Nadhir

"They encompass nothing of His knowledge save what Hewill" (2:255)
"(He is) the Knower of the Unseen and He reveals unto none His secret,
save unto every Messenger whom He has chosen" (72:26-27)
"Nor does he withhold grudgingly a knowledgeof the Unseen" (81:24)
Ibn Khafif al-Shirazi said in his al-'Aqida al-Sahiha(§48):
[The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, ] is knower of what is
and what shall be and he gave news of the Unseen(wa [ya'taqidu] annahu
al-'âlimu bimâ kâna wa mâ yakûnu wa akhbara 'an 'ilmi al-ghayb).
Meaning, in the sense of being imparted by Allah whatever He imparted
tohim. Our teacher the Faqîh Shaykh Adib Kallas said: "Note that Ibn
Khafif did not
say 'He knows all that is and all that shall be.'"
Shaykh 'Abd al-Hadi Kharsa told us:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, possesses knowledge of all
that is and knows the created universes in the same way that one knows
a room in which one sits. Nothing is hidden from him. There are two
verses of the Holy Qur'an that affirm this, [But how (will it be with
them) when we bring of every people a witness, and We bring you (O
Muhammad) a witness against these] (4:41) and [Thus We have ap­pointed
you a middle nation, that you may be witnesses against man­kind and
that the messenger may be a witness against you] (2:143) nor can the
Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, be called to witness over what
he does not know nor see.
The above evidence is confirmed by the authentic Prophetic narration
from Abu Sa'idal-Khudri in the Sahih, Sunan, and Masanid:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: "Nuh and his
Communityshall come <also: 'shall be brought'> and Allah Most High
shall say: 'Did you convey [My Mes­sage]?' He shall say, 'Yes, indeed!
my Lord.' Then He shall ask his Com­munity, 'Did he convey [My
Message] to you?' and they shall say, 'No, no Prophet came to us.'
Then Allah shall ask Nuh, 'Who is your witness?' and he shall reply,
'Muhammad, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, and his Community.' Then we
shall bear witness that he conveyed [the Message] indeed, and this is
[the meaning of] His saying, [Thus We have ap­pointed you a middle
nation (ummatanwasatan), that you may be witnesses against man­kind]
(2:143), al-wasat meaning 'the upright' (al-'adl)."[2]
Ibn Hajar in his commentary of the above narration in Fath al-Bari
said that another same-chained, similar narration in Ahmad and Ibn
Majah shows that such witnessing applies to all the Communities and
not just that of Nuh,`alayhis salaam:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: "One Prophet shall
come on the Day of Resurrection with a single man [as his Community];
another Prophet shall come with two men; others, with more. The nation
of eachProphet shall be summoned and asked, 'Did this Prophet convey
[the Message] to you?' They shall reply, no. Then he shall be asked,
'Did you convey [the Message] to your people?' and he shall reply,
yes. Then he shall be asked, 'Who is your witness?' and he shall
reply, 'Muhammad and his Com­munity.' Whereupon Muhammad and his
Community shall be sum­moned and asked, 'Did this man convey [the
Message] to his people?' They shall reply, yes. They shall be asked,
'How do you know?' They shall reply, 'Our Prophet came to us and told
us that the Messengers have indeed conveyed [the Message].'This is
[the meaning of] His say­ing, [Thus We have appointed you a middle
nation] – He means upright (yaqûlu 'adlan) – [that you may be
witnesses against man­kind and that the messenger may be a witness
against you] (2:143)."
Al-Qari said in commentary of the narration of Nuh, `alayhis salaam,
cited in Mishkat al-Masabih:
"And he shall reply, 'Muhammad and his Community'" means that his
Community are witnesses while he vouches for them, but his men­tion
came first out of reverence (li-t-ta'zîm). It is possible thathe,
sall-Allahu `alayhi wasallam, too witnesses for Nuh, since it is a
context of help and Allah Most High said [When Allah made (His)
convenant with the Prophets] until He said [you shall believein him
and you shall helphim] (3:81). In this there is a remarkable warning
that the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is present and
witnessing in that Greatest Inspection (wafîhi tanbîhun nabîhun annahu
sallallâhu 'alayhi wa sallama hâdirun nâzirun fî dhâlika al-'ardi
al-akbar), when the Prophets are brought, Nuh being the first, and the
latter's witnesses arebrought, namely, this Community.[3]
There are other verses that affirm that the Prophet, sall-Allahu
`alayhi wa sallam, hears and sees the deeds of human beings. Allah
Most High said: [And know that the Mes­senger of Allah is among you]
(49:7). In the verses [Allah and His Messenger will see your conduct]
(9:94) and [Act! Allah will behold your actions, and (so will) His
Messenger and the believers] (9:105), the Pro­phet's, sall-Allahu
`alayhi wa sallam, percep­tion is put on a par with that of the Lordof
the worlds Who sees and encom­passes all on the one hand and, on the
other, that of all the living believers.
Shaykh 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Ghumari said:
The saying of Allah Most High [O you who believe!Observe your duty to
Allah, and give up what remains (due to you) from usury, if you are
(intruth) believers. And if you do not, them be war­ned of war
(against you) from Allah and His Messenger] (2:278-279) indicates that
the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is alive in his noble
grave, fighting the usurers withhis supplication against them or with
whatever suits his isthmus-life. I donot know anyone that inferred
this from the verse before me.[4]
The above is further confirmed in the Sunna by the following evidence:
(1) Ibn Mas'ud's authentic narration of the Prophet's, sall-Allahu
`alayhi wa sallam, witnessing of all the deeds of the Umma fromhis
Barzakh:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: "My life is a great
good for you, you will relate about me and it will be related to you,
and my death is a great good foryou, your actions will be exhibited to
me, and if I see good­ness I will praise Allah, and if I see evil I
will ask forgivenessof Him for you." (Hayâtî khayrun lakum
tuhaddithûna wa yuhad­dathu lakum wa wafâtî khayrun lakum tu'radu
a'malukum 'alayya famâ ra'aytu min khayrin hamidtu Allâha wa mâ
ra'aytu min shar­rin istagh­fartu Allâha lakum.)[5]
(2) The authentic narration of "the Supernal Company" (al-mala'u
al-a'lâ) from Mu'adh ibn Jabal (RA) and others:
The Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, said: "My Lord came to me
in the best form" – the narrator said: "I think hesaid: 'in my sleep'"
– "and asked me over what did the Higher Assembly (al-mala'
al-a'lâ)[6] vie; I said I did not know, so He put His hand between my
shoulders, and I felt its coolness in my innermost, and knowledge of
all things between the East and the West came to me."[7]
(3) The staying back of Sayyidina Gibril, `alayhis salaam, at the
point the Pro­phet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, went beyond the
Lote-Tree of the Farthermost Boundary (sidrat al-muntaha) and heard
the screeching of the pens writing the Foreor­dained Decree then saw
his Lord,[8] although Gibril is the closest of all crea­tures toAllah
U and the angels do see Him according to Ahl-al-Sunna.[9]
Al-Qadi 'Iyad in al-Shifa, in the section titled "Concerning the
places where it is desirable to in­voke blessings and peace upon him"
cited from 'Amr ibn Dinar al-Athram (d. 126) the explanation of the
verse [when you enter houses salute one another] (24:61): "If there is
no-one in the house then say: 'as-salâmu 'alâ
al-Nabiyyi wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuh.'"[10]
Al-Qari said in his commentary on al-Shifa': "Meaning, because his
soul, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, is present in the house of the
Muslims(ay li'anna rûhahu
'alayhi al-salâmu hâdirun fî buyûti al-muslimîn)."[11]
What 'Iyad cited from al-Athram is only narrated by al-Tabari in his
Tafsir from Ibn Jurayj, from 'Ata' al-Khurasani (d. 135):
Hajjaj narrated to me from Ibn Jurayj: I said to 'Ata': "What if there
is no-one in the house?" He said: "Give salâm! Say,al-salâmu 'alâ
al-Nabiyyi wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuh, al-salâmu 'alaynâ wa 'alâ
'ibâdillahal-sâlihîn, al-salâmu 'alâ ahli al-bayti wa rahmatullâh." I
said: "This statement you just said about my entering the house in
which thereis no-one, from whom did you receive it?" He replied: "I
heard it without receiving it from anyone in particular."[12]
'Ata' was a pious muhaddith, mufti, and wâ'iz from whom Yazid ibn
Samura heard the statement: "The gatherings of dhikr are the
gatherings of [teaching] the halâl and the harâm."[13] His
trustworthiness and/or memory were contested by al-Bukhari, Abu Zur'a,
Ibn Hibban, Shu'ba, al-Bayhaqi, al-'Uqayli, and Ibn Hajar, but he was
nevertheless declared thiqa by Ibn Ma'in, Abu Hatim, al-Daraqutni,
al-Thawri, Malik, al-Awza'i, Ahmad, Ibn al-Madini, Ya'qub ibnShayba,
Ibn Sa'd, al-'Ijli, al-Tabarani, and al-Tirmidhi, while Ibn Rajab
concludes he is "thiqa thiqa."[14]
A False Assertion against Mullah Ali al-Qari
Recently, someone forwarded the strange claim that al-Qari's text in
Sharh al-Shifa' actually stated, "NOT THAT his soul, sall-Allahu
`alayhi wa sallam, is present in the houses of the Muslims" (lâ anna
rûhahu hâdiratun fî buyûti al-muslimîn) that is, the diametrical
opposite of what al-Qari actually said.
He [al-Qari] discussed theissue in the Sharh of Shifa, that lâ anna
rûhahu hâdiratun fî buyûti al-muslimîn i.e. this notion is incorrect
that the soul of our Master Hazrat Mohammed, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa
sallam, is present in the homes of the Muslims. In some copies the
word lâ has been dropped and has with­out any reason created confusion
for some individuals, including Mufti Ahmed Yar Khan sahib (see Jaa
al-Haqq p. 142). ... In all his explicit quotes HazratMulla Ali
al-Qari himself negates the belief of hâdir wa nâzir. Those who have
relied on his brief, indistinct quotes (out of context) are absolutely
and definitelywrong.[15]
That one can actually dare to make the above claim is only because of
ignorance of the Arabic language since al-Qari prefaces the statement
with the word "meaning(ay)," which would be grammatically incorrect if
it were followed by a disclaimer such as "not that his soul is present
inthe houses of the Muslims." The truth is that no such word as lâ has
been dropped because there was no such word there in the first place,
and the claim that there was is nothing short of tampering (tahrîf).
Furthermore, the word al-Qari used for "present" is hâdir in the
masculine, not hâdiratunin the feminine, as rûh can have either gender
but the masculine is more appropriate here to refer to the Prophet,
sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam.
A Denial of Prophetic Attributes
Another one of those of the same School considered by some to be
knowledgeable objected to attributing the characteristics of hâdir
nâzir to the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, because, he
claimed, these attributes belong to Allah U. Even if the latter
premise were true,the reasoning is spurious and is like saying that
because al-Ra'ûf and al-Rahîm are Divine Attributes, they cannot be
also Prophetic Attributes.
This sophistry was refuted by al-Qadi 'Iyad in al-Shifa where he said:
Know that Allah has bestowed a mark of honor on many of the Prophets
by investing them with some of His names: for example He calls Ishaq
and Isma'il "knowing" ('alîm) and "forbearing" (halîm), Ibrahim
"for­bearing" (halîm), Nuh "thankful" (shakûr), Musa "noble" (karîm)
and "strong" (qawî), Yusuf "a knowing guardian" (hafîz, 'alîm), Ayyub
"patient" (sabûr), 'Isa and Yahya "devoted" (barr), and Isma'il
"truthful to the promise"(sâdiq al-wa'd)... Yet He has preferred our
Prophet Muhammad, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, since He has adorned
him with a wealth of His names in His Mighty Book and on the tongue of
His Prophets.[16]
The above evidence establishes beyond doubt that there is no
impediment to the possibility of hâdir nâzir to be Attributes shared
by Allah Most High with some of His servants if such two Names should
be established to be His. In fact, it is known that the two
angel-scribes, the qarîn, the angel of death, and Shaytan, are also
present, seeing, hearing, and fully wit­nessing the deeds of human
beings at any given time.
Furthermore, are Hâdir and Nâzir among the Divine Names and
Attributes? Imam Ahmad al-Sirhindi was quoted to say: "Allah Most High
is aware of each and every minor and major condition and is Hâdir and
Nâzir. One should feel shame before Him."[17]
However, the Divine Attributes are ordained and non-inferable.[18]
Logic, reasoning, analogy, and other forms of interpretation are not
used to infer an attribute but only Divine disclosure through the
primary two sources of the Shari'a i.e. Qur'an and Sunna. This is an
elementary point of doctrine that is present in most if not all books
of 'aqîda, including the Maturidi classics. So we cannot speak of
al-Hâdir,while al-Nâzir is the same as al-Shahîd wherethe divine Sight
means His Knowledge.
Imam al-Bayhaqi said:
The meaning of "The Witness" (al-Shahîd) is He Who is well aware of
all that creatures can know only by way of witnessing while being
present. . .. because a human being who is far away is subject to the
limitation and shortcomings of his sensory organs, while Allah Most
High is not endowed with sensory organs nor subject to the
limita­tions of those who possess them.[19] (Shâhid is also a
Prophetic Name in the Qur'an.)
As for al-Hâdir it is precluded, because Hâdir in Arabic has the sense
of a being physically present at a location, i.e. attributes of the
created that are abso­lutely precluded from the Creator. Therefore
Hâdir in relation to Allah Most High, like the attribute of
omnipresence, may only be applied figura­tively to mean that He is
All-Knowledgeable, but neither "Omnipresent" nor Hâdir have actually
been reported or mentioned among the Divine Attributes in the Qur'an,
the Sunna, and the texts of the early Imams. Allah knows best.
When some of these rebuttals were presented to the above-mentioned
objector, he replied verbatim, that "By Haazir and Naazir, we mean
Allah's knowledge is complete and comprehensive. Nothing is hidden
from the abso­lute knowledge of Allah. In other words, he is Aleem and
this quality of Allah is repeatedly mentioned inthe Qur'aan." By thus
replying he has acknowledged that:
1. He used the Attributes Hâdir and Nâzir figuratively, to mean 'Alîm.
2. He has done so on the basis of his own interpretation of the former
two terms as meaning the latter term, neither (a) on linguistic bases
nor (b) according to a
Law-based stipulation (nass shar'î).
To return to the statement of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi – Allah sanctify
his soul – that "[He] is Hâdir and Nâzir,"there are also caveats:
1. Isolated statements cannot be used to invalidate a basic rule of
Ahl al-Sunna in the Divine Names and Attributes, namely that spelled
above as found in the doctrine of the Salaf and Khalaf on al-Asmâ' wa
al-Sifât.
2. In practical terms, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi was careful to frame his
statement within an affirmation of the sincere murîd's consciousness
of the all-encompassing
nature of Divine Knowledge within the ladder of spiritual process in
the Naqshbandi Tarîqa, just as the Shuyukh of the Shadhili Tarîqa
teach their murîds to say, "Allâhu hâdirî, Allâhu nâziri, Allâhu
ma'î." These expressions are meant to induce scrupulous Godwariness
and in fact all refer to the attributes of Divine Knowledge without
any resemblance whatsoeverto the hudûr or nazâr of created beings
other than in name.
3. In doctrinal terms, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi means something other
than what those who use hâdir in the Arabic language and in relationto
the Prophet, sall-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam, mean. Namely, hemeans
hâdir not in the normal creatural sense of "present" but in the
non-creatural sense of "Divine Knowledge of Things in their Essence"
(al-'ilm al-hudûrî). This isexplained by him at length in his epistle
48 of Volume Three to the Prince, Zadah Khwaja Muhammad Sa'id, titled
"The Secret of His Nearness and the Self-Disclosure of His Essence."
This is a highly peculiar, specialized sense that should be treated
thus unless one is interested in making Shaykh Sirhindi say other than
what he means.